Page 50 of Cursed
“From the voodoo priestess. And from whoever is trying to drive me away from Belle Vista.”
“When you hired me, you didn’t say anyone was trying to drive you away.”
“Because it’s hard to talk about something that disturbing.”
“So, you thought you’d get me down here—then work it into the conversation.”
He laughed. “Something like that.”
“Well, I’m prepared to hear anything you have to say. I’m not some little librarian from back east. I’m a trained undercover agent.”
“Right. Tough as forged steel,” he murmured, and she caught a hint of the very appealing man she remembered from their correspondence.
Was that why she’d come down to Louisiana? Because she’d enjoyed his company—long distance. And was that part of the instant physical attraction she’d felt for him
She had fought that attraction. Now she heard herself say, “Maybe neither one of us is as tough as he—or she—thinks.”
When he didn’t answer, she said, “I’m here. You don’t have to go it alone.”
His arms slipped around her shoulders. When he’d held her before, his touch had turned passionate. Now he was deliberately keeping them both at a less heated level.
“Tell me about the curse,” she whispered.
She half expected him to pull away. Instead, he dragged in a breath, then let it out. “I told you I didn’t go away to school because I had to take care of my father. That was true. But it wasn’t the only reason. I can’t leave this place. So, whoever is trying to drive me away is doomed to failure.” He laughed, and this time the sound wasn’t pleasant. “The joke’s on them.”
“What do you mean—you can’t leave?”
His teeth clamped together. Then he seemed to make a deliberate effort to relax. “The priestess comes out here to reinforce an old grudge. Her ancestor cursed my family. We have to stay at Belle Vista.”
She tipped her head back, staring into his eyes. “You believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You said you felt the power—on the road and now in the graveyard.”
“Yes,” she admitted.
“I feel it, too.” He grimaced. “It we put it in medical terms, we could say that what you experienced were acute episodes. What I’ve got is a low-level, persistent infection—that flares up if I stay away from Belle Vista for too long.”
“If you stay away overnight?” she guessed.
“Yes!”
“And … and … what happens here at night?”
She saw him swallow. “I have to go out into the bayou … and stay there until near dawn.”
“But isn’t that dangerous?”
“Yes. But I have no choice. So, I’ve learned to live with it.”
“Can you break the curse?” she asked in a shaky voice, amazed that she had bought into the reality of a voodoo curse. But she’d discovered it was the only way to have a coherent discussion about his problems.
“Maybe if I had someone at my side to help.” He swallowed. “Someone willing to stay here with me.”
She nodded silently, not sure what to say.
