by Kimball Lee
“Mother and your father are out walking the grounds trying to decide where we should have this dreary little wedding ceremony. Mae, your beloved maid who I like to think of as ‘the high and mighty bitch’ has the day off and once I move into Greenlea she’s gonna have the rest of her life off,” Hannah said as she swung open the door to William the third’s partially remodeled bedroom. “Here it is, fit for the Marquis de Sade, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree does it? Looks as if you and your daddy share a few of the same sadistic fetishes.”
“Fuck, the old man is sure to have another heart attack if he indulges in all this paraphernalia,” Walden said, he was both mesmerized and horrified at the array of bondage and pain inflicting toys his father had on display. “And by the way, you leave Mae alone, do you hear me? You speak one unkind word to that woman or if I hear that you even looked at her in the wrong way, the shit will hit the fan, I guarantee it. She’s like family, my father can’t live without Mae any more than William and I can, so watch your step, I mean it.”
“You’re right about me wanting William, but alas, it’s not to be. Use these on me, Walden, I promise I won’t scream or tell,” Hannah said, shrugging her shoulders with a look of resignation and holding out a set of steel handcuffs. She leaned forward quick as a flash to slip her tongue into Walden’s mouth and then she laughed and dropped to her knees to unzip his jeans when he turned his face away. “Come on, baby, let me have some pleasure at least. Don’t you remember how much you loved my magic mouth on your cock? And those were your words, not mine.”
“You’d really love that wouldn’t you?” Walden said, jerking her to her feet and zipping his fly. “I may be somewhat warped Hannah, but you are seriously perverted. That’s disgustingly sick, getting off by fucking your step-brother.”
“Oh baby, no! Is that what you think?” She said laughing as she picked up a small leather whip and ran it beneath her nose, inhaling deeply. “Don’t be silly, I’m not going to be your sister. I’m marrying your daddy, darlin’. I’m about to become your new step-mother. And you and William should know this from the get-go, I intend to fuck both my new stepsons physically and financially. You Warfield men are my weakness and I prefer to keep it all in the family, it’s just so cozy that way.”
“You are fucked up, Hannah,” Walden said. “My father has lost his mind if he intends to marry you. It’s a good thing I came out here today, I’ll fill him in on our history and you can bet he’ll cancel the wedding. You may not be aware of this, but he and I and William have a gentleman’s agreement, we don’t sleep with the same women. It’s an ethical decision we all made together.”
“Well, you can certainly spend your precious time waiting until he and my mother get back from their walk, but I warn you, they are slow as molasses when they get to talking about the wonders of the bayou and the history of the Greenlea plantation. Maybe you should sit down on the sunporch and give William a call. Although I doubt that he has cell phone service way over in Breaux Bridge and surely he wouldn’t want to be disturbed during his romantic weekend with Miss Alaina Darling. Oh, you look surprised Walden. Didn’t you know that William is proposing to her and most likely he’s saying the words she’s dying to hear at this very minute. Are you leaving so soon, baby? Maybe all this talk of marriage is just more than you cared to hear, drive safe, now. Bye-bye.”
Hannah walked down to the curving driveway as the Maserati roared off into the distance. She turned her pretty face up to the welcome heat of the sun, she loved heat, loved feeling that she could set the world on fire with a snap of her fingers. She turned her hand this way and that, admiring the gargantuan diamond engagement ring that Walden hadn’t bothered to notice. Ah, the future was so bright, she was marrying a man who was practically on his deathbed, well, actually she was marrying all those glorious billions that made William the third so delightfully attractive. The rest was easy with money to burn and those two gorgeous and obscenely fuckable stepsons her life would never be dull again. Oh yes, the future was so bright she would definitely have to wear shades.
*
“Good morning darling girl, did you sleep well?” William asked and hugged Allie tighter against him in the disheveled bed.
“Mmm, I didn’t get much sleep, but that’s okay, I am happy happy happy,” she smiled and stretched and wanted very much to slide beneath his big, rock-hard body and wrap her legs around him… But they had over done it a bit throughout the night and her own body was aching because of it.
