Angels of Bourbon Street
Read Angels of Bourbon Street Online
Authors: Deanna Chase
Angels of Bourbon Street
Despite having lost half her soul, coven leader Jade Calhoun is determined to lead a regular life, and that means planning her wedding. With just five weeks until the big event, plans are halted when Jade falls victim to a ghost possession. Unfortunately, it appears the only way to keep the ghost at bay is to spend twenty-four hours a day with the last person Jade wants to share a house with—the angel who has the other half of her soul.
Things go from bad to worse when the ghost targets Jade’s friends and her fiancé, Kane. The ghost is using sex magic to steal Jade’s power, and she’ll stop at nothing to get what she wants. Even if it means forcing Jade into the arms of another man. In order to banish the ghost, fix her soul, and have a chance at her happy ending, Jade will need to find her father and uncover the decades-old secret her mother is determined to keep hidden.
Angels of Bourbon Street
A Jade Calhoun Novel
Deanna Chase
www.DeannaChase.com
Bayou Moon Publishing
Copyright © 2013 by Deanna Chase
First Edition 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN: 978-1-940299-00-6 ebook Version
ISBN: 978-1-940299-01-3 Trade Paperback
Interior Design: The Printed Page, Phoenix, AZ
Stock art: Depositphoto@ dvargg
Depositphoto @ kjpargeter
Cover photo manipulation: Kyle Crichton
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, business establishments, or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.
Bayou Moon Publishing
[email protected]
www.deannachase.com
Contents
This book is for all the readers of the Jade Calhoun Series. Thank you so much for your enthusiasm. It means the world to me.
Also a special thanks to Chauntelle Baughman, Lisa Liddy, Rhonda Helms, Angie Ramey, Susan Sheehan, and Lynn McNamee. This book would never have gotten done without you.
You’d think after dealing with a lunatic ghost, breaking into Hell, and surviving having your soul ripped in half, planning a wedding would be a piece of cake. Right?
Wrong.
“I’m so sorry about this,” I said to Ms. Bella, the seamstress I’d found to alter the wedding attire. “I’m sure they’ll be here soon.”
Ms. Bella checked her delicate wristwatch and pursed her thin lips. The wrinkles around her eyes deepened. “I have to leave for another appointment in twenty minutes.”
A small dose of panic pushed me into action. My bridesmaids,
Lailah and Kat, hadn’t arrived yet. They were supposed to be meeting us here at Summer House—my fiancé Kane’s family house in Cypress Settlement, thirty miles south of New Orleans. We had back-to-back appointments with wedding professionals all day. Their dresses needed the most work. Both were at least two sizes too big. They’d been purchased off the rack, sight unseen, each shipped from a different sister store of a local boutique. With only five weeks left until my wedding, we didn’t have time to find anything else.
“I understand.” I glanced at the garment rack Ms. Bella had wheeled in. The most important dress, mine, was suspiciously absent. It hadn’t come in yet. Instead of wowing my friends in my beaded silver dress, I was decked out in a cotton skirt and a long-sleeved green T-shirt that matched my eyes. I felt like a slug.
“Maybe you can fit Pyper first?” I waved at Kane’s best man—er, best woman. She was wearing an ill-fitting ladies tuxedo and had her phone pressed to her ear. “Pyper,” I whispered, trying to politely interrupt her phone call with Charlie, the manager of Kane’s club on Bourbon Street.
She waved an impatient hand and scribbled in her appointment book. “Which day?”
I leaned over her shoulder. She’d written
Body Painting
on the second Sunday in February. Pyper owned The Grind, the cafe next door to Kane’s club. Recently, I’d learned she was also an accomplished body paint artist who was in heavy demand during festivals.
After scratching down a name and number, she pushed back her shiny black hair and hung up. “Sorry. Charlie’s taking care of making my appointments for Mardi Gras week, and I just landed a gig for a huge exclusive celebrity party.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Celebs are getting body painted?”
“Uh-huh.” Her voice was low and husky. “It’s confidential, but let’s just say someone mentioned the names ‘Hugh’ and ‘Gerald’ as two attendees.” Her face flushed, and she fanned herself.
“Hugh? As in Wolverine?”
Pyper nodded with overzealous enthusiasm.
The seamstress grinned and her eyes twinkled. “Oh, Hugh. Now there’s an inseam I’d love to get my hands on.”
Pyper swept her gaze over the spry seventy-year-old and let out an appreciative whoop. “Ms. Bella, you’re naughty.”
The older woman laughed. “It’s not like I haven’t lived, darling.” She placed a capable hand on Pyper’s arm and tugged her to a riser in the middle of the parlor. “Step up here and let me pin these pants.”
Pyper did as she was told, phone still in her hand.
“What day is the party?” I asked.
“Fat Tuesday,” Pyper said, sucking in her already flat stomach.
I felt my lips form into a tiny pout. That was the last day of Mardi Gras. “And I’m going to miss it.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re getting married. You won’t even be here.” Her smile turned mischievous. “I’m sure Kane can find plenty of ways to keep his new wife occupied.”
My cheeks heated as I envisioned my soon-to-be husband distracting me with his considerable talents. Then panic rose in my chest, and I tapped my foot nervously. “If we ever get this done. No way are we going to be ready in five weeks.”
“We’ll make it happen. Don’t worry. We’ll have everything done before Hurricane Shelia arrives from the Caribbean.” Her sneer did nothing to calm my nerves.
