Ain’t She Sweet?

He’d promised himself he’d stop sparring with her, but the words came out anyway. “At least I still have my riding crop. Just the thing, I’ve heard, for disciplining an unruly servant.”

She liked that, and she flashed him a wide smile on her way out the door. “You can be funny for a stiff.”

The word stiff hung in the air behind her like the scent of sex-rumpled bedsheets. If only she knew…

So far, so good, Sugar Beth thought to herself. The house looked beautiful with flowers everywhere and candles glowing. In the foyer, the flames of a dozen white tapers reflected off the shiny black finish of the baby grand. The young woman Colin had hired to play looked up from the keyboard and smiled. Sugar Beth smiled back, then took a last glance at the living room. Creamy pillar candles nested in the magnolia leaves she’d arranged across the fireplace mantel, and clusters of cut-glass votives flickered on the smaller tables she’d positioned here and in the sunroom.

Keep moving. Don’t think.

Not all the changes Colin had made to the house were bad. Without the fussy wallpaper, the downstairs had a more spacious feel, and the efficient new kitchen was a definite improvement over the old cramped one. She also liked the way the sunroom kept the back of the house from being too gloomy. But she still missed the sight of her father’s keys tossed on a table and the scent of Diddie’s perfume permeating every room.

In a few hours, it’ll be over.

She headed to the dining room to make certain the caterer hadn’t moved anything. The pepperberry sprays she’d wound through the arms of the chandelier made the room homier, and the centerpiece of pale orange Sari roses and deep gold Peruvian lilies glowed against the mocha linen tablecloth just as she’d known they would. She’d already dimmed the hallway chandelier, and now she did the same in the dining room. The old walls embraced her. You should have been mine, she thought. I don’t deserve you-I didn’t even want you-but you should have been mine all the same.

She wanted to believe she’d worked so hard on this party to prove to Colin that she wasn’t a screwup, but it was more than that. She’d needed to see this house shine again. And she’d needed to keep herself so busy she wouldn’t brood over the part she’d play tonight.

For a moment she let herself pretend she was still the daughter of Frenchman’s Bride, that tonight’s guests were the ones she would have invited if she hadn’t worked so hard at ruining her life: the Seawillows; Ryan; batty old Mrs. Carmichael, who’d died ten years ago but used to tell everyone that Sugar Beth was just as sweet as her name; Bobby Jarrow and Woody Newhouse; Pastor Ferrelle and his wife; Aunt Tallulah, even though she’d disapprove of Sugar Beth’s arrangements.

Where are your grandmother’s cheese straws? Bless your heart, Sugar Beth, even you know you can’t have a party at Frenchman’s Bride without Martha Carey’s cheese straws.

The imaginary guest list evaporated. The last thing she wanted to see tonight was a familiar face. Glassware tinkled as Renaldo, the college boy who’d be serving drinks, headed toward the bar in the living room with a tray of empty champagne glasses. “Ernie says he needs you in the kitchen.”

“All right. Thanks.” Don’t think about what’s coming. Just do your job.

Ernie, the hapless caterer, looked like a demonic Porky Pig with his pink face, bald head, and bushy eyebrows. He’d forgotten toothpicks for the hors d’oeuvre trays, so Sugar Beth dug some out. She’d just handed them over when the doorbell rang. Her stomach pitched.

Oh, no you don’t. You’re not wimping out now. She straightened her shoulders and made her way to the front door.

Colin had gotten there first. He stood in the entrance hall with two men and a woman whose chic black outfit had New York City written all over it. One of the men was fiftyish and swarthy, the other a trim Ivy Leaguer. This could only be Colin’s agent, his agent’s wife, and Neil Kirkpatrick, his editor. Colin had met them for lunch at the Parrish Inn, where they were spending the night, but this was the first Sugar Beth had seen of them.

The woman’s eyes widened as she took in the sweeping staircase and candlelit foyer. “Colin, I wasn’t prepared. This is incredible.”

Sugar Beth absorbed the compliment as if it had been given to her. Frenchman’s Bride wasn’t the last whistle- stop on anybody’s nowhere line.

The soft ballad coming from the piano, the marble floor glowing in the velvety light from the chandelier, the candles shimmering… Everything so beautiful. The house swept her up in its spell, and she imagined she caught a whiff of Diddie’s perfume. It made her smile. She walked toward the guests. Extended her hand. “Welcome to Frenchman’s Bride.”

The woman cocked her head. The men looked confused. Sugar Beth realized what she’d done, and her fingers convulsed as she snatched back her hand. Colin stepped forward, his voice quiet. “Take Mrs. Lucato’s coat, Sugar Beth.”

Her face burned with embarrassment as she forced herself to reach out again. “Of course.”

She couldn’t look at him, couldn’t bear knowing he was watching her. In the space of a few seconds, she’d undone ten days of wisecracks and pigheadedness, ten days of never once letting him see how much it hurt to be a servant in the house that should have been hers.

Somehow she made her way to the laundry room where she’d set up a rack for coats. She’d been ready to introduce herself to them all, just as if she had the right. Her skin felt hot. She wanted to run away, but she was trapped. Trapped in this house, this town. Trapped with a man who wished her nothing but harm.

The doorbell rang again, faint but audible. She thought of Delilah, put steel to her spine, and went to answer it.

This time Colin’s guests were an elderly couple. She managed to admit them with nothing more than a polite nod. After that, the arrivals came more quickly until Mayor Aaron Leary and his wife arrived.

“Why, Sugar Beth… It’s been a long time,” he said.

“Yes, it has.”

“This is my wife, Charise.”

The model-slim woman at his side hadn’t come from Parrish, and she looked confused about why her husband was presenting her to the maid.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Leary.” She wouldn’t make the mistake of overstepping the bounds of familiarity again, not when Colin stood close by waiting for her to do just that.

Several couples arrived from Oxford, professors, she gathered. Everyone greeted Colin as if he were one of them, which he’d never be, not in a thousand years. She felt him watching her every move. He wanted this to be horrible. It was his payback. She knew that, made herself accept it.

Jewel Myers showed up, along with the curly-haired blonde who’d worked for her at the bookstore. Sugar Beth remembered how Ellie used to send Jewel out to the veranda with a pitcher to serve Sugar Beth and her friends.

“This lemonade isn’t pink, Jewel. Take it back and tell Ellie we want pink.”

Jewel studied Sugar Beth’s black slacks and white blouse. “Well, well… The world gets more interesting all the time.”

Only last week, Sugar Beth had been hoping for a friendship with Jewel. Now she realized how impossible that was. “Would you like me to take your shawl?”

“I’ll keep it for now.”

Voices from the past echoed in her head. “I don’t want ham, Jewel. Tell Ellie to make me peanut butter and honey.”

“Yez’m, Miz Scarlett.”

Jewel had actually said that to Sugar Beth, and Sugar Beth wanted to believe she’d laughed, but that was probably only wishful thinking.

In the living room, Colin stood with his head tilted toward one of the professors, but she knew it was merely a pose. Every bit of him was focused on her. Payback time.

“I don’t think Meredith wants to keep her coat,” Jewel said, amusement dancing in her eyes.

Sugar Beth welcomed the chance to escape, and as she hung up the coat, she sent out a little prayer. Okay, God, it’s time to ease up, all right? I get the fact that I was horrible. But I’ve tried to mend my ways. Some of them, anyway… So could you back off now?

God, however, had better things to do than listen to the prayers of a tarnished Southern belle, because the next