Beg To Die

“Call me Sally. Everybody does.” Sally interrupted before Reve finished her sentence, which undoubtedly was a denial of a sexual relationship with Jamie Upton.

“Sally, it’s been…interesting meeting you. But I really must go.” Reve backed away several feet. “Having met your niece…and you…and finding out that she and I are not related, despite our resemblance—”

“Did you really come here just to see if you and Jazzy might be related?” Sally asked. “Or did Jamie mention Jazzy and you came here figuring to see if she was competition? She ain’t. Her and Jamie are finished. But you do know he’s engaged…to be married?”

“No, I didn’t know, but I’m pleased for him. Believe me, Jamie Upton doesn’t mean a thing to me. Now, if y’all will excuse me, I’ll be going.”

Sally spit again, this time creating a lot of noise before doing so, making the event seem even more gross to someone unaccustomed to being around an old woman who chewed tobacco and occasionally dipped snuff, too.

“Don’t run off,” Caleb called after Ms. Sorrell.

The lady in question didn’t even bother saying good-bye. She unlocked her car, got in, and backed out of the parking place, all in a powerful hurry.

“So, what’s going on?” Caleb asked Sally. “Why did you try so hard to run her off? Is she really Jazzy’s sister?”

“What a fool thing to say,” Sally told him. “My Jazzy ain’t got no sister. My sister gave birth to one baby girl. Says so right on her birth certificate.”

“Mm-hm…if you say so.”

“I say so.”

“Well, it’s been quite a day already and it’s not even ten o’clock.” Caleb nodded cordially. “You ladies have a good one.” Smiling, he turned and walked away.

Just as soon as Caleb was out of earshot, Ludie grabbed Sally’s arm. “You might have run that Sorrell girl off pretty easy like, but we both know that Jazzy’s going to ask you about her. And you just remember that Jazzy knows you. She’ll be able to tell if you’re lying to her.”

“I didn’t lie to that Sorrell woman and I won’t be lying to Jazzy when I tell her that my sister, Corrine, gave birth to one little girl. Not twins. Corrine’s baby didn’t have no brothers or sisters.”

“That’s only a half truth and you know it.”

“It’s all the truth Jazzy ever needs to know.”

“Something tells me that sooner or later Jazzy and that Sorrell girl are both going to start wondering more and more about why they look so much alike.”

“There could be another reason, another explanation,” Sally said. “I swear to you that I don’t know nothing about there being two babies. All I ever knew about was my little Jasmine.”

“I believe you.” Ludie patted Sally on the back. “I been around all these years, all of Jazzy’s life. I know everything you know.”

Not quite everything, Sally thought. There was one thing I never told you, my old friend. One thing I’ll never tell a living soul.

Morning sunlight warmed her as it streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows and caressed her body. She’d been thinking about what she had to do to protect her child. No more, no less than any mother would do to keep her child safe. Jamie Upton was a danger she planned to eliminate. He didn’t deserve to live.

She had to be very careful. Her plans had to be well thought out, meticulous in details, so that not only would Jamie die a horrific death, but so that Jasmine Talbot would be accused of his murder. They were both sinners. Fornicators. They both deserved to die. Why did men think they could betray the women they professed to love and never be punished?

She had to act quickly. The wedding was in three weeks. Any time before then would be soon enough, but she didn’t think she could wait. The thought of tormenting Jamie excited her. She didn’t dare wait much longer. What if someone else killed him before she got the chance? And it was quite possible that might happen, because so many people hated Jamie. Even his beloved Jazzy professed to despise him. But she hadn’t turned him away last night, had she? And for that alone, she deserved all the misery that was in store for her.

Chapter 4 (#ulink_78d49d19-9574-582a-970b-e1f0259be815)

Jamie felt damn good. He’d scored a direct hit on the old man. Even if Big Daddy knew he hadn’t fucked Erin, some little fragment of doubt would remain in his mind about whether or not his mistress found his grandson a more interesting prospect. The more his grandfather worried about his own love life, the less time he’d have to interfere in Jamie’s.

