Midnight Bayou

and the kitchen, but the library’s on the slate for next week. After that, I’m hoping to move outside for a while. Give me a couple of those aspirin.”
    “Sure.” Remy handed over the pills and the water. “You got work problems or female problems?”
    “A little of both. Come out on the back gallery, take a look at what the Franks have done with the rear gardens.”
    “Heard you escorted our Lena around in a big, white limo a few nights ago,” Remy said as they walked toward the back of the house. “Classy stuff.”
    “I’m a classy guy.” He handed the water back to Remy and opened the French doors of the dining room.
    “You got romancing her in mind, that’s a good start.”
    “I’ve got more than that in mind,” Declan said as Remy tipped back the bottle. “I’m going to marry her.”
    Water spewed out as Remy choked.
    “Pretty good spit take,” Declan commented. “Keep the bottle.”
    “Jesus, Dec. Jesus Christ, you and Lena are getting married?”
    “I’d like to have the wedding here, in the fall. September maybe.” He scanned his gallery, his gardens. He wondered what kind of bird it was that was currently singing its lungs out. “The place won’t be finished, but that’d be part of the charm. Of course, if it takes me longer to pin her down, we could do it next spring.”
    “That’s some fast work.”
    “Not really. It’s just a matter of keeping at it.” He smiled now as he studied Remy’s baffled face. “Oh, you don’t mean the house. Lena. I haven’t asked her yet. She’d just say no. Look out there, bulbs coming up. Daffodils, tulips, calla lilies, the Franks tell me. Buried underall those weeds and vines, maybe blooming under it for years. That’s something.”
    “Dec, I think you need something stronger than Tylenol.”
    “I’m not crazy. I’m in love with her. I’m starting to think I was in love with her before I even met her. That’s why there was never anyone else who really mattered. Not like this. Because she was here, and I just hadn’t found her yet.”
    “Maybe I need something stronger.”
    “Bourbon’s in the kitchen. Ice is in the cooler. New fridge is due to come in tomorrow.”
    “I’m fixing us both a drink.”
    “Make mine short and weak,” Dec told him absently. “I’ve got work to do yet today.”
    Remy brought back two glasses and took a long sip of his as he studied Declan’s face. “Declan, I love you like a brother.”
    “I know you do.”
    “So, I’m going to talk to you like I would a brother—if I had one instead of being plagued with sisters.”
    “You think I’ve lost my mind.”
    “No. In some situations, hell, in most situations, a man thinks with his dick. By the time that thought process works all the way to his head, he usually sees that situation more clearly.”
    “I appreciate you explaining that to me, Dad.”
    Remy only shook his head and paced up and down the gallery. “Lena’s a very sexy woman.”
    “No argument there.”
    “She just sort of exudes those pheromones or whatever the hell they are the way other women do the perfume they splash on to get a man stirred up. She stirs you up just by breathing.”
    “You’re trying to tell me I’m infatuated, or in the heavy wave of first lust.”
    “Exactly.” Remy laid a supportive hand on Declan’s shoulder. “Not a man alive would blame you for it. Add to that, son, you’ve had a rough few months on the relationship train, and knowing the way you cart guilt around like it was your personal treasure chest, I don’t imagine you’ve been clearing your pipes regular since you broke it off with Jennifer.”
    “Jessica, you asshole.” Amused, touched, Declan leaned back on the baluster. “It’s not infatuation. I thought it was, with a good dose of that lust tossed in. But that’s not it. It’s not a matter of clogged pipes, and I’m not thinking with my dick. It’s my heart.”
    “Oh, brother.” Remy took another good gulp of whiskey. “Dec, you haven’t been down here a full month yet.”
    “People are always saying something like that, as if time is a factor.” And because the critical part of his brain had said the same thing, he was irritated to hear the sentiment from his closest friend. “What, is there a law somewhere that states you can’t fall in love until a reasonable, rational period of time has passed during which the parties will socialize, communicate and, if possible, engage in sexual intercourse in order to