Page 1 of Secrets & Desires
PartOne
PartOne
ChapterOne
Amber Duplas squintedat her oldest and dearest friend as he handed her a plate of perfectly cooked eggs. “Nox Renaud, you are a pain inmyass.”
Nox, his green eyes amused, grinned at her. “Well then, my work here is done.Butwhy?”
Amber sighed and bunched her auburn hair up into a ponytail. “You’re one of the wealthiest land owners in New Orleans, an incredibly successful businessman,and—according to Forbes—one of the world’s most eligible bachelors. And yet you stand in your own palatial kitchen…” she gestured around the vast room, “cooking me eggs for brunchyourself.Haven’t you heard ofchefs?”
Nox shook his head. He was used to this line of questioning from Amber. “You know I don’t like a lot of people aroundme,Ambs.”
Amber forked some egg into her mouth, almost swooning at the taste. “Which is why you’re a pain. I’m worried that you’ll become ahermit.”
“I think hermithood arrived a while ago,” Nox said, mildly. “Look, I know you mean well, but I’m nearly forty, and I’m set in my ways. I like being alone.” He dumped a panful of eggs onto his own plate and sat down. “And anyway, in a few days, the best and brightest will be here to drink my champagne and bother me all night. God, why do I do this every year?” He groaned and Amberlaughed.
“Such a Grinch.” She ruffled his dark curls and he grinned, though he was sighing on the inside. The Renaud family had given a Halloween charity benefit since way before Nox’s birth—it had been a special project of his beloved mother’s. Before the tragedy, of course. Despite his solitary nature, Nox could not bear to dishonor his mother’slegacy.
His eyes flicked over to the framed picture of her and Teague, his adored elder brother, on the kitchen counter. Both of them dark and beautiful, laughing, hugging. Both of them gone sosenselessly.
The tragedy of the Renaud family was known throughout Louisiana and beyond. Tynan Renaud, a respected business man, adoring husband to the Italian-born Gabriella, and heroic father to his sons Teague and Nox, had suffered a psychotic break and gunned down his wife and eldest son one night before turning the gun on himself. Nox, away at college at the time, had been destroyed. After dropping out of school and coming home to the huge plantation mansion out on the Bayou, he had struggled for years to understand what his fatherhaddone.
Amber and his other friends had tried to persuade him to sell the place where his mother and brother had been murdered, but Nox refused. He took over his brother’s business with his friend Sandor, and together they had made a success of it. The company, RenCar, quickly became an outlet to forget his pain, with Nox pouring twenty hours a day into the work. Luxury food importing had never been his dream—was it anyone’s? —but he had found something he was good at and that was enough for him. His boyhood dreams of becoming a musician were pushed aside for something that would utterly distract him. The studio his mother had set aside for both of them to work in had stood empty for almost twenty years now…as had Nox’sheart.
He realized he wasn’t listening to Amber now and apologized. She rolled her blue eyes. “Nox, I’m used to you spacing out on me, but listen, this is your party. I’m just saying, why don’t you try to be more gregarious for a change? These people pay a lot of money tocomehere.”
“Mostly to see the murder house,” he mumbled and Amber made an annoyed click with hertongue.
“Maybe so, but the money we raise goes to a good cause, doesn’t it? Something good to come out of— Damn it, Nox, you’re not the only one who lost someone.” To his horror, he saw tears in her eyes. He reached over and tookherhand.
“Ambs, I’m sorry, I know. I miss Ariel too, every day.” He sighed.So much pain, so much death.Amber was right; he needed to get out of this self-pityingfunk.
“All I ask is for you to do your part on the night. Mingle, talk to your guests.” Amber’s tone was calmer now and she smiled at him, her face soft, her eyes on his, holding them for a beat too long. Nox nodded, looking awayfinally.
“Ipromise.”
After Amber had gone, he wandered into his living room and flicked on the television. Local news stationWDSUwas doing a feature on Halloween New Orleans, the magical, manic mayhem of the festival the city threw every October. Nox sighed and waited for the inevitable mention of his party. “Wait for it,” he muttered to himself. “Will it be theRenaud Family Curseor theMansion with the Dark Secrets,first?”
The anchor looked serious. “Of course, before the festivities kick off on Halloween night, the New Orleans elite will gather at the Renaud mansion out on the Bayou. Regular viewers will know that the annualCreepy Cocktails Gala Benefitis held every year at the place some locals call ‘the mansion with a dark history.’ More on that after thesemessages.”
Nox clicked off the television with an annoyed flick of his hand. Same story every year, and now his guests who watched the news would be all the more curious about the only remaining Renaud.Damnit.
His cellphone rang and he answered it gratefully. “Sandor, man, you have impeccabletiming.”
His friend laughed. “Any time. Listen, we may have a deal on the Laurent restaurantchain.”
Nox sat up. “Really?” The Laurent business was worth twice what they offered, but had been on the market for two years with no interest. Nox knew if they got it at a cheap price and refurbished it, it could make them a fortune. He and Sandor had decided to branch out into buying restaurants to serve their luxury foods as a new income stream—not that either of them needed it, but they both were bored with their business. They wanted to get their hands dirty anddosomething, something physical rather than just importing food for, well, peoplelikethem.
“Yep. Gustav Laurent is getting a divorce and he wants to get rid of the propertyquickly.”
Nox was astonished. “Gusis divorcingKathryn?”
“Seems so. Seems like she was sleeping aroundonhim.”
Nox made a half-amused, half-scornful noise. “Like Gustav hasn’t been fucking around on her foryears.”
“YouknowGus.”
