A Scandalous Melody (11 page)

“No,” he said with a little hesitation in his voice. “I'm not sure. I hope it won't be too long.”

Ah. There went that little ray of hope again.

She took a big leap of faith and decided to try pinning him down. “But then why are you going?”

“I have casino business to attend to. But I don't have any idea how long it will take.”

Oh, well. That wasn't so bad. He was going on business. At least, she hoped he wasn't making it up for her benefit. Lots of men panicked when they first found out they were becoming fathers. And Chase had more reason to be wary of the child's mother than most.

“I want you to shut down the mill for good while I'm gone,
chère.
”

Her heart sank. It was the end of an era and probably spelled doom for the town. But she'd known it was time.

“Box up the files and sell off as much of the office and mill equipment as you can,” he continued. “Then I need you to be here to supervise the restoration crews.”

“But…what about Rose?” Her secretary was the last mill employee besides herself. What would she do?

“Rose?” he asked thoughtfully. “Oh. Rose. She should still be your secretary for a while. You'll need help in closing down the mill, and then she can set up the payroll and files for the construction crews.”

“So, it's okay if I stay here until the house construction is done?”

“Of course,” he said with surprise. “This is your home for at least nine more months. I don't want you to have to move until after the baby comes.”

All Kate heard of his comment was that after the baby came she would not be welcome to live in his house. The tears swam in her eyes again, but she held them back.

“All right, Chase. If that's what you want.” She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her misery.

“Great,” he said as he turned to head up the stairs.

He stopped at the doorway and turned back to her. “We have lots to talk about, Kate. I had a fantastic…” He hesitated again. “There's no time now. We'll do this when I get back.”

She looked up at the man she had loved for her whole life and managed a half smile. She had to hide her real desolation.

But when she smiled, his eyes lit up. He closed the gap between them with one step.

“Ah,
chère
, don't tempt me.” He pulled her into his
arms and lasered a desperate kiss across her lips. “I have to go,” he said when he raised his head at last.

“Will you be all right while I'm gone?” He kept her close to his body, and Kate felt his heart strumming wildly in his chest.

She nodded. “I'll be fine.”

“Terrific.” He ground his lips against hers again and groaned as he forced himself to let go and back away.

This time he made it all the way out the kitchen door before he turned around once more. “I almost forgot. While I'm gone, plan the wedding. Do it up however you want.”

“Wedding? Us? But…”

“No buts, Kate. We're getting married. My child will carry my name and will start to feel my love before he's even born. It's a done deal.” With that he dashed out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Chase was still driving her crazy. What did he really feel for her? Was he mad or not?

Shaking her head, Kate decided she would just have to take it one step at a time.

For however long they had remaining.

C
hase carefully guided the Jag through the deep twilight, as he drove down the allée drive toward Live Oak Hall. In the three weeks that he'd been gone, lots of changes had taken place at the plantation.

Construction equipment was spread out across the lawn, scaffolding had been erected against the walls of the house, and the old peeling green paint had been replaced by a rough-sanded look that was even worse. But Chase wasn't the least unhappy about the plantation's condition. It was progress. Progress toward a phenomenal ending.

He couldn't wait to see Kate. To tell her that he'd done it. Actually done it. As far-fetched as it had sounded at first, the wheels were in motion that would make his plan come true.

Barely containing his excitement, Chase found a spot
to park that looked safe enough under a tall crepe myrtle tree. He wanted to see Kate for another reason, too. He'd only managed a handful of calls while he'd been out of town. Twice he had actually reached Shelby instead of Kate. Now he needed to see Kate, to hear her voice, to touch her.

On the drive down from Baton Rouge, it had belatedly hit him that not only hadn't he told Kate his plan, but he also hadn't told her he loved her. Not getting her hopes up by sharing the details of a risky plan was one thing. But not telling the woman you intended to marry that you loved her was sheer lunacy.

A mistake he intended to rectify immediately.

He bounded out of the car by vaulting over the door instead of opening it. Heading for the kitchen where lights were blazing, Chase palmed the lucky egg that he now kept with him at all times.

It had truly been a blessed day when that old gypsy had gifted him with this legacy. Safe and secure in his world for a change, Chase excitedly took the back stairs in one leap.

Throwing open the kitchen door he called out to her, “Kate. I'm back. And do I have something to tell…”

When he rounded the corner, he realized at once that Kate was not in the kitchen. Shelby was at the stove and Maddie sat in a high chair watching him intently.

“Well, hello, Chase. We weren't expecting you. Sorry. If you'd called to let us know, then…”

“Where is she, Shelby?” He steeled his expression so the disappointment wouldn't show.

“Uh…” Shelby looked nervous and it was suddenly driving him nuts.

“Is she okay?” he demanded. “She's not sick or anything?”

Shelby caught the panic in his voice. “Calm down. Kate's fine. The baby is fine. She just had a checkup this morning, and the doctor says all is well.”

