Dark Perception: The Corde Noire Series (2 page)

“
You don’t care about this
baseball player,” Jack went on. “You’ll grow bored with him just
like you’ve grown bored with all the others after a few dates.
Admit it, you’re not in love with Sausage Neck any more than you
were in love with the vampire.”

“
Doug was a nurse who
happened to work nights,” Melinda protested.

“
What about the leech?”
Ellie probed.

Jack turned to Ellie. “Was that the
attorney?”

“
Accountant,” Melinda
corrected.

“
The ambulance chaser was
the attorney,” Ellie explained.

Jack softly chuckled. “Oh yeah, I
forgot about him. He came after Garlic Breath.”

Melinda thumped her coffee cup on the
table. “Earl was a chef.”

Jack’s jaw slackened, accentuating his
dismay. “Maddie, he made pizzas for that greasy spoon down on
Rampart. You went out with him after you dumped that musician with
the warts on his hands.”

“
Which one was that?” Ellie
questioned.

Jack reached for his coffee. “Lester
the molester.”

Melinda threw her hands in the air.
“Enough!”

“
Boy, am I glad I’m
married,” Ellie commented.

Jack leered playfully at Melinda. “Let
us not forget Zombie Guy.”

Ellie’s exuberant snort of laughter
filled the air. “Oh, God, Zombie Guy. He was the best one yet. He
would fall asleep everywhere we went. Poor guy even fell asleep in
his margarita.”

“
Lawrence was in medical
school and was just tired all the time,” Melinda loudly pointed
out.

Jack arched an eyebrow at her.
“Maddie, he was narcoleptic.”

“
But he was an entertaining
narcoleptic,” Ellie confessed. “Never saw a sober person fall
asleep in their drink before.”

“
Oh, ha, ha! You two have
had your laugh at my expense. So what if the men I’ve dated aren’t
that great?” Melinda huffed. “I remember some of the women you’ve
been with, Jack. There were five strippers, three bartenders, one
massage therapist, and a long line of waitresses. At least the men
I dated had college educations.”

Jack grinned into his coffee. “Some of
those girls were working their way through school.”

“
High school, perhaps.”
Melinda moved her coffee cup to the ground by her chair.

“
Excuse me,” an older woman
edged in. “Are you Melinda?”

Melinda noted her serene face and long
silver hair piled atop her head. “Yes, ma’am.” She waved Jack out
of the chair in front of her table. “Can I give you a
reading?”

Jack stood from the chair, holding his
coffee. “Have a seat, ma’am. Melinda’s one of the best readers on
the Square … next to me, of course.”

“
Oh, you do readings, too?”
the woman inquired, taking a seat.

Melinda reached for the deck of tarot
cards on her table. “Among other things,” she murmured.

Jack stood next to Melinda. “Yes,
Melinda and I both have the gift.”

Melinda’s green eyes focused on the
woman seated across from her. “What’s your name?”

“
Margaret,” the woman said
as she demurely folded her hands in her lap.

“
Very well, Margaret,”
Melinda began. “I do fifteen-minute readings for twenty dollars,
and thirty-minute readings for forty dollars.”

“
A full thirty-minute
reading, please. I have a lot to discover.”

Melinda nodded to the deck of cards on
her table. “What’s before you is a deck of tarot cards. I want you
to divide the deck into three stacks, and then pick the one that
you want me to use for your reading.”

“
I’ll leave you to it.”
Jack observed Margaret. “Oh, and make sure Melinda tells you about
the new grandbaby.”

Melinda shot Jack a dirty
look.

“
Here we go,” Ellie
whispered next to them. “Let the grandstanding begin.”

Jack shrugged his broad shoulders.
“What? You were going to tell her about the baby,
right?”

“
I just found out about the
baby two days ago,” Margaret gushed. “We’re still uncertain
about—”

“
It’s a boy,” Melinda
calmly stated, never taking her eyes off Jack.
He grinned at her. “So it is. I’ll be at my table if you need any
more help.” Jack held up his coffee cup to Melinda and then walked
away.

