To My Senses The Nicci Beauvoir Series Book 1 (20 page)

“
Does Sammy know about your
condition?” I asked curiously.

“
Oh yes, Eddie told her. I
can’t believe how wonderful she has been. She is helping me make
plans for Eddie Junior. That’s what we are going to call it if it’s
a boy, or Samantha if it’s a girl. Sammy has seen to everything. I
haven’t got a care in the world. I think she and I will get along
just great.”

“
I hope so.” I didn’t want
to burst her bubble, but I knew how Sammy operated. If she wasn’t
controlling your life, you were probably already dead.

Colleen’s next statement
took all the wind out of my sails. “You have to be my maid of
honor.”

“
Colleen.” I sighed,
knowing there was no good way to put this. “I’m flattered, really I
am. I don’t think I should be in your wedding.”

“
What do you mean, not be
in it? You have to be in it. You’re my only cousin. What would
people think if you weren’t in it? After all, you arranged the
meeting with Eddie. You helped us get together. It means so much to
me!” Sobs started coming uncontrollably from my phone
speaker.

“
Colleen, you’re being just
a bit overemotional.”

“
Emotional my ass!” The
sobs suddenly ceased. “You’re jealous, admit it. All the years you
wanted Eddie and now I’ve got him. You can’t handle the fact that
I’m younger and getting married before you.”

“
I wasn’t aware that this
was a competition,” I stated flatly.

“
Fine. Don’t come. Don’t
show your face at all.” She hung up.

That had not gone well. I
knew she would call back, again and again, until I relented. And if
she didn’t call, Aunt Hattie would. Together, they would hound me
until I submitted out of desperation. Men always thought they were
the ambitious sex. But I had never met a woman over sixteen or
under ninety who didn’t know exactly what she wanted, and got it,
too.

Sure enough, a few minutes later my phone
rang again.

“
Nicci, dear.” It was
Hattie, all warm and cozy. “What is all this about not wanting to
be in your cousin’s wedding? You know your mother and I planned for
you two to be each other’s maids of honor since birth. Colleen is
heartbroken.”

“
Aunt Hattie, I know this
means a lot to Colleen, but—”

“
And to me,” she
interrupted, sounding teary. “I was always hoping she would marry
well, but Eddie Fallon? I would never have dreamed. Granted I don’t
like the way she went about it, and Neddie is furious, but I guess
it doesn’t matter. They are so in love.”

“
In love?” I
screeched.

“
Why of course, dear. Eddie
is ever so attentive, or so Colleen tells me. We haven’t seen much
of them, since they spend so much of their time over at Sammy’s. Do
you know she already has the whole wedding planned? Made the
arrangements and is paying for the entire affair. I know that is
not traditional, and your uncle is quite put off by it, but Sammy
has been so insistent. We had her over for dinner last night to
discuss everything and she just charmed us both. You’ll love the
ceremony she has planned. I insist that you take part in this
splendid event.”

“
I don’t know, Aunt
Hattie.” It was going to be next to impossible to get out of
this.

“
I’m just not going to take
no for an answer. You can go to Yvonne LeFleur next week for your
fitting. But, my dear, you can’t see the bridesmaid dresses until
the wedding. I want to surprise everyone. I will tell you that it’s
called pink blossom and you’ll absolutely love it. Also, you’ll
have to hostess the shower for my girl. After all, you are better
acquainted with Colleen’s friends than I am. I’ll help you plan the
affair. The second week in October would be good. So, we’ll have to
get together soon, say tomorrow, to work out the details. I’ve
already started a guest list. I’ll e-mail it to you and you can
check it over before tomorrow. I’ll call you in the morning,
sweetie.” She hung up.

I went upstairs, haunted by
images of pink blossoms suffocating me. I threw myself face down on
my bed just as my phone began to ring again. Knowing it was either
Colleen or Hattie, I groaned as I answered it.

“
I didn’t know I had that
effect on women,” a deep voice purred.

I bolted upright in the
bed. “David.”

“
I thought I was going to
see you yesterday.”

“
Why did you think that? We
had no plans.”

“
I see the ice queen is
back.” He sighed into the phone. “What’s wrong?”

“
Nothing’s wrong. I’m just
telling you that we didn’t make any plans to see each other
yesterday.”

“
Lovers don’t make plans,
Nicci. They try to spend every moment together. I missed you last
night.”

“
David, don’t. Maybe we
should spend some time apart.”

There was silence on the other end of the
line. I could hear him breathing heavily into the phone.

“
All right, Nicci,” he
finally said. “Whatever is eating at you, we better have it out.
I’ll be over in ten minutes.” He hung up.

Eight minutes later, the
doorbell rang. When I opened the door, he was leaning against the
doorframe, scowling. He was barefoot and wearing only a pair of
paint splattered jeans. His bare chest glistened with paint and
sweat.

“
Now what in the hell is
this all about? I thought we had settled things,” he
roared.

“
Do you ever bother to get
the paint off your body?” I argued flippantly.

He bounded in the door and
stood towering over me. “I don’t understand you, Nicci. One minute
you’re all over me, and the next you won’t even give me the time of
day.”

I quietly shut the door
behind him. “I spoke with a friend yesterday. She saw you and Sammy
dining at a restaurant the other day. According to my friend, the
two of you looked quite cozy.”

“
So that’s it! Jesus,
Nicci.”

“
I thought you and Sammy
were finished. At least, that’s what you told me. For a couple,
that are no longer an item, you sure do seem to spend a great deal
of time together. With all the phone calls and cozy dinners, anyone
would swear you two are still seeing each other.”

