LaCasse Family Series

by Ju Ephraime

  This was all water under the bridge now. Foxx had his Therèse, and Wolfe had his Daphne. His brothers had put his mother through songs and dances. She wanted a huge wedding for Wolfe, but Wolfe did what Daphne wanted, and Foxx and Therèse had an even simpler wedding. He felt sorry for Franchesca because she’d have to be the one to give his mother the wedding celebration she had been denied.

  “Well, what about you? Don’t you want to get married?” she wanted to know.

  “I do want to get married, but not for a while. Franchesca should be next. I’m happy getting married the same way Foxx and Therèse did. No fuss—simple and sweet.”

  That was how she felt about getting married too, although she didn’t want to tell him that because he’d think she was setting her cap at him, which she was.

  She loved Raymond and wanted to marry him. She was realistic enough to know it would not happen immediately. Also, there was the little matter of her job. She was happy with her job. She made good money, and she liked the perks that came along with the job. For one thing, being able to travel all over the world was a big plus for her with her job. She knew she wouldn’t be able to do this if she had a husband and children.

  But if she had to pick her ideal husband, it would be him. She loved everything about him. He was kind, thoughtful, considerate, and a superb lover. Not that she had that much experience, but in the little that she had, she could tell he was in a class all his own. She had no idea sex could be like this. Raymond made it an art form.

  Just thinking about the way it felt making love with him had her all hot and bothered. She could feel the reaction between her thighs.

  She must have done something to let him know where her thoughts had gone because he was looking at her all heavy-lidded and hungry. She didn’t know how he did it, but he had only to look at her and he set her off on a needy trip.

  Chapter Eighteen

  That night, the night before her last night on the island, Raymond took her to a karaoke bar, which was quite an experience. She wore the red outfit she’d bought at the hotel’s boutique. Raymond told her the clubs all had a dress code, which was strictly enforced. Not wanting to be denied entry into the clubs, she had him take her back to her hotel. They went to the club from there.

  It turned out most of the clubs were within a couple of blocks of the hotel. The karaoke bar was their first stop. Raymond said they could do dinner and karaoke after dinner. There was even a designated dance area.

  They arrived at the bar, just as the place was beginning to hum. After a couple of drinks and dinner, they threw themselves into the karaoke swing and were soon belting away, both in French and English, one song after another.

  The highlight of the night was when Raymond serenaded her with Nat King Cole’s “The Very Thought of You”. Later, when the live band played the song again, Raymond took her in his arms, and they danced to the romantic voice of the French crooner while looking into each other’s eyes. It was electrifying. She didn’t want the night to end.

  They visited another club that had a live band and a packed house. They danced alongside the locals to the local music. It was like no dancing she’d ever seen before. There were two versions—wild and crazy or tight and sensuous. The men held the women in a tight, sensuous hold, and with the barest of movements, they pressed themselves into each other as they swayed to the beat of the music.

  “Do you want to try the tap and grind?” he asked.

  “Yes, it looks like everyone doing the tap and grind is in a sex fog. Will I be in a sex fog too?”

  “Do you want to be in a sex fog?” he asked, giving her a wolfish grin.

  “So long as you’ll be taking care of me while I’m in the fog, I’m game.”

  That was all the answer he needed before he took her into his arms. Placing one hand around her neck and the other one on her lower back, he began swaying with her to the beat of the music. Soon it felt as if the beat was running through her blood stream, and all she wanted was to have him relieve the pleasurable need throbbing between her thighs. She had no other conscious thought other than to get as close as possible to his body. The closer she pushed, the more he pushed back with that subtle tapping and then a slight grinding movement.

  She felt his heavy erection through the material of their clothes, and the pressure of it was tapping and grinding on her clit with every movement of his pelvis.

  This type of dancing was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. It was so sensuous that, by the time they got back to Raymond’s apartment, she couldn’t wait to strip off her clothes and offer her body to him.

  They threw themselves at each other with no pretense of finesse. Putting her arms around his neck, she opened her legs and impaled herself on his ready, bulging penis. He walked to the bed with her attached to him, and before their bodies hit the bed, they were going at it. They made love until the wee hours of the morning. When they finally separated from each other, dawn was creeping slowly over the horizon.

  They fell asleep, and didn’t wake until late afternoon. Just in time to prepare for dinner.

  *****

  This would be her last night on the island, for a while at least. So, by mutual consent, they went out for a short spell to Trois Îlets where the Empress Josephine had been born to visit the Musee de la Pagerie museum, which contained many of the empress’s childhood memorabilia.

  They returned to her hotel so she could pack and be ready to leave for her flight by 9:30 the next morning.

  She had to spend some time alone. She didn’t know just how she would accomplish this, but she would think of something to tell Raymond so she could get him to leave her alone for a bit. She needed to take care of the coat if she was going to travel with it.

  Her opportunity came sooner than she expected. She was packing her things while he sat there watching her when his phone rang. It was Foxx, asking him to pick up Therèse from the market and bring her to his restaurant. He couldn’t leave to go pick her up. His manager was late coming in.