“Well then, where is she? Why isn't she here?”

“She's working.”

“Excuse me? Working where?”

“She's been helping Robert Guidry over at the roadhouse tavern during happy hour. He needed the help and she felt she needed the extra money.”

“What?” His ears were ringing. He could not have just heard that the love of his life, the soon-to-be mother of his child was a barmaid.

“She doesn't need money,” he argued. “All she has to do is ask me….”

Shelby laid a soft hand against his sleeve. “That's just it, Chase. She wanted some of her own, and she definitely didn't want to ask.”

“Damned stubborn woman,” he said as he stepped away from Shelby and headed for the Jag.

 

By the time he arrived at the tavern, Chase had calmed down. He had been so consumed over the last few weeks with his project that he had neglected the time with Kate that she obviously needed.

He'd been so sure of her capabilities to take care of herself and everyone around her. He'd just assumed she would think like he did and they wouldn't need to talk about every little detail. What an idiot he was.

Parking the car in the almost empty lot, Chase got out
and took a deep breath. She was her own woman. And thank heaven for her.

But he swore on his mother's grave that this was the last night she would ever work for anyone else.

He opened the tavern door and spotted her behind the bar. Just the sight of Kate made his knees weak and his pulse jump.

Happy hour had been over for a quarter hour and most of the patrons had gone on home. Kate stopped wiping down the bar and glanced up when the light in the room changed, meaning the outside door had opened. The bright lights from the parking lot flooded the entryway and she had to squint to see who had just come in.

And her heart leaped into her throat. Chase.

“Hey there, Guidry,” he called out to Robert, who was at the other end of the bar. “I see you got yourself new help.” Chase hadn't spoken directly to her, but he trained his eyes on her alone as he came closer.

“
Cher,
I…” she hesitated, not knowing what to say. Ecstatic to see him at last, she wanted to jump the bar and fling herself into his arms. But his face was a guarded mask. She couldn't tell what he was thinking.

Chase continued speaking to the bar owner as he climbed onto a bar stool right in front of where she stood. “You're going to have to find yourself someone else, Guidry. This barmaid is a short-timer. In fact, I'd say she has about five more minutes left.”

Her anger came fast and hard. How dare he?

“Just a minute, Chase,” she said with a frown.

He stunned her by grabbing her hands with both of his. “No, Kate,” he said with a grin. “No more minutes
left before I say what should've been said weeks ago.
Je t'aime.
I've never stopped loving you. Not for one single minute since the day I first saw you.”

He pulled a small box from his jacket pocket. He flipped it open and turned the whole box around so she could see what it held.

She couldn't stop the gasp that escaped her lips. One of the biggest diamonds shone from the most fabulous ring setting she had ever beheld.

“Please do me the honor of becoming my wife.”

Glancing from the ring back up into his eyes, Kate saw the emotion there that she had longed to see. He still loved her. For real.

Heart fluttering, she managed a grin of her own. “Yes, Chase. I will marry you.”

He slipped the ring on her finger and leaned over the bar for a kiss. It was the tenderest of kisses. One of the sensual and endearing kinds, unlike any in her experience. Gentle, raw and full of every emotion that was running through them both, the kiss sent tears to her eyes. She pulled away, sniffed and held her hand, palm out, to study the ring.

Chase chuckled. And Robert whistled.

“That's some rock, Severin.” Robert came closer to get a better look. “It's a wondrous thing to be seeing a Beltrane and a Severin about to be joined after all these generations. I guess that will surely be taking the curse off some folks round here.”

“Curse?” both Chase and Kate asked at the same time.

Old Robert Guidry winked at them. “I told you I had some interesting history yet to tell, Severin. You ready to hear it?”

A superstitious curse wasn't particularly interesting to Chase. But it made him wonder if the old man might have the answers to any of the questions that still rumbled around in the back of his brain.

“Okay, Guidry. I'm listening.” Chase eased back on his bar stool but took hold of Kate's hand across the mahogany bar. “
We're
listening. Go ahead with history.”

The older man showed his yellowed teeth through a half smile. “Well now… It all started with your great-great-granddaddy Severin.”

“Mine? Really?” Chase knew absolutely nothing about his family history—on either side.

“Jacques was his name,” Guidry began. “Came down to bayou country to run the St. Germaine farm.”

“Oh, yes,” Kate murmured as she turned to Chase. “You remember. Gus told us that.”

He nodded but kept silent, waiting for the rest.

“Your ancestor, son,” Guidry continued. “He was a gambling man like you. Spent his spare time in barns and back rooms betting on games of chance.

“More than once he faced a young Beltrane boy name of Armand over cards and dice,” Robert continued. “They had themselves a real rivalry going. Wanted the same land. Same women. Fought over everything.”

Chase was feeling strange. This was not the story he'd been expecting to hear.

