ISBN: 978-1-4268-2798-3
SCANDAL IN COPPER LAKE
Copyright © 2009 by Marilyn Pappano
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Books by Marilyn Pappano
Chapter 1Anamaria Duquesne slowed to a stop at the intersection and gazed up at the street sign. When Mama Odette had told her she would be living on Easy Street in Copper Lake, Georgia, she’d taken the words for symbolism. Mama Odette liked symbolism.But her grandmother hadn’t been striving for some deeper meaning. The street really was named Easy, though it was clearly a place where some hard living went on. For every streetlamp that glowed in the night, another two were burned out. The street was narrow and lacked shoulders but dipped into ditches that filled with water when it rained. Trees and bushes grew thick, and grass was sparse. The ten houses she passed before reaching the end of the street hadn’t seen a new coat of paint in her lifetime. The cars were old, and a couple of scroungy-looking dogs stretched to the end of their chains to watch as she pulled into the last driveway.She sat for a moment, studying the scene in the headlights’ beams. There was only one tree in the fr
Chapter 1
Chapter 2Much of Copper Lake’s downtown area showed its two-hundred-year-old roots: red bricks softened to a rosy hue, dimpled glass, wood glowing with a well-deserved patina. At the heart was the square, manicured grass bordered with flowers, war monuments and walkways leading to and from the bandstand that anchored the park.Everywhere Anamaria looked, she saw beauty, prosperity…and the Calloway name—law offices, a construction company, doctors’ and dentists’ offices, investment and accounting firms, retail shops. Robbie Calloway’s office was on River Road