  “I've got to go give Therèse a ride. I’ll be back as soon as I drop her off into the care of her husband. Can I get you anything?”

  “No, but I’ll come with you to your car so I can get my coat to pack it away.”

  “Come along, then,” he said, taking her hand in his.

  Allowing him to take her hand, she went with him to the car and waited as he opened the trunk and handed her the coat. Taking it from him, she gave him a quick kiss and waited as he drove away.

  When she returned to her room, she realized she didn’t have her room key. Raymond had left with it. She had to get back into the elevator and go to the front desk to get a duplicate. This didn’t take long, a swipe on the computer pad, and she was racing back to the elevator.

  Entering her room, she went through her make-up kit to get the pair of scissors she always carried with her. Climbing onto the bed, she spread the coat out on the bed.

  Chapter Nineteen

  She was so nervous about this that her hands were shaking like leaves in a strong wind. She needed to get this done before Raymond got back.

  She’d not seen the jewelry Pierre had placed in the coat, but he’d told her where he’d hide it. Turning the coat inside out, she reached for the shoulder pads and, using the scissors, cut first one and then the other open.

  The sight that greeted her eyes had her gasping. There were a handful of perfectly faceted pink Argyle diamonds in the left pad and the same amount of flawless white diamonds in the right pad. She couldn’t believe it. She was holding in her hand millions of dollars in diamonds.

  “Where did Pierre get these?”

  She could end up in prison if she were caught with this amount of diamonds on her without any documentation. Oh God, oh God, what was she going to do? When Pierre had told her he was putting some jewelry in the shoulder pads of her coat, she’d stupidly thought it was just ordinary jewelry—nothing on this scale. This put an entirely new spin on the whole arrangement. These
couldn’t be Pierre’s; therefore, they must be stolen. She sat there petrified. She didn’t know what to do.

  The sound of the door closing alerted her that someone had entered her room. Rushing to the other room, there was no one there. Who could it have been? Now she had another problem. Maybe whoever it was had seen her with all these diamonds in her hand.

  She opened the door and ran out of the room to the elevator. She was just in time to see Raymond getting into the elevator. She tried calling out to him, but the door closed, and he was gone.

  She was frantic. If Raymond had seen her with the coat and the diamonds in her hands, he would put two and two together. It looked very bad, no matter what he thought. When she thought how gullible she’d been, she could have wept.

  She couldn’t get back into her room because she had run out without her key. She had to return to the front desk and get a key made again. She knew they would probably charge her for it this time, but at this point, she was all out of ideas. Her brain wasn’t functioning properly.

  She took the diamonds and wrapped them in the foil paper she had brought with her from St. Barth specifically for that purpose and placed them in the lining of her suitcase, through a small opening she’d created there. All it took was a strategically placed piece of Velcro and no one could tell there was an opening without close inspection. It was a small overnight suitcase, so she didn’t anticipate much inspection going through customs, here or on her arrival in St. Barth.

  Nonetheless, she would feel a whole lot better after she had delivered the diamonds to Pierre when she got to St. Barth. What he did with them after she walked away from him was his business. She didn’t want to know about it, and she wanted nothing to do with it. On this she was firm. He could cry blood, but she wouldn’t change her mind. Now she had to try to explain this thing to Raymond, and she didn’t even know where to begin.

  She sat down on the bed after she finished packing her bags, feeling as if the bottom had fallen out of her world.

  *****

  Raymond had been sitting in Wolfe’s restaurant since he left Gabrielle’s hotel. He had gone on to pick up Therese and taken her back to Foxx’s restaurant. He didn’t stay, and neither did he talk with Foxx about what he’d witnessed when he had gone back to her hotel to return her room key. He knew she had only the one key, and he didn’t want to leave her without it, so he had taken the elevator back to her room and used the key to let himself in. He’d expected her to be packing or taking a shower to get ready for him to take her to the airport.

  It’d shocked the shit out of him when he’d seen her sitting on the bed, the torn coat in her hand and all those diamonds glistening in her hand. She seemed to be engrossed in the diamonds, or was it shock he’d seen on her face? She had not heard when he entered the room.

  He stood there watching her for a good minute, and she wasn’t even aware of him. He hated to think Wolfe and Foxx had been right all along, especially Wolfe.

  He’d walked into the restaurant and sat down at a table in the family room. Sitting there brought back the wonderful time he’d had with Gabrielle the night she was there. Now, it all seemed like a bad dream.

  “What’s the matter, Ray?” Wolfe asked, coming to sit next to him. You look as if Maman ou Papa just died. Since I know they are very much alive, it must be that woman you are so taken with. Where is she, anyway?”

  “Why should I know?”

  Looking at him closely, Wolfe asked, “Is there trouble in paradise, Ray? I haven’t seen you alone since Gabrielle arrived on the island, so don’t start acting like a smart-alec. Where is she?” he asked again.

  “If you must know, she is flying back to St. Barth tonight.”

  “Oh, is that what has your panties in a bunch?”

