“He’s asked me to move to New York with him.” I paused, trying to put some conviction behind my words. “He says he wants to marry me,” I added, hoping I sounded sincere.
“Marry you?” Val placed her hands on her hips and furrowed her brow at me. “Funny, I don’t see that kind of passion when he looks at you. I see a man putting on a good show, but his heart just isn’t in it.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “And neither is yours. It’s just like you were doing with Michael, but something is different this time.”
My gut twisted up at the mention of Michael’s name. I felt this would be a good opportunity to change the subject and hopefully distract Val. “Yes, well, I need to make it up to Michael for hurting him the way I did. That’s why I invited him tonight. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Mind, hell no. It will be the highlight of my evening to watch the moron drooling over you in that outfit. C’mon,” she said, taking my elbow, “let’s go get you a drink. I have a strange feeling you’re gonna need it.”
We were standing in the center of the courtyard sipping champagne when Hattie, Uncle Ned, and Colleen walked in.
“Hoovers are here,” my uncle whispered next to me.
Colleen was the first to come strolling over to our little group. She was dressed in a sophisticated dark blue scoop-neck gown without any ruffles, bows, lace, or ribbons. She appeared rather pretty without all of the extra trappings she usually wore.
When Colleen saw my necklace, she stopped dead in her tracks. “Jesus!” Colleen stood motionless for a moment. “Nicci, where did you get that?” She pointed to the necklace, drawing stares from a few people around us.
Dallas put his arm around me and smiled at Colleen. “I gave it to her, along with the dress. I wanted her to look like a princess tonight.”
Colleen’s eyes were all over Dallas. “You gave her that? But I got the impression that—”
“Oh, my God, girl!” Aunt Hattie was at my side instantly buzzing like a hummingbird to nectar. She was dressed in a snug red and white striped gown that reminded me more of a candy cane than a dress.
“Where in the world did you get that?” Aunt Hattie was also pointing to the necklace.
“Dallas gave it to her,” Colleen said while giving me a questioning look.
“Oh, my goodness.” Aunt Hattie pulled out her glasses from her purse and inspected the piece. Then she put her glasses down and turned to Dallas. “You have exquisite taste.” She looked over to Uncle Ned standing behind her. “How come you never buy me anything like that?”
“Because we’ve been married for fourteen years, Hattie, that’s why.” Uncle Ned came forward and gave me a peck on the cheek. I noticed his eyes lingered on the necklace as well. “I didn’t realize architects did so well,” he commented as he raised his eyes to Dallas.
Dallas cracked a smile. “Coming from a wealthy family helps.”
Uncle Ned nodded approvingly. “Yes, it does.”
“Well, Michael will be simply heartbroken when he sees you and your architect are so in love,” Aunt Hattie said as she kept staring at my necklace. “His mother, Ginny, told me you had invited him tonight. He apparently has not stopped talking about you ever since he saw you at BeBe’s party. I think he’s coming here tonight to try to steal you away from this young man.” She motioned to Dallas.
“He won’t be able to do that.” Dallas all but laughed. “Nicci and I are very much in love. And after I get over my injuries during my respite in Hammond…” Dallas nodded to his sling, “…I’ll be taking Nicci back to New York with me.”
Colleen raised her eyebrows, my aunt smiled radiantly, and Uncle Ned frowned.
Uncle Ned was the first to speak up. “That’s moving rather fast, isn’t it?”
Aunt Hattie waved off his comment. “Oh, hush up, Neddie. I think it’s marvelous that the two of you have hit it off.”
Colleen was watching me, her arms crossed over her chest. “Well, I think it’s absolutely amazing,” she scoffed.
I looked over at Colleen and smiled. I could feel Dallas tighten his arm around my waist, giving me encouragement.
“Well, I will just have to tell everyone here how happy the two of you are.” Aunt Hattie’s voice rose higher and she started wiggling her finger at me. “And perhaps sometime soon we will be hearing wedding bells for my dear niece?”
“Aunt Hattie!” I almost dropped my glass of champagne. “Jumping the gun a bit, aren’t you?” I questioned, feeling more and more uncomfortable with the entire situation.
