Lilac Temptress (8 page)

“
Just do this for me, I beg
you,” Drake pleaded.

Drake wasn’t the type to give up a
challenge, and he knew that Girard didn’t actually expect any less
from him.

Girard, recognizing the futility of
trying to change his friend’s mind, finally conceded. “You are
incorrigible. I don’t know what the hell you think you are doing by
staying here, but I’ll get word to you before the week is out. Get
some sleep would you?”

“
Much appreciated, friend.”
Drake grinned.

Girard frowned, barely waving a so
long as he mounted his horse, and road off with the other
men.

Even though Drake was fatigued from
his restless night, sleep would have to wait. He had too much to do
before the day was over.

First he reserved his room at Casa
Bayou Inn for another week. After drinking too much black coffee,
and eating the bread and ham Girard had prepared for him, he asked
the desk clerk where he could find a map of Jadesville in order to
scout the town, then headed out.

He walked a mile or so up the dirt
road. A few people passed him by, greeting him, while others simply
walked onward without taking notice. Finally, he reached a small
shabby wooden building with a sign that read, “The River Market” at
the entrance.

The store was a mix of survival gear.
Hunting rifles hung against one wall, while canned and dried foods,
and animal feed were stacked against another. Drake strolled
through the aisles and marveled at the interesting contents of this
variety store. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a thin
gray-haired man watching him from behind the counter.

“
Can I help you with
something, sir? Passing through town, are you? Need some supplies?”
the man offered.

“
I was told that I could
find a map of Jadesville here,” Drake answered, making his way to
the front of the store.

“
Well, you heard right. But
what do you want with a map of this town?” the clerk prodded. “Most
travelers just spend a night or two in Jadesville before up and
leaving. There’s not much for sightseeing around here.”

Drake leaned against the counter,
grinning at the man’s remark. The man smiled back, exposing his
nearly toothless gums. “Tell me something—how often do you get
supplies into town?”

“
Supplies?” The old man
groaned his despair. “A few wagons come into town every month from
New Iberia. Deliveries are made.”

“
What do these supply
wagons carry?”

“
Simple goods. The only
problem is that sometimes our supplies are delayed for weeks due to
raiding thieves, or Indian uprisings. Traveling through the
swampland can be difficult at times no matter how clear a path has
been laid. If the general practitioner has a really sick patient,
and doesn’t obtain the medicines...” the old man’s voice trailed
off. “Let’s just say a lot of praying goes on around here. But you
wanted a map right? Well I got maps.”

The man fumbled behind the register
for what seemed like an eternity to Drake, before finally emerging
with a map.

“
It’s in mint condition,”
he noted as he offered it to Drake to inspect.

Drake paid him, and headed through the
exit opening the map for further study as he walked. He scouted the
small town most of the day, took notes, and kept a low profile.
Hours later he had completed his tour, and returned to his room—he
lie in his bed staring at the ceiling. He hadn’t realized when he
first started inspecting the town just how small and uninteresting
it really was with all of its dull matching buildings leaning
against each other. He carefully considered how he would approach
William before turning his thoughts to Sierra once again. She had
never left his mind, he realized. He had to see her
again.

Jadesville was definitely no place for
a young vivacious woman like her, Drake decided. Anywhere, but
here, he thought grimly as he finally succumbed to his elusive
sleep.

* * *

Furiously, Sierra walked home alone
that night from the tavern. Now, she sat in her bedroom thinking
about Kyle. He had been bold enough to flirt with Claudine openly
while she and her husband, Trey Halerow, had drinks. Claudine had
never come into the bar before that. Sierra knew she was there to
see Kyle.

She couldn’t figure out on her life
why Claudine had married Trey in the first place. Maybe Claudine
was greedy, she mused. It wasn’t unusual for a young woman to marry
a much older man. In fact, it was a commonplace. Men often traded
experience for youth—but a married couple was supposed to grow old
together, Sierra thought.

Claudine, a pretty petite-blond,
hardly older than Kyle, behaved every bit as ignorantly and
impulsively as he. They were clumsy with their meetings. Frankly,
Sierra thought it a vulgar display for Claudine to make passes
right under her husband’s nose.

Trey was too drunk to notice that
Claudine and Kyle had disappeared for a half-hour in the back. But
Sierra did notice, and she was furious. She thought about Trey for
a moment. He was not bad looking at all for an older man in his
early fifties. He might have given Kyle a run for his money had he
been twenty years younger. His dark hair was graying, and he had
nice brown eyes, but his body was too thin, and it made his head
appear slightly larger somehow.

Kyle, on the other hand, was
beautiful. He kept his dirty golden hair long past his shoulders
and always held tight with a cord. His eyes were a brilliant shade
of blue and filled with compassionate depth. Tall and leanly
muscled, when he gave his charming smile, he was simply
irresistible to the young ladies. He was outgoing and full of
energy, but also full of himself, cocky, and emotionally immature
sometimes. But usually, he remained indifferent to everything
around him.

Most of the young ladies in town
chased after him, and though he was flattered by their affections,
he never took advantage of them. He rather enjoyed his most
favorable hobbies of sketching pictures of the Teche, or riding
Shadowcaster all day long, William’s horse that Kyle took for
his.

What was she going to do
about Kyle? Eventually, Kyle would suffer the consequences of his
actions, but he thought little of it since the most influential man
in town was William.
Kyle is under Wil’s
protection, and nobody would trouble Wil, right?
Sierra tried to convince herself.

In his room upstairs, she
had argued privately with Kyle before leaving the tavern. Kyle
laughed at her when she told him that he had gone too far this
time, and had better be more mindful in the future. She responded
to his laughter by giving him a cuff on the back of his head.
Kyle’s mirth had changed to a subdued seriousness, and his eyes had
narrowed in anger.
What did you do that
for?
he had asked.

