Blue Voodoo: A Romantic Retelling of Bluebeard (The Hidden Kingdom Series Book 2) by Jennifer Blackstream Read Free Book Online Page B

delight for slapping him in the face. The fact that they miraculously avoided so much as brushing Dominique’s cheek only annoyed him further.
    “Madame Laveau!”
    Julien startled as a woman rushed in their direction. He hadn’t noticed they’d made it out of the bayou and now stood on solid land, not far from a large tent. The door flap still fluttered in the wake of the woman who was striding toward them with quick, long steps. She was slender, nearly as tall as he was, and had eyes like sunlight on golden wheat. Her simple white dress flowed around her legs as she scurried up to him, her gaze locked on Dominique’s unconscious form.
    “What happened?” she gasped.
    “Madame Laveau saved this boy from Parlangua,” Julien answered immediately.
    The woman’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, my.”
    “I’m taking her to my home where her injuries will be cared for. Hers and the boy’s.” He gestured with his chin behind him at the couple and their child. The boy had finally allowed his father to take him, and his mother looked as though she might fall over at any moment. “We need a carriage.”
    The woman’s gaze lingered on his beard for a split second as if she’d only just noticed it. A question formed on her lips, already echoing in Julien’s head, a replay of a scenario he’d been forced to go through far too many times in the last decade.
    He pressed his lips together, muffling the urge to say something unpleasant. “The carriage?”
    “Of course, of course. Right away.”
    She rushed off in a flair of white gauzy material, leaving behind a scent trail of cherries and incense. It didn’t take long for a carriage to be brought to them, not surprising considering the carriage was for an injured Dominique Laveau and the child she’d saved from Parlangua. The ounsi that had summoned the carriage for them also provided Julien with a bag of Dominique’s things, clean clothes as well as herbs, bottles, and odds and ends he could only guess at.
     The woman merely smiled at his befuddlement and assured him Dominique would be grateful to have them on hand. He shrugged and thanked her as the carriage pulled away. Air rushed in from the windows, reminding him his clothes were wet and caked with filth from the swamp. They clung to his body, adding to his general discomfort. Dominique’s clothes were no better, and her skirts weighed more than any clothing had a right to, the saturated material lying like a leaden blanket over his legs as he settled her across his lap.
    He leaned her head against his shoulder so she could rest comfortably against him and a few strands of her hair tickled his jaw. The curls had escaped the wrap, the cloth now hanging around her like a scarf, leaving her hair wild and free. The luscious brown bounty poured over his shoulder and forearms like a textured curtain of coffee spirals. He lifted his fingers, ready to give in to temptation and brush a few curls back from her face, but then remembered himself and closed his hand, forcing it back to his side. Do not complicate things any further.
    Very soon, they were taken past the city limits by way of a small wooden bridge and emerged on his property. He’d given strict orders that only the house was to be opened, cleaned, and readied for company. The land itself was to be left alone, left to grow as it would, wild and untamed. Un-trespassed on.
    Uninvestigated.
    Julien studied the trees and bushes,  satisfied to see that his orders had apparently been followed. After only a brief resistance, his gaze traveled to the west, ghosting over the center of his property, hidden by the overgrowth of trees. It was only a trick of the mind that convinced him he could see what lay there, see the solid stone nestled in a natural clearing amidst all that greenery. The mausoleum that held the reminders of what happened if he allowed himself to be pulled from his solitary path. What happened when someone tried to force a fate on him that had