He spotted Arnaud at a table up front, clearly a welcome guest. Just the sight of the man set his teeth on edge and if Bijou smiled at him one more time, he just might have to go drag the sculptor right out of the club and throw him in the bayou again. What the hell was she thinking? Leopards weren’t nice about sharing mates. They were jealous and bad tempered, and his leopard was one of the worst. Remy disliked Arnaud on principle, but his leopard despised him.

Basically, he despised any man who came near Bijou, but especially the ones she smiled at—or sang to. Remy’s gaze went back to Bijou. She always astonished him when she sang. Her voice was such a blend of smoke and sex. There was a husky, sinful quality to her vocals, rich and beautiful, the tone unique. She had some of the gravel her father was famous for, and the wide, wide range, but the soft, sensual quality was all her own.

She looked beautiful. There was no other word for it. She was in a long gown that hugged her phenomenal figure, emphasizing her small waist and drawing attention to her full breasts and rounded hips. She was breathtaking as far as Remy was concerned and he had the feeling that a good number of the men in the audience felt the same.

Each set seemed better than the last. He knew she’d suffered trauma, and yet she was totally relaxed, genuinely smiling and very friendly to her audience—completely different while performing than when she was simply Bijou. Bijou was shy and withdrawn, but as a singer, she was confident and smooth, and very sexy.

Her voice burned through his skin to sink into his bones. It sounded like a cliché to him but she took his breath away standing up there, belting out her soulful, bluesy song so effortlessly, the notes so clean and pure, yet blending one into the other until she took them all on a journey with her of heartache and need.

He was a man who was extremely cynical. Even more than that, he didn’t trust anyone, not with his job, yet when he looked at her, his heart pounded, his mouth went dry and his body went as hard as a rock. He was a man always in control, and yet with Bijou, he was on the edge, or lost it completely. His mind was always logical, everything in his world had to make sense, because the killing never did. It wasn’t logical to fall for Bijou Breaux.