“Your old man never told you who came up with the idea to put opium bricks in the soaps?” Drake asked, already knowing the answer.

“I didn’t even know that was what was in the boxes,” Beau said. “I didn’t want to know.”

“Where do they manufacture the soaps, lotions and perfumes?” Drake asked.

Beau frowned and looked at his brother. “The factory is in town, not out in the swamp. The laboratory where Charisse works is on their property, but everything is made in town. We pick up our deliveries there.”

“And your special ones?” Remy prompted.

“They’re waitin’ at the Mercier dock for us, already loaded in the boat.”

“Beau, how dumb can you be,” Remy burst out in disgust. “Runnin’ drugs, for God’s sake. What the hell’s wrong with you?”

Beau hung his head. “We were losin’ everythin’, Remy. The house, the boat, everythin’ and we’ve always done what pa told us to do. We got good money for makin’ the deliveries and workin’ for the Merciers gave us great benefits. They’re fair employers.”

“Other than you have to run drugs for them,” Drake said.onet>

Beau didn’t reply.

“What are you goin’ to do with us?” Gilbert asked.

“I haven’t decided yet,” Drake said. “For now, go home and keep your mouths shut. If you get another call, you’d better let us know immediately. And then take Evangeline to the Boudreaux home. You understand me? Don’t make me come looking for you.”

Remy bent down and unlocked the cuffs on both men. “You were damned stupid to get into this mess,” he repeated. “And you’re lucky Drake is leader.”

“Oh, they’ll be punished,” Drake said. “I have to give it some thought.”

“Tell the boy . . .” At Drake’s scowl, Beau cleared his throat, “Renard’s son, we’d still like to talk with him. If he’d like.”

“I’ll tell him.” Drake pinned him with his predator’s stare. “Don’t make the mistake of running away or going to the Merciers. I’d hunt you down and I’d never stop until I found you and I killed you. You don’t want me for an enemy.”

Beau nodded. “This is my home. I was born here and I’ll die here. I got nowhere else to go. Gilbert’s the same. And we’ve got Evangeline and the boys to see to. We’re not goin’ to be lookin’ over our shoulders the rest of our lives.”

Drake watched the two men walk heavily toward the boat before he turned to Remy. “We didn’t get much on our killer.”

“Drugs? You didn’t think maybe that might be important to tell me?” Remy demanded.

“Sorry. We were going to talk to you first thing after we rested. Someone drugged us and tried to kill us all with smoke. I have to talk to Pauline. She set the security alarm and someone turned it off and disabled the smoke alarms. They blocked all the balcony doors from the outside.”

“And you think it was the killer?”

“It has to be someone familiar with the inn’s security system. The Merciers were here and all of them heard Pauline say she was leaving for the day. Any of them could have done it.”

“Charisse or Armande. Damn it all, Drake, it always comes back to them. Mahieu is taken with that girl.”

“So is Saria.” Drake shook his head. “But she’s got the brains, knows chemistry and certainly is always around when something goes wrong.”

“Just damn it,” Remy said.

18

“HURRY, Drake, hurry,” Saria chanted i

n a whisper. She repeated his name over and over, a mantra to save her.

The bathroom was quite small, much smaller than her room, but it was at the farthest point of the house away from the sitting room where Elijah and Joshua and her brothers were gathered. She bit down hard on her thumbnail as she paced the few feet across the tiled floor.

“You have to get here fast.”

She’d promised him she wouldn’t leave tine. fety of her brothers or his men, and she knew she couldn’t, but she was fast losing control of the situation and she needed him. Right. Now.

Her back arched and she muffled a cry as she dropped to the cool tiles on her hands and knees, dragging air into her lungs, to breathe away the burning fire consuming her. Her breasts felt swollen and achy. Her skin was hot. Molten lava seemed to be in her veins. Something alive raced under her skin, so that she itched, and if she looked, she could see it moving. The pushing up of her skin made her feel slightly sick to her stomach. Between her legs, she was on fire. There was no other word for it, a fierce conflagration burning out of control.

“This can’t be happening. Not now. Not in front of my brothers.” Her face flamed bright red. She had to stifle a sob.

Deep inside, her female leopard stretched and preened, pushing her rump into the air, until Saria found herself sliding sensuously across the floor. Her jaw ached, her teeth felt too full for her mouth. She could hear the conversation in the front of the house, although the men spoke in low murmurs. There was no way to concentrate on what they were saying, even when she tried to distract herself. Her joints ached and popped with every movement and she couldn’t stay still, her body undulating nearly out of control.

For a time she breathed deep, in and out, a form of meditation, trying to relieve the burning need that built and built, coiling tighter and tighter inside of her until she was afraid she’d go insane. Her fingers curled into claws and the tips of her fingers hurt, pinpoints of pain that only were relieved when she dug them into the cool tiles. The scratch marks horrified her. She had to get out of the house before she destroyed it.