Burning for You (Blackwater) (23 page)

“You don’t have to bake if you want
to get fat,” I tell her.  “You can just get fat off of mint chocolate chip ice
cream.”

“Don’t I know it,” she agrees.  “I
have a freezer full of that too.  Something about that cat brings out the pig
in me.”

“He brought out the sloth in me,” I
admit.  “It was so easy to just stay home and snuggle with thirty pounds of fur
than to go out sometimes.”

Isabel’s waist length blonde hair
swings forward as she leans over to shadow my cleavage.  It’s not as though I
don’t have enough, but she puts a bit of makeup in that region and suddenly I’m
a luscious beast.  “Since I don’t have a purse to match,” I say, “I can just
put my money in between these puppies.”

Isabel laughs.  “Your gay boyfriend
thought of that too,” she says.  She produces a small clutch, complete with
gold coins draping down from the bottom seam.  “If you’re looking for a small
dog to match, though, you’re out of luck.”

“No, I think this should be fine,”
I say.  “Oh!  Wait!  I have no matching coat!”

“Why don’t you borrow one of your
mother’s coats?” Isabel suggests.  “Her full length fox would look perfect.”

I agree and Isabel leaves to go get
the fox.  I stand and look at myself in the mirror, unable to recognize who the
woman in the reflection is.  I no longer look like a girl trying to be grown
up, I officially am an adult.  It only took twenty nine years.

“Leah, you look stunning,” I hear
my mother say behind me.  I turn around and smile, silently agreeing with her
for a change.  I think it’s always been in me to disagree, but tonight, I just
can’t.  “You’re lucky this coat was always too long for me to wear,” she says,
and I see the reddish fox fur coat draped over her arm.  “Your father bought
this for me a few weeks after I told him I was pregnant with you.  It’s as
though he knew-“ she cuts herself off and shakes her head.  “It’s yours.”

I take the coat from her and feel
the soft, long fur against my bare arms.  Isabel and my mother help me put it
on, and it’s comfortingly heavy on my shoulders. 

“I feel like I’m going to the
prom,” I say as we coast down the drive to Normandy.  I can’t get over how Ash
looks in black tie.  Even the lock of black hair that normally hangs in his
eyes is gelled back into place, showing off his high cheekbones and smoldering
eyes.  A little thrill runs through me, knowing that the handsome man at the
wheel is mine.  An even bigger shock is that they make tuxedo pants long enough
to fit him. 

“I didn’t get you a corsage,” he
says.  “And you didn’t get me one of those corsages for men.”

“A boutonierre?” I suggest. 
“Honestly, for someone who grew up in Blackwater, your French is atrocious.”

He grins, his large mouth turning
up at the corners.  “I was just testing you.”

“Bullshit.”

I’m frantically nervous.  Even
though I’ve met Lisette and Olivia already, he tells me there will be the
majority of his brothers at the dinner as well.  Michael’s family was small and
not as terrifying, with only his mother and his sister to deal with.  I never
got along with either one of them, and so of course I’m worried about the
impression I’ll make tonight.  I’m dressed to kill, but I’m grateful for the
fox fur so Ash can’t see me shaking as significantly as I am right now.  As Ash
mentioned, I feel like I am being tested tonight, and not just in French. 

My heart pounds harder as we
approach Normandy, and Ash pulls over to the side between a black Corvette and
an Aston Martin.  “Hey,” he says, putting his hand on the back of my neck. 
“Are you okay?”

“No,” I admit, biting my lip.  “I’m
petrified.”

He doesn’t laugh.  Instead, he nods
and leans close to me, simultaneously pulling me toward him and resting his
lips against mine.  “You’ll be fine,” he murmurs and I feel him bite on my
lower lip, causing me to moan.

“Don’t make me wet,” I warn.  “I’m
not wearing any underwear.”

His eyes widen and he parts my coat
at the legs and finds the part of the dress where the slit goes up the leg.  I
feel his warm hand slide over my bare leg and over my thigh, into my center,
where he glides a finger over me.  He pulls his hand back and puts his finger
in his mouth to taste me.  The gesture makes me shudder with desire.  “I love
your taste,” he tells me.  “But I’m still hungry so we ought to go in now,
don’t you think?”

I’m practically plastered to the
car seat now.  “Asshole,” I say facetiously.  “Now I’m going to be all riled up
during the entire dinner.”

