Bea actually drew back, looking horrified. Speechless for a change. Liselle didn't blink.
"That's reassuring. I've always wondered what it would be like to sleep with a man that could kill me in his sleep." She
looked at Andi. "It must make for fascinating foreplay."
Andi met her eyes and quite calmly shot back point blank.
"I have been known to scream from time to time."
Robert cleared his throat but he glanced speculatively at Andi. He wasn't the only one. Cole was apparently noticing
her for the first time.
"I'm not sure that's appropriate dinner conversation." Robert commented mildly. Still watching Andi who was busy
locking eyes with Liselle. Liselle blinked first but it happened at the same time the hidden smile appeared in the
corner of her lips.
"You're right, Robert dear." She purred. Looking at Hector. "That's definitely conversation best saved for dessert."
Hector didn't even try to hide the laugh that came out of her foreplay comment, and the reactions of everyone else
around them. "The neighbors are quite disturbed at times." Hector said with a grin as he started to eat his salad.
"Come on, Robert, don't be such a prudish wimp. Sex happens, and with some people, a lot. Luckily. It's everyone
else we feel sorry for."
"At last!" Liselle rolled her eyes. "A dinner topic I'm not going to die of boredom listening to everyone else drone on
and on about."
"Despite what they'd like us to think, there are still ladies present at the table." Robert replied to Hector's comment.
"And there are certain matters a real gentleman doesn't discuss in front of women."
"Anne!" Bea was leaning across the table again while Andi helped herself calmly to her own salad. "I can't believe
you just said that! What would your father say?! What would grandmother say?!" She looked hurt and puzzled about
that. "You used to be so - pure!"
"Oh put a log in it, Bea." Liselle remanded and Bea shot her a hurt look as well and then looked expectantly at
Robert. Who didn't say anything to Liselle about her tone with his wife. "Anne was never pure. She can't help but be
a bit trashy. It’s in her blood thanks to Jeanette's indiscretion. Not that you'd be the first." She looked over at Andi
who was watching her with arched brows as if waiting for something she expected to be spectacularly unimpressive.
"Some women in our family like sleeping with the hired help. I have. Sometimes you want to feel pleasantly dirty."
"I think that's a bit uncalled for." Cole inserted but Andi waved a hand, just a quick flick of slim, pale skin.
"It would be - " she answered. "If she had the slightest idea what she was talking about. I would argue with her if she
actually had anything relevant to say. But as Grandmother would say 'you can't argue with ignorance'."
For the first time, Liselle's eyes actually flared to life and for that second they looked like a darker version of Andi's.
"How dare you quote that woman at me?" She snapped and Andi shrugged a slim shoulder.
"She's practically standing in the room at the moment anyway." She commented calmly, spearing a piece of
cucumber. "Every time one of you opens their mouths I hear her voice coming out."
Liselle's hand came down open palmed and hard on the table but before she could hiss out whatever was between
her teeth, Bea blurted out:
"Please! Can't we not do this right now? Can't we - can't we talk about something else?! Anything else? We have
guests! Can't we please be civilized?"
"Why of course." Robert inserted calmly, pausing in eating his own salad. He glanced down the table. "Mr. Garrett,
why don't you tell us where you went to university?"
"I didn't." Hector said. "I graduated high school and went straight into the Army." He said with a shrug. "And Liselle,
that is an awful dark kettle trying to call a chair black, isn't it? Shut your mouth on things you obviously don't
understand. I was looking forward to a pleasant dinner, but instead I've got a slut on one hand." he said gesturing to
Liselle, "and, wow, don't even know how to describe you, but if you can't talk about sex, I think you need to have a
long talk with your husband. Then there's Robert, who probably can't even give himself a good hand job he's got
such a poor clue on everything."
He finished his salad. "College is for people who either have a specific goal, being a doctor, being a lawyer, that sort
of thing, or a way to waste money until you grow up. I wanted to serve my country and I am. End of story."
Bea's shock and horror rendered her speechless again as she recoiled from Hector's words and the look she shot
Andi was one of horror as well as - pity. Liselle shrugged a single slim shoulder and her eyes were dead again.
