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Two pair of doe-brown eyes settled on Dominique. She made a face.
“Jealous! Humph. You have got to be kidding? Look, you know me, I have more than I can handle. So, let’s not even go there,” she added, waving her finger back and forth.
“Me thinks thou doest protest too much,” Desiree said in a poor imitation from Shakespeare. She flashed a grin.
Dominique rolled her eyes.
“Mmm,” her sisters harmonized in disagreement.
“When you finally get the one that hits that spot…” Desiree closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. Her body quivered just a little.
Desiree and Lee Ann giggled some more and regaled over Desiree’s recent wedding and reception.
Dominique sat back, apart, letting her thoughts join the conversation but not her heart. So much had happened that day. She’d lost another sister to the magic of love and marriage, and her aunt Jacqueline, the woman whom she emulated, had thrown her a serious curve ball. As quiet as it was kept, the conversation had struck a nerve and she’d been unsettled ever since. The words still played havoc with her nonchalant attitude.
“So, Desi has finally gone and done it,” Jacqueline Lawson said, easing alongside Dominique.
The night air was filled with the scent of jasmine, expensive perfumes and colognes, and the tantalizing aromas of the massive spread that had fed the four-hundred guests. The sun was settling down across the horizon. The final rays spilled like overturned cans of paint across the lawn, the white tents and twinkling lights, bathing all in a wash of gold and orange. Laughter bubbled like the champagne in Dominique’s flute.
She inhaled a soft sigh. “That she has.” She turned toward her aunt. Jacqueline Lawson epitomized everything that Dominique envisioned for herself—brains, beauty, class, style and a fierce sense of independence and individuality.
“Anyone special in your life?” Jacqueline asked.
Dominique waved her hand as if to dismiss the question. “Oh, you know Aunt J, I’m not the settling down to one man kinda girl. It’s fine for Desi and Lee Ann, and Zoe, too. But I’m going to be just like you when I grow up,” she teased.
Jacqueline glanced away then. “I believed that fairy tale once upon a time.” She took a sip from her flute. Her gaze seemed to see beyond the horizon.
“Fairy tale?” Dominique almost choked. “You sure you haven’t had too much champagne, Auntie?” She laughed. Jacqueline didn’t. “You’re serious aren’t you?”
Jacqueline placed a delicate hand on Dominique’s bare shoulder. “Let’s simply say that I’ve been there and done that and doing it alone…is not all that it’s cracked up to be.” She looked directly at Dominique. “There will come a time in your life when having someone that means something to you, and you to them, will be the only thing that matters. What the shame is—” she finished off her champagne and deposited the empty flute atop the tray of a passing waiter “—is discovering at that crucial point that no one is there but you.”
Dominique frowned. It had been a lot of years since her aunt had set foot in the Lawson mansion. The rift between her and her brother, Branford, affected the whole family. But it didn’t stop Dominique from idolizing her aunt; that made what she said that much more unsettling.
“Aunt J, is there something you’re not saying? Is there some other reason why you came back after all this time?”
Jacqueline patted Dominique’s cheek. “Don’t mind me, sugah. One glass too many has made me all silly and nostalgic.” She flashed her famous smile and sauntered away, but Dominique wasn’t able to shake off the feeling that her aunt wasn’t telling her everything.
“Earth to Dom. Earth to Dom,” Lee Ann called out, waving her hand in front of Dominique’s face.
Dominique blinked away the images and tucked the conversation away, something she hadn’t shared with her sisters. “Sorry. What were you two waxing poetic about again?”
Desiree hopped down from the stool. “All wasted energy Lee, trying to change this girl’s mind.” She stretched her arms high above her head. “I’m going to take a long hot bath and turn in. Early flight in the morning,” she added, looking at Lee Ann.
Dominique stood between her sisters and wrapped her arms around them. “Now, if I tell you two something, I don’t want either of you to blow it out of proportion.” She glanced from one to the other. “I met someone.”
