Going All Out by Jeanie London Read Free Book Online Page B

slept.
    Yes, the helpful man in Number Sixteen is very handsome.
    Yes, he had been a gentleman to bandage your wounds and see you home.
    Yes, the sparks had flown between you.
    Yes, you want to see him again.
    Gabriel sat on the bed beside Breanne, leaned close to her ear and summoned his strength to materialize so she could hear him speak….
    Nothing happened.
    He felt no echo of the life that had once pulsed through his veins, no stirring of the heart that had once beat in his chest. He felt no rush of the air through his lungs.
    Puzzled, he inhaled deeply—another habit of old that had no place in the afterlife—and tried again.
    Nothing.
    He heard the crone’s laughter.
    Amazing how he could feel fear chase up his spine. “What have you done to me?”
    “I have done nothing.”
    “I appeared to Tallis. And Christien. They could see and hear me. Why can I not now? Is this some new trickery of yours?”
    “You credit me with too much power, pirate. And yourself.” She held up her hand dismissively when he opened his mouth to argue. “You did nothing special to appear to our Tallis. You delude yourself in death the way you did in life. In all these years of haunting you, I still cannot fathom what my darling granddaughter ever saw in you.”
    Shaking her head, she sent lank white hair whirling around her face. “The curse gave you the ability to appear to two people. Only two people. It was your chance, pirate.”
    Two people?
    The twins.
    It made such coldly logical sense that Gabriel couldn’t believe he hadn’t guessed sooner. Instead he’d appeared to Tallis and her lover and had prided himself on gaining enough power to take a ghostly form again.
    Damn his pride!
    Nearly two hundred years spent haunting this court. Nearly two hundred years denied his eternal peace. Denied any peace when he stared at the horrible old crone who had been his only companion. Nearly two hundred years to atone for his sins.
    Nearly two hundred years and he’d learned nothing.
    “You tricked me,” he cried. “You set me up to fail.”
    “I only cursed you. Your failure is your own.” She gave a bitter laugh. “Do not despair, though. Perhaps if you practice materializing as hard as you practice your other parlor tricks, you may be able to manage the task in another century or two.”
    Which was how long it would take before another set of twins would be born into this family.
    She blew him a kiss and stepped back through the wall,and with her laughter still ringing in his ears, Gabriel stared down at the bed where Breanne moved restlessly. He was so close to breaking the curse, to ending this eternal limbo…and all he had to rely upon were parlor tricks.
     
    A LTHOUGH MONTHS HAD PASSED since Bree had joined Krewe du Chaud, she still hadn’t decided why she’d become a part of this organization. It certainly wasn’t to hand over her hard-earned money paying steep annual dues.
    But Josie hadn’t given her much of a choice. The acting president had been pretty strong-handed about the whole thing. A bully, really.
    When you move into a court that’s a huge part of French Quarter history, Josie had told Bree in a tone that left no room for debate, it’s your duty and responsibility to keep the legend alive….
    Blah, blah, blah.
    Tally, of course, had jumped in with both feet. No surprise there. Tally had been enamored with the krewe since they’d been kids, standing on the streets as the captain’s floats had passed by in the Mardi Gras parade.
    Bree had never understood her sister’s obsession with all this historic family tradition stuff. It was sort of cool to bring up the connection in party conversation, but Bree had never found it much use otherwise.
    Being descended from the captain certainly hadn’t done anything for their mother, who’d spent her life—was probably still spending her life, as far as any of them knew—trying to capitalize on the connection with her alcohol-induced get-rich-quick