“I have to,” Jean-Claude said quietly. “If I don’t, I’m going to end up bitter and I don’t want that. You move her in. Keep the old place up for me if you can’t accept it as a gift. I’m going to work for that conglomerate. Yeah, the horrible one that almost took our town down.”

“Is that why you were in New Orleans? Sera mentioned it, but she thought you were making a deal behind my back.”

His cousin frowned. “No, I was interviewing, and your sister is a menace. She’s the worst gossip in town, and that’s saying something. But yes, I took a job with them. It’s going to take me around the world for the next several years. At the end, when I’ve seen something outside this town, maybe I’ll want to come back, but I doubt it. You got to see the world. Now it’s my turn.”

What the hell was he talking about? “I got to see Afghanistan and Iraq. I got to see some shitty places in the jungle, and even then it wasn’t a vacation. I got dropped in, someone shot at me, we collected the target or blew some shit up, and we went home.”

A smile crossed Jean-Claude’s face. “Well, then, I’m way smarter than you because I’ll be in Paris tomorrow. Good-bye, cos. I wish you well, and call me if you can’t find something, although Meredith knows where everything is.” He held out a hand. “She’s been my girl Friday for a couple of years. If only I could have loved her. I’ve got a plane to catch, cousin. You watch out for that girl of yours.”

“I will.” He shook Jean-Claude’s hand.

“You know Zep is even right now sneaking into your room to get a look at her, right?” Jean-Claude started for the door. “Good luck with that.”

A feminine scream split the air and Jean-Claude laughed as he walked away. Zep suddenly showed up on the stairs, trying to ward off a pillow attack from Remy’s surprisingly feral-looking girl. Lisa was wearing a tank top and a pair of Remy’s boxers. She looked sexy and slightly vicious.

“I’m sorry,” Zep said, rushing down the stairs. “I just wanted to say hi. Your girl is mean. So mean.”

He was going to kill his brother. Well, if Lisa didn’t first.

* * * *

Lisa came awake with a groan.

Her brain seemed to have been replaced with a heavy bowling ball that kind of rolled against her skull. In a loud as hell way. She stared up at the ceiling. It wasn’t her hospital room or her bedroom. There was a ceiling fan making a slow rotation around and around.

Oh, what had happened to her?

“I think it was Rene’s strawberry wine,” a masculine voice said. “From what I heard, you had quite a bit of it.”