“We should give it a break for today,” he said when his fingers instinctively traced a path down her flat little belly and she flinched and drew back slightly when he touched the tender, swollen folds of her sex. “I’m sorry, baby, so sorry. Come on, did you notice there’s a claw foot tub on the screened porch? Don’t worry, it’s facing the swamp so only the ‘gators and the wildlife will see you in all your naked glory. It’s a cool way to start the day, Allie. You can sink down to your chin in a bubble bath and watch the herons, egrets and spoonbills wading in the water as they hunt for a tasty frog for breakfast. I’m gonna have a shower by myself so I won’t have the temptation of your sweet body next to mine. Take your time and enjoy soaking in the tub and I’ll personally serve you some hot croissants with butter and fig jam and café au lait for your breakfast. Then we’ll go for a long walk and stop at the café to have blue crab fritters and oyster po’boys for lunch, and if we’re still hungry there’s bread pudding with whiskey sauce for dessert. Down on the bayou it’s all about the good life— good food, good friends, good times. Later on all that ‘nonfattening’ food can settle while we curl up together and take a nap under the oaks in those nice crocheted hammocks, how’s that sound?”
“You’re a smooth talker, William Warfield, what girl could resist saying yes to anything you have to say? Not me, that’s for sure. Alright, a bubble bath sounds good and it’ll be even better when you bring me a big cup of coffee.”
“Not to worry, darling girl,” he said, grinning as he pulled on a pair of soft blue jeans and crossed the rustic rooms to answer a knock at the front door. Abigail handed him a breakfast tray loaded with hot coffee and the goodies he’d described all covered with an embroidered linen dish cloth and she looked as miserable as he had ever seen her. “I’ll walk over to the café as soon as I’m dressed, Abigail, we can talk then,” he said and she shrugged and walked away barefooted and forlorn. “This place has great room service if you know the right people,” William said, handing Allie her coffee now that she had settled into the deep porcelain tub.
Steam and soap bubbles rose from the scented water and sailed through the wire-mesh screen on the porch to drift over the liquid green landscape of the Atchafalaya. It was a beautiful sight, Allie thought as she sipped from an old china tea cup and watched birds swooping and diving among the cypress and pine and sweet gum trees. William was an even more spectacular sight as he stepped out of his jeans and into the shower. She had never been so enthralled by a man’s body before and she doubted that she would ever see such a fine example of male beauty again. And that was the best part— he was hers, all hers, and he was in love with her.
*
Abigail watched as William and Allie tried their best to fit together into a single hammock strung between two ancient oak trees in her daddy’s yard. They looked so happy, so content in their new and blossoming love but it wouldn’t last, she knew that for sure by the look in William’s eyes when she told him about Walden and his unrelenting certainty that Alaina was the love of his life. The talk she’d had with William made her want to walk out into the deepest part of the swamp and let the current drag her under. That wasn’t likely to happen in the slow moving shallow depths but a ‘gator might put an end to her or a snakebite or some other stealthy and treacherous reptile. Allie was the one she should feel sorry for rather than wallowing in self-pity, any minute now she too would be on the losing end of love. And with that thought the buoyant sound of laughter from the couple in the
hammock was lost in the roar and dust as the Maserati careened through the gate and into the yard and Walden stepped out.
“Fuck, I didn’t think he’d come out here,” William said to no one in particular as he left Allie in the hammock and met his brother halfway across the tree-strewn yard. “What the fuck, Walden? Let’s not get into all this bullshit in front of our friends. Alphonse runs a nice place and there are families staying in the cabins. Abigail is watching from the cafe and she’s already heartsick over this obsession of yours.”
“I’m not here to start anything, Wills, I’m here to stop Allie from marrying you. Have you asked her yet or told her you’re in love with her? Those are lies, you know and it’s not like you to lie, bro. Don’t hurt her, don’t break her heart and mine at the same time. Can you honestly say that you love her the way I do, can you swear to that, Wills?”