“You’ll just have to save room for
dessert.”

James answers the door almost
immediately, as though he is waiting on the other side and Ash doesn’t have his
own key.  “Welcome, Miss Holt,” he says to me warmly, and helping me out of my
fox fur.  “The Grande Dame and everyone else are seated already.”

“Are we late?” I hiss to Ash, upset
with him for already causing me to commit a faux pas.  I was ready when he
picked me up, so I can’t imagine what I would have done to make us late, other
than kiss back only a few minutes ago.

“I wanted you to make an entrance,”
he tells me, taking my arm and leading me to the dining room.  “It’s not every
day I get to introduce and show off my catalyst to my brothers.”

The sounds of voices grow louder
and boisterous the closer we get to the dining room.  I feel my legs wobble and
can’t tell if it’s the heels or nerves.  Despite the drops I’ve been taking
from Erika, which appear to be working, I have a backup inhaler in my gold
clutch should a panic attack occur.  “Stop,” I tell Ash, and he complies. 
We’re very close to the entrance to the dining room.  I can smell the food and
hear laughter.  I turn to Ash and reach up to twine my arms around his neck. 
“I love you,” I say.

He blinks, looking down at me from
his black eyes through eyelashes so long it should be illegal for a man to
possess them.  The center of his mouth goes out as the corners turn up.  “I know
that,” he tells me, brushing a loose curl away from my cheek.  “I’ve always
loved you, I just needed to discover you first.”

I flush with relief. 
“Technically,” I tease.  “I discovered you in the intersection of Emerald and
Center.”

He replies by pulling me close and crushing
his lips against mine.  Ripples of heat pervade my body.  We end the kiss with
his arms clutched around my waist and his lips on my neck, kissing it softly. 
He backs me up so we are pressed against the wall and he lifts my free leg
around his waist.  I feel him hard and pressed against me and wonder how I’m
ever going to keep my damn dress dry.

“Can you two either get a room or
come to dinner already?  We’re ravenous,” I hear a voice like water flowing
over stones say from the entrance of the dining room.  My breath catches in my
throat and I turn toward the source of the sound.  I anticipated an asthma
attack but I didn’t anticipate what actually ends up happening.

Like a dropped marionette, I
crumple to the ground.

*

Ash had wanted me to make an
entrance, and he got what he wanted, no doubt.  When I am revived and have gained
control of my capacities, I am helped into the dining room by Ash and his
brother, who is introduced to me as Theo.

Theo Lavanne, who made me faint
upon first sight.

Theo has eyes as colorless as his
twin sister Olivia’s.  His hair is a white blonde like the sun beaming on fresh
snow.  His features are finer and more delicate than Ash’s, but in no way
feminine.  While Olivia favors to paint her lips the color of dried blood,
Theo’s are a natural bright pink, almost as though freshly stained with the same
blood.  His cheekbones are of the same etched height as Ash’s.  The beautiful
facial bone structure of most of the Lavanne siblings appears to be entirely
Lisette’s fault.  He isn’t as tall as Ash, but he appears to be only a couple
of inches shorter.  I’m wondering if everything I’m feeling is entirely in my
own mind, because he doesn’t appear to be as affected as I am when he takes my
opposite arm from Ash and leads me to the dining room.

“My dear, are you alright?” Lisette
asks me when I enter the room.  Everyone has quieted down to stare in my
direction and I’m more concerned about everyone hearing my heartbeat than I was
about showing my crotch when I passed out.

“I-I’m fine,” I stammer.  “Really,
I’m so sorry.  I guess I should learn not to skip lunch at work.”

Lisette smiles and indicates for me
to take the empty seat next to her.  Ash sits on the other side of me and
Olivia sits across from me on Lisette’s other side.  Theo takes the seat next
to Olivia and she presents him with her perfectly pale cheek, which he
obligingly kisses.  I glance around the table and see a few familiar faces from
the masquerade ball, including Erika’s brother, Zane, his arm draped lazily
around a man that is undoubtedly a Lavanne, based on the large mouth and facial
bone structure.  The mystery Lavanne brother has his spiky flame red head
tilted toward Zane and they look intimately familiar.  “You’ll meet everyone
all in good time,” Lisette says, watching me scan the group gathered at the
table.  “For now, let’s make sure you have something to eat and drink.  Are you
sure you’re alright?”