Sierra recalled her
response.
You better listen to me when I
talk to you! Don’t treat me the way you treat other girls who wish
they had you all to themselves! Women will come and go, but I am
your sister, and you are my brother! I am only trying to make you
see the error of your ways. I am trying to protect you!

She remembered how Kyle had
stared at her.
You’re obsessed with
me,
he had told her
. You have no life of your own, so now you want to take over
mine!

He finally realized that his harsh
words had cut her like a knife. He knew she had dedicated an
enormous amount of time, and effort keeping him out of
trouble—failing to fulfill her own dreams as a result. He had
looked at her apologetically, and tried to put across how much she
meant to him—more than anyone on earth he’d said, and that if she
wished it, he would let Claudine go.

But somehow, he had not convinced
her.

* * *

After she bathed and dressed for
sleep, she stopped thinking about Kyle, and gave into more pleasant
thoughts of Drake McCalister, who by now, had probably arrived in
New Iberia in route to New Orleans. Now, he was a man that she
could daydream of for hours.

Sierra let her imagination have its
way with her. She envisioned what her encounter might have been
like if she had slept with Drake, but in her dreams she did much
more than be subject to his passion. The girls in the brothel, whom
she thought of as sisters, had told her all about their exploits
with men, giving her some idea of what men wanted from a
woman.

Sierra giggled to
herself.
Funny,
she thought. Not even living in the brothel had she ever seen
a man completely naked. In fact the only male she’d seen naked had
been Kyle, and they were children then.

She and Kyle used to skinny dip in a
calm white river cutting through the valley when they were kids
until suddenly she put an end to it. Her body had started
undergoing strange metamorphic changes, and at age twelve she got
her menstrual cycle, and she had cried to Adrienne. Adrienne told
Sierra that she was becoming a woman, and had arranged with William
for her to move out of the room she and Kyle shared at the tavern,
and into a room at the brothel.

William thought the idea absurd, but
since Sierra had no mother to explain the changes in her body, he
simply agreed with Adrienne that she should look after
Sierra.

Adrienne was happy to have Sierra
around because she’d never had children of her own, and had always
wanted a daughter. Sierra remembered feeling ashamed of her body at
first when ten-year-old Kyle innocently asked her why they couldn’t
go skinny-dipping anymore. She had said because they just couldn’t,
and her move down the road had devastated him. But Sierra returned
to spend many nights with Kyle until eventually he had become
accustomed to having his own room, and didn’t want her around
anymore.

Goodness, when did the
pleasant distraction of Drake give way to my worrying over Kyle
again?
Maybe if he had been more
convincing about leaving Claudine I could stop distressing,
she thought. She knew her only choice was to
convince Claudine to stay away from Kyle. Sierra would take care of
this problem herself.

* * *

Early the next morning, Sierra left
the brothel in search of her brother’s lover. She knew that
Claudine would be home while Trey was working at the Stevenson’s
ranch. After a short walk to Trey’s house, she knocked on the porch
door of the white and black house.

After a few minutes of waiting on the
doorstep, Claudine finally answered. When she opened the door, hair
disheveled—Sierra guessed that she’d just awoken, as she was still
dressed for bed, donning a pink cotton nightgown. A scowl painted
across Claudine’s lips. Even her sour disposition couldn’t erase
the loveliness of her visage. Sierra bemoaned, suddenly feeling a
little sorry for her brother who was no doubt charmed by Claudine’s
beauty.

“
Sierra, what have I done
to deserve the pleasure of your unexpected visit?” Claudine sneered
sarcastically, but apparently unsurprised. Kyle had told her that
Sierra didn’t like her much, and everyone in town knew Sierra could
be rash when she was upset.

“
I think you know why I’m
here,” Sierra stated simply, glaring directly into her
eyes.

“
No, but I’m sure you’re
going to tell me.”

“
You’re certainly right I’m
going to tell you!” Sierra barked.

“
Then spit it out, I ain’t
got all day.” Claudine didn’t like Sierra’s tone, and wished she
would leave.

“
I’m here to discuss Kyle.
I want you to stop seeing him,” Sierra demanded.

“
Now, why would I do a
thing like that?”

Sierra’s vivid, and apparent vexation
didn’t intimidate Claudine in the least bit, and she wanted to
clobber the woman, but instead she balled her fists, hidden in her
skirt. “I came here hoping that you would consider what I am
saying. For God’s sake, you are a married woman, Claudine. You keep
toying with Kyle this way, and you’re going to get him into
trouble. I saw you two disappear at the bar last night,” Sierra
spat.

“
You noticed us? We did not
exit to the back together.” Claudine’s surprised look indicated
that she thought she, and Kyle had been more discrete.

“
Claudine, I will only tell
you this once. If you care about him you will let him
go.”

“
Or what Sierra? Do you
think that just because you are standing there, ready to strike at
me that you will stop us?”

“
Do you even love him?”
Sierra countered.

“
It is all in good fun. As
soon as I want it to be over, you will get your wish. Now, if you
would please...” Claudine gestured toward the end of the
property.

Sierra stomped away infuriated. She
groaned—there was no sure way of knowing if whether or not Kyle and
Claudine would stop seeing each other. But she didn’t have time to
think of it further, and hurried toward the tavern. She had a
shipment to put away, and wanted to finish quickly, so that she
wouldn’t have to spend most of her day at Wil’s bar.

As she rushed along the unpaved road,
she thought of Kyle being used to satisfy Claudine’s whims. Jason
Grant had used her in the same way. Why did he ever say that he
loved her, only to leave her so abruptly, without even saying a
goodbye? He had promised to love her forever. They had made plans
to get married. She brushed her unexpected tears away. Jason wasn’t
even worth her thoughts.