  “You know, Wolfe, you’re getting on my last nerve.”

  “I’m getting on your last nerve? You’re the one sitting there in a state of gloom, and you think I’m getting on your last nerve? Did you get into a fight with the poor woman?”

  “No, I didn’t get into a fight with the poor woman, and she’s not a poor woman. Far from it.”

  “Well, what happened? Has she left?”

  “What do you care? You’re the one who said she was not worthy and was suspicious of her from the get-go. Why the change of heart?”

  “I didn’t have a change of heart. There’s just something about the way you met her that was too opportune.”

  “What was too opportune about it?”

  “Okay, if you need it spelled out. She taking your coat and leaving hers, and you having to clear it through customs. And then she got on the first plane to come over here to get it. That seemed a bit too coincidental for me.”

  That was his opening to tell Wolfe about what he had seen when he’d walked in on Gabrielle, but something about the look on her face was still haunting him. Also, he knew the minute he told Wolfe he would set the authorities on her. He just couldn’t bring himself to do this to her. Just thinking about how she’d used him sent a stabbing pain through his heart.

  No, he had to talk with her about it, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so now. The pain was too raw. He decided he wouldn’t be taking her to the airport. He would call and arrange for a taxi to take her. He just couldn’t do it - call him chicken.

  Speaking of which, he’d better call the taxi now, so that she got to the airport with enough time to make her flight.

  He walked into the restroom and made the phone call. Then he called the front desk to let them know he had arranged for a taxi to pick up the guest in room 565, and they should call up to her when the taxi got there.

  Hanging up the phone, he was convinced that not telling Wolfe about Gabrielle was the smart thing to do. If it turned out that there was a perfectly good explanation for what he’d seen, although he couldn’t think of it at the moment, then it would be between her and him. However, were he to involve Wolfe, he’d never live it down, and Wolfe wouldn’t forgive her regardless of what the situation was. He had a memory like an elephant, so it was better he not know.

  And he didn’t see what she could tell him to explain this away because, no matter how you peeled it, it was still an onion. She had used him to transport the goods.

  He was restless and unsettled, and he felt like crap. He drove back to his apartment, refusing to give in to the temptation to call Gabrielle just to hear her voice and to know she was all right. It was difficult, but he held firm, even if it meant he ended up wearing a path in the rug, he didn’t call her. He categorically refused to believe he’d become so hooked on the woman that he couldn’t function without her. What a load of crap, he told himself, but nothing worked—nothing! He needed to see her, to look into her face.

  He should probably call to make certain the taxi had arrived to take her to the airport. He gave himself a hundred and one reasons why he should call her, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. To take away the temptation, he turned his phone off and left it in the car when he got to his apartment.

  He had to find something to keep himself busy. He called the company he had accepted the position with and asked if he could come in for a couple of hours to familiarize himself with the place and the way things worked before he started on Monday.

  The answering service told him that the place was closed for the weekend and wouldn’t be opening before 8:30 A.M on Monday. The branch he’d worked at in Paris opened on Saturdays. Clearly, it was different here.

  He didn’t know what to do with himself. He couldn’t remain in the apartment. Everywhere he looked he saw her. She had ruined his apartment for him. He already knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep in that bed, not with her scent all over it. God, what a nightmare!

  In the end, he drove to his parents’ home, and his mother made a fuss over him, and it was just what he needed. It made him feel loved, although it was a poor substitute for the powerful emotions he felt for Gabrielle. Being around his mother had a calming effect on him.

  He k
ept himself busy doing all the little chores his dad never got to. That kept him from thinking about her for a short while. He spent the night in his old room and when he woke up the next morning, he attended mass with his maman et papa.

  It was a wonderful service. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed raising his voice in praise to God. After all, he had something to be thankful for—not making a fool of himself by asking Gabrielle to marry him. He had given the idea very serious thought and was convinced she was his other half and the woman for him… more fool he.

  He hadn’t seen any conniving tendencies in Gabrielle. She must be an excellent actress in addition to being a model. How else could she have pulled the wool over his eyes so convincingly? She’d made him believe she had feelings for him, as he did for her.

  He felt used and abused, but he refused to believe the woman he’d spent the last week with had a habit of going to bed with strange men. And more than that, doing the things the two of them did together, without any emotional involvement. God, he needed to stop thinking about this woman.

  *****

  Gabrielle had been trying to get in touch with Raymond ever since she saw him enter the elevator. She had been trying every fifteen minutes until she left the hotel. Now that she’d found out he had arranged to have a taxi pick her up, she wanted to talk with him more than ever.

  She couldn’t believe he wouldn’t give her an opportunity to explain what he’d witnessed. She would keep calling him until he answered.

  There was still no response on Raymond’s cell. She left another voice mail. This would be her fifth one. She had also texted several times, to no avail. Muttering under her breath about the pig-headedness of the LaCasses, she walked into the airport lobby. She would soon be boarding the plane, which meant she would have to turn her phone off.

  Taking her seat on the plane, she tried one more time before the flight attendant came around and asked her to turn her phone off.