The Scent of Jasmine (Edilean 4)

Cay gave him a smug little smile. “Obviously, you don’t have the right impression of Adam. But I’m glad he’s not here.”

“Then who sent the letter to your little brother?”

“Nate,” Cay said quickly. “I think Nate might be here, but he’s no problem. If I told him I’d spent the whole time in bed wit

h you, Nate would just ask me to explain why I had wasted my time in such an unproductive manner when I could have been learning something.”

Alex couldn’t laugh too hard at what she said for fear she’d figure out that he knew more than he was telling. But she’d sounded exactly like his friend. “Bourbon Street,” he said. “Let’s try there first.”

“You’ve been here before?”

“Cay, my sweet, I’ve won thousands upon thousands of dollars in this city. Follow me.”

All the way through the old, twisted streets of the city, she smiled at his endearment. They went through the sleepy outskirts toward the light and noise that she could hear from far away. As the noise became music and grew louder, she found herself sitting straighter on the horse and her tiredness falling away. Through the entire journey she’d not allowed herself to think about what it would mean if they found Alex’s wife alive. In a second he’d go from being an available bachelor to a married man. No, she liked to think about the fact that if they found his wife alive, that meant Alex’s conviction for murder could be overturned. He’d at last be free. He could . . . What? she thought. What would he want to do? Settle down? Travel more? Explore more unknown places? They hadn’t really gone into the part of Florida that hadn’t been explored, so maybe Alex would want to go back there.

Or would he want to stay with his wife and raise their children?

If that were the case, what would Cay do? The idea of returning to Edilean to the three men she’d contemplated marrying was now so absurd that all she could do was laugh at it. Right now she couldn’t imagine that she’d ever been that young, naive, and innocent. A couple of times on the trip, she’d thought about what her life would have been like if she really had married one of those men. Dull, duller, and dullest, she’d concluded.

Alex had told her that she needed passion to marry someone, and now she knew what he meant. It was true that he’d done a bad thing in falsifying his appearance, and that he’d laughed at her for weeks. He’d even encouraged her to think of him in a way that wasn’t true, but she’d forgiven him. She knew without a doubt that if Micah, Ephraim, or Ben had done something half as bad, she’d never have forgiven them.

She well remembered what he’d told her once. “You should look at a man and feel that you’ll die if you don’t spend the rest of your life with him. Your heart needs to leap into your throat and stay there.” At the time, she’d thought she could never feel that way about anyone.

And, too, now she knew about making love. Even the thought of it made her warm all over. Who could have imagined that something so basic could be so exciting, so fulfilling? Alex’s hands all over her! She thought of the positions that the two of them sometimes got into and her face turned red. If someone had told her she’d someday be stark naked with her ankles wrapped around a man’s neck, she would have told them that was impossible. She would never do such a vulgar, disgusting, primitive thing! Never!

But she had, and she’d loved it. She had to suppress a giggle when she thought of doing something like that with Micah. Alex had told her that some couples only did one position, and she’d laughed. Now that she thought about it, Micah would probably have done only one way and that one very quickly.

“If you don’t get that look off your face, we’ll have to stop and rent one of these hotel rooms,” Alex said from beside her, his voice low and husky.

“Actually, I was thinking about Micah.”

“You have more brothers? Or is he one of your cousins?”

“As if you don’t remember! There! Look at that hotel. It looks like a place Tally would stay.” She was pointing to a conservative, well-kept smaller hotel just on the outskirts of the noise ahead of them.

“That place for a rich young man alone in New Orleans? I don’t think so. From what you’ve told me, I think it’s more likely that he’d stay there.” Alex pointed down the street to the three-story building that seemed to be the source of the noise. The windows and open doors blazed with light that fell out into the street. Men with garishly dressed women on their arms strolled about, their laughter drifting on the night breeze.

“You’re wrong,” Cay said. “For all that Tally sometimes lacks mature judgment, he is a good boy. He would never go to such a place.”

“How about if we ride around the back and take a look in a window? If we don’t see him, I vote that we get a hotel room, and tomorrow we’ll get cleaned up and look for him. Or for both of them if your other brother is here, too.” Alex had to work to keep the enthusiasm out of his voice when he thought of at last getting to meet his childhood friend. Other than his father, Nate had been the most important person in Alex’s life. The frequent letters they’d exchanged had helped him through everything.

“All right,” Cay said. “But we just look through the window. We do not go inside. I’ll walk through a swamp full of alligators with you, Alexander McDowell, but I’ll not go into a disgusting, immoral place like that one.”

“Me, neither,” he said seriously. “Never have been in one and never will be.” He turned his horse away.

“Is it me, or are you getting worse at lying?”

Alex’s laugh came back to her, and she shook her head at him.

Twenty minutes later, they were at the back of the big building, and the music from inside covered any sounds that they made. The high-pitched, excited laughter of women was underscored by the throaty, suggestive sounds from the men. Cay gave Alex a look that told him she’d been right about the place.

“He’s not in there!” she hissed at Alex as they moved under the tall windows. Alex had to half crouch to keep his head from being seen.

When they got close to the front, he stopped and stood upright. “I’ll look and save your delicate sensibilities.”

“Having morals doesn’t mean I’m delicate. I’ve had enough strength to save your ungrateful life about a dozen times now.”

Alex didn’t bother to answer her as he looked in the tall, brightly lit window.