Read Online East of Orleans by Renee' Irvin - Free Book Online Page B

cat!”
    The smile disappeared from Jacqueline’s face and the flicker left her eyes. She watched the cat until it jumped back into her lap.
    “Well, Jules McGinnis, what can you do about it?” Jacqueline stroked the cat. “There is not a thing that you can prove.”
    “You don't know what in the hell I can prove,” Jules shot back. “What you been toting around in that satchel?”
    Jacqueline leaned forward and stared at him with angry eyes. “You stay out of my things, you bastard! And quit spying on me!”
    “Spying on you! Hell, you ain’t worth spying on. There ain't nobody bothered a thing you got. At least nothing that you value…” he said with a smirk.
    Jacqueline shifted nervously; she twisted a diamond pendant around her little finger. She looked up at Jules from downcast eyes.
    “And how would you know what I value?”
    Jules glanced down at the sparkle of the necklace that lay between her full breasts.
    “What poor bastard did you steal that from?”
    Jacqueline turned her head away from him. He walked over, pulled her from the chair and kissed her hard on the lips.
    “Get the hell away from me!” She pushed him off her and sat back down.
    Jules leaned over, put his hand on her chin and raised her head. He looked deep into her emerald eyes. “Awful cold, aren’t we, my dear, for a woman I paid to have sex with. But you know what? I have no complaints; there’s not a thing that I can compare it to.” His look softened, along with his voice.
    Jacqueline gave him a cold hard glance.
    “Listen to me, there’s something I want to tell you,” Jules said, almost pleading. “You cannot stand me now, but things will change. I want to take you out of here. I do not know where you came from or what your story is, but I know that you do not want to be here, you don’t belong here, and I don’t want you here.”
    “Jacqueline, I want to help you. Why I want to help you I don’t know. I'm not the kind of man who wants to help anyone for nothing, especially a woman, and a lying thieving woman at that.” He gave her a long lazy smile. “But there is something about you; something not even a man like me understands. As crazy as it sounds, I care for you.”
    For once, Jacqueline had nothing to say.
    From the flicker of a candelabrum, Jules could see the tears form in her eyes. He removed a monogrammed handkerchief from his trouser pocket, gently kneeled down, and wiped the tears from her cheeks.
    He pulled the straps of her dress up on her shoulders and took her face in his hands.
    “I want you to go to Savannah with me.”
    “You are crazy,” whispered Jacqueline.
    “Woman, I know your game, I’m on to you, but I don’t care. In some ways, you and I are just alike; we understand each other. I want to take you away from this place. I’ll even buy you a house, a big one.” Jacqueline pulled back and looked at him with sparkling eyes.
    “A big one? Where are you going to buy me this house? How do I know I can trust you?” She twirled long dark tresses around her finger and stared straight ahead.
    Jules got up, removed a cigar from the pocket of his vest, turned his back, lit the cigar, and then turned back to Jacqueline.
    “I will buy you a house in Savannah . I cannot bear the thought of you continuing to play these dangerous games and pulling your cons. Even though I have to admit, you would make a hell of a poker player.”
    She turned her face to his.
    “Ever since the night that I walked through those doors, I turned around and there you stood, the most beautiful woman that I had ever laid eyes on.”
    Jacqueline tossed her head back and with wide-eyed innocence said, “You are not lying to me; you are really going to buy me a house?”
    “I will buy you the most expensive house in Savannah .” He looked at her and smiled. “I want you to be happy, I want to take care of you, give this life up and never think about it again. I am going to make a lady out of you.”
    These were the