“No I can’t say that, Walden. I can’t swear that I love her like you do and she doesn’t know about Father’s fucking will and his bizarre insistence that one of us has to marry her.” William said and he heard Allie gasp before he realized she was standing next to him. “Allie, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Let me sit down and talk to my brother, trust me this once, please darling girl?” He drew her to him before she could say a word or react. He raked one hand through the honey-blonde length of her hair, the other hand pressing into the small of her back as she rested her face against his chest. He felt her hot tears soak through his t-shirt near his frantically beating heart and he knew he was going to lose her forever.
“I’m packing my bag to leave, do whatever you want,” she said and pushed away from the cold comfort of his embrace. She wiped hastily at her tear-soaked cheeks and gazed up at the brothers with a world of hurt in her stormy-ocean colored eyes before she turned and ran to the log cabin.
“How do you feel, Walden, seeing the look in her eyes when her heart is breaking? She loves me and she thinks I just told you that I don’t love her. But you know me so well don’t you? You know that I’ll give her up for your sake. After all, what have I ever denied you, brother?” William asked and he shoved Walden back against the Maserati when he tried to follow Allie. “You’re gonna fucking listen to me asshole because I’m ruining my life for you. Abigail says you’ve never been better, you’re not using drugs and you’ve given up sex and pain and self-mutilation and all the crazy shit that had you on your way to an early grave. You got your shit together at last and you saved your own life in the name of love. I wish I could be happier but forgive me if I just say good for you and don’t fuck it up.”
“I love her, Wills, you’ll see, I love her more than my own life. You’ve never cared about love or any woman in particular….” Walden started but he stopped talking when William held his hands up in defeat.
“Just get in the fucking car and drive back into town. I get it, I understand what it took for you to come out here to the bayou, how hard a move that was for you to make. I need to talk to her and make up some reason that she’ll believe as to why I’m giving her up. You see, I really do love her, she was the one for me. She changed my heart as well as yours but I’m walking away from her because I don’t know any other way to give you a happy life. Today’s your lucky day, Walden, maybe the first lucky day you’ve ever had and I want you to remember what it cost me to give it to you. Go home now and figure out how to make her love you. I’m going in the cabin to make her believe I only said I loved her because I had to.”
Chapter Eight
The blue envelope taped to the cash register at the You Wish bookshop had Allie’s name scrawled across it in red ink. She ripped it open and had to squint to make sense of Remy’s curlicued writing, “Alaina Darling, I’ve gone to the beach, make yourself at home, no idea when I’ll be back. Stay out of the storeroom and be careful what you read. Hugs, Remy.”
Allie was glad that Remy was gone, the last thing in the world she needed was to have to explain how stupid she had been to think William Warfield could possibly love her. She trudged up the back stairs to Remy’s apartment and she could’ve sworn she smelled fresh sea air as she stooped to pass through the low storeroom landing to the spiral staircase. The apartment at the top of the stairs was an original loft with high ceilings and brick walls and polished cypress floors. It was sparsely furnished but clean and like the shop below every flat surface was littered with leather-bound books. She dropped her tattered duffel bag in what was surely the guestroom. It was the smallest room in the apartment with only a narrow daybed pushed against one wall and an ornate walnut dressing table piled with books. Allie picked up the random book from the top of the pile and it was Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
She dropped the book as if it had burned her hand and sat down on the bed to let herself weep at last. William had brought her an armful of roses not so long ago and she had accused him of being as hopelessly romantic as Mr. Darcy from that very same novel. But they hadn’t ended up together in the end and she was not going to have her happily-ever-after.
In truth, nothing in William’s face or demeanor lent credibility to his words as they had driven together from Breaux Bridge into New Orleans. He calmly explained the terms and demands of his father’s altered will and yet his hands nervously clutched and unclutched the steering wheel as if they could find no solid place to land. The only reason he’d said he loved her was for the money, that’s what it was about, money, power, control. They were all he cared about he said, and he apologized over and over for misleading her. It wasn’t the same for Walden, those things didn’t matter to him, they never had. Walden had set aside his ancient fear of the bayou to come and tell Allie the truth about the situation, to let her know what she was getting into by giving her heart to one of the Warfield brothers. William made it plain enough that if she were to love one of them it should be Walden. That only Walden had no ulterior motive in his feelings for Allie.