He threw his arms up into
the air. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? I told you Sammy
and I are over. I would never have called you if I were still with
her. Yes, we had lunch the other day. What of it?” Without waiting
for my answer, he walked down the hall and into the den. I followed
behind him. He went behind the bar and snatched up a bottle of
bourbon.

I stood by the door,
watching him pour himself a glass. “Suddenly you need a
drink.”

“
I don’t want to fight with
you.” He added ice to his bourbon. “I feel like I need to do
something other than argue with you.” He downed the contents of the
glass in one long sip.

“
Are you and Sammy
finished?” I demanded, keeping my voice calm.

“
Yes.” He banged the glass
down on the bar. “Finished with no chance of reconciliation. I want
you, not her. I don’t play games, Nicci.” He leaned against the
bar, shaking his head. “Your father asked me to stay in touch with
Sammy, so I could find out what else she may be planning. I had
lunch with her that day to pick her brain about the oil leases.
That’s all.” He came around the bar and walked toward
me.

“
My father asked you? It
figures you are both in this. You bastards always run in
packs.”

“
Nicci, you can be so
damned pigheaded.” He put his arms around me, and maneuvered me
into the hall. “I’ll go home and change. Then I’m going to come
back and take you out somewhere nice for dinner. What do you
think?” He had a big silly grin on his face.

“
I don’t want to go out
with you tonight,” I asserted, squirming in his arms.

He let me go and headed
toward the front door. “Yes, you do. I’ll be back in an
hour.”

When I heard the front door
slam, I stomped my foot on the floor. Then the front door opened
again. I rushed toward the door, expecting David, but my father
came through the entrance, instead.

“
I just saw David leave.”
Dad put his briefcase on a table by the door. “He seemed in a
hurry. Everything all right?”

“
Did you ask David to keep
and eye on Sammy?”

My father shook his head.
“He wasn’t supposed to tell you that. I knew it would upset
you.”

“
Next time you want to play
James Bond let me know.” I headed for the stairs. “I have a date. I
have to get ready.”

“
I just wanted him to make
sure Sammy didn’t have any other tricks planned for us. I’m sorry,”
my father called.

I turned and glared at him.
“Maybe you trust this man too much.”

He smiled up at me. “Maybe
you don’t trust him enough.”

***

David arrived exactly one hour later. I made
my father answer the door.

“
It’s just David,” he
complained.

“
I know, but I don’t want
him to think that I’m am eager or anything.”

“
Oh, the joys of dating,”
he moaned.

I sprinted up the stairs and hid on the
second floor landing.

My father opened the front
door and ushered David inside. I waited for five minutes then
casually strolled down the stairs. To my surprise, neither man was
in the living room. I followed their laughter down the hallway to
the den.

David was sitting on one of
the stools by the bar. He was wearing casual brown slacks and a
cream-colored shirt. His dark hair looked neatly combed, and the
smell of his cologne hit me from across the room. My father was
behind the bar, fixing drinks. Both men looked up when I entered
the room. David rose from his stool and I could feel his eyes on
me.

“
Well, there she is. Here’s
your drink.” My father put a glass filled with ice and bourbon down
on the bar next to David.

David smiled at me. “You
look wonderful.”

I was wearing a casual blue
cotton dress that hugged and flattered my trim figure. I had put my
hair up, letting a few strategically placed curls fall over my
shoulders.

My father cleared his
throat and came out from behind the bar. “Call me next week,” he
said to David. “We’ll go to lunch and I’ll introduce you to Lance.”
He gave me a peck on the cheek as he walked by. “Have a good
time.”

“
What was that about?” I
pressed, after my father had left the room.

“
Your father wants to
introduce me to your uncle.”

“
I gathered that,” I said
sarcastically. “You two are getting very chummy.”

He leaned back against the
bar, his eyes gliding up and down my body. “You look
great.”

I frowned and moved closer
to him. “You said that already.”

“
No, I said you looked
wonderful. I was using another adjective. I approve. Tight in all
the right places and not too many buttons.” He wrapped me in his
strong arms. “Maybe we should just skip dinner,” he
breathed.

“
No. You said you were
going to take me to dinner. I expect to be wined and dined before….
Besides, we are doing this a bit backward. We’ve already gotten to
the meat of the relationship, so to speak. Now we are going through
the preliminaries of dating.”

He kissed my forehead. “I
take it you aren’t angry anymore.”

“
No, my father explained
the situation to me.”

“
Good. Let’s go
eat.”

***

Dinner was in a small,
out-of-the-way Indian restaurant in the French Quarter. As soon as
we entered the door, the owners of the establishment greeted David
by name. We were shown to a table in a darkened corner, far away
from the other diners.

“
Come here often?” I asked,
after we sat down.

“
I came here every day for
lunch when I was painting at Jackson Square. I love Indian food.
Ever try it?”

“
Not yet.”

I looked around the dimly
lit room. On the walls hung paintings of dark blue rivers and red
sunsets, and there was bright red and gold wallpaper that
contrasted against the dark green carpet. The room smelled of the
exotic combination of cumin and curry. I had to breathe with
restraint, to make sure I didn’t sneeze.

“
I’ll order for
us.”

David signaled the waiter
and spouted off an assembly of names I couldn’t even begin to
pronounce. Within moments, a second waiter was back with a bottle
of wine and poured a small amount into David’s glass. David took
his glass and swirled it around, inspecting the wine. Then, he
gingerly sipped it.

“
Excellent.” David smiled
to the waiter who then filled our glasses with wine.

“
Where did you learn so
much about wine?” I inquired, while the waiter scurried away from
our table.

“
Well, you never learn
everything there is to know about wine. You just learn how to
appreciate it and how to recognize the different types of wine. I
am a novice, really.”