Page 43 of Moonshine and Magnolias (Just Add Peaches #1)

“She’s thrilled.” Wendy snuck a glance at her cousin, who waved from across the room. “Being here won’t get in the way of your work, right? We didn’t talk about the details.”

“As long as there’s Internet, I can do basic research.” He pushed the food around on his plate. Maybe if he moved it around, it would look like he was eating. “I travel though, for clients who need more details. Exotic locations. Like Paris. In Tennessee. Or Venice.”

“In Florida.” She grinned at him and scooped up some eggs. “For the sake of Aunt Eulalee and propriety, you may have to stay in your own room on the third floor.”

“That’s okay.” He swallowed around the tightness of his throat. His tie was showing its disapproval by strangling him.

“We just redid one down the hall.” She licked her lips and dropped her voice. “It has a much bigger bed.”

Her foot rubbed against his leg, and he held onto the warm tenderness. Soon she might use it to kick rather than to caress.

A woman in green came up to their table. Her friendly face seemed familiar, but he couldn’t place her.

“Hey, Wendy. Rob.”

“Anita!” Wendy gestured to the shirt. “The historical society wasn’t exciting enough for you?”

Panic iced his insides. This was the woman helping Hal with his research. Rob had to get her away before she said anything incriminating.

“We usually have one staff member in each class. It’s good for publicity, plus we can relate what’s going on to what happened before.”

Rob stood up, ready to usher her away. “My brother’s upstairs. I’ll take you there.”

“Maybe in a bit, if I haven’t seen him by the time this is over. Wendy, the place looks beautiful.”

“Tell Brandi. She’s the one who set it all up.”

“I have a fantastic idea!” Anita gushed to Rob. “You should use your research to do a lifestyle piece on Fountenoy Hall for the local paper.”

She had to stop talking. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m under contract and my research belongs to my client.”

“Well, that’s a bummer. Okay, I’ll see you guys later.” She went back to her family with a small wave.

Rob relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. That was too close.

“When did you meet Anita?” Wendy followed the other woman’s movement through the crowd. “Though I don’t know why I’m surprised. No one has private business in this town.”

“A couple weeks ago in the basement of the historical society.” Rob spread some peach butter on his bread to avoid looking at Wendy while he spouted the half-truth.

“That makes sense.”

They sat through several speeches by the outgoing members and advice to the newcomers.

Each minute seemed like five, and an aching desire to be with her fought with the need to come clean.

He stroked the inside of her wrist and was rewarded with an increase in her pulse.

He had to tell her. Now. “Let’s get out of here. ”

She rubbed his long fingers in a rhythm that portended things to come. The vibrant feel of her was enough to make him hard. “I can’t abandon my own event.” Her foot skimmed up his leg. “We can go when the speakers stop talking and they cut the cake. Just a little bit longer.”

He let out a low growl that had her lips curling up in a seductive smile. Brunch couldn’t end fast enough.

“Hey, guys!” Anita kneeled by their table so she wouldn’t disturb other guests. “I have to go soon, but I still haven’t seen Hal. He didn’t answer my texts. Can you tell him I found more information—”

Rob stood up and reached for her elbow to guide her away. Fast. “Let’s go into the lobby so we’re not interrupting.”

“Real quick. Tell him I was able to verify the dates your Uncle Louis was at Fountenoy Hall. You knew the start date from the registry, but his journals were pretty accurate about when he left. No mention of any curse, though. I found a society article that mentioned both him and…” here she nodded at Wendy “your great-great grandfather or something and his sister. Isn’t that cool?

Your relatives all knew each other from a century ago. ”

“They what?” Wendy lay her hands flat on the table and pierced him with her sharp green gaze. “Did you know this?”

“Not when we first got here.” Stick to the facts. Don’t embellish. Lay it out straight.

“Maybe when you’ve recovered whatever it is you need, you can donate those dairies to the historical society. I’ve been trying to get Ms. Maybelle to hand hers over for years.”

He was going to burn those damn journals when this was all over.

“This came up in your research?” Wendy’s voice rose on the last word. “What else did you find, Anita?”

“Um…” Anita’s gaze flashed between them. “Nothing?”

“You were helping Rob and Hal research their own ancestry.” Wendy asked. “Their own. Not a client’s?”

“Thanks, Anita.” Rob held out his hand to Wendy. “Let’s go outside and I’ll tell you everything.”

“I’ll just find Hal later.” Damage done, the other woman skittered away .

“You’re not here because someone paid you to be, are you?” Wendy’s harsh tone was a far cry from their silent, heated exchange.

“No.”

The ice that burned in her beautiful green eyes froze all of Rob’s hope. “Start from the beginning, you bastard.”

***

Each word Rob spoke about his great-great-great uncle chilled Wendy’s skin. Working for the IRS. Finding a valuable treasure on Fountenoy Hall grounds. Leaving it behind when he got reassigned. Being cursed.

And now Rob and his brother, lying their way into her home, her life. Looking for the treasure now. Stealing from her.

How could taking something that didn’t belong to him break a curse? If anything, he would be cursed by taking it away.

She put her fork on the table and lined up the tines with the edge of the napkin, ducking her face to hide the raging anger that built in her body.

The air around her wavered like she had stepped through a portal to another world.

She struggled to breath. “The old journals my aunt had. Some were his?” She struggled to keep her voice even, but she was shouting by the end.

“Yes.”

“And you used me and my family to get to them to track down this Angels Eyes curse and a mythical treasure. I was a means to an end for you.” Lies.

