Sadie's Secret: 3 (The Secret Lives of Will Tucker) (29 page)

She glanced down at her card. Gabriel Trahan. Perfect.

“The lucky fellow is an old friend who won’t mind if I sit out our dance.” She nodded toward a bench situated midway down the wide expanse of the balcony. “Care to join me?”

Behind her, the orchestra struck up a waltz. Gabriel had not yet sought her out. Perhaps he had chosen another dancing partner who might return his affection.

“No.”

She looked up at the man whose eyes she willed to be blue. The dim light refused to confirm that fact. “No?”

He shook his head and repeated the word. Out in the garden, murmured voices faded as only the splash of the fountain and the rare sound of a night bird echoed up toward them.

Her heart stuttered as she searched for something brilliant in response. It was those stupid kisses that rendered her unable to think, given in the line of duty with no emotion attached.

Until after.

“I see,” was what she finally settled on.

“Don’t pout. I was teasing you.” He turned her around and pointed her toward the door. “Come on. If your friend won’t waltz with you, I will.”

Sadie stalled momentarily, but then her companion’s palm at her back moved her along until they were standing at the edge of the dance floor.

“What I said was—”

“Sadie, forgive me for interrupting, but we are missing the dance.” He leaned in to speak softly. “And I have found that dancing gives a man and woman the ability to speak without being overheard.”

“Oh.”

“You sound disappointed.” He shrugged. “Would it help if I were able to promise that what I have to say is worth being seen with me in public?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gabriel watching, his expression unreadable. She would owe him an apology later. Or perhaps he did not mind at all. In either case, she would speak with him because the options he had offered did not include replacing his name on her dance card with another.

“Something wrong?” her companion asked.

“What?” She looked up to see him smiling, although his attention seemed to be focused in the same direction as hers had been. “No.”

“Then shall we?”

Following his lead, she stepped into place. Sadie looked up into his eyes and spied the distinct blue the moon had hidden. Immediately she smiled.

“What’s that for?”

She answered with a shake of her head. It would not do to let him know she had questioned his identity.

As Jefferson Tucker swept her into his arms, Sadie found the cloak of boredom falling away.

Though the crowd swirled around them, her dance partner expertly guided her across the dance floor. Just when she had forgotten the reason for their dance, he leaned in.

“Nod if you can hear me.” When she complied, he continued. “I came here specifically to see you.”

She angled a look up at him. “Why?”

Leaning close once more, he said, “Because you and I have a common goal.”

“Which is?”

“Which is something we need to discuss in a less public setting.”

“Then I will make arrangements to meet with you next week once I’ve settled my mother back at home.”
And contacted Henry to see just what he would have me do about this unexpected conversation.
“How do you wish I contact you?”

“No, Miss Callum, I will be contacting you. Just leave your window unlocked.”

“What you’re suggesting is scandalous, Mr. Tucker.”

“What I am suggesting is business, Miss Callum. Just a conversation between two persons with extensive training in solving cases and the potential to help one another in that endeavor. I have no idea what you’re suggesting.”

The cad.

And yet she had no one to blame but herself. Hadn’t she stressed on more than one occasion during their brief time together that she was to be viewed as a Pinkerton agent and nothing more, their walk under the stars notwithstanding? So a meeting between two agents, albeit of different agencies, was nothing to raise an eyebrow over. Or was it?

When the music ended, he stepped out of her arms to lead her toward the edge of the dance floor. Though he stood by attentively until the next fellow whose name decorated her dance card arrived, Sadie found he had already disappeared into the crowd when she turned to bid him goodbye.

After his abrupt departure, Sadie found she had little interest in the others on her dance card. Still, she smiled and danced and thanked each man as he stepped away and another took his place.

When the last song of the night was played, she smiled at the thought of having no one to fill that lone empty spot on her dance card. To that end, she made her way toward the table where Mama had been holding court all evening.

Sadie was within sight of her mother when someone called her name. She turned to see Gabriel standing at her elbow, arm outstretched.

“May I trouble you for this dance?”

Dancing with him was much simpler than making an apology, so she put her smile back on and offered it to him. “Yes, of course.”

They danced in silence. When they reached the far end of the dance floor, however, her companion led her away from the others to an alcove behind the stage.

There the genial friend from her youth lost his smile. “Who was that man you danced with in my place? And how do you know him?”

The sharpness of his tone took her aback. Rather than respond, she slipped out of his grasp and walked away. This time she reached her mother without incident, though she knew without looking behind her that she had been followed.

“Don’t you two look lovely even after such a long evening,” Mama said as she looked up from her conversation with one of the matrons they had visited just yesterday. “Come and sit with us, Sarah.”

Sarah. Not Sadie. She sighed. What a silly game society small talk could be.

