With One Look (45 page)

"No. I have a few moments." She could use a distraction.

"I'll skip the parts about Sebastian's family, his brothers and sister and all his nieces and nephews, and then the pages and pages of Austrian and French politics, Napoleon's exile and the talk of his return and, oh, she goes on for pages! Suffice it to say, Sebastian's parents had just returned from their annual trip abroad"—this meant to Paris, the only city they felt worthy of their presence— "and she reports that she found upon her return that everyone is healthy and happy, except for his older brother, who broke his leg in a riding accident. Anyway, here it is." Mercedes read the letter in French as it was written:

"'Imagine my delight and surprise to encounter a Madame de Boire at a gala given to celebrate Admiral Cambrie's triumphant return from his famous Italian campaign. There she stood splendidly outfitted in a ruby silk— worthy of the most fashionable Parisian artisan—and being introduced to her peers—" Mercedes looked up. "She underlined the word. You'll see why." She continued: " 'As the wife of the mayor of New Orleans in America.

"'Upon being introduced, naturally I refused to suffer the humiliation of announcing my youngest son resides in that part of the new country. How could one explain the phenomenon without it casting the said parents in a most disagreeable light?' "

Mercedes laughed gaily at this, and Jade smiled. Sebastian's mother would never accept the fact that Sebastian actually liked New Orleans, that one of her sons could possibly choose America over the Continent. She saw the entire country as barbaric, a strange unknown place of swamps and dark-skinned people, criminals and savages, utterly provincial and foreign, and definitely not part of the civilized world....

Mercedes continued: "'I watched the woman closely: surprised at her impeccable manners and dress, amazed by her charm and grace. She did not stumble once, though the discerning eye might notice the coarse rock beneath the polished veneer. You'll understand my amazement more thoroughly when I explain that my friend, Baroness D'Alba, happily swore she was the very same woman who appeared in Paris many years ago on the arms of some stalwart captain. This man— making his living off the despicable importation of human flesh to your hateful shores—was more generally known as a pirate, or politely, a profiteer. Apparently, his pockets were suffused with enough gold coin to buy this woman a place in a house where she would be instructed in the arts and manners of a lady, only to be introduced first in the minor Italian courts and later in Paris as Mademoiselle Lucretia Diale. Somewhere along this unsavory path, the woman got rid of her captain and married the man who is your mayor.' "

"Oh my!"

"Wait, it goes on. She says, 'This woman rests my case. If this is the type of society I could look forward to meeting in New Orleans, I will no longer humor any of your flowery invitations to visit you and my darling daughter-in-law, Mercedes, in that place. You shall henceforth refrain from issuing these overtures.' "

Mercedes looked up as Jade laughed. "The rest of the letter is the predictable indictment of our modest society here. I shall spare you, Jade. But isn't that astonishing? I must confess, considering my own less than humble beginnings, I find some small measure of glee—terribly wicked of me, I know!—in knowing these sordid details of her true origins."

They talked for some time about the house construction: the new tile, the roof, the size of the stables, the best imported carpets, until finally Victor returned. Mercedes withdrew after a happy greeting. Victor had obviously ridden all the way from the shipyard, for he wore his work clothes: white sailor pants, a vest, and moccasin boots; and when Jade glanced up from her papers to confront him in the doorway, she could not escape a sudden stirring. The white against his

bronze skin, the casual ease with which he carried his tall frame, his smile and those finely shaped, ever-so-intelligent eyes.

She felt strangely shy. He greeted her pleasantly, but casually, and to her dismay he took no notice of her dress. His eyes but briefly fell on her before he went into another room to confer first with Murray.

Another hour passed before he returned.

"All right, sweetheart, let's get this over with before dinner." He sat down at his desk, swung his long legs on top and leaned back. "Go ahead, shoot. I'm all yours."

With her work in her hands, she rose nervously. "It's all finished, but before I go over it with you, I was ... well, I was ..."

"Yes?"

"You were gone all last night?"

"Uh huh." He smiled, but added sarcastically, "Don't tell me you missed me."