"Don't like being referred to as 'the hired help', do you?" She asked smoothly. She rested her elbow on the table and
leaned forward to rest her chin in her hand as she looked at Hector. "Would it make you feel better if I simply called
you 'lower class'?"
"Wow." Cole pushed back in his chair. "I think I'm going to go outside for a smoke." He announced as he stood up.
He also subtly beckoned the waiter over and discreetly handed over his credit card before moving on.
"Anne." Robert was taking her hand in his again. "This is ridiculous. It isn't at all why we came here. Why don't we
reschedule and you and I can just have lunch together. Like old times."
"There were no 'old times.'" Andi managed to wiggle her hand free. Having to deal with what was right at her side
before she was free to reach across the table and shove a bread roll down Liselle's throat the way she wanted to.
"And we're not going to reschedule." She continued calmly. "This is the family's one shot. That was the bargain. I
give you one evening of my life here and you make your offer."
"Why do I have to have an offer to see you, Anne?" Robert asked. Ignoring Bea who was watching from across the
table. Surprisingly, Andi gently patted his cheek and looked tired.
"You always have an offer, Robert. It’s the only thing you understand. What makes you think my answer is going to
be any different this go round?"
"Like I give a shit." Hector said with a shrug. "If she actually gave a crap about your opinion, I would have played
nice, but she doesn't, so I get to be honest. Can't handle it? Go back to France."
"I knew you were the shock troops anyway, the ones that get mowed down on the beach before the heavy infantry
comes up behind them. So why don't y'all get to the point and let's stop wasting our time?"
Liselle shrugged. And then looked over at Robert.
"The gold digger wants his answer, Robert dear. I suppose this is where you put that expensive business degree to
work."
Andi's head tipped minutely to the side and her eyes narrowed.
"Hold steady a moment." She instructed before pushing back her chair. Surprised Robert quickly moved to stand as
well. But Andi only shook her head as she shifted over to sit down again, in Hector's lap this time. Liselle's slim
eyebrow rose and the smile hide at the edge of her lips again but Robert's blue eyes narrowed slightly and they were
focused on Hector for once. Bea just clasped her small hands against her chest and seemed afraid to move for fear
of physical violence since Hector was sitting next to her still and Cole was long gone on her other side.
"All right." Andi answered, sliding her arm across the back of Hector's shoulders. "By all means continue."
Robert sighed.
"You're really making this much more difficult than it needs to be, Anne." He stated, voice calm.
"Bullocks." Andi answered. Robert shook his head as Bea made a tiny, trapped mouse sound.
"It’s simple, Anne" Robert laid his offer on the table. "Grandmother wants to see you.".
"See, this is where the low class people make so much mor esense." Hector said, looking at Andi. "When my family
wants to see me, they just call. None of this sending in distractions and decoys."
He leveled Liselle with a cold look that made even her worst look damn warm and fuzzy. "How am I a gold digger? I
own property, I pay taxes, I have a steady job, I have a vehicle. Again, this is the ignorant trying to sound educated.
Why don't you shut your mouth until it’s time to give the waiter a blow job as a tip? Comprendez-vous?"
Liselle met his eyes from across the table. Surprised to realize she was actually afraid of him. It was the look in those
dark, shadowed eyes. It actually sent a shiver of fear up her spine.
"Christ." She stated, voice gone throaty as she looked at him. "You must be absolutely magnificent in bed."
"There's no need to get guttural." Robert responded but it was apparent he was talking to Hector, not Liselle. "What
Liselle was simply stating was that it would be impossible for you not to realize what the woman you're bedding is
worth." He looked at Andi and his gaze lingered on her bare shoulders before slipping lower and then moving back
up to her face. "Monetarily she could buy everything you own and fold it up in her back pocket."
Andi, whose face had been alabaster during Robert's perusal, snorted now.
"Pull the other one. It’s got bells." she remarked in irritation.
Robert just shook his head.
"It's true, Anne. I brought the papers to show you."
"Bullocks." Was the response. "Grandmother tossed off my Mum and took everything away from her when she
married Da."
"She did." Robert agreed calmly. "And as long as she stayed married to Mr. White she won't see a single coin of the
family's. Grandmother took what she took away from your mother and she put it into a separate account. When you
were born she took what she sets apart for each of her grandchildren and put that in the account too. And it’s been
waiting for you ever since."