“One night a gypsy troop came to town,” Robert told them as he picked up the bar towel and wiped his hands.

“Gypsies? You're kidding?”

“Wasn't so unusual back then. They came to small towns to sharpen knives, tell fortunes and part the locals from whatever they had that wasn't nailed down.

“Both of your ancestors fell in lust with the same gypsy woman,” Robert said with a shake of his head. “She played them both for a while, then unfortunately fell hard for Jacques. Armand couldn't stand losing. It drove him mad. He went looking for them.”

“Oh, dear,” Kate said. “I'm not sure I want to hear the rest of this.”

Robert patted her on the shoulder. “When the smoke cleared, both Armand and the gypsy woman were dead. Jacques was near death, too, but he pulled through.

“The gypsy woman's father was inconsolable,” Robert told them as the story wound down. “He cursed both families. Swore they would pay for his daughter's death for generations.”

“Okay,” Chase interrupted when Robert took a breath. “That's enough about curses.” He didn't like the horrified look on Kate's face. And the gypsy coincidence was just plain spooky.

Robert took the hint and put his arm around Kate's shoulders. “If there was a curse, Missy Kate, it ended with your father's death. Don't you worry about it.”

Chase rolled his eyes over the fantasy tale about a curse. But there were other things he still wanted to know. He wondered if Robert Guidry would have the answers.

“Please don't try to tell me it was a family curse that drove Kate's father to hate me. That doesn't make…”

“You're right about that, son,” Robert said. “Henry Beltrane had his very own evil spirits.”

“Can you tell me about him?” Chase asked, but then thought better of it and turned to Kate. “You don't have to listen to this if you don't want to,
chère.
”

She seemed stronger now and shook her head. “I want to know whatever you can tell us about my father. I never understood the things he did.”

Robert studied her through narrowed eyes for a few moments. “I suppose y'all both should be hearing the truth. Let the past be the past.

“Your father was a weak man, Kate,” Robert continued in a bolder tone. “He was a spoiled-rotten boy that grew into a weak and selfish adult.”

Chase decided Kate needed to sit down for this. “Come around the bar and sit with me,
chère.
I need you.”

She lifted her chin as if to accuse him of trying to protect her—which of course he was. But he tried a smile and she smiled back. Then she came around the bar, climbed on a stool and he jumped up to stand behind her. He put his arms around her as she leaned against his chest for support. Her body was warm, and her strength washed right inside him.

It occurred to him then that he did need her. Much more than she needed him.

Guidry began his tale. “Henry Beltrane and Charles Severin went to school together and competed in everything. But it wasn't a fair competition. Sorry, Kate, but Henry was a born loser.”

She nodded her head and made a motion with her hands for him to continue.

“Charles won the class president's job. He dated the prettiest girls. And though he couldn't take the time to participate in sports, whenever they faced each other in a game, Charles's team always won.

“Your daddy grew more hateful and bitter toward Charles every year,” Robert continued with a sigh. “At
their senior prom, Henry drank too much and pawed his date…tore her dress. Charles stepped in like the Southern gentlemen he was raised to be and took the scared girl home. Henry got himself a permanent mad-on cause of that, and swore then that he would someday get the better of Charles Severin.”

“That sounds like my father,” Kate told them. “But what happened to Charles to change him so much?”

Robert Guidry shook his head sadly. “The day Chase's mama was buried Charles picked up a bottle to drown his sorrows and just never could put it down again. And Henry Beltrane laughed in his face every day. Called him a ridiculous drunk.

“Your daddy used every nasty trick he knew to keep Charles Severin tied to that bottle, Kate,” Robert told her darkly. “And it worked, too, until Chase finally rescued Charles and dried him out.”

Kate twisted her head to question Chase. “You came here five years ago to save your father?”

Chase could only nod. Hearing that story had been difficult. Everything he'd ever imagined about his father was untrue. Chase's whole world seemed to be shifting.

“I wish I'd known you'd come home then,” Kate said softly. “I might've…”

He looked down into the face of the woman he loved and saw great sorrow in her eyes. She was suffering from the sins of her father again. And Chase wouldn't stand for it.

He'd wanted his homecoming tonight to be a celebration. He'd wanted festive, not depressing. It was time to get them both out of here.

“Let's go,
chère,
” he broke in before she could finish. “I have something good to tell you…in private.”

Robert beamed at them both. “Anything you say will stay here, son.”

“No chance, old man. You'll get the gossip soon enough. My fiancée hears the news first.”

He shuttled them both out of the tavern and into the car. Dying to see Kate's expression change for the better, Chase couldn't wait to tell her how they were about to take the ultimate revenge.

 

“I thought you said your news was going to be good.” Kate stared up at the moonlit outline of the old rice mill and shuddered. “Why did you bring me here? These ghostly walls are a far cry from anything pleasant. I thought we'd put the mill behind us forever.”