I grimaced. Kane had proposed in November, and I’d imagined a late fall wedding. But when we’d informed Kane’s parents of our plans, they’d balked, insisting they had prior commitments in Europe for the second half of the year. His mother, Shelia, had said, “Darling, you know how busy we get. Can’t you plan it for next fall?”
There was no way either of us were waiting that long. Kane had politely declined and wished his parents well.
Then she’d shocked us by announcing they’d be in town for Mardi Gras. I’d stupidly, impulsively insisted we throw the wedding together so everyone could be present. Kane had protested, saying it didn’t matter. The only one he’d miss was his mamaw, who had unfortunately passed a few years ago.
But they were his parents. They were going to be here. We had the venue. We’d already decided to get married in his family plantation home. It was gorgeous. All we needed was a caterer, invitations, the wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses altered, a cake, decorations, linens, tables, chairs, a band, flowers, dishes, a minister, and about a million other things that were going to be impossible to find during Mardi Gras. What the hell had I been thinking?
“Where is everyone?” Pyper asked, craning her neck toward the stairs and smoothing the lapels of her black jacket. Before I could answer, her phone dinged. “Wait a sec,” she said to me and pressed the phone to her ear.
“That’s a good question,” I huffed.
My maid of honor, Kat, was missing in action. She was an hour late with no phone call. Lailah had at least gotten in touch. She had some angel emergency that, for once, did not involve me. She was a guardian angel, and in addition to watching over Bea, my mentor, and Dan, my ex, she apparently had a new charge to deal with. Still, she wasn’t sure she was going to make it today.
All the amusement vanished from Pyper’s face. Right as Ms. Bella was pinning the back of her jacket, Pyper jumped off the riser, grabbed her appointment book, and headed across the room. “Sorry,” she called over her shoulder to an irritated Bella and shot me a weird look I couldn’t decipher.
I gritted my teeth to keep from yelling. What about
five weeks
did they not understand? “Take your time,” I said with a fair bit of sarcasm. Only, Pyper was already too far away to hear me.
Dammit! I grabbed my phone and dialed Kat again. Voicemail. I took a deep breath. “Kat, I don’t know where you are, but you promised you’d be here at noon. It’s one o’clock now. If you don’t call or show up in five minutes, I’m going to perform a finding spell on your ass.” I tossed my phone down in angry satisfaction. A second later the phone rang. “Kat?”
“Jade! I’m driving. Don’t do that finding spell. My car will take someone out.”
“Where are you?” I demanded. “The seamstress has to leave in fifteen minutes.”
“Five now,” Ms. Bella corrected.
Shit!
“Make that five,” I said.
“I’m so sorry. I’m not going to make it in time. The traffic on 90 is horrible. A semi overturned, and we’ve been backed up forever. Hopefully, I’ll be there in another half hour and we can work on some of the other details. Hang on, all right?” A horn blared in the background. “Oh, shut up, you old coot!”
“Umm…”
“Sorry. Some geezer thought I wasn’t going fast enough. I’m not going to make the fitting, but I’ll be there as soon as I can for the rest of the appointments.”
“Okay. Drive safely. And don’t flip off any old people.”
She laughed. “I’ll try to keep myself in check.”
I tossed the phone back down on the table, scowled at Pyper’s back, and gave Ms. Bella an apologetic smile. “Sorry about this. Can I call you this afternoon to reschedule?”
Ms. Bella tucked her pins and chalk into her bag and nodded. “We’ll need to get the first fitting in by the end of this week if I’m going to have time to refit once more before the big day.”
I sent her a grateful smile. “I’ll make sure it happens. Thanks again for coming. I appreciate it.”
She clasped my hand and smiled. “Anything for Eloise’s grandson.”
I forced another smile. This woman was Kane’s grandmother’s best friend. I hated that we’d wasted her time.
I helped Ms. Bella carry her stuff to her car. On the way back in, my feet dragged with weeks-old fatigue. Ever since I’d gotten back from my trip to the angel realm a month ago, I hadn’t quite felt like myself. I was rundown, and not even Bea’s herbal pills were making it better. I headed into the kitchen. “Gwen?”
My aunt straightened in front of the oven, sugar and flour covering her red T-shirt and overalls. “The cookies are in the oven. Don’t they smell wonderful?”
The aroma instantly took me back fifteen years to Gwen’s kitchen in Idaho. Despite my irritation, I smiled. “Smells like home.”
She passed me a warm snickerdoodle. I took it and sighed as I bit into the mouth-watering goodness. My aunt ran a hand over my arm. “Relax, sweetie. Everything will be fine. You’ll feel better after a cookie or two.”
“I doubt baked goods are going to fix anything.”
A trace of hurt flashed in her eyes.
Crap. I squeezed her hand still resting on my arm. “Sorry. It’s just that Kane’s mom grew up here.” I tugged her out of the kitchen and waved a hand, indicating the gorgeous house. “I wanted everything to be perfect. At this rate, we’ll be eating barbeque off paper plates.”
“Jade, darling. Kane isn’t impressed with his parents’ life. He doesn’t expect you to compete with them.”
I swallowed the self-doubt rising from my chest and shook my head. “I’m just nervous. I don’t want them to look at me like the country bumpkin from Idaho.”
She wrapped an arm around me and led me to the table. “They won’t. And even if they do, it’s their loss. Kane loves you, and that’s all that matters.”