"I—" She stopped, the idea striking her as ridiculous. She was relieved when he was gone-- except for when she suffered a nightmare, though she would not admit that.

This wasn't going well.

She closed her eyes to collect the tumble of her thoughts, and without warning the image of the transparent light that had once been her love rose with startling clarity in her mind. A warmth rushed through her, but then she shook her head as if to escape the vision.

When she opened her eyes again, it was only to see his distracted gaze. He was spinning the large world globe alongside his desk around and around.

"Well, I was ... I was wondering where you went off to?"

Somehow his smile mocked her. "Suffice to say out. Yet I see you're interested Jade. As if you actually care. Why, I wonder? Don’t tell me you’d rather I sleep with you?"

A blunt question. It caught her off guard. Her thoughts tumbled in confusion as she tried to answer the question, having no idea the answer appeared in her eyes.

He wanted to show her. "Sweetheart," he began in a deceptively calm voice, "Just so you understand completely, let me show you exactly why I flee this place."

Victor walked to her side and stood next to her. He said not a word. He didn't even reach a hand to her; he knew he didn't have to.

Jade tried—oh, how she tried—to control herself. But he stood so close! She focused hard on the tips of her pretty white slippers but she felt his huge body's warmth on her skin and she stiffened with alarm, her heart beginning to pound violently. She couldn't breathe. That sinking, trapped feeling swept over her, and she struggled so hard to fight the urge to step away that she began trembling.

Victor seized her, then—grabbing her arms, pulling her hard against him, stopping just short of shaking her senseless. "There you have it, Jade Terese. A plain demonstration of the sorry state of our marital affairs. I cannot stand next to you without your quaking with that fear. Jade, I want you, and sometimes so badly I'm driven nearly mad—" He stopped, staring down at the growing panic in the wide eyes, and he released her with an abrupt push. "Get the hell out of here."

A smooth canopy of gray clouds served to insulate and absorb the heat, but let none escape.

It was hot and muggy, and by the afternoon, nearly unbearable. Jade was on a mission.

So many things lost ...

Wolf Dog sat on the edge of the water, watching the other swim away. Water was the only place he refused to follow her. He hated the water; hated the absence of smell, the painful tickles in his ears, the darkness below in which he could not defend an attack. He also hated waiting for the other, and he did so anxiously, always worried that she could be swallowed by the wet darkness.

Jade swam to the far end of the lake, estimated the spot where she had lost her earring, and began diving. She surfaced, took a breath of air and dove again, having just a few seconds to pat the silty bottom before returning for air. Ten dives later, she surfaced and for several minutes rested by floating in the water.

After another round of dives, she was ready to give up her effort. How sad, she thought, feeling her right earlobe, where she touched the two holes. Victor had given her the earrings on the eve of the new year. She had been so excited that she had missed her piercing and made a new hole that hadn't been there before.

A vivid memory filled her mind. When she had showed Victor her mistake—the extra hole she had created—she was laughing at her silliness, but he had leaned over and kissed her ear. His lips had lingered there, his breath caressing her skin, causing those wild shivers and that warm flush. Desire born from his slightest touch ...

Jade shivered suddenly, her reaction having nothing to do with the cool water. How he had loved her! They has been so happy then. She looked at the water, remembering the first time they

made love in a lake, and she grew warm, every part of her body suddenly awakened, straining from the mere memory,...

Tears filled her eyes.

Her tears went unnoticed, for quite suddenly the small pearl earring seemed more precious than anything else....

Marie Saint woke from a sound sleep.

She sat up in bed, her lovely eyes wide, frightened as she searched the dark familiar room through the veil of the mosquito net. At first she didn't see her. Her eyes swept the divan and the armoire, the large gilt-framed looking glass above the hearth, then past the sitting table and chairs before doubling back. An outline made of light appeared in the looking glass; she heard the faintest sound of a woman crying amidst the steady fall of rain outside.

"Why have you come?"

Marie's whispered words failed to get a response at first. She listened to the soft sound of tears above the quiet tick of the mechanical clock and the patter of rain against the windows. Then she heard: "She is going to kill her...."

"Who?"

"She is trying to reach me still.” "Who is doing this?"

