Unlucky (39 page)

Jake said gently. "She didn't say there wasn't a way to protect me from it."

"You saw the voodoo woman?" she asked, trying to control the hope quickly rising inside of her. "How? When?"

"Scooter took me to see her last night. That's probably why he took off so fast when I got here. I think he was afraid you'd come down on him for interfering."

Mallory stared at Jake in disbelief. "Scooter took you to the voodoo woman? I can't believe it. He's scared to death of that stuff."

"That he is, but he loves you more than he's scared. He knew I'd never find her without help and figured you wouldn't take me."

Mallory bit her lip and drew in a breath. "So what did she say?"

Jake reached inside his shirt and pulled out a string with a tiny pouch on the end. "She said that if I wore this, it should protect me--against the curse, anyway. She didn't have a protection against falling desperately in love with you." He placed one hand on her cheek and leaned in, gently placing his lips on hers.

Mallory relaxed in his kiss, every nerve in her body tingling from his touch. "You're sure," she said as he drew back and placed a finger on the pouch. "If this protects you from me, will it work for others?"

"It better not."

Mallory stared at him. "Why on earth wouldn't you want my friends and family protected?"

Jake placed his hand over hers. "I would, but the voodoo woman said this protects me because of the scope of our relationship. I took that to mean in a biblical sort of way." He grinned. "Now if you want to work something like that out with Amy, I might consider it."

Mallory swatted him on the shoulder but couldn't keep from smiling. "You wish." She drew in a breath, trying to absorb everything he was saying. "What about your job? You know I can't leave here--"

Jake placed one hand over her mouth to stop the barrage that was most certainly about to spill out. "I've resigned my position with the FBI, and I'll be relocating to Royal Flush as soon as I can pack up my apartment and schedule a moving truck."

Mallory stared at him in disbelief. "But what will you do?"

"I've been thinking a lot about my work, wondering if it really accomplished what I hoped it would as far as making society a better place. Everything that went down with Mark and Janine kinda clinched it for me. I think I'd rather work with kids--teenagers specifically. Hopefully prevent them from becoming someone I would have arrested."

Mallory smiled. "I think that sounds wonderful. Do you have any idea where you might work? There are a lot of charitable organizations in New Orleans. I know they could use help."

Jake shook his head. "I'm planning on starting my own organization. I have a real estate agent trying to locate a warehouse in New Orleans for me. That should give me the room to start."

A real estate agent? New Orleans? "But, how will you pay for it? Something like that's got to be expensive to get started."

"I've applied for the usual grants. But I have a long-term plan for continual funding."

"What kind of plan?"

"I'm sure you heard about the ATF seizing all of Royal's assets. Well, I have it on good information that the port-a-john plant is going up for auction here shortly. In fact, the ATF has given me an inside deal. If I can come up with the money they want before the auction, I can buy the plant from them at an absolute steal."

Mallory stared at him for a moment. It had been weeks since the arrests, but the residents of Royal Flush still hadn't quite wrapped their minds around Walter Royal as a gunrunner. The ATF case, however, was solid as a rock. A search of the plant had produced thousands of weapons stored in false bottoms in the port-a-johns. She supposed it made good sense when you thought about it. The port-a-johns were distributed all over the country, and she'd guess no one was going to get overly involved in inspecting a portable toilet, empty or not.

But Jake buying the port-a-john plant? Surely he was joking. "You want to be the King of Crap?"

Jake laughed. "Well, I am planning on living in Royal Flush. If you're going to be King of Crap, this is definitely the place."

Mallory smiled. "Okay, King Jake, any idea how you're going to come up with that capital?"

"Funny you should ask. I hear there's a poker tournament starting up next week in Vegas. I figure with Amy's card shark training and a little help from you, the other players don't stand a chance. And then there's the added benefit of so many wedding chapels."

Mallory drew in a breath. "You want to marry me?"

Jake laughed. "More than anything. But you've got to meet my mother first or she'll kill me. I'm going to have her meet us in Vegas if that's okay with you. I don't think she's quite ready for Royal Flush--I need a little time to prepare her for a visit here, and I would take you to her place in Atlantic City, but she's an artist. She lives and works in her studio and it's probably not the best place for you to meet."

"An artist, huh? What does she do, paint?" Jake gave her a pained look. "She's a glassblower." Mallory laughed and threw her arms around Jake, squeezing him hard against her as if there were no tomorrow. "Vegas it is, then."

Jana DeLeon
was raised in southwest Louisiana among the bayous and gators. Her hometown is Carlyss, but you probably won't find it on a map. Her family owned a camp located on a bayou just off the Gulf of Mexico--you could only get there by boat. The most important feature was the rope hammock hanging in the shade on a huge deck that stretched out over the water.

Jana and her brother spent thousands of hours combing the bayous in a flat-bottom aluminum boat, studying the natural habitat of many birds, nutria and alligators. She would like you to know that no animals were injured during these "studies," but they kept makers of peroxide in business.

Jana now resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, Rene, three spoiled dogs and three spoiled cats.