Every word he had spoken to her, every time he made her smile, every moan of pleasure had all been based on lies.

Fury built up in her. At Rob, at herself.

Was she that pathetic that she’d succumb to the first man who showed more attention to her than to her cousin?

How had she been taken in so easily? First by Brandi and Eulalee, and now Rob.

But Brandi’s omissions didn’t fall into something she should have recognized. And they weren’t done with the intent of causing her harm. This was all on her.

“When we narrowed down his location to the Inn at Fountenoy Hall, we came here to find the treasure, but we didn’t know what to look for.” Rob’s eyes searched hers with a yearning she didn’t understand, but his voice stayed flat. Unemotional.

Savage. Brutal.

“You were going to steal from me.” Her voice grew louder as the shock of it came back.

A part of her registered the curious glances from guests at nearby tables, but she didn’t care.

A massive force sucked all the air out of the room.

A blaze of rage surged through her. “You were going to steal from my family. My dead grandmother!”

He reached across the table for her hand. She scrambled away, knocking over her chair in the process. The loud thunk had more heads turning and the speaker stopped his speech. “Don’t touch me. Don’t you dare touch me.”

He stood with her, but didn’t come any closer.

The tingling traveled up her arms and nested in her jaw. She rubbed her face, trying to keep the tears from spilling. Unable to speak. To breathe. She had given him so much. Piece by piece, she had let herself take a chance, to feel, to follow her emotions.

She should have known better, but she wanted to believe. And he taken advantage of her willingness.

“I wanted to tell you, when I realized Hal had misled us both. When we were done with breakfast.”

“You must think I’m ten kinds of stupid.” She glared at him. “How convenient that you were planning on spilling your secret so soon after Anita did it for you.”

The room had quieted. Her friends and neighbors all faced her with expressions of concern and curiosity. Her body trembled with hurt and anger, betrayal and embarrassment, and she couldn’t do one thing to stop it.

She flung her napkin on the table and ran out of the ballroom, gulping air into her stinging lungs.

Footsteps followed, and she braced herself as Rob entered the dining room behind her. She wanted the full story, even if all he spouted was lies. She’d sort it out from what he told her. Maybe with Anita’s help.

“Wendy.” Rob’s mouth twisted as he shook his head. “I messed up. I’m sorry.”

She stayed silent. It was four weeks too late for an apology.

“You’ve made a difference in my life, Wendy. Do you know how rare that is? I’ve never seen anyone take on so much with your grace and good humor, especially in the wake of a tragedy. Your crazy aunt, your strange friends, your cousin. You bring out the best in everyone you encounter.”

His words burned. “You’re lying.”

“I think about you when I’m not with you.

What you’re doing, who you’re with. If you’re happy.

When I’m walking around Claremont, I wonder when you last traveled the same streets.

We have something, Wendy. I know you feel the same, or you wouldn’t have asked me to stay. You wouldn’t have given me so much.”

She so desperately wanted to believe him, to believe the changes within her hadn’t been a manipulation. That she wasn’t that gullible. It had been so easy to let herself fall. “Have you found what your uncle lost?”

He hesitated, looked away before bringing his gaze back to her. “No.”

Of course he hadn’t. Damn, he was good, the bastard, even managing to bring a hint of despair into his expression. She pointed toward the lobby. “Get out.”

“I need—”

She held up a hand to stop his softened voice. “I really don’t give a flying fuck what you need. Get your things and you and your damn brother get out of my house. NOW!”

“Wendy—”

“You heard her.” Sebastien marched into the room, his voice full of menace. She hadn’t noticed him following. Lo?c and Massimo buffered Rob on either side, their massive bodies limiting his movements. “Get the hell out of here before you don’t have a choice as to how.”

Rob’s eyes swept from the two hulking beasts to Sebastien and back to Wendy. “I am sorry.”

There was nothing to say.

He gave a quick nod to Sebastien. His men stepped aside to let Rob walk through. When he was at the threshold, he paused and looked back.

She hardened her gaze and pressed her lips together to keep from breaking down. Massimo stepped in front of her, blocking her view. She could tell when Rob left because the man’s body lost its tense alertness.

“Let’s get you upstairs.” Sebastien wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“No.” Not to the room where she had shared so much, only to be betrayed. “Not there.”

Her friend guided her through the kitchen and out to the brick patio while his men stayed behind. The sky was a beautiful summer blue and the air smelled fresh and fruity. The perfect day to have her heart broken.

“Thank you.” God, she hated how weak her voice sounded. “Can you go now?”

His hand caressed her shoulder and he kissed the top of her head. “Sure thing, mon caneton . You know where to find me.”

She waited with her arms folded across her chest, gripping her own forearms until she was alone.

No wonder Rob had flirted with her instead of Brandi.

She was a much easier target. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Letting herself feel. Reveling in the high of a new relationship.

Relying on someone. Taking a chance. Only to be let down and broken.

Her body drained its energy and all she wanted to do was sit and cry.

Never again.

Pieces of her mental armor snapped into place and she shoved any residual emotions away from her heart. None of this mattered. Even if she was forcing herself to pretend now, the belief would come if she let it.

She slipped back into the kitchen and hightailed it up the staircase. Once safely inside her room, she took her suitcase out of her closet.

It was a four-hour drive to Atlanta, but she’d make it in time to talk to the HR director and Tina about getting her job back at Steward Hotels.

Even if she had to take a demotion. Brandi was ready.

She could run Fountenoy Hall and Belle’s Medicinal Brewery with Aunt Eulalee.

They didn’t need Wendy anymore. And Wendy needed to go home.