"He means you're richer than some of us, Anne." Bea finally got up the nerve to supply.
"Well good for her." Hector said. "If she wants it, she'll take it. I don't need anything, or want anything. Obviously I was
with her before I knew this little bombshell, and her for that matter. So I don't really see how it's supposed to shock
and shake me. Or let you try to convince her to go back and kowtow to this grandmother who obviously hasn't given
a shit about her until you all decided that she had something going on in her life."
He finished his coffee and looked at Robert. "And I'd refrain from looking at her breasts when your wife, her cousin, is
sitting right next to you. Or is the reason you married Bea a financial arrangement? Because I certainly don't see any
passion."
"Robert married Bea so he could come back to the family." Liselle supplied, arching an eyebrow as she looked at
Robert. "He couldn't stand having what we do and then being tossed aside and having to watch from the outside
again." She looked smugly at Hector. "You may think I'm a slut but at least I'm straight forward about everything.
Anne however - why, Robert would fuck her in a heart beat if he could get close enough to her legs to try. And that
has nothing to do with money or position - well, perhaps position."
Bea strangely didn't either disagree with Liselle or look ashamed of it. Roger ignored her.
"Grandmother wants to see you, Anne. And she wants to offer you access to the inheritance. That's why she sent us.
To bring you back to Bordeaux. The family jet is waiting."
"Oh, do say you'll come." Bea pushed enough past her fear of Hector breaking her arm to reach out and lightly touch
her cousin's arm. The look in her perfect blue eyes was very far from innocent or young. It was hungry. Avaricious.
"Please, Anne. Just to hear her say it? She's gotten so old this past winter. Weaker. We all want to see her break -
even a little and she'll break for you."
"And bring your friend." Liselle stated. "You know how we like to share in our family."
"Shove off." Andi told her in annoyance and the hidden smile reappeared at the edge of Liselle's dark lips. Andi's
brows were down now and her free hand shifted fractionally but Hector's coffee cup was already empty so she left it
alone. "An' you two too." She shot first Bea and than Robert a glaring look. "Both of you can piss off." She was so
furious that she'd started trembling. There wasn't a single visible sign of it but it was whispering just under her skin.
Her voice, just as furious, still managed to stay level and at a normal volume but her father's heavy accent came fully
to the fore. "Wantin' me back is bullocks and both of ya know it. Tell Gram to sod off and take her bloody money with
'er. I'm me Mum's daughter and me Da's girl and I'll bleedin' well not be crawlin' in now when I wouldn't crawl before.
You know what she wants from me and why she's danglin' that damned money now and I'll not be havin' it. I'm mine
and I'm where I want to be. You go runnin' home and you tell 'er that. Tell 'er there'll be no disinheritin' this time
because I'm not hers t' start with. She's got nothin' I want. An' that's somethin' she deserves pity for. You want t' tell
her somethin' you tell 'er that."
"Anne." Robert's voice reasoned. "All you have to do is say you're giving him up. You can still keep him on the side.
Grandmother really is dying. What's a year or two more?"
"Fuck off." Andi told him.
Hector laughed. Not at Andi, but at th is whole situation. "You obviously don't know her." He said and stood up,
carefully setting Andi on the ground and taking her hand. "It's been..well..the food was good." He said with a shrug. "I
feel sorry for you all, that you measure your lives in terms of bank accounts and your standing in the eyes of a bitter
old woman. Thank god I don't have to deal with that. I'll take my lower class life over that any day of the week and
twice on Sundays. You can tell her that, too, if you really want."
He looked at Andi. "We finished here?"
"About twenty years ago" she agreed, accent still rough at its edges.
"This is the part where the villains get to say 'this isn't the last you've heard of us.'" Liselle commented with a low
chuckled from her place at the table she hadn't moved from. Andi turned her head as they left the table to look at
her. Brows down but not in anger.
"Anne." Robert moved to keep up with them. "Don't do this. Take the offer. You know Grandmother never loses."
Andi shot him a glare and shifted so she was under Hector's arm.
"That's a lie. She's lost once before. T' my family than too." He reached for her arm and her eyes narrowed. "Back
off, Robert. You're about to do something monumentally stupid an' get yourself hurt."
