Rue Toulouse (43 page)

Miss Dauphine scowled. “You’re so lucky, Annabelle. Your boys married kind, decent women. And in my heart I can’t believe either of my sons would want to harm me.” She turned to Remi. “All right, I won’t banish any of my ungrateful offspring. But rest assured I’ll be more aware of my surroundings.”

“And you won’t be on your own, Grandmère. Miss Annabelle is going to stay with you,” Caterine said.

“Now, Caterine, Dauphine hasn’t yet said she wants me to stay at the house with her. I can easily remain at the hotel.”

“Nonsense, Annabelle,” Miss Dauphine said. “Of course you’ll come to the house. We have a lot to talk about. Let whoever it was try something underhanded with the two of us on alert. Why, we might catch them ourselves.”

Caterine had to hide her smile when Remi turned to her and mouthed,
great.
 

Clearing her throat, Caterine asked, “So, Grandmère, when did the doctor say you’d be released?”

“Tomorrow morning. Jules is going to pick me up. We can then go by the hotel and get Annabelle. Unfortunately with my ankle as it is, I’ll not be able to assist you at Ma Chérie.”

Remi frowned. “I don’t like the idea of Caterine being there alone with Frances and Hyacinth.”

“Remi, I won’t be alone with my aunts. Clients will be coming and going, and there’s a full staff of seamstresses. And before you start arguing with me, I promise I won’t leave the shop.”

“I can go and be with her for a while,” Annabelle said. “I wanted to stop by there anyway.”

Miss Dauphine nodded. “That will be fine. Plan on Jules and me picking you up. Mr. Michaud, will you be able to drive your grandmother from the hotel to Ma Chérie?”

“
Oui
, I can do that.”

“Now that we have everything settled, Caterine, would you like to tell me how you got that nasty scrape on your face?” Miss Dauphine asked.

“I tripped in the parking lot earlier.”

“Caterine, I always know when you are lying to me, and you’re lying to me right now. I’ll ask again. How did you get that scrape on your face?”

“Grandmère, it was foggy this morning. I was in the parking lot and a car didn’t see me. I had to jump out of the way and I fell. That’s all.”

For what seemed hours to Caterine, her grandmother studied her face closely before finally sighing. “Very well. Now, I believe the medication they have me on for pain is beginning to take effect. I’m becoming rather tired.” She stifled a yawn. “I’ll bid all of you good night.”

“I really wish we could convince our grandmothers to stay away from the ball.” Remi sat propped up in bed, watching Caterine hang up her princess gown. “I have enough to worry about without wondering what a couple of Miss Marple wannabes might get up to.”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Caterine was closely examining her torn gown. “Grandmère can hardly walk, and Annabelle isn’t going to go off and leave her. I’m sure they’ll seat themselves in the ballroom, making sure they’re in the best spot to see and be seen.”

“What are you doing over there?”

“I’m checking the extent of the damage to my gown. I must say, Remi, you weren’t a bit careful.”

He grinned. “There was something under that gown I wanted. Say, Princess, that reminds me.” He opened the drawer of the bedside table and extracted a silver fleur-de-lis hair clip studded with tiny diamonds. “Look what I have.” He held up the clip.

Caterine could only gape. “Remi! I thought I lost that, and you’ve had it all this time.” She hurried over and happily took the clip from his outstretched hand. “I have many copies, but this was my mother’s. I was so upset I had Elaine scouring her garden for it. I didn’t have the heart to tell Grandmère.” She did a little dance back to where her dress hung. “Now I can wear it with my gown to the party. I’ll bet it will bring me good luck.”

Remi grinned. “I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you put the clip and gown on now and come back over here?”

She glanced over her shoulder at him lying naked against the pillows as a familiar thrill tingled through her body. “Why? So you can tear my gown even more?”

His grin widened. “No, I don’t need to tear it to get to where I want to go.
Viens ici, Princess. Viens, ma jolie fille. J’aime te faire l’amour avec toi
,” he whispered as she slipped the gown over her naked body.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

“Here you go,
cher
.” Remi stopped the car in front of Ma Chérie early Monday morning. “I’ll be back after awhile with Annabelle. Now, Caterine, I can trust that under no circumstances you will leave the store, correct?”

Caterine rolled her eyes as she got out of the car. “Yes, Remi. I won’t leave the store.”

“You know, that habit of rolling your eyes like that is really annoying.”

Leaning over, she smiled as she closed the car door. “And you know what, Remi? Constantly being reminded what I can and can’t do is also annoying.” Blowing him a kiss, she didn’t wait for his reply.

Caterine turned on the lights as she made her way through the store heading for the staircase in the back that led to the sewing area upstairs. She placed her gown on one of the long tables and looked around in satisfaction. Everything was neat and tidy. Bolts of cloth were folded on tall shelves. Works in progress were laid out on tables or draped across dress forms. State-of-the-art sewing machines lined the far wall, where large windows offered the best light and a view of the street below
. And it all belongs to me.

As she stared onto Royal Street, she felt the weight of responsibility pressing down on her.
What if I destroy something that took decades to establish?
She stood there for a long while before she sighed and turned from the window.
All I can do is promise you, Grandmère, that I’ll do my very best with what you’ve entrusted to me and hope it’s enough.

Back in her office, Caterine busied herself with paperwork until she heard her aunts arrive. Expecting only Frances and Hyacinth, she glanced up when she heard Paulette’s and Charlotte’s voices as well. As she reached the main salon, she was in time to see all but Frances disappear up the stairs.

“Aunt Frances, what are Paulette and Charlotte doing here?”

Frances’ back stiffened. “Since Ma Chérie is closed tomorrow, they’ve come to get their costumes for the ball. Is that a problem?”

She softened her tone. “Of course not. I forgot about them needing their costumes. So what are they dressing as?”

“I believe Charlotte is going as Aphrodite, Paulette as Little Bo Peep, and Hyacinth as Scarlet O’Hara.”

Caterine watched as her aunt and cousins made their way back down the stairs.
They should be going as the three witches in Macbeth
.

“Isn’t that the princess gown you wore to the LaBeaus’ party lying up there, Caterine?” Paulette asked.

Caterine nodded.

Paulette’s brows lifted. “Judging by the condition of your gown, it must have been quite a wild party. The gown looks as if it were torn off you. Tell us, Caterine, is that where you met your Cajun boyfriend? I hear those Cajuns can get pretty rough with their ladies. Or perhaps you like it rough?”

“You really shouldn’t speak of things you know nothing about,” came a sweet southern voice. “My husband was Cajun, and he was nothing but kind and gentle with me.”

Caterine had to bite her lip as she turned to see Annabelle Michaud, outraged as only a southern belle could be.

“I beg your pardon?” Paulette stiffened at the woman’s rebuke. “And just who do you think you are?”

“Paulette, let me introduce Miss Annabelle Michaud, a dear friend of Grandmère. Miss Annabelle, these are my cousins Charlotte and Paulette, my Aunt Hyacinth and Aunt Frances.”

For seconds silence filled the room, then Frances plastered on a bright smile and hurried over to take Annabelle’s hands.

“Miss Annabelle, how good it is to see you again. When did you arrive in New Orleans? Miss Dauphine is going to be so surprised to see you. Where are you staying?”

Annabelle, at her haughtiest, smiled. “Why, Frances, Dauphine already knows I’m in town. In fact, she and Jules will be stopping here after she’s released from the hospital. I’ll be accompanying them back to the house, where I’ll be staying with Dauphine. I came in to see your new designs and to congratulate Caterine on her ownership of Ma Chérie.”

Behind her Caterine gleefully heard Charlotte snort and Paulette hiss. With difficulty, Caterine controlled her impulse to run over to Annabelle and throw her arms around her neck. As Caterine bent to kiss her cheek, she whispered, “Thanks.”

In a louder tone, she said, “It’s good to see you again, Miss Annabelle. Come to my office and I’ll show you our design books.” Caterine looked back over her shoulder and smiled. “Aunt Frances, I believe Annabelle and I would enjoy some coffee. Would either you or Hyacinth see to it? Oh, some of those pastries would be nice as well.”

Once safely behind Caterine’s closed office door, both women collapsed into chairs and tried to stifle their laughter.

“Oh, my dear, I’m afraid I may have made things more difficult for you.” Annabelle wiped at her tears. “But I couldn’t stop myself. Those women are worse than I remembered.”

Caterine smiled. “Trust me, the looks on their faces were worth any retribution that may come my way.”

“Before they arrive with the coffee, Remi wanted me to tell you he’ll be spending the day with Paul going over last minute details for tomorrow and for you to call him when you’re ready to leave.”

Caterine sighed. “Remi worries too much about me. I can’t wait for tomorrow to be over. Hopefully there will be an end to all of this.”

“Of course he’s worried. He loves you, my dear. He’s going to do everything in his power to make sure you're safe.”

“I guess we’re as ready as we’re going to be,” Remi said. He was sitting in Paul’s office as they reviewed the plan. “We’ll have men stationed inside and out. The surveillance cameras will be monitored, and Caterine will be wearing a wire. So how come with all this I’m still afraid somehow we’ll fuck up?”

“Because no matter how well orchestrated this is, there’s still a chance something can go wrong. But we’re good at what we do, and we’ll make sure not to screw this up. Remi, you’re too close to the situation to be objective or feel secure. If this were a different bust, you’d have a lot more confidence.”

Remi ran his fingers through his hair. “I know you’re right. I just can’t let her get hurt.”

Paul played with a pen sitting on his desk. “Buddy, can I ask you something personal?”

“
Oui
.”

“Are you in love with Caterine?”

Remi stood and walked over to the window. After a long minute he turned back to Paul. “
Oui
.”

“Are you going to ask her to marry you?”

His smile was without humor. “You think she’d have me?”

Paul nodded. “In a minute.”

Chapter Forty

Remy lay awake, his arms folded behind his head, watching as the shadows danced across the bedroom ceiling. Unable to sleep, he’d played and replayed in his mind all that could possibly go wrong that evening at the ball. With a sigh, he looked over at Caterine’s beautiful sleeping face. Once again he marveled at being the one she’d chosen to give her closely guarded love to. His heart clenched in fear every time he thought about the chance they were taking with her life. If something were to go wrong and he lost her, he honestly didn’t know how he’d go on alone.