She told him to go fuck himself and tossed him the keys to her new white Maserati as soon as they parked in front of his townhouse. Then she hurried inside and tossed all the expensive clothes and shoes and fancy underwear he’s bought for her into a trash can. She packed her duffel with only the things she’d arrived with and brushed past Miss Hawkins in the front hall as she flew out the front door and ran down the street. William caught up to her quickly and his eyes were moist with tears as he bent to kiss her lips. But she pushed him away with every ounce of strength she could muster and told him exactly what he could do with his tears and his sorrowful look of pity.
*
The days passed with only the occasional tourist wandering into the You Wish bookshop. Allie let the battery in her cell phone go dead and neglected to charge it since there was no one she wanted to speak to. She thought about abandoning New Orleans just as William had abandoned her and going home to California. But what was left there for her? She’d come to the Crescent City with hopes of unlocking the mysteries in the private words and lives of great Southern authors but her own life had become the stuff of fiction. Now she roamed through the stacks of books in her nightgown, her hair fanning out around her like a tarnished halo and she rarely stepped outside other than to grab a coffee to go. Brodie Maguire stopped in several times to check on her and the look of distress in his kind eyes when he saw the state she was in finally prompted her to action.
It was imperative that she lift herself out of the quagmire of self-pity she’d allowed herself to wallow in after William dumped her. Dumped. What an awful sounding word she thought, and what an eager little fool she was to have been so easily deceived. Well, live and learn. She wouldn’t give William Warfield the satisfaction of seeing her scurry back home like a jilted teenager. Nope, she would finish out the summer, work on her thesis and give some thought to sleeping with Brodie because she was a grown up and she was allowed to do as she damn well pleased. So when Brodie poked his head in the door one afternoon with a hopeful smile, she surprised him and accepted his invitation for drinks and dinner.
&
nbsp; She dressed carefully that evening, although she gave zero fucks whether Brodie thought she looked good or not. She was antsy and at loose ends, she had asked a customer to leave the bookshop that morning simply because he quibbled over the price and condition of a tattered book. She felt bad about that and he was right about the shitty condition of the book, it was his looks that pissed her off. He was one of those body-builder types in a loose tank top that showed off his incredible biceps and jeans that hugged his shapely ass in just the right way. Fuck! His body was too freaking hot and it made her think of William and she missed William and she wasn’t sure if she’d ever get over him. So she was terribly rude to the handsome customer and had basically thrown him out of the store.
Allie slipped into the only dressy dress she’d brought with her from California, it wasn’t expensive but it was definitely killer sexy. She pinned her silky honey-streaked hair into an elegant French twist and decided to go commando rather than wear her bedraggled undergarments (she had come to adore the expensive lingerie William had bought for her, that was for sure). A spritz of perfume, two coats of jet-black mascara and a swipe of petal-pink lip gloss and she was ready to assert her newly single status. The bell at the front door of the bookshop rang and she carried her tallest wedge sandals down the stairs to keep from breaking her neck and slipped into them just as she let Brodie in.
“Wow, can I say that or is it sexist and totally not PC?” he asked, grinning from ear to ear as he admired the super short pale-blue satin halter dress that perfectly accented every firm curve of her body.
Allie had never reveled in the power of her beauty before. That would have made her too much like her mother and she wouldn’t stoop that low. However, as she witnessed the raw carnal hunger in Brodie’s eyes she felt a rush of adrenaline that took up some of the empty space where William’s love had been. It felt damned good to have a man ready and oh so willing to worship her although Brodie struck her as a bit too easy to conquer. If she was going to play Liza’s game and fill the wound of true love gone wrong, well then she needed to step up and play with the big boys. She laughed self-consciously for letting her mind think such loathsome thoughts just because she was heartbroken. And here stood Brodie, handsome and gallant and more than ready to make her happy. She really needed to put away the scandalous “Liza thoughts” and behave herself. Her heart would heal eventually and someday, God willing, she would be SO over William Warfield.