"Robert." Liselle's voice, still as smooth as chocolate. "You do remember, dear, the punch line to the joke 'where
does a two hundred pound gorilla sit'?"
"Anywhere it wants to." Hector supplied for her. "And when you figure I'm over two hundred pounds, again, I trump."
He said with a grin. "Try to think of us somewhat fondly as you spend your money as we shuffle along our ordinary
lives. we'll get by, don't give us another thought. Don't expect any invitations either."
Again, Liselle's smile hiding just as the edge of her lips.
"One should hope not. If Andromache doesn't claim the money it’s going to have to go somewhere when the old bat
dies."
"Lis!" Bea sounded shocked. And - thoughtful. Robert stepped back and didn't follow as they kept going. But he
watched them until the door to the private dining room shut. Just as it did, Liselle's voice was clearly heard stating
cheerfully:
"Well. That went well."
Andi shut her eyes and exhaled. Body leaning into Hector's but not enough to slow their exit down or throw his stride
off. As they cleared the door, she muttered:
"That was bloody miserable. All I got out of all that was a salad."
"Oh it didn't go so bad." Hector said. "I thought for a minute Bea was going to tear up and Liselle was going to try and
play footsy with me." He said with a laugh. "Come on, let's get some fried chicken, salad isn't a meal I don't care what
the vegetarians say."
He was going to try to relax her and cheer her up, as she did him after his own confrontation with his family. "I wasn't
too bad, was I? Might have been a little over the top with the killing thing."
"Real food." She sighed it out as the front door swung shut behind them and they were outside again. "My hero." She
was still so - furious! The things they'd said and the assumptions they'd made. She'd wanted very badly to throw
something. But nothing in the restaurant had been hers to throw and she hadn't wanted to break someone else's
things. Her hands were steady but she was still trembling under her skin. A part of her was still violently angry. The
other part of her was still thinking though. Which was the main reason they weren't paying the place for a new set of
dishes. The edges of her lips twitched.
"And I thought you were magnificent. You're quite good at calmly rounding people out, you know that? I thought you
quite shut down Bea's tack on being a heartless mercenary too. She stopped being so clingy afterward, did you
notice?" And then she turned suddenly into him and pressed her face against his throat. Shutting her eyes as she
tucked in against his chest. "Please." She asked softly. An odd request but - Robert had been pawing and eyeing
her all evening and she just wanted - "Could you - could you touch me?" It had brought up other memories - other
eyes that had watched her that way. Robert was harmless but - it hadn't been the time before. In the - camp. The
anger was bleeding out of her now, she never had the energy to sustain a good 'mad', but her skin was still shaking.
"I don't need - I'm not asking - I just - I just need - " she squeezed her eyes tighter shut and pressed closer. Not at all
sure how to explain. "Please."
Without a word, he wrapped her in his embrace outside the restaurant. "It's okay to need." He whispered against her
hair. Most of what they'd said and everything they'd implied was simply vile. Of the worst kind. At least his family
didn't pretend to do anything out of concern. They just came out and did it, much more honest in a way.
"We're not going to worry about them, remember?" He said with a light chuckle. "I know you're not afraid I'm going to
snap your neck in the middle of the night, and you know I'm not after whatever money they say is yours. So we'll just
leave them be. They seem pretty miserable on their own anyway. They don't need our help."
She exhaled. A long silent escape and her back relaxed as she did, shoulders coming down as she almost literally
melted against him. He was so tall and so solid and strong. Her safe haven. He kept everything else away when she
was in his arms.
After a minute of soaking in that, the edges of her lips finally started to curve slightly.
"The things I think you might do to me in the middle of the night have nothing to do with violence." She murmured
without opening her eyes. Skin across her cheekbones and forehead starting to relax. "But they do make me shiver."
Her arms slipped around his waist and she turned her head to rest it against his shoulder. Opening her eyes to look
up at him. "I'm sorry you had to see that." She let go of him long enough to raise her hand and brush her fingers
lightly down his cheek. "But I'm glad you were here." They'd had to divide their attacks and Hector had forced things
to a head much sooner than they would have otherwise. Her relatives worked best in packs and they could be a bit
overwhelming if you were alone. And - she'd never been able to snuggle close in someone's arms directly afterward
either... It was healing.
