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  Releasing her arms, Dane thought; Matt’s good, honey, but I’m better. And if I had my way, I’d be the one going home with you tomorrow. I’d be the one putting myself between you and danger.

  Fifteen minutes later they docked the Sweet Savannah in a small, snug harbor, alongside two smaller crafts. The clouds moved across the sky, blocking the sun and creating a gray overcast.

  “Wait here on the aft deck,” Dane told her. “I’ll go below and get our bags.”

  She surveyed what she could see of the island, lush and green in all its springtime glory. The beach spread out before her and the blue-gray Gulf waters met the azure sky behind and around her. Pearl-white sand covered the beach.

  Dane has brought me to a tropical paradise, she thought.

  As her gaze traveled across the beach, she saw a curving set of rock steps leading to the hill above. She gasped loudly. Loping downward, his huge feet pounding the sturdy steps, was a bald man the size of an eighteen-wheeler. His mahogany skin was weathered, but Annie couldn’t tell how old he was. She had the oddest notion that the man was ageless.

  “Ready?” Dane came up on deck, her suitcase in one hand, his duffel bag in the other. When Annie didn’t respond, he followed her line of vision and laughed. “Don’t let him frighten you. That’s Manton. He’s in charge of Le Bijou Bleu and he’s one of Jeannie Dundee’s adopted fathers.”

  “He’s enormous.”

  “About seven feet tall.” Dane gave her a gentle nudge, using the end of his duffel bag to prod her into movement.

  By the time they disembarked, Manton was on the beach, waiting for them. He neither smiled nor spoke, simply nodded and took the bags from Dane.

  As they followed him up the ancient curved stairway, Dane placed his hand in the small of Annie’s back. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at him.

  “He’s not very friendly, is he?” Annie whispered her question.

  “Manton is a deaf mute,” Dane explained. “You can talk to him, if you know how to sign…or if you have a telepathic link to him the way Jeannie does.”

  “Oh, he’s deaf.” As she gazed up at the giant’s broad back, a shudder racked Annie’s body. “What do you mean, a telepathic link?”

  “That’s something else you need to know before you meet the Dundees—Jeannie is an empath and a telepath.”

  “You’re kidding?” Annie considered most empaths, telepaths and psychics to be phonies. However, during her days as a Memphis reporter, she’d met a so-called psychic who, from time to time, worked with the police department. The woman had been unerringly accurate in her visions.

  When they reached the top of the hill, Manton proceeded, his heavy, pulverizing footsteps lumbering ever forward. Dane grabbed Annie’s arm and pulled her to an abrupt halt. She drew in her breath when she looked out over the wide, grassy meadow and her gaze caught a glimpse of the two-story, raised French cottage that lay a quarter of a mile ahead. The old house, circled with porches that were edged with banisters, had been built on a rise, giving its owners views of the ocean from every direction.

  After a trek across the spacious, verdant lawn, they reached the house. An assortment of dogs and cats greeted their approach. Manton disappeared inside as a big, blond man came out and stood on the veranda. He threw up his hand and waved. Within minutes, a woman, with a cane in her hand, emerged from the house, an infant braced against her chest and a towheaded child at her side.

  “Welcome to Le Bijou Bleu,” the woman said, a welcoming smile on her pretty face.

  Dane shook hands with Sam Dundee and hurriedly introduced Annie to the man and his wife. “And this little lady, tugging on her mama’s shirttail is Samantha.”

  The girl, a tiny, feminine replica of her large, rugged father, looked up and smiled. She pointed to the baby in her mother’s arms. “His name is Manton Julian Dundee, but we call him M.J.,” she informed them. “He’s named after PaPa Manton and Grandfather Julian. He’s only two months old, so all he does is cry and eat and make a mess in his diapers.”

  The four adults laughed in unison and Samantha Dundee beamed happily, knowing she had secured their attention.

  “Won’t you come inside, Ms. Harden?” Sam held open the door. “We need to go over some particulars of your case so that we can set the wheels of our investigation in motion before Matt meets you in Biloxi tomorrow.”

  “Sam, can’t that wait,” Jeannie said. “I’m sure Annie would like to freshen up and have dinner before you and Dane interrogate her.”

  “I don’t mind—” Annie said.

  “No, Jeannie’s right,” Sam said. “As always.”

  The expression in Sam Dundee’s eyes when he looked at his wife said more than words could ever express. Here was a man totally besotted with a woman and didn’t care who knew it. A strange, little ache gripped Annie’s heart. What would it be like, she wondered, to have a man love you like that?

  When they entered the foyer, Manton emerged from the staircase that led to the ground level of the house. Jeannie offered her infant son to the silent giant.

  “Please take M.J. and Samantha to the nursery,” Jeannie said. “You can let Samantha help give her brother his evening bath.”

  Without so much as a whimper, the little girl followed her “PaPa Manton.” Jeannie turned to her guests.

  “Sam, I’m sure you and Dane can find something to do while I show Annie to her room.” She laced her arm through Annie’s and led her toward the staircase. “Our guest rooms are on the ground level. Manton has placed your bag in the Sunlight Room.”

  Following her hostess’s lead and being careful to keep her own gait in step with Jeannie Dundee’s hampered walk, Annie descended the stairs. “It’s awfully nice of you to welcome me this way. I suppose I actually invited myself, but I didn’t want to delay Dane’s vacation and he wouldn’t leave me and—”

  “And you are much safer here on Le Bijou Bleu than you will be in Point Clear or back at home.” Jeannie gave Annie’s arm a reassuring squeeze. “You must trust Dane, you know. Unlike other men in your life, he will never hurt you nor disappoint you.”

  Annie jerked away from Mrs. Dundee and stared at her with wide, suspicion-filled eyes. “How did you know…Dane told me that you are an empath and a telepath, but I have to tell you that I really don’t have a great deal of faith in any of that hocus-pocus stuff.”

  Jeannie laughed, the sound pure and sweet. She gazed sympathetically at Annie. “I have nothing to gain by lying to you, in pretending to have abilities that I don’t.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m being terribly rude, aren’t I?”

  “You’re being honest, not rude.”

  Jeannie limped only slightly as she made her way down the hall, then stopped in front of an open door and waited for her guest. Annie squared her shoulders, walked quickly to catch up and breezed into the room. She halted the moment she entered, realizing that this wasn’t just a room, but a suite, which extended the width of the ground floor. Windows on all sides, except the north side, wrapped around the sitting room and the bedroom, which lay just beyond the open French doors. Annie noticed her suitcase resting at the foot of the massive cherry four-poster bed.

  “Please, make yourself at home,” Jeannie said. “Dinner will be ready in about two hours, but feel free to join us upstairs whenever you like.”

  “Thank you.” When Jeannie turned to leave, Annie took a tentative step toward her. “Wait.”

  Jeannie turned to face Annie, who immediately reached out and grasped Jeannie’s hand. An odd sensation struck her and suddenly she felt an inexplicable sense of something releasing inside her. Fear. Guilt. Uncertainty. All melted away like winter snow at the first touch of springtime sun.

  “What did you do?” Annie asked. “I felt it, but… It’s as if you… I can’t explain it.”

  “It’s as if I took away all your worries.” Jeannie clasped Annie’s hand tightly, then released it. “The effect isn’t permanent. Just a temporary remedy.” Jeannie