Of course, he’d have to cool things with other women for the next couple of months. Last night had been his final fling before walking down the aisle. After the honeymoon, he’d gradually ease back into Jazzy’s life and into any other woman’s bed he chose to pleasure him.

Jazzy might have convinced herself that they were through, but she was just kidding herself. The two of them were bound together forever, and nothing or nobody could ever permanently split them apart. Big Mama might be forcing him into a marriage he didn’t want, but she couldn’t make him love Laura. And neither she nor Big Daddy could make him give up Jazzy.

Whistling with an uneasy bravado—he wasn’t sure he could soothe Mr. and Mrs. Willis’s ruffled feathers even if he squared things with Laura—Jamie headed up the stairs. By taking the back stairs, he ran less risk of running into his future in-laws before he spoke privately to Laura. Oh, she’d be spitting mad and all weepy. But a few kisses, a few well-chosen words, a promise to never stray again, and she’d be putty in his hands.

As he approached Laura’s bedroom—the one she now shared with her younger sister—the door swung open, surprising him when Sheridan sashayed out of the room, wearing a bright pink springtime dress, looking much too sexy for a girl of not quite twenty. And that sexiness was more than just show. He knew, firsthand, that his fiancée’s little sister was a hot and wild piece of ass. She had taken great delight in thinking she seduced him the very night he’d asked Laura to marry him, back at their home in Kentucky.

“Well, well, well. Look what the pussycat’s dragged in,” Sheridan said, a mischievous twinkle in her big brown eyes as she paused directly in front of Jamie and gave him a come-hither smile.

“Good morning to you, too, sister-in-law.” Jamie leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

Sheridan reached up and curled her hand around his neck, then stood on tiptoe and brought her mouth in alignment with his. She whispered against his lips, “You can do better than that, can’t you?”

He removed her hand from his neck, swatted her behind, and chuckled. “Behave yourself, child. I’ve got enough trouble on my hands this morning without being caught with my tongue down your throat.”

Sheridan offered him a seductive pout. “Mother and Daddy are very upset with you. And poor Laura cried her eyes out all night. I’m afraid she may call off the wedding.”

“Not on your life. Your sister is going to become Mrs. James Upton III in three weeks. Big Mama has decreed it to be so, and what Reba Upton wants, she gets.”

“Then you’d better start making lovey-dovey noises to Laura. And don’t bother lying to her about where you were. She knows you went straight to Jasmine Talbot.”

“I have no intention of denying where I went,” Jamie said. “Once I explain to Laura why I was with Jazzy, she’ll understand.”

Sheridan’s eyes widened in astonishment. “This I have to hear.”

“Later,” Jamie told her. “Meet me at the stables in an hour.” He winked at her, then walked past her and knocked on Laura’s bedroom door.

“Who is it?” Laura asked.

Jamie glanced over his shoulder and gave Sheridan another quick wink, then blew her a kiss. She smiled triumphantly before rushing off down the hall.

“Laura, darling, it’s Jamie.”

“Go away! I never want to see you again.”

“Now, pet, don’t be that way. I have to talk to you. I have to make you understand why I did what I did last night.”

“I don’t want to hear your explanations. I’ve forgiven you too many times already. If you want Jazzy Talbot, then you can have her. I’m calling off the wedding and—”

“You can’t do that.” Jamie turned the doorknob and flung open the door. Still wearing her nightgown, Laura sat on the edge of her bed. “You don’t want to break my heart, do you?”

“Don’t you dare come in here.” Laura jumped up off the bed and pointed to the door. “Get out right this minute.”

Jamie slammed the door shut, then locked it. “I’m not going anywhere. Not until you let me explain. Not until you forgive me for being a stupid jackass.”

Laura lifted her pretty little head and hazarded a glance in his direction, but looked away quickly. That one swift glance told him that he had said just the right thing, given her just enough hope to make her listen to him. He would lie to her, tell her what she most wanted to hear. That was always the best policy with women. Tell a woman the truth and you’re doomed. Lie to her, flatter her, tell her whatever her heart desires, and you’ll have her eating out of your hand.

He took several tentative steps in her direction, then paused as if uncertain he had a right to approach her. Act humble, he told himself. Pretend to be torn apart inside with the fear you might lose her.