My Immortal (Seven Deadly Sins #1)(24)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Anna frowned a little. "Why do you ask about Marie?"

"My sister sent me an e-mail and it had a letter by Marie attached to it. It was a confession to her priest, dated in 1790. Then upstairs, in the house, I saw her portrait. I want to know what happened. Her words, her eyes… I can feel her pain."

Recrossing her crisp sneakers, Anna stared at Marley. "Marie married Damien du Bourg in France in 1789, right after the death of Damien’s father, Phillipe, who built this plantation. It was said that Marie hated Louisiana, that she was of too delicate a nature, her husband too wild in his ways. But that is the way of the du Bourg men."

Given the current Damien’s nocturnal gatherings, Marley could believe that. Not that Damien had been wild with her. He’d been perfectly restrained, damn him.

"How did she die? They couldn’t have been married very long. Was it yellow fever?"

"No." Anna studied her. "Tell me, Marley Turner, do you understand what it is like to be trapped in your life?"

Yes, she did. She was trapped inside her family, held there by her love and worry.

"I’m trapped inside this body that is too old to be any good to me. Marie du Bourg was trapped inside this plantation, in a marriage that had no love. Can you understand that?"

"Yes," Marley said, her throat tight.

"I believe you." Anna stood up, startling Marley with the quick movement. "That’s why I’m going to give you Marie’s letters to read. Not the pretty letter she meant for her priest, but her real thoughts, her account of her time here."

"You have a journal?" Marley was stunned. Why did Anna have something like that?

"Of sorts. Can you read French?"

"Yes." It made sense the letters would be in French.

"Old French?"

Marley nodded. She had majored in Education, with a dual minor in French and Theology. All three had suited her shy personality, fueled her love of history and religion. "I can actually read it much better than I can speak it."

"Okay, give me two seconds then."

"Can I help you?" Anna was shuffling to the door, so Marley jumped up to assist.

"I’m fine, but thank you. You sit on down and I’ll be back before you can blink."

It was a little longer than that, but Anna came back, with a stack of letters inside a ziplock bag. "Now, I expect you’ll have a care with these. They’re damn old."

"Of course."

Anna sank into her seat with a sigh. "And the other rule is that you can’t be running off and telling Damien about these letters. I can see in your eyes when I bring him up that you’ve got that crush on him all the girls get."

Marley dropped her mouth open, ready to protest. She did not have a crush. That was preposterous, high school, unfathomable. Even if she found him mildly sexually attractive, she would not under any circumstances call that a crush.

"No, don’t bother denying it. I can see it. It’s none of my business. I’m only bringing it up because I won’t give these letters to you if I don’t think you can follow the rules. For over two hundred years no man has ever read these letters. They’re passed down through the women here, and they are for the eyes of women only."

"Why?" Marley’s already dry mouth felt raw and scratchy.

"Because there are some things only a woman can understand. There are desires, wants, pains that no man can feel, and only another woman knows a woman’s heart. Marie’s thoughts should be read with the respect she deserves."

"I can do that." Marley wouldn’t have it any other way. "I’d be honored to read her letters."

Anna nodded and handed her the bag.

"Marley!"

Marley jerked in her chair and gripped the letters tighter. "Shoot, that’s Damien." He was yelling her name from some distance away, but he was clearly getting closer. They could hear his feet crushing the grassy brush.

"Damien du Bourg, don’t you set foot in the front of my house," Anna roared, with surprising volume for such a tiny lady.

Marley was shocked silent.

"Anna?"

"You know it’s me. Don’t you do it, Damien. We have an agreement. Now get yourself back to that big house."

"I just want to speak to Marley for a moment. Is she there?" Damien’s voice sounded charming, conciliatory.

Anna clucked in disapproval and muttered under her breath to Marley, "Chasing you like a dog after a bitch in heat. Never change, I’m telling ya. They’re all the same. You make him work for it, honey."

Marley almost laughed. Damien wasn’t going to be working for it. He didn’t want it, not even when she had offered it free and clear with no effort on his part. "Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself."

"Marley?" Damien called again. "I need to talk to you. Can you come back to the house?"

"In a minute. I’m having a nice chat with Miss Anna here. You go ahead back and I’ll be there soon." She winked at Anna, who gave her a wide grin back. "Let him wait," she whispered, irritated with him for making her feel undesirable, vulnerable.

"Five minutes. I’ll be on the porch," he said, sounding frustrated.

"Great."

They heard him moving away and Marley felt immense satisfaction. "So why can’t Damien come into your house?"

"Because he’s a pig and I don’t allow livestock in the house."

Marley laughed.

Chapter Eight

Marley couldn’t avoid Damien forever, but she did dawdle on the walk back to the big house, hoping maybe he’d given up and moved on to more exciting activities, like telling the maid where to mop. Unfortunately, he was standing on the front steps, pacing.

Her sandals suddenly became very interesting to her, and she studied them intensely as she approached the steps he was already heading down.

"I see you found the clothes I left," he said, stopping on the third step.

Nothing like cutting right to the heart of it. He might as well announce she’d been virtually naked.

"Yes, thank you." She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and crossed her arms over her chest. Eye-level with his knees, she spoke to them. "I’ll send the clothes back after I wash them."

"You don’t have to bother. It’s not a big deal." He moved, coming lower.

Marley already felt her cheeks heating. But she sucked in a breath, pulled herself and the shards of her dignity together, lifted her chin, and faced him. "It’s not a big deal to send them back."

Shrugging, he took the last step and stood next to her. "I wanted to see you this morning because I want to apologize for last night. I can’t tell you how terrible I feel that you were drugged. I don’t like that kind of behavior at my parties and I try to police it, and that it would happen to you of all people…"