I nod, smiling.  Lisette makes a
motion to James, who is waiting at another entrance to the dining room from the
one we came through, this time one with a door.  He pushes the door inward and
disappears, and a second later, six identically dressed footmen come out
bearing trays of food.  I spot coquilles St Jacques, pigeon pie, duck
cassoulet, blanquette de veau, coq au vin and pot au feu.  I start to drool on
the spot, literally needing to wipe my mouth with the black napkin I’ve placed
politely in my lap before anything is actually served to me.  Lisette takes my
hand in her own, startling me, and puts her fingers on my wrist, looking
straight into my eyes.  She glances at Theo and then back at me, then at Ash. 
“Are you sure,” she begins, leaning over to speak softly to me, out of Ash’s
earshot, “that you’re truly alright?”

I snatch my hand back.  I’m
terrified to think of what Lisette is gaging from touching me.  “Maman,” Ash
interrupts.  I slump back in my chair with a flush of relief as he steps in. 
“Don’t scare Leah so soon.”

“I’m doing nothing of the sort,”
Lisette says coyly.  She defies her age when she lowers her black lashes toward
her youngest son.  “I’m merely trying to have a conversation with this girl for
whom you hold such a strong connection.” 

“Be nice, Maman,” Ash warns, to
which Lisette laughs.  When she sees Ash has turned his head to speak to the
young man next to him, possibly another brother, she leans in close. 

“I’ve had four husbands,” she
says.  “Though I’m sure you’ve already heard that much.”  I nod.  “Every single
one of them was my catalyst.  Had I been open about it from the beginning, I’d
have had much less heartache than from trying to keep each one of them from
feeling special.”  She glances from Ash and over to Theo.  I notice Theo
looking at me, and the flush spreads from my face and down past my breasts to
my lower belly, stopping between my legs.  “Hiding something from those you
love is more painful to everyone than keeping it all in the open.  I should
know.”  She leans back away from me and takes a sip of her wine.  I watch her
turn to Olivia and begin to converse with her in low tones.  Olivia has draped herself
in black with something that almost looks like an Indian sari, with gauzy
pieces high at the throat and flowing loosely behind her.  The bodice is tight
and covered in small black beads in intricate swirling patterns.  The black is
definitely her color, though I will forever picture her in a feathered white swan
costume.  She wears her hair long and loose, and it falls in soft waves in a
1950’s Hollywood style, making her appear as though she is a black and white
photograph. 

I eat almost savagely, needing to
tune out my surroundings and focus on my own hunger and dizziness for a few
minutes.  I don’t refuse anything that’s offered to me by the footmen but take
only small portions, serving myself from each dish as they hold it to my side. 
My plate is clean in record time, and I note that no one at the table is doing
much eating.  Some are talking, like Lisette and Olivia.  Zane and the electric
red haired man are deeply involved with one another.  I tap Ash and ask, “Who
is that with Erika’s brother Zane?”

“My brother Kai,” Ash replies with
a smirk.  “Kai will sleep with anything that can verbally say ‘yes’, and I
think he’s taking advantage of poor Zane.” 

“So a parrot would count?” I joke. 
I can see what Ash is referring to.  From a closer look, Zane looks completely
enamored of Kai, and Kai looks like he’s just passing time with a dinner
companion.  I’m sure if I looked under the table I’d see something scandalous. 
Kai and Zane aren’t the only ones practically sucking face at dinner.  A boy
who doesn’t look to be older than eighteen has his hand down the front of the
dress of a woman who is likely ten or fifteen years older than he. 

“What about him?” I say, indicating
the minor molesting the woman. 

Ash rolls his eyes.  “My nephew,
Alex,” he replies.  “My brother Lucien’s son.”

“Your nephew?” I repeat.  “How old
is he?”

“Nineteen.  And she is the Countess
Adela, staying at Normandy.  She’s far too old for him.”  I giggle and agree. 
They make the three year age gap between Ash and me appear trifle.  The woman
is very well endowed, though, so I can see the appeal from a nineteen year old
male perspective. 

“Is your brother Lucien at the
table, then?” I want to know. 

Ash shakes his head.  “Lucien is in
France.  He has been there since his wife Eva died.  She died when my nephews
were very young and they have always been here at Normandy.  My mother raised
them.”