"Thank you for being stubborn enough to come."
"Here for an inch, in for the mile." He said with a chuckle. Her family was a piece of work, all right. At least her
mother's side. Completely amazing she had turned out so different, and he knew he owed Sean and Jeanette a big
thank you for that. "Tell you what, they come to the house again, we'll have them arrested. I bet Liselle would enjoy a
cavity search from the 'hired help.'" He said, it was an amusing thought.
"Come on. I chose this place for a reason." He said, keeping his arm around her shoulders as he started to walk with
her. "Rib shack down the street."
She laughed softly, slipping her arm around his waist again as she snuggled in against him. It never stop surprising
her how Hector managed to cover all the tangents an event could take. She understood why he did it and even that
he'd learned to do it automatically. That it was vital to his job. But - it never stopped surprising her when he pulled
something out of his sleeve like this. She rested her other hand over his heart and smiled up at him. Feeling - very
safe and very well loved with his arm around her.
"Hey!" It was a man's voice from the parking lot. Cole's. He moved away from the car he'd been leaning against and
made a line for them.
"Ooh, one more hurdle." Hector joked. He wasn't sure as to Cole's place in all this. If he had been dragged in as an
innocent bystander, or had plotted with them on the flight over here. And he couldn't even blame the man for cutting
out like he had, wasn't his family after all. If one didn't have to, one should avoid all the nastiness that had ensued.
"Cole." Hector said. "I think the rest might be staying for the actual meal. Not sure." And by his tone, it was clear he
also didn't care.
Cole nodded. Noting the way Hector was standing and the way Andi hadn't bothered greet him.
"Look." He got straight to the point. "I don't know what that was all about but I feel like I should apologize. Even
though I'm pretty sure I don't want to know what I'm saying sorry for." He reached into an inner pocket in his jacket.
Pulled out a thin silver case and took two cards from it. "My business cards." He offered them. "One for each of you."
Andi just looked at him and her hand against Hector's chest didn't move so he offered them both to Hector. "That's
my private line at the bottom." He shrugged. "I built this company myself. So I kind of get what's going on. You think
of anything I can help with give me a call. Not making promises but that's why it’s a 'just in case' card."
Hector took them and put them in the inside pocket of his jacket, nodding. "Piece of advice, stay far far away from
that family. Hate to see them chew you up and spit you out to satisfy their own agenda, which is what they're trying to
do." Cole seemed like a good enough guy so far, after all. "And enjoy the city. Baton Rouge ain't Paris or New York
for that matter, but it's a good city."
Cole chuckled.
"Then I'll just have to make sure they don't like the way I taste. But thanks." He grinned. "I might hang around the city
a bit and see what kind of trouble I can get into. First I'm going to go see what trouble I can get out of though. Nice
meeting both of you." He met Andi's eyes and gave her a nod before giving the same to Hector. Than he turned and
headed back toward the restaurant.
"Poor guy, nearly feel bad for him." Hector said with a chuckle as Cole disappeared into the restaurant. "Okay, so
now is generic Southern food. Gumbo is distinctive to Louisiana, but a good rack of ribs, anywhere in the South. Add
in a side of collard greens and some corn on the cob...thank god we got a washing machine." He said with a smile.
"It'll be okay.”
She trusted those words from Hector. And more than just about getting covered in barbeque sauce. As for Cole - she
didn't feel sorry for him at all. But that had to do with the fact she did believe he'd been brought in as what they
wanted her to replace Hector with. Whether Cole was aware of that role or not, she didn't have to like him simply
based on that fact alone.
"Are you going to bury me in napkins again?" She asked softly, looking up at the man she was comfortably snuggled
against. Face innocent, eyes gently teasing.
Hector laughed. "Well, that was for protection of the car, remember?" He said with a chuckle. "Good thing about a
bike, you can literally hose it down. Not to mention you brought clothes to change into anyway...why? You want me to
bury you in napkins? That could be interesting."
Cole wasn't a thought in his mind. Out of sight, out of mind, and he wasn't even really much of a threat anyway. A
real threat would have stayed in the room and deflected some of the attack off Andi.