“
Are you sure it’s a boy?”
Margaret breathlessly demanded.

“
Positive.” Melinda gave
the woman an encouraging smile. “He’ll be born a month early, but
he will be healthy, and your daughter will name him
Mark.”

Margaret’s eyes glistened with tears.
“That was her father’s name. My first husband was Mark. He died
when my daughter was sixteen.”

“
Then it’s meant to be.”
Melinda pointed to the deck of cards on the table. “Divide the deck
into three parts and let’s get started. I have a lot to tell
you.”

Margaret reached for the cards. “I’m
already floored. I can’t imagine what else there could
be.”

“
The cards hold many
surprises, Margaret.” Melinda watched Margaret divide the deck into
three parts. “Which of the three do you feel drawn to?”

As Margaret’s eager brown eyes
vacillated between the three piles, Melinda envied the woman. She
was about to get a glimpse into her future, something Melinda had
never been able to do for herself. No matter how hard she tried,
she could never break through the veil of darkness to see what was
coming for her. It was as if there was some unspoken rule with her
ability: she could use it to help others, but never
herself.

“
I choose this one,”
Margaret proclaimed as she tapped the center deck of
cards.

Melinda took a deep breath as she
picked up the deck. “Let’s see what else is in store for
you.”

Chapter 2

The sun had just settled below the
horizon and the crowds around Jackson Square had thinned as people
went in search of other forms of entertainment. Melinda felt the
weight of the money purse in her lap; it had been a very good
day.

After a bit of a slow start, a steady
stream of customers had come to her table, having watched from the
sidelines as she had read others. Satisfied with her earnings, she
felt reassured that she would once again have enough to pay the
rent on her small apartment on St. Ann Street. Being dependent on
tips from tourists was not the steadiest of incomes, but for the
past three years, it had been Melinda’s chief means of
support.

“
Another good day,” Ellie
spoke up from her table beside Melinda.

“
Yes, the crowds were
bigger than last weekend.”

Melinda regarded a couple holding
hands to Ellie’s left. They were smiling into each other’s eyes and
as they strolled along, her heart became heavy with
memories.

“
Who died?” Jack appeared
in front to her table, cracking an irksome grin. “Let me guess.
You’re thinking about that idiot Josh again, right?” He pointed to
her. “Every time you get that sad look on your face, you’re
thinking about that asshole.”

Melinda defiantly stuck out her chin.
“Just because you’ve never been in love, Jack, there’s no need to
attack those of us who’ve had our hearts broken.”

Jack folded his arms, looking smug.
“What makes you think I’ve never been in love?”

“
Here we go again,” Ellie
griped.

Melinda swept her hand down Jack’s
trim figure. “The only time you mention anything about a woman, you
either brag about getting her into bed or about her enormous
physical dimensions. I swear, if they could float a pair of giant
balloon boobs in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, you and half
the men in America would finally think you’d found the perfect
woman.”

“
Really? Is that what you
think?” Jack raised his voice. “Well, at least I’m having sex,
Maddie. When exactly was the last time you did?”

“
Guys?” Ellie called next
to them.

Melinda grabbed the moneybag from her
lap and stood from her chair. “You conceited, arrogant, immature
ass. I’m not like you. I’m not trying to screw everything within a
ten-mile radius.”

“
Your problem is you don’t
screw anyone, Maddie. Maybe if you did get laid you’d stop
comparing every man you meet to Mr.
Love-of-my-life-Josh.”

“
Guys!”

Melinda and Jack stopped arguing and
turned to Ellie. She was standing in front of her table, motioning
to an attractive man in a gray suit.

“
I think you have a client,
Melinda,” Ellie told her.

“
Mr. Cole.” Melinda bit
down on her lower lip. “I didn’t expect to see you
today.”

