She watched his eyes close briefly. Then he lifted his right hand, put it down again, then raised it again so that he could trail his fingertips over the inside of her arm at her elbow. Goose bumps ran over her skin at the subtle yet powerful touch. Over her wrist, her palm, then he was lacing his fingers with hers. He lifted her hand so that the back of it rested against his chest.

“You’re right,” he said. “I didn’t finish what I started.” His pupils dilated, taking over the blue of his eyes. “Only my objective did a complete one-eighty the instant I kissed you. The moment you invited me into your body…and into your heart.”

The aforementioned organ had contracted to the point where it clutched painfully in her chest.

“And I am there, aren’t I, Josie?” He moved their hands so that they rested between her breasts. “Just as you’re in mine.”

A part of her didn’t want to hear what he was saying. Wanted words that would feed the ache in her stomach and help her shore up her crumbling defenses.

“Yes, I’m an independent contractor. Yes, I worked for a client that wants your hotel. Yes, I came here with the sole intention of getting it for him.”

She narrowed her eyes. Where was he going with this? Every word seemed to aim for and hit her where she was most vulnerable.

“But all that’s changed, Josie. None of that makes sense to me anymore. My job seems so unimportant.”

She licked her lips, unable to speak, unable to move, mesmerized by what he appeared to be saying.

“What is important is the fact that I’m falling in love with you.”

An almost unbearable pain mixed with hope inside her.

“Correction-I’m not falling in love with you. I’m in love with you. And falling deeper every moment I gaze into your eyes and touch your soft skin.”

His thumb was stroking her hand, sending sensations rushing up her arm and over her sleep-deprived body.

“I can’t…” she began, towing her gaze from his face and searching for something, anything, with which to pull herself free from the overwhelming emotions enveloping her. “I can’t deal with this right now, Drew.” She found a piece of strength within to draw from. Strength that had been in the Villefranche family for longer, much longer, than she’d been a part of it. “Maybe what you’re telling me is the truth. Maybe not. Maybe this is all just some sort of ruse to try to salvage a situation beyond repair.”

On a level she was loath to recognize, she sensed that this wasn’t the case, but her doubts needed to be addressed.

She smiled sadly, giving in to her own overpowering need to touch him and lifting her free hand to his face. She ran her fingertips over his strong cheekbone, over his jaw, the rasp of his stubble rough against her palm.

“Look,” she whispered, focusing her attention on his mouth rather than his eyes. “We both knew that this, whatever it is that exists between us, was temporary. That it would end almost as quickly as it began.” The prospect of not seeing him again hurt her more than what had transpired in the past few hours. What did that mean?

“Yes, but I’m not gone yet,” he murmured.

Then he leaned in and did what she wanted most in the world in that one moment.

He kissed her.

16

DREW KNEW AN ALL-CONSUMING relief as he softly kissed Josie’s sweet lips. She didn’t resist. Moreover, she appeared to want the contact as much as he did.

Dear God, he didn’t know what he’d done to deserve this chance, but he wasn’t about to screw it up now.

He ran his thumb along her cheek then entwined his fingers in her dark, silky curls, pressing her nearer to him. She smelled like heaven and tasted even better.

Finally, she turned her head slightly, crushing her nose against the side of his neck, her breathing rapid and shallow.

“I need…time,” she whispered.

Time was something neither one of them had, judging by everything he’d learned during his research.

But time was what he had to give her. He owed it to her. Even though he knew that with a few expert touches she’d writhe, needing and wanting, under his power.

“Okay.”

He stepped away from her. Not far. A mere few inches. But she blinked at him as if he’d moved across the room.

“How long…”

She looked away, as if the beginning of the question she’d been about to ask wasn’t one she wanted to hear the answer to.

“How much longer am I staying?”

She nodded, although she still avoided his gaze.

“I leave tomorrow.”

Her eyes flooded with pain as she stared at him.

“Not for good. I have some things I have to see to. Some business matters.”

She bit her bottom lip, her hand going to the side of her neck. “Related to the Josephine?”

“In a manner of speaking.”

She didn’t say anything for long moments.

“No more secrets, Drew. Please.”