“Is she, dear?” Dallas chimed in beside me.
I looked up into his face, begging him with my eyes not to say another word.
Dallas quickly turned from me to my aunt. “We just thought that we would give it a little more time before we made a formal announcement, Aunt Hattie.”
Colleen rolled her eyes at Dallas. “Why wait? If you two are so in love?” she added sarcastically.
Aunt Hattie ran up to my father and kissed his cheek. “Aren’t you just delighted, Bill?”
“Over the moon,” Dad replied, smiling.
Uncle Lance raised his glass of champagne. “I should think a spring wedding would be best. Spring is best for weddings.”
“You should know,” my father joked.
“Oh, definitely, Lance, you are right,” Aunt Hattie all but squealed with excitement. “Spring is best. At St. Louis Cathedral with a horse-drawn carriage draped with flowers. We could have a procession through the French Quarter with a jazz band to take them to a reception at Arnaud’s or maybe Antoine’s.” She paused and reflected for a moment. “I’ll call next week and get prices.”
I almost spit out the mouthful of champagne I was trying to swallow.
Dallas reached over and lovingly patted my back. “You all right, sweet cheeks?”
“Fine,” I groaned.
Aunt Hattie pointed across the courtyard. “Oh, there’s Alicia McAllister. I have to go and spread the good news.” She turned and was off to the other side of the courtyard, heading toward a tall, slender woman with a long nose and pointy chin.
Colleen peered disapprovingly into my eyes. “I need a drink,” she announced and then headed to the bar.
“I think I’ll join you,” Uncle Ned added, turning to follow behind Colleen.
Once they were out of earshot, I turned to Dallas. “Colleen doesn’t believe us. And why did you say anything to Aunt Hattie? She will tell everyone at the party we’re getting married, Dallas.”
He took a sip from his champagne and then turned to me. “Lower your voice. Coming from your aunt it will sound a hell of a lot more convincing.”
Uncle Lance came up beside me. “Dallas is right. Looks better coming from Hattie than you.” He nodded toward Aunt Hattie jabbering away with a group of people at the other end of the courtyard.
“With that dress and those rocks around your neck,” my father said, “everyone will believe you two are very, very serious. So just go along with the program, Nicci. And don’t worry about Colleen. She and Ned may have their doubts, but they’ll keep quiet.” He winked at me. “Dallas knows what he’s doing.” He walked away and headed over to a nearby buffet table.
“Not to worry, kid,” Uncle Lance assured. He turned and followed my father, leaving Dallas and me alone.
I turned to Dallas. “I don’t like this. It’s getting out of hand.”
“It’s supposed to look that way, Nicci. Hattie has her ammunition to spread all over the party. I’m sure once Eddie, Michael, and Sammy find out about our impending nuptials they will be at your side bending your ear about how you are making a mistake with me.”
I scanned the small crowd gathered in the courtyard with the sinking feeling that I was going to be the center of a great deal of unwanted gossip for weeks to come. “You know, there is just one problem with all of this. When this is over and you’ve gone back to New York, I’ll be the one left behind answering questions about what really happened between the two of us.”
<
br /> Dallas just shrugged. “By then, we will have caught a killer. People have always preferred murder and mystery to tales of romance and heartache.”
“Then you definitely don’t know the book market, Dallas. Half of the books sold today are about romance, not intrigue. People prefer to read about lovers and lust. Murder they can see every day on the news.”
We mingled with the other guests, holding hands, sipping champagne, and looking into each other’s eyes. Dallas would lean over and kiss my forehead when he knew others were watching. Aunt Hattie seemed delighted with the whole performance. Colleen and Uncle Ned watched from the bar, their skepticism written all over their faces.
It didn’t take long for Sammy and Eddie to show. Sammy came dressed to the hilt in silver and sapphires. Her long blonde hair was down, curled around her shoulders, and had strands of silver woven throughout. Eddie was next to her, wearing another expensive designer tuxedo. But when he walked into the courtyard, I felt a twinge of panic when I saw who was on his arm.
“Oh, no,” I said quietly to Dallas. “Emily Thorne.” I nodded to the round-faced, blonde, dressed in a very low-cut black dress clinging to Eddie’s arm.