Desiree and Lee Ann’s eyes widened.
“You?” from Desiree. “But what else is new?”
“You mean another someone, right?” Lee Ann teased.
Dominique stepped out of the circle. “Laugh all you want.” She folded her arms.
“A minute ago you were the poster girl for independence. Now you want us to believe that you found someone that’s going to last beyond the thirty-day expiration date.”
“Fine! Laugh.” She snatched up her purse and was about to stomp away.
“Okay, okay, we’re sorry,” Dominique pleaded. “Don’t be like that. We were just teasing.”
Lee Ann took Dominique’s hand. “So…who is it?”
Dominique tugged on her bottom lip with her teeth for a moment before blurting out, “Trevor Jackson.”
Chapter 6
It had been more than a week since his meeting with Dominique Lawson. They hadn’t spoken since that day at her office until the phone rang.
“T. Jackson Contracting.”
“Good morning, this is Dominique Lawson. How are you Mr. Jackson?”
Hearing her voice was like a sudden shot of adrenaline that made him knock over his mug of coffee. Its contents splattered across the blueprint for a job that Max had just given him. Trevor blurted an expletive and jumped out of his seat.
“Excuse me?”
“Sorry. Not you.” He looked around frantically for some paper towels or napkins. “I’m fine, thanks.” He pulled open one of the drawers and grabbed a wad of napkins. He sopped up the mess the best he could while cradling the phone against his ear.
“Did I catch you at a bad time? I can call back. It sounds like you were in the middle of something.”
“No, not at all. A minor mishap.” He tossed the soggy napkins into the wastebasket.
“I have the contract ready for you to look over if you have the designs completed. Fair exchange?” She laughed lightly.
He looked at the mess he’d made and knew it would take him a few hours to redo the drawings. “Actually, they are. I was putting on the finishing touches.” He lowered himself into his seat.
“That’s good news. I’m tied up all day today but if you’re free, let’s meet for dinner. I can bring the contract. You can bring the designs. We can talk, relax… .We both have to eat right?”
“Tonight? Sure. That sounds fine. Do you have someplace in mind?”
“I was thinking of Blanche’s Chateau on Montgomery and 9th. Do you know the place?”
Did he know the place? Who didn’t know about the Chateau? The prices weren’t listed on the menu. You needed a reservation weeks in advance just to be lucky enough to get a seat by the kitchen. Everyone who was anyone ate there at some time or another. It was someplace that was not on his frequently visited list. Truth was, he’d never set foot in the place. He supposed this was Dominique’s way of reminding him of her name and money.
“Sure, I know where it is.”
“Perfect. I’ll call over and make sure that Charles gets us a good table.”
You do that. His jaw clenched.
“Does eight o’clock work for you?
His temples pounded. “I’ll see you then.”
“Oh, if you get there before me just let them know you’re meeting me. They’ll take good care of you.”
“I’m sure they will.” He was biting down so hard that he was on the verge of cracking a tooth.
“See you at eight,” she said, her voice full of cheer.
“Eight.”
It took all he had not hurl the phone across the room. Instead, he pushed back so hard from the chair that it went slamming against the wall, rattling the framed company licenses that hung there.
“That uppity…” He ran his hand across his face then his head and started to pace the cramped space. “Who does she think she is, anyway? Am I supposed to be impressed…intimidated…embarrassed? This her way of showing me who’s boss?”
“That bad that you’re talking to yourself?”
Trevor’s pacing hitched for a second when he saw Max in the doorway then resumed.
“What the hell happened in here?” His eyes widened in alarm. The wall plaques and certificates were askew. If he wasn’t mistaken it looked like a small pool of light brown liquid had found a home at the foot of Trevor’s desk. He focused on the top of the desk. “Is that my blueprint?” He hurried into the room and lifted the limp page from the desk. “Aw, man, you got to be kidding me.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Trevor snapped.