He groaned inwardly, wishing he could erase the hurt from her lovely face.

“Just one more.”

Because in the past few minutes with her, witnessing her generous spirit and heart, realizing she was forgiving him even though she hadn’t said the words, he decided not to tell her what he was doing. He didn’t want her to refuse what she would certainly see as an act of charity. Instead, he felt that incredible desire to take care of her again. To move heaven and earth to get her what she wanted. And she wanted this hotel. No matter how battered. No matter the ghosts that walked the halls. No matter the darkness that lurked in the shadows.

He realized that he could just as easily have been describing Josie herself and his own need for her.

He took the card from the Marriott from his shirt pocket on which he’d scribbled his cell phone number. “My flight leaves in the morning.” He took her hand, turned it palm up, then placed the card there before putting his fingers over them both.

He didn’t say anything more. Didn’t have to. They both knew that the act of his giving her the card meant it was up to her if she wanted to see him. All she had to do was call.

Drew leaned forward and pressed his lips to her temple, breathing in the fresh, sexy scent of her. Then he turned and walked away, even though it killed him to think that it might be for the last time.


JOSIE STAYED IN THE KITCHEN by herself for a long time after Drew had left her. She’d drifted to a stool at the island where their love affair had begun a few short days before. She wanted to believe what Drew had told her. Wanted it with every cell in her body, every breath she took in.

She was so preoccupied with her thoughts, trying to work everything out, she didn’t hear someone come in.

“Uh-huh. You got it bad, girl.”

Josie blinked Anne-Marie into focus, an exasperated Philippe standing next to her.

“What…”

She was going to ask what Anne-Marie was doing there, but didn’t get the words out before deciding Philippe had probably contacted her.

Josie got up from the stool and continued making coffee for herself, including cups for her two friends. By the time she was done, they were both sitting at the cutting board.

“Is it true?” Anne-Marie asked. “Was Morrison here to get you to sell the Josephine?”

Josie nodded as she took a deep sip from her coffee.

“I knew it. I knew there was something about him. Something that kept coming up in the cards. Mystery. Deception.”

“So what did he say?” Philippe asked. “Did he come here to finish the job?”

She remembered what Drew had said about his intentions having changed and smiled softly. “No.”

“But he tried.”

“Yes. But not in the way you think.” She put her cup down. “It had nothing to do with the hotel.”

“Maybe it should have.” Anne-Marie drank from her own cup, causing her bracelets to clank.

“How so?”

Her friend shook her dark head, which was covered with the usual African head wrap. “Josie, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but this place, the Josephine, is packed full of bad karma.” She looked around as if half-afraid an entity might materialize from out of thin air and go for her throat. “It’s all I can do to sit here with you.”

Josie absorbed her words. “Are you telling me I should sell?”

Anne-Marie’s eyes were sober. “I’m saying that maybe you should consider it.”

Josie felt as if the ceiling had just fallen in on her.

The one person she’d expected to try to talk her into giving up the Josephine-Drew-hadn’t, while her best friend, a woman she’d known for countless years, who knew how much the hotel was a part of her, was.

The day was beginning to emerge as one of the most unpredictable of her life.

She looked at Philippe, who was considering his coffee.

“Maybe she’s right, Jos.”

She couldn’t believe she was hearing this. She moved to get up from the table.

Anne-Marie placed a stilling hand on her arm. “We’re just concerned about you, girl. We see how much you have on your shoulders. You’ve been carrying quite a burden since your granme passed to the other side and it’s only gotten heavier since the murders.” She shook her head. “I say maybe you should take what they’re offering and run. Start up a new life someplace else. Somewhere that isn’t as haunted by the past as this place is.”

A part of her recognized that what they were saying was right. Another felt betrayed for the second time that day.

She met Anne-Marie’s pitying gaze. “I want you to help me rid the hotel of that bad karma,” she said point-blank.

Her comment appeared to be the last thing either of them had expected her to say.

She’d surprised even herself.

“If it’s true that this place is cursed, then you’re just the person to help me, right?”

Anne-Marie didn’t appear to know what to say. “I thought you didn’t buy into any of that.”