This was some sort of twisted joke. Gabriel closed his eyes and saw a flash of a memory. Father Leon, the priest who had taken special delight in punishing him, tormenting him with images of his sister and mother burning in Lucifer’s inferno for eternity. Warning him that he would join them if he didn’t purge himself of his family’s evil. Warning him that he would be taken by the darkness.
Even then, there was a small part of the young Gabriel who would have taken that punishment, would have burned, if only he could be with his family again. His mother. If only he could have been like his twin, Mimi. Special.
He felt like he was going to be sick again. This couldn’t be happening. He needed to get out of this cursed city. “Fuck the coffee. I need another drink, maybe two, and then I’ll be on the next flight out of town. As far away as I can get.”
Gabriel took a step toward the bar’s back door, but Emmanuel was there before he could reach for the knob.
He shook his head. “Stubborn ass. This is for your own good.”
Gabriel saw Emmanuel pull back his fist and swore when it connected with his flesh. For a ghost, he had a powerful right hook.
He was falling to the ground again, hearing Emmanuel before he hit the cobblestone pavement.
“You’ll thank me for this, Gabe. Eventually.”
Gratitude wasn’t on his mind as the hard ground jarred his bones. His ears rang with the power of the physical blow he’d just received from his imaginary pest. No, it wasn’t gratitude causing the red haze of anger and pain to blind his vision.
It was the need for revenge.
As soon as he could get up again, Emmanuel would learn what everyone who’d ever gotten on the wrong side of Gabriel knew. Clichéd but true . . .
Payback was a bitch.
THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT HIM.
Angelique Rousseau grabbed a candied pecan but paused before slipping it into her mouth. She’d been planning on announcing her presence, but she didn’t want to miss the hushed discussion between her sister-in-law Allegra and Michelle Toussaint. Not when they were whispering about her current obsession, Michelle’s elusive brother, Gabriel.
Michelle’s sigh drifted into the kitchen from the formal dining room as Angelique hopped quietly onto the marble island. “Mama said she heard a knock on her door at three in the morning. Apparently he was bloodied up and falling-down drunk, with no idea how he’d gotten to her house.”
“He’s been here a week and he hasn’t told anyone why he came back? Has he said anything?” Allegra sounded worried and more than a little tired. Angelique wondered if her unborn niece or nephew might have something to do with that.
The little troublemaker. Not even born and it was already driving its mother up the hormonal wall, not to mention putting a cramp in Auntie Angelique’s social life.
She hadn’t had any time to herself from the moment she got home. Instead she’d been mobbed at every turn by Toussaints and Adairs. Tasked with taking her mother to one gathering after another, all so Theresa Rousseau could get to know her new extended family better before the baby came.
It was a strange clan they’d created. The three families had known one another forever, but at a comfortable distance. Lately, however, there’d been a contagious bout of the dangerous disease called matrimony. First her brother and Allegra, then Michelle and Ben Adair and their friends Bethany and BD. It was enough to make Angelique twitchy. As if she didn’t have enough trouble dealing with her immediate family’s nosy ways. At least they weren’t as focused on her... for the moment. They were all too busy closing ranks around Michelle since her twin brother, Gabriel, had come home.
Angelique was dying to find out why.
Michelle spoke again, answering Allegra’s question. “He’s barely said a word. Though a few days ago he did ask me some unusual questions. It was... an odd conversation, and I’m not sure he was actually listening. He just kept glaring over my shoulder. Other than that, every time I’ve stopped by the house, he’s been in his bedroom. Honestly, I’ll be surprised if he comes tonight, but Mama did say he promised.”
Was that why Angelique had decided to show up for dinner tonight—because Gabriel Toussaint had promised to be here? Why she’d changed her mind and accepted Allegra’s transparently halfhearted invitation, even though her mother wasn’t invited? Even though she’d had a chance for one night’s reprieve, free of family, free to enjoy herself and get away from all this loving togetherness?