“
Now I know why you wore
the makeup,” Jack whispered to her.

Melinda elbowed him in the
ribs.

The elegant Nathan Cole dipped his
head to Melinda. “I was in the Quarter having lunch with a business
colleague, so I thought I would stop by for a reading.”

That familiar tickle rose in Melinda’s
gut. The funny feeling always happened whenever Nathan Cole
appeared. As his long legs effortlessly strode across the
cobblestones to her side, Melinda observed his brown, bedroom eyes,
drinking in the curves beneath her T-shirt and blue
jeans.

“
I hope I’m not
interrupting,” Nathan seductively purred as he glanced from Melinda
to Jack.

Melinda could not help but notice how
rumpled Jack appeared next to the pristine and pressed Nathan Cole.
She veered her eyes to the square face and distinguished brow of
the successful businessman. He had an air about him that oozed
confidence while his brown, wavy hair, sprinkled with a faint
smattering of gray, made him appear distinguished.

“
Mr. Cole, you remember my
friend Jack Deron.”

“
I told you before to call
me Nathan, Melinda … and yes, I remember Jack.” Nathan looked Jack
up and down. “You’re the other psychic who works with Melinda.” He
held out his hand to him.

Jack took Nathan’s hand and feigned an
indulgent smile. “Yeah, Maddie and I both work the
Square.”

Nathan raised his eyebrows
questioningly. “Maddie?”

“
Jack calls me Maddie. It’s
his silly nickname for me.”

Jack glowered at her. “You never told
me you thought it was silly before.”

“
Jack, why don’t you buy me
a coffee, eh?” Ellie suggested behind them. “We can leave Nathan
and Melinda to their reading.”

Jack’s eyes suspiciously lingered on
Nathan. “Sure, Ellie. Let me just pack up my table.” He faced
Melinda and added, “You do your reading, and I’ll be back to walk
you home when you’re done.”

Ellie came alongside Jack and tugged
at his arm. “Come on, son, I’ll help you put your table in the
storage closet.”

Ellie coaxed Jack away from Melinda’s
table. After they were out of earshot, Nathan released a long,
disgruntled sigh.

“
Intense young
man.”

“
He’s harmless.”

“
He seems very protective
of you.” Nathan studied her for a moment. “Are you two
involved?”

Melinda took a seat behind her table.
“No. Jack’s more like a big brother. My brothers back home were
always protective of me, especially when other boys came around the
farm.”

He undid the buttons on his suit
jacket and took the chair across from her. “Ah, yes, your family’s
farm in Mississippi. I remember you telling me about
that.”

Melinda was taken aback. “I’m
surprised you remembered. No one ever remembers anything I tell
them, except when I’m doing a reading. Most of the time I feel
invisible to people.”

Nathan leaned closer to the table.
“You’ve never been invisible to me.”

Shaken by his lustful gaze, Melinda
snapped up the deck of cards from the table. “So what do you want
to ask me about today, Nathan? Some business speculation you’ve
been considering, or a stock market investment perhaps?”

He sat back in his chair and crossed
his long legs. “I’ve been invited to participate in a rather
interesting business venture in the city. There will be a lot of
obstacles to overcome, but if I pull it off, the payout will be
phenomenal.”

Melinda set the tarot cards in front
of him. “Then why don’t you divide the deck in—”

Nathan clasped her hands. “Why don’t
we do it this way? No cards, no palm reading, you just sit there
and tell me what you feel.” His hands squeezed hers.

Unhinged by the gesture, Melinda
gasped. Then a rush of heat from her groin silenced her
apprehension. Intermingled with the heat was an unexpected tingle
of electricity. Taking in his sharp features, broad chest, and
tapered hands, Melinda fought to retain her composure.

“
Nathan, I’m not used to
doing it this way.”

“
Try, Melinda. Just tell me
what you feel.”

The heat from his hands was fanning
the spark of lust in her belly.