“You got that right. How’d you manage this and what has you so pissed off, anyway?”
“Her.”
“Come again.”
“Her. Dominique Lawson.”
“I would ask for some coffee to get my thoughts to catch up to yours but it’s spilled all over my blueprint.” The sarcasm wasn’t lost on Trevor.
“I guess you’re gonna have to verbally bring me up to speed. What does she have to do with your foul mood and this fiasco?”
Trevor heaved a deep breath. “I just got off the phone with her and you know what she did? She invited me to dinner at some snazzy restaurant.” He went on to explain the phone conversation.
By the time Trevor was finished, the small snickers that Max had held in erupted into full-blown laughter.
“Man, you have got to be kidding me. A beautiful woman invites you to one of the most exclusive restaurants in the state of Louisiana and you’re pissed off. What you need to be doing is getting your one suit out of the cleaners.” He chuckled some more.
“I’m glad I can amuse you. It’s my calling.”
“Look, man, I’m sorry. But for real… What’s the problem? You could probably buy and sell that place without blinking an eye.”
“That’s beside the point. She doesn’t know that. She thinks I’m some dusty, working slob that needs a job.”
“And whose fault is that?” Max looked him in the eye.
Trevor turned away.
“I know you have your reasons for remaining Mr. Anonymous, but don’t get ticked when folks buy into the charade.”
Trevor rubbed his chin. “I have more than one suit, you know.”
“Really? You mean you bought one since college graduation?”
Trevor’s features creased. A low chuckle rumbled in his chest. “Very funny. I should go like this,” he said, and stretched out his arms to display his plaid work shirt, faded jeans and construction boots.
“Forget about the front door. You wouldn’t get past the parking lot.” He took the damp blueprint and draped it over the drafting table to dry. “Let’s go for a ride.”
“Where?”
“My tailor does amazing work. And he’s fast. I can’t have you going to the Chateau and ruining my rep.”
“Your rep?”
“Yeah, it might get out that we’re business partners. I go there at least once a month when I have a lovely lady that I want to impress. And the suites upstairs…”
“Suites?”
“Yes. About a half dozen. Damned hard to secure one, though if you do, trust me, it’s well worth it.”
“I take it you’ve “secured one” from time to time.”
“Of course.” He grinned.
“Why am I not surprised?”
Max Hunt was not only a savvy businessman and brilliant designer, but a connoisseur of all things expensive: clothes, cars, homes and women. He didn’t have the same hang-ups that Trevor did about the millions that they had amassed over the years, much of which was due to Max’s astute understanding of the financial markets and Trevor’s keen sense of what was going to take off and what wasn’t. Together they were a formidable team, and as opposite on most issues as day and night—clothing being one of them.
“Trust me, he’ll hook you up and believe me, my brother—” he stepped up to him and straightened the collar of his un-ironed plaid shirt “—you could really use it.”
Max adjusted his burgundy tie and fastened the single button on his metal-gray Armani suit jacket that Trevor guesstimated cost at least a thousand dollars.
“How much is this going to set me back, Max?”
“Price is not a factor when you’re trying to impress a woman.”
“Who said I was trying to impress a woman?”
Max grinned. “You didn’t have to. It’s all over my blueprint.” He laughed. “Come on, let’s go.”
* * *
“Wait, let me get this straight,” Zoe was saying as she bounced one twin on her thigh and bottle fed his sister in the stroller.
Dominique looked on in amazement. It was still hard for her to put “mommy” and Zoe Beaumont-Treme in the same picture, but here she was. Totally domesticated, like a lioness that was raised by humans. Dominique fully expected that one of these days Zoe was going to realize that she was supposed to run free in the wild and she’d show up on her doorstep with a suitcase and a plane ticket to the Caribbean, saying, “let’s go.” But when Dominique witnessed the expression of pure adoration in Zoe’s eyes when she looked at her babies, Mikayla and Mikai, she wasn’t so sure if that day would ever come.