She settled beside her mother and then watched Gabriel take the seat next to her. Once Mama went back to her conversation, Sadie swiveled to face her childhood friend.

Though her expression bore no hint of her exasperation, Gabriel must have realized his behavior had been beyond the pale, for he quickly reached to grasp her hands in his.

“I mean you no harm, Sadie,” he hurried to say. “It’s just that the man is not one of us, and you and he seemed quite chummy.”

She listened without response, for there was no need to answer. Nor would she have given one even if he had demanded it.

“And you seemed to be in serious conversation with him,” Gabriel continued. “So as a friend, I find I am concerned that some in this room might misinterpret his behavior as being overly familiar.”

“Stop now!” she snapped and then thought better of it. “I appreciate your concern, Gabriel,” she said a bit more gently, “but I assure you that none of the men I danced with tonight were in the least inappropriate or conducted themselves in a manner that might be misinterpreted.”

He released his grip and sat back as if to study her. Several emotions crossed his face before his expression softened.

“Yes, of course. Gentlemen the lot of them and all looking to win the fair lady’s hand. But do any of them know you as I do?”

Had he intended such a cryptic meaning? She decided he did not.

“Don’t be silly. I have known you longer than any man in this room. Now do be a dear and stop acting this way. If I hadn’t the good sense to know better, I would think you were jealous of…”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Sadie wished she could reel them back in. Of course. He was jealous. All that playing at being just her friend, despite his initial bid for her hand, was just so much smoke and mirrors.

“Oh, Gabriel,” she said softly. “Do forgive me for taking your statement of concern the wrong way. I certainly did not intend offense.”

“None taken.” He nodded toward the dance floor. “Shall we finish what we began?”

Gabriel’s dancing abilities were every bit as smooth as she expected, and Sadie soon relaxed. One last dance, just a few more turns around the dance floor, and then she could escape.

Finally the orchestra sounded its last note, and Sadie smiled. “Thank you,” she said as Gabriel led her off the dance floor toward her mother’s table.

While Gabriel stopped to speak to Mama, Sadie scanned the room and noted nothing unusual beyond the customary exit of guests.

When her attention returned to the table, she found Mama and Gabriel both looking in her direction. “She does this to me as well, Gabriel.”

“Does what?” Sadie asked as she moved closer.

“Never mind, dear.” Mama nodded toward the Tulane doctor. “Remember your manners and tell Gabriel goodbye while I collect our wraps.”

Sadie watched her mother rise with her friend’s help and then walk away without a backward glance. Slowly she returned her focus to Gabriel.

“What was that about?”

“Apparently your mother is disappointed in her matchmaking efforts,” he said as he offered her his arm. “I fear I did not help when I told her you needed no assistance in that area.”

Laughing, she allowed him to escort her toward the door, where they waited for Mama and then stepped outside. The carriage was nearby, so this time Gabriel offered his assistance to her mother instead of Sadie. Once he handed Mama inside the carriage, he turned to her.

“Here is where we part ways, then.”

She glanced around and then looked back at him. “May we offer you a ride?”

“Thank you, but no. I’ll walk.”

“All right, then,” she said as she reached to shake his hand.

To her surprise, Gabriel bypassed her handshake to envelop her in an embrace. “Watch out for Tucker,” he said against her ear. “He’s a dangerous man.”

Releasing her abruptly, Gabriel turned and walked away. Sadie wasted no time catching up to him.

“You’re not leaving me with that statement unexplained!”

He stopped short and regarded her with what appeared to be amusement. “That statement stands without explanation,” he said as he took up his stride once more.

Sadie fell in beside him, ignoring the looks from well-dressed society folks who took umbrage to her brisk stride. “Gabriel, tell me how you know Mr. Tucker.”

Still he kept walking. She picked up her skirts to hurry her pace as he hailed a cab.

“I’ll have an answer.”

Ignoring her, he stepped out into the street to climb inside the hack. She reached the conveyance before the driver could pull away.

“Stay right there,” she said to the driver, who grinned in response. Then she looked at the man inside. “Gabriel Trahan, you will
not
walk away without telling me what you mean by your cryptic warning. Do you understand?”

Her irritation had no effect on his calm expression. “I understand you’re a woman, Sadie Callum, and as such you do not always need answers to your questions.”

He called to the driver, and then, as the hack pulled away from the curb, looked back at her. “Let it go and take my advice. That is the only answer you will get from me.”

Twenty-Two

T
he next morning, Sadie endured Mama’s questions all the way back home to Callum Plantation while barely managing to keep her eyes open. She had waited for Jefferson Tucker to appear, only to decide he likely had no idea where to find her, either in New Orleans or River Pointe.