Lie to Me (Pearl Island Trilogy #4)(63)

But, oh God, how he wanted it. Wanted her. Wanted her so much, he felt as vulnerable as if he stood in the middle of the laser arena completely exposed.

“Be careful, dude,” he whispered to himself. “She could annihilate you.”

With that caution in mind, he turned off the car. Before he’d even reached for the door handle, though, the front door of the LeRoche mansion opened and Chloe came flying out wearing a denim skirt and red top. Unlike the evening he’d picked her up for their dinner date, however, she wasn’t bounding happily toward him. She looked like she was fleeing.

She slammed through the wrought-iron gate and climbed into the car, breathing hard.

“Is something wrong?” he asked in alarm.

“Just drive, will you?” she said, staring out the front window. “Get me out of here.”

“What happened?” he asked as he pulled away from the house.

“I’m an idiot, that’s what happened. Goddamn it!” She beat her fist on the dashboard, then smoothed her hands over it as if fearing she’d damaged something. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to take it out on your car.”

“Forget the car.” He turned onto a side street and stopped. “You’re scaring me. Tell me what happened.”

“I made a huge mistake. Gigantic.” Slumping forward, she hid her face in her hands.

“Chloe?” He rubbed her back. “Talk to me.”

After a moment, she sucked in a breath as she straightened. “I hate having to tell you any of this, but I think you have a right to know.” She looked at him, her expression resolved. “I told my mother about the necklace.”

“What? When? Last night?”

“No.” She shook her head. “A while back. Before you even came to Galveston. It was during one of those rare moments when Diane and I were actually getting along.”

“Diane?”

“My mother,” Chloe explained impatiently, and he remembered that her family didn’t use endearments, a fact that still seemed odd to him. “She seemed genuinely sorry for the way things have been between us the last few years. Which I am, too. Before I knew it, we were talking and sharing, almost like friends. She mentioned reading an article about me finding the necklace. Before I knew it, I was telling her some of what I felt when I held it. What a huge mistake!”

“Why was that a mistake?”

“Because…” She plowed her fingers through her hair. “I told you about Marguerite’s pearl necklace being tied to her good luck, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, John’s luck with business ventures has gone south since he lost ownership of Pearl Island. My mother has it in her head that the mirror pendant might be a replacement for Marguerite’s necklace to restore our family’s good fortune.”

“That’s absurd.” He frowned in confusion. “They’re totally unconnected. Why would she think that?”

“Because she’s desperate, that’s why.”

“Care to explain?” he lifted a brow.

“Only if you drive.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I want out of here.”

He put the car back in gear and drove toward the highway that would take them out of town.

They went several blocks before she spoke in a near whisper. “I wish I hadn’t even come.”

“Why did you?”

“For my mother’s engagement party,” she said, sounding tired. “It’s this Saturday.”

“You don’t seem too happy about that.” He took his eyes off traffic long enough to glance over at her. “Don’t you like the man she’s marrying?”

“Actually, I do. I only met him yesterday, but he seems like a nice guy. It’s my mother who doesn’t like him.”

“Then why is she marrying him?”

Chloe waited several seconds, clearly debating what to tell him. When she spoke, her voice sounded flat. “For his money.”

“Ah,” Luc said, as bitter memories stirred, memories of women who’d vied for his attention in casinos while he raked in the winnings. But then he frowned. “Wait a second. Why would your mother have to marry for money? Her daddy’s one of the richest men in New Orleans.”

“Used to be one of the richest. These days? Not so much.” She sighed. “Things are a bit rockier than I realized, to the point that John’s decided to take on a partner. A man named Harold Bradford.”

“Harold Bradford the Saving Angel?” he asked in surprise.

“The what?”

“That’s what a lot of people in the French Quarter call him,” he explained. “Apparently, he’s some self-made billionaire who likes to save businesses that are in trouble. His deal, though, is he’ll only help out if he gets a say in how the business is put back together. He’s turned around some small businesses that were teetering on the brink, and saved a lot of families from financial disaster in the process. From what I’ve heard, he does it purely for the reward of helping people.”

“Oh, God, that makes me feel even worse.” She covered her face with her hands.

“Why?”

“Because he’s about to get seriously used. Yesterday, when I met him, I saw the way he looked at my mother. He actually loves her. Meanwhile, she’s completely panicked at the idea of having to go through with marrying him. She doesn’t have a choice, though, because John is forcing her to do it.”