She knew the answer was yes. Gabriel’s presence had changed everything. Since she’d seen him a few days ago, when she and her mother had stopped by the Toussaint family home, he was all she could think about.
He’d stalked into the room, seemingly unaware that he wasn’t alone. His shirt had been unbuttoned to reveal a line of golden skin and muscle that set her mouth watering. His hair was mussed, his jaw set, and to Angelique he’d looked like one hot, delicious mess. Ruffled, brooding, and sexy. Everything about him screamed bad boy. It was a quality the rebellious part of her couldn’t help but find attractive.
But it was more than that. The moment he turned his head and snared her gaze, she experienced a raw wave of need unlike any she’d ever known, heat washing over her body and nearly buckling her knees.
She’d held her breath as he studied her. Her fertile imagination took over, making her breathless as she wondered if he felt the same intense desire that she did.
But then he seemed to notice the other women in the room. She’d hoped he would look her way again, but he’d just scowled, nodded tersely to acknowledge his mother, then turned and walked out without a word.
Mambo Toussaint had made hurried apologies, but Angelique barely heard them. It took every ounce of her restraint not to follow him back down the hallway. To take him to task for his manners... or rub herself against him like a cat; she wasn’t sure which.
She’d gone home that night, irrationally angry with the rude man who’d turned on some switch in her body that couldn’t be shut off. She’d touched herself, rubbing her clit and slipping her fingers deep inside her sex, fantasizing about him, coming again and again without true relief.
Feeling the need well up inside her even now, she squirmed on the countertop. Just thinking about seeing him tonight was making her crazy.
That was why she’d come. It was too tempting to resist. She hadn’t been able to stop fantasizing about him and she wanted to know more. To find out why everyone was so worried about his homecoming.
Hell, she wasn’t sure she’d care if she knew. She just wanted to see him again.
“You are now officially my favorite Rousseau, cher. Your brother would never dream of being this sneaky. Trust me, I know him well. However, you lose some points by eating all my pecans.”
Angelique nearly fell off her perch at the rich male voice behind her. “BD, I didn’t see you there.”
Speaking of impossibly gorgeous bad boys. She silently corrected herself. Reformed bad boy. Reformed, reborn, and happily married.
Angelique blushed while she studied him. Each time she saw him, it struck her that he was like living art. If she weren’t so oddly enamored with Gabriel, he would definitely be her favorite fantasy.
He’d literally walked out of history, and he was nearly too beautiful to be real. Amber eyes with long, dark lashes. Skin like honey and full lips that always looked freshly kissed.
Too pretty, his wife, Bethany, always teased him. And it was true. But Angelique wasn’t just fascinated with his looks. It was what he was, or what he’d been, that entranced her.
Bone Daddy. A sexual Loa. A voodoo spirit. Sort of. He’d been around a few hundred years, showing up for voodoo practitioners who needed aid in love and lust spells, making those he “rode” irresistible. Until he’d fallen in love himself and gotten a second chance.
He was also the reason her brother had changed so much after their father’s death eight years ago. Why Celestin had gone from her playful, charming older brother to a distant, melanchol
y womanizer. It had been because of Bone Daddy and the deal her brother had made with the spirit to protect his family. To protect her.
Now, though she still wasn’t sure how, the Loa was human. And before she could work up a good mad on her brother’s behalf, Celestin had made it clear to his mother and sisters that BD was a friend. More than that. One of the family. That decree, combined with BD’s undeniable warmth and charm, made it impossible to do anything other than love him.
An ex-Loa in her growing family. It was the most exciting thing that had happened in her life so far. Well, maybe the second-most exciting thing.
“You didn’t see me? I wonder why.” BD smiled delightedly, dazzling her into silence. “Could it be you were too focused on the gossip du jour? The return of the eternally grumpy twin?”
Angelique felt her lips tilt even as her blush deepened. “My family has a lot of secrets. Maybe this is the only way I can find anything out. Or maybe I was just trying to swipe all the good snacks.”
