Be My Baby (27 page)

Her spine wilted against the wall a bit, but she was by no means vanquished. She pinned him in place with those big eyes of hers and demanded, “You’re no longer interested in big breasts, then?”

“Dawlin’, I’ll be interested in breasts till the day I die.” He grinned crookedly at her. “Big ones, little ones, I’ll look at ’em all—it’s just plain built into the guy chromosome. But I swear to God I won’t lay a finger on any but these.” He stroked his thumb over her nipple and breathed into her ear, “Tell me that you love me.”

“No.” But her voice was breathy and she shifted restlessly against the wall.

“Tell me, Juliet Rose.”

She remained silent.

“God, you’re stubborn. Okay, I’ll tell you, then. I love you.” He stared into her eyes. “It hit me like a brick upside the head, right about the time all that shit was coming down with Edward’s arrest. And when I thought you might leave town before I had the chance to tell you—it was not a good moment, Juliet.”

Her fists thunked against his chest. “I don’t
know what you
want
from me,” she wailed.

“I want you to trust me again. I want you to say you love me and that you could give up a few of the luxuries you’re accustomed to and come be my woman, be my wife—maybe even have my babies.”

“I don’t want to be responsible for tying you down. You’ve raised your family. You want to have sex with two women at once.”

“Oh, dawlin.’” He rested his forehead against hers. “Don’t hold that idiocy against me forever. I was really scared when I took over raising my sisters. Scared that I couldn’t do it, that I’d mess them up with my ineptitude. The fantasy was an escape hatch for all those nights when I thought I was going to drown beneath the weight of too much responsibility. But it’s not what I really want.” He finessed the long-toothed comb from her French twist and pulled out the pins, raising his head to watch in satisfaction as the mass immediately swelled away from her scalp in honey-brown waves. “It doesn’t keep me warm at night, Rosebud. It doesn’t make me laugh or my heart pound, and it sure as hell doesn’t make me want to throttle a woman one moment and strip her down to the skin the next.”

“I love you, Beau.” Juliet’s voice came out weak because telling him was a risk—but one she could no longer keep herself from taking. She watched his dark eyes light up and his teeth flash white against his five o’clock shadow as he grinned down at her.

“Yeah?” His chest brushed hers with the deep breath he drew.

“Oh, yeah.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “So much it scares me.”

“Ah, sugar, don’t you be scared. You and me, we’re gonna have us the time of our lives.” He threw back his head and laughed. Plunging his long fingers into her hair, he kissed her, then pulled back and demanded, “So. You gonna marry me, or what?”

She swallowed hard but answered in the only way she could. “Yes.”

“All right! And I didn’t even have to bring out the big persuader.”

“The big what?”

“Persuader, dawlin’. The definitive weapon in my arsenal.”

“Ah.” She brushed her hips against his erection. “Well, don’t you worry; you’ll have plenty of opportunity to use it in the future.”

“I’m countin’ on it, angel face.” His grin was skewed and an unholy light shone from his eyes. “But I was, uh, referring to all the raunchy places in the Quarter I’ve yet to show you.”

Her mouth dropped open. “What makes you think
that
would persuade me?”

“Don’t kid a kidder, dawlin’—those joints fascinate you right down to your dainty little toes.”

She tilted her nose up. “I might find them moderately interesting.”

“You might find them downright stimulatin’.”

“Oh! You are such a hound.” Heat swept up her face and she buried it in his throat—then laughed.
“Just for that, I’m going to let you break the news to Father.”

“Fine with me. Just don’t expect me to ask his permission. I’m
telling
him how it’s gonna be.”

And he wouldn’t blink an eye at Father’s bluster, either, Juliet knew. Suffused with happiness and a sense of security she’d never known before, she grinned up at him. “You’re absolutely right, Beuregard. You and I are really going to have the time of our lives, aren’t we?”

“Damn tootin’, honey chile.” He kissed her, hard, and then flashed his killer smile. “That we are.”

I
t was red beans and rice night at Beau and Juliet’s little Creole cottage in the Bywater District, and the house was bursting at the seams. Anabel and Roxanne jostled for space at the stove, Josie Lee argued with Camilla over what needed to go into the salad they were throwing together over at the table in the corner, and Luke was drafted to dig through the refrigerator for each new item they swore was necessary to the success of their mission. Juliet slathered garlic butter on French bread at the counter and passed it off to Beau to cut, who then passed it off to Ned to reassemble into a loaf on a sheet of aluminum foil. Aaron Neville crooned a duet with Linda Ronstadt from the CD player in the living room, and the late October wind rattled the steamed-over windows.