“Who’s that?” Dallas asked as he inspected Eddie and his date.
“A problem.” I turned to see Colleen had just spotted the same problem from her vantage point at the bar. “Emily and Colleen are not what I would call the best of friends,” I added.
Dallas looked over to watch Colleen’s reaction. “Because of Eddie?”
“No, because of Colleen’s previous boyfriend, Parker Roy. She caught Emily and Parker in bed together,” I explained, dreading how my impetuous cousin would react to the entire situation.
“This should get interesting.” Dallas raised his champagne to his lips. “What do you think Eddie will do?” he asked, hiding his words behind his glass.
“Rub Colleen’s nose in it.”
A red-faced Colleen was already storming her way over to the couple before I had even finished my sentence. Dallas and I stood frozen, watching as the two young women exchanged some heated words, none of which we could hear. Then the volume of the argument quickly escalated.
“You little slut!” Colleen shouted loud enough for the entire courtyard to grow quiet. “Can’t wait to jump into bed with another one of my leftovers, can you, Emily!”
“Leftovers!” Emily screamed. “Parker was so sick of you, he couldn’t wait to get away!”
Positioned in the middle of all the yelling, Sammy stood holding out her arms to keep the two women apart.
“All we need now is some mud and a whistle,” Dallas cracked.
I glared at him, deciding I had better refrain from telling him where he could shove that whistle. I made a move to run over to Colleen but Dallas held my arm.
“No, Nicci,” Dallas said firmly. “Let Ned handle it.”
Then I saw Uncle Ned move from his spot at the bar to Colleen’s side in the middle of the courtyard.
It wasn’t long after that the two women went for each other. As each girl grabbed at the other’s perfectly coiffed hairdo and tried to rip shreds from her opponent’s gown, Sammy wrapped her arms around Emily just as Ned reached for Colleen.
I pulled against Dallas, eagerly wanting to go and help my cousin.
“Don’t even think about it,” Dallas murmured as he tightened his grip on my arm. “I need you to be seen and remembered with me, not breaking up some silly brawl.”
“She’s my cousin. I can’t just stand here and do nothing!” I pleaded with him.
“When Eddie sees you,” Dallas said as he lowered his head to me, “he will come to you. And you need to be next to me when that happens.”
I noticed Eddie was standing by watching the fight from the sidelines looking completely unflustered as the girls bared their claws and yelled insults at each other. Then he spotted me with Dallas across the courtyard and walked away from the skirmish heading right toward us.
I looked over at Dallas. “But how did you know he would—” I never got to finish my sentence because Eddie was instantly in front of me.
“Nicci,” Eddie beamed as he took in my outfit. “You look beautiful.”
I watched over Eddie’s shoulder as the insults continued and was amazed how he showed not the slightest interest in the catfight taking place in his honor.
“Thank you.” I looked back into his pale face as I motioned to Dallas on my right. “Eddie, you remember Dallas.”
“I love that dress,” Eddie said, ignoring Dallas as he continued to stare at me. “It makes you look so, so beautiful.”
“I think you said that already, Eddie,” Dallas cut in. “I would suggest, my friend, that you go back to your date and help break up that little scuffle.” Dallas glanced over Eddie’s shoulder as Colleen reached out to grab a few strands of Emily’s hair.
“What?” Eddie turned to face Dallas. His eyes focused on the sling on Dallas’s arm. “What happened to you?” Eddie asked, knitting his brow.
“I had a car accident,” Dallas stated calmly.
But Eddie wasn’t paying attention to Dallas anymore. He turned away, distracted by the screaming behind him. The two women were still hurling potent expletives at each other as Sammy and Uncle Ned struggled to pry them apart.
“Uh, well.” He sighed. “Mom wanted me to bring Emily.” He grimaced as he glanced back at me. “I don’t really like her but…” He shrugged, and then headed back over to the wrestling match.
“Oh, that’s sad!” Dallas chuckled as he watched Eddie slowly sulk back to his date and ex-wife. “The boy is so in love with you it’s almost pathetic.”
We watched as Colleen and Emily were dragged off to separate areas of the house amid a contingent of worried faces.
