Lie to Me by Julie Ortolon

Author:Julie Ortolon [Ortolon, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pearl Island Books
Published: 2014-03-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

The wind picked up just as Chloe left the inn, headed for her cottage. The scent of rain made her stop and lift her head. The storm had yet to reach the island, but the turbulent weather suited her mood. Too restless to be closed up, alone with her thoughts, she took the path down to the pier and didn’t stop walking until she stood at the end. She stared at the clouds crawling toward the island like a giant, black beast with fangs of lightning. It filled the sky before her, approaching from the gulf, chewing up the blue skies still hovering over the mainland.

With the wind whipping her hair, she wondered if Allison and Aurora could be right. Maybe there was a reason—a good reason—why Luc hadn’t told her why he’d come. Maybe it had nothing to do with trying to manipulate her into helping him. Wrapping her arms about her waist, she longed to believe that. Longed for it in a way that made her chest grow tight.

She didn’t need the kind of legendary love Marguerite and Jack supposedly had. She wasn’t even sure that kind of love existed. What she wanted was something much simpler, but apparently just as hard to find: a trustworthy man who honestly cared for her. Yes, she wanted that.

A steady love would be so much better than the pain and drama Marguerite and Jack had suffered. She could imagine much too clearly the agony Marguerite felt all those years, staring out into this cove, longing for Jack Kingsley to sail into port just so they could look into each other’s eyes. Chloe couldn’t believe fear of Henri was the only thing that had held Marguerite back. Considering how many times Marguerite had been used from the day she’d been born, surely she’d feared being used yet again.

According to the legend, though, Marguerite had finally taken a chance and revealed her feelings, only to discover Jack loved her back with equal intensity. Chloe tried to imagine that moment when Marguerite found the courage to say the words, and had them returned. Honestly returned. It had cost both her and Jack their lives, but maybe the sacrifice had been worth it to experience a love like that for even a little while.

“Oh, Marguerite,” she whispered into the wind. “What gave you the courage to take that chance?”

Footsteps sounded on the pier behind her, making the boards creak.

She glanced over her shoulder, expecting to find that Allison or Aurora had followed her.

No one was there.

Could it be…?

The hair on the back of Chloe’s neck stood on end, until the boards creaked again when the mounting waves hit the pilings. The storm, she realized with a prick of disappointment. Not Marguerite or Jack. Nothing but the storm.

She started to turn back, until she spotted Luc standing at the top of the hill, watching her.

Hope flared, but her cautious side tamped it down. Just because he’d come back didn’t mean he wanted to make things right between them.

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