Juliet blotted perspiration from her brow with the back of her wrist and edged around Beau to assemble plates and silverware. “Grab the dressing while you’re in there,” she instructed Luke, who
was rummaging for green onions in the fridge. “Jose, hand me the napkins?” She accepted a stack of them from her sister-in-law and set the table at the near end of the living room.

“Hey, Juliet,” Luke called through the doorway. “I heard today that Celeste Haynes was judged fit to stand trial after all. The insanity plea didn’t hold up.”

Juliet walked back to the doorway, where she was met by Beau. Talk of Celeste always made him protective of her, and he pulled her in front of him and tugged her close, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Good,” he growled. “Edward belongs in the Antebellum Home for the Insane, I suppose, but I always felt the old battle-ax drove him there.”

“Amen,” Roxanne agreed.

“And you two are so unbiased,” Juliet said dryly. “You were never exactly her biggest fan to begin with, Rox, and Beau thinks being denied sexually is a legitimate defense in a competency hearing.”

His arms tightened around her and the stubble on his chin tangled her hair at her temple as he rubbed it back and forth. “Damn straight, sugar. I’d go crazy, too, if you’d cut me off from practically Day One of our marriage. But Celeste knew exactly what she was doing when she tried to knock us off to preserve her place on the precious Social Register. Prison orange should be a good look for her. And if there’s any justice in the world, there’ll be an inmate named Big Bertha just waiting to meet her bus.”

It was a crush when they were all seated around
the table a short while later. Juliet still had occasional moments of being overwhelmed by the close quarters they lived in, but it was a small price to pay for being included in the give and take of Beau’s noisy family.

“I’ve got news,” Camilla said when the edge had been taken off of everyone’s hunger. She shifted away slightly from her sister. “Josie Lee, would you get your elbow out of my side?”

“Hey, excuse the hell outta me. Where exactly do you want me to put it?” Then she grinned. “Don’t answer that.”

“Maybe you oughtta have the next dinner at your place,” Beau suggested and reached past Juliet for the bowl of rice.

“Oh, right—it’s even smaller than this. Maybe we should have the next one at Juliet’s and Rox’s new hotel.”

“We don’t even have the kitchen in yet—the whole place is still pretty much gutted.” Juliet looked across the table at Camilla. “What’s your news?”

“Ned and I are gonna have a baby.”

Anabel and Josie Lee screamed, Juliet laughed, Luke slapped Ned on the shoulder, and Beau said fervently, “Please, Jesus, I’ve been outnumbered all my life—make it the kind that pees standing up.”

“Oh, get a grip, Beau,” Anabel said. “Nobody feels sorry for you, and besides, the odds are beginning to even out.”

Juliet grew rather quiet after that, and Beau wanted to know why. The front door had barely
closed behind their last guest when he tackled her with it. “What’s the matter, dawlin’?”

She blinked. “Nothing.”

“God, I hate it when women do that—it’s such a chick response. Is the house startin’ to crowd you?” This place was a cracker box compared to the mansion she’d grown up in.

“No. Every couple of weeks I get a little claustrophobic, but it always passes. I like it. It’s got you.”

“So, you aren’t gettin’ tired of the marriage, then?”

“No!” She pushed him down on the couch and knelt astride his lap. “My God, Beauregard, we’re practically still on our honeymoon. Where would you get such a crazy notion?”

“Well, something’s bothering you. Did you talk to your grandmother today?” The old bat wasn’t the coziest person Beau had ever met, and neither was Juliet’s father. When Juliet shook her head, but failed to elaborate, he growled, “Don’t make me break out the bright lights and rubber hose here, angel face.”

“Boy, you sure can tell you’re a cop—you’re so suspicious.” She squeezed his biceps. “Beau, there’s nothing wrong. I was just thinking about babies.”

Beau stilled. “What?” His gaze dropped to her flat stomach. “You’re not…?”

“No! Oh, no.” Juliet laughed. “Camilla’s announcement just made me wonder what kind of mother I would make, is all.”

“A great one.”

“You think so? I know you’d be good at parenting, but I don’t have any experience with little kids, and I’m terrified I might be a total flop.”

“Trust me, dawlin’—you allow people to be exactly who they are, and you treat ’em with respect no matter what that is. You’d be a really great mother. You want a kid? I’ll give you a kid—just say the word.” He’d give her the moon, if that was what she wanted.

“No, I’m not ready. I’m having too much fun to settle down quite yet. It just made me wonder for a while, is all.”

“Well, then I’ll tell you what.” He tipped her over onto the couch cushions and rolled to prop himself over her. “Whata’ya say we practice
makin
’ babies?” Hands moving with speed and skill, he began to divest her of her clothing. “That way, when you’re ready, we’ll know exactly what we’re doin’.”

“It’s very important for one to know what one is doing,” she agreed solemnly, as she unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders.

“Oh, yeah. Absolutely. My thoughts exactly.”