“I can’t believe Sammy brought that girl. She must have heard about Emily and Colleen’s old boyfriend,” I whispered, wondering how Sammy had found out about the affair.
“Hell, sweet cheeks,” Dallas remarked, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Sammy set the whole thing up knowing it would ruffle your cousin’s feathers.”
I looked into his face, feeling surprised by his comment, but then I realized he understood Sammy better than I did. He had figured her out. He had figured all of us out.
I took a needed sip of champagne. “You’re probably right. Sammy was not happy with the expensive divorce settlement Colleen demanded.”
“But she had to give it to her, didn’t she?”
I nodded slightly. “After the miscarriage, when Colleen refused to press charges against Eddie and began telling everyone she fell down the stairs, I knew Sammy had bought her silence. Sammy spent a small fortune on plastic surgery and clothes for Colleen, hoping to appease her.” I paused. “When Colleen finally filed for divorce, she threatened to go to the newspapers with the truth about Eddie if Sammy didn’t pay up.”
“Well, heads up.” Dallas made his voice a whisper. “Here comes our spiteful tigress.”
I looked up to see Sammy making straight for us while trying to straighten out her glistening dress. I didn’t even have time to get another sip of champagne down before she was standing before me.
“Oh my goodness,” she said as she put a stray blonde hair into place. “Never a dull moment around here.” She tossed her head back, let out a fake laugh, and then leered at Dallas. “I hope I don’t look too out of sorts.”
“Nothing like a good old catfight to get the blood pumping eh, Sammy.” Dallas winked at her and displayed a cocky grin.
She shot him a curt glance and then her line of vision fell upon my necklace. “Nicci, that is a really stunning piece.” Her eager blue eyes closely inspected the gems. “Is it real?”
Dallas laughed and put his arm about my waist. “Of course it is. Why would I ever buy the woman I love fake jewelry?”
Sammy turned her attention to Dallas. Her perfectly tweezed eyebrows went up with surprise. “You bought it?”
Dallas held up his champagne glass.
“I bought the dress too. It’s a pre-engagement present. Since Nicci and I will be leaving for an extended stay at her house in Hammond tomorrow, I figured this would be my last opportunity to show everyone what she really means to me. After I take some time to recover from my accident, Nicci will be moving to New York with me.”
Sammy frowned and stood back for a moment. She studied his face as if she were trying to figure him out. “How odd. I got the distinct impression from you that it wasn’t that serious between you two.”
Dallas pretended to look confused as he stared from me to Sammy. “When did I ever give you that impression, Sammy?”
“The other day at my home.” She turned to me. “He told me that it was just a fling right before he kissed me.”
I tried to control my amusement with her obvious attempt to put a wedge between Dallas and me. This was going to be fun.
“Mrs. Fallon, Dallas could never be interested in a woman like you. You are a classless cougar with the tastes of a Bourbon Street stripper.” I raised my head defiantly to her. “Besides, his family would never have anything to do with a woman of your questionable past.”
She did not speak. She did not move. Sammy Fallon kept her bitter blue eyes locked on mine. I could see the veins in her slender neck pounding away, which I took to mean I had pushed the right button.
“Well, well, well,” she whispered through her fangs. “After all these years you’ve finally grown some balls. Don’t think you can play at my level, Nicci. You’re way out of your league.”
“What is your league, Sammy?” Dallas questioned in a menacing tone. “Seems to me you’ll never be in Nicci’s league. You’ll never be smart enough, beautiful enough, and definitely not sophisticated enough, to ever be the kind of woman Nicci is.” He paused. “Did you really think I would betray Nicci to take up with a woman like you? I don’t sleep with trash.”
“You’ll pay for that,” she snarled and then she turned to me. “Both of you.” She took a breath and nervously glanced around to the people surrounding us. “I’m going to destroy your family, Nicci. And when I’m done—”
“You will do nothing of the kind.” Dallas lowered his voice as he leaned in closer to Sammy. “If I find out you have hurt my fiancée’s family in any way, I’ll hunt you down and kill you.”
The Nicci Beauvoir Collection: The Complete Nicci Beauvoir Series Page 52
