Midnight Bayou

looking at him under her lashes. “Days like this, you just wanna soak in a cool tub, then lie on down in a dim room with a fan blowing over your skin.”
    She accepted the glass of beer he’d poured her, and sipped. “What do you do to beat the heat, honey?”
    “Pour cold water over my head. How’s Miss Odette?”
    Lilibeth’s lips pursed. “Oh, she’s fine. House is hot as hell in the morning with her baking. Gotta save her pennies. I’ve been helping out, best I can, but things are tight. Declan . . .”
    She ran her finger down the condensation on the glass, drank some more. “I wanted to apologize for that sceneover at the house the other day. Lena and I, well, we just rub each other wrong half the time. I guess I can’t deny I didn’t do right by her when she was a little thing. But I’m trying to make it up to her.”
    She widened her eyes until they stung and watered co-operatively. “I’ve changed. I’ve come to a point in my life when I realize what’s important. And that’s family. You know what I mean. You’ve got family.”
    “Yes, I’ve got family.”
    “And now you’re down here, you must miss them, and they miss you. Whatever troubles you might have between you, you’d put them aside and support each other. No matter what, ain’t that right?”
    “Yes.”
    She dabbed delicately at her tears. “I need Lena to see that’s all I want. She doesn’t trust me yet, and I can’t blame her. I was hoping maybe you could help convince her to give me a chance.”
    She slid her hand across the table, skimmed it over the back of his. “I’d sure appreciate it if you did. I feel so alone. Woman in my situation, she needs a friend. A strong man in her corner. If I knew I had you on my side, it would help so much.”
    “If there have to be sides, I’m on Lena’s. Either way, I can’t step between family—and if I was stupid enough to try it, she wouldn’t listen to me anyway.”
    “Maybe the two of you aren’t as close as I assumed.”
    “It’s always risky to make assumptions,” he returned equably.
    She took another swallow of beer. “You’re sleeping with her, aren’t you?”
    “I’m not going to discuss that with you.”
    “Why not?” Lilibeth ran the chilly glass between her breasts, then, laughing, rose. “You shy, honey? Don’t you be shy with Lilibeth. We could be friends, you and me.” She skirted the table, leaned in behind him. “Very goodfriends,” she added as her arms twined down and her teeth nipped at his ear.
    “Miss Simone, you’re putting me in the awkward position of asking you to get your hands off me.”
    “You are shy.” With a chuckle that blew warm breath and beer over his cheek, she trailed her hands down toward his lap.
    He clamped a hand over her wrists, jerked them up again. “You’re embarrassing yourself.” He twisted so he could lever out of the chair and onto his feet to face her. “That’s your business. But you’re using me to take a shot at Lena, and that’s mine.”
    Angry color spotted her cheeks. “Maybe you think you’re too good for me.”
    “There’s no maybe about it. Get out and we’ll forget this happened.”
    She wanted to scream at him, to strike out. But she still had her wits about her. She hadn’t had enough beer to dull them, and the hit of coke she’d had before walking over had been miserly. Playing it out, she sank into a chair, dropped her head on her folded arms and sobbed.
    “I don’t know what to do. I’m just so alone. I’m just so scared. I need help. I thought—I thought if I let you have me, you’d help me. I just don’t know what to do !”
    She lifted her head, and the two tears she’d managed to squeeze out tracked through her makeup. “I’m in such awful trouble.”
    He went to the sink, ran the water cold, then got a glass. “What kind of trouble?”
    “I owe some money. That’s why I left Houston, and I’m afraid they’ll find me. Hurt me. Maybe Lena, too. I don’t want them to hurt my baby.”
    He set the water in front of her. “How much money?”
    He saw it, the quick glint of satisfaction in her eyes before she lowered them. “Five thousand dollars. It wasn’t my fault. Really, it wasn’t my fault. I trusted the wrongpeople. A man,” she said wearily. “And he ran off with the money and left me owing. If I don’t find a way to pay it back, they’re going to track me down and do something to me. Something to Mama and Lena.”
    He sat back down,