"Juliet."

"Juliet is dead."

"She lives; she lives. She is claimed by darkness and hate. She lives only to punish me

still...."

"No, no!" Marie's long hair swirled about her shoulders as she shook her head. "Juliet has

died, long ago she has died...."

The light faded and disappeared. A chill went up Marie's spine.

The sky was a gray bowl of smooth clouds. The sun was high behind Victor, and heat seemed to rise from the ground like steam, shimmering in a mirage of waves, while the sun occasionally broke through like a scorching burst of heat against his skin. How could she last long in this heat?

Yet somehow she did. She still rode out at dawn every day and returned in the afternoon. The oppressive heat that sent everyone in the house to bed in the afternoon, with the shades drawn and a fan in hand, never seemed to affect her. When he was home, less and less frequently now, he watched her swim in the afternoon. She stepped to the edge of the pond, disappearing behind a bush, and shrugged out of her clothes before stepping into the warm water. Gracefully, so gracefully, like a swan or a water nymph, she glided out, ducked under and then began swimming back and forth across the pond.

"Jade how I miss you...."

He drew his horse up and stopped, wiping his brow before he listened for a sound of the danger. Only the cry and cackle of unseen birds, the scurry of a lizard across the mud-and-moss covered creek bed. This morning just after Jade rode out, the Meeks and the Galliers, along with a handful of slaves on foot, had appeared at Shady Manor. It was not a social visit; the men were upset and agitated. There was another pack of wild dogs. Last night the pack had killed two horses, one a prized mare, both horses corralled in a pasture.

The news had alarmed him. Wolf Dog alone could not protect Jade from a pack. He'd join the hunt just as soon as he found Jade and got her safely home.

He looked back to Ariel's tracks, left in the mossy banks of a moist creek bed. He was getting close now. He couldn't see Wolf Dog's tracks. He scanned the surrounding area but there was no sign of the dog.

He kicked with his soft-skinned boots and his mount continued on. The moss-draped cypress trees created a dense canopy overhead, and the grass-covered ground was still moist from last night's rain. A coral snake slithered over a rotting log and into the swampy marsh to his side. He suddenly wondered at the wisdom of letting Jade ride out alone—

A sound alerted him. He stopped his mount. In the far distance, Jade called for Wolf Dog. He kicked his mount into a trot, ducking the overhanging branches as he moved quickly toward her voice. He stopped again and swung off his mount, gathering the reins over his horse's head to walk forward. Her voice called over and over for Wolf Dog.

Suddenly, she stopped.

He raced into the small clearing ahead. The muffled sound of tears came to him before he stepped past a tree and found her. She knelt on the ground, her face buried in her hands. She wore

the maddening costume, the breeches and shirt, her hair braided down her back. Her abandoned sun hat laid on the ground nearby. Ariel stood to the side, the small intelligent gaze turning to him.

He dropped the reins and moved to her. "Jade, sweetheart ..." She looked up. "Oh, 'tis you ..."

The pain and anguish in her tear-washed eyes startled him. If he saw it a hundred times, it would still startle him. “Sweetheart ..." He knelt at her side, reaching a hand to her face. "What's happened?"

"Wolf Dog," she whispered, shaking her head. "He's gone..." He searched her face. "When?"

"Sometime last night. I looked everywhere for him this morning; I went to all the places we go but he's gone. He's gone...."

And suddenly she fell into his arms. He tensed with the unexpectedness of it, and for a moment he felt fear. He was afraid of what it meant, of feeling hope. Yet the sensation of her small form leaning against him sent an avalanche of emotion coursing through him; his senses filled with the familiar feel of her. She felt so slim and warm, and the faintest trace of her familiar lavender scent excited every strained nerve in his body. He lifted her onto his bent knee only to get a better hold around her as he closed his eyes tightly and thought it was heaven.

Heaven. Jade, I love you....

"I need him..., I need him so badly...."

He could not give her false hope. The dog was no doubt drawn into the pack, and once there, he would be forever changed by the blood, tame no more. He let his hand lovingly comb her hair. "Jade, sweetheart, I am so sorry."