“Bah. I know your type. Hell, I am your type, cher. A trouble magnet.” He shook his head, understanding bright in his beautiful eyes. “And I can see you are looking for trouble tonight. Don’t deny it. Your brother would be sad to think he wasn’t the reason you decided to join us this evening. Although I’m not sure Gabriel is ready for a wildcat like you.”
How did he know? How could he possibly know? “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but whatever it is, I’m innocent.”
BD made a face when Angelique batted her eyelashes. “I applaud your acting, cher, as well as your stealth, but it’s wasted on me. Desire was my job long before you were born. I’ve seen what lengths men and women go to taste that forbidden fruit. Now, before you get us both in trouble, you should get down. Your brother is on his way inside as we speak.”
The thought of her big brother catching her in the act of eavesdropping had her hopping off the kitchen island swiftly, and she gave BD a quick, impulsive hug. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
He chuckled, squeezing her shoulders gently before pulling back to look down at her. “Anytime, cher.” His golden gaze fell to her neck and his expression changed suddenly. “Do me a favor in return, yes? Don’t take that necklace off.”
Angelique’s brow furrowed as she reached up to fiddle with the thin, golden cross her mother had given her at her baptism. “Why?”
BD opened his mouth to respond, but the sound of heavy footsteps behind him stopped him from answering.
“Little one, I’m glad you came.” Celestin Rousseau beamed at her happily, his arms filled with food from Allegra’s favorite corner restaurant. “I brought dinner. A little bit of everything, so I hope you’re hungry.”
His relaxed, easygoing expression was so different from the brother she’d known most of her adult life that it still jarred her. She knew it was his wife and unborn child, as well as his freedom from the curse their father had forced on him, that had changed him. She couldn’t be happier for him, but it was a big adjustment.
“I’m starving. And of course I came. An evening without Mom trying to get me to move into the new house her loving son bought for her? Asking me when I was going to give her grandchildren like her daughter-in-law? I couldn’t pass that up.”
Her brother snorted, setting several bags down on the counter where she’d been sitting moments before. “Can you blame her? Her nest is empty. All her children growing up and flying away. Patricia moved to North Carolina with her husband this year; you came home from school and decided to stay in that old, musty apartment we grew up in rather than the new room she decorated with you in mind...” He trailed off, making a face as BD guffawed.
“Not even a father yet and you already do guilt so well, mon ami.”
Angelique nodded emphatically. “He’s a natural, all right. I’m a grown woman with a college degree and a normal sex drive. I love you both, but I do not want to move back in with my mommy.”
Celestin held up his hands in surrender. “And the last thing I want to hear about is my baby sister’s sex drive, adult or not. You win. I won’t mention it again.”
“Thank you.”
BD’s laughter stopped the conversation in the other room and Angelique sighed. She’d wanted to find out more about Gabriel before he came.
Allegra raised her voice from the other room. “BD? Is my husband with you? I’d get up but his child has turned me into a giant, immovable water buffalo with cankles.”
Celestin’s smile grew even more incandescent. “Duty calls. Coming, bebe.” He ruffled Angelique’s curls and handed her the last small bag he carried in his hand. “Could you put her ice cream in the freezer before it melts, and start setting the table, little one?” Then he was gone.
BD was chuckling again. “That boy is going to be a great daddy.”
Angelique rolled her eyes, closing the freezer and opening drawers in search of utensils. “If great is another word for bossy, overprotective, and way up in the poor child’s Kool-Aid, then sure. Tell me, do ex–sex spirits know where they keep the silverware around here?”
He came up beside her and pointed to a drawer while he opened the cabinet over her head where the plates were kept. “I know a lot of things. My wife is determined I become a truly modern man. I can even do laundry now.”
He winked at her and she laughed, charmed. Too bad he was taken. There was just something about him...
“Am I late?”
The voice sent the pile of forks in her hand clattering to the counter. Her heart started to pound, her body reacting the way it did every time he came to mind. All thoughts of the captivating BD disappeared.
Gabriel had arrived.
CHAPTER 2
“LOOK WHO I FOUND HANGING AROUND OUTSIDE.” A woman with long dark hair skirted her way around Michelle’s brother as she spoke, allowing herself to be swept up in BD’s embrace.
“Blue Eyes, I’ve missed you. Is everything okay?”
Bethany sent her husband a strange expression, nodding quickly before stepping away from him. “Fine. Everything’s fine. And something smells delicious.”
Angelique noticed Bethany’s evasion, but she was too focused on the man who joined her to pay it much attention.
He was here. He’d come.
BD nodded in Gabriel’s direction over Bethany’s head. “Your sister will be glad you’re here.”
“We’ll see. More to the point, the Mambo will. I’ve recently learned that denying my mother’s requests is a dangerous endeavor. In more ways than one.”
His voice. The sexy rasp of it, the slight accent, made Angelique bite her lip. She’d heard him on the phone yesterday, when she’d called under the guise of asking Mambo Toussaint a question for her mother. He’d been terse and monosyllabic, but by the time he’d hung up Angelique’s body had reacted as though he’d touched her. Caressed her.
BD huffed out a sound of agreement. “You don’t have to tell me. Annemarie Toussaint is a powerful priestess. The Loa watch over her... and everyone she loves.”
The two men stared at each other in tense silence. Why did BD’s words sound like both a warning and a peace offering? And why, Angelique sighed, did she still feel as if she were missing a crucial bit of information that everyone else knew about but her?
Michelle entered the kitchen, Ben following close behind her. “Gabriel, you’re here.”
He wasn’t smiling as his sister embraced him, though it was obvious he tried. Angelique noticed his awkwardness as his hands lifted to pat his sister’s back. This was not a man used to affection.
What a sad thought.
Ben saved him, pulling Michelle back against him and reaching out to shake Gabriel’s hand. “Hey, brother, been hearing the rumor you were back in town. Glad to see it’s true. And I’m happy you decided to accept our invitation.”
Gabriel nodded, and Angelique held her breath as his gaze met hers. Just like before, the other people in the room disappeared until all she could see, all she knew, was him. Why d
id he affect her like this?
His sparkling green eyes narrowed, unblinking for a long, breathless moment. Two. Then he looked away, responding to Ben without acknowledging her presence.
“Yes, well, I won’t be here for long.”
Ben frowned, releasing Gabriel’s hand slowly, his expression thoughtful. Suspicious.
An uneasy silence settled over the kitchen, and Gabriel shifted, as if uncomfortable with all the attention.
She hoped he was uncomfortable, the jerk. Did he learn rude from his father’s side of the family? This was the third time he’d dismissed her in as many days. She’d spent the week fantasizing about the man, and he’d never even said hello.
It was hard on a girl’s ego to go so instantly gaga over someone who wouldn’t give you the time of day. Yet something about his almost defiant avoidance of her made her doubt its veracity.
It wasn’t just her he was steering clear of; that much was apparent to her now. He seemed intent on keeping everyone off-kilter. On pushing them all away. She wondered why he had bothered coming back when he clearly didn’t want to be here. Wondered what it would take to get him to react to her.
Angelique was no masochist. It wasn’t her style to chase after hopeless cases. She had a healthy dose of self-confidence to go along with her Rousseau pride. She knew men liked what they saw when they looked at her, what they noticed. That though they had often commented on her long, russet-brown curls, her dimples, and her “kissable” mouth, that wasn’t—in their eyes—her appeal.
It was her breasts.
They were good breasts. Perky and proud, defying gravity despite their fullness. A fullness accentuated by her small waist and the sway of her curving hips. She wasn’t a slender, airbrushed beauty. She was real. All debate to the contrary, she’d never met a man who wouldn’t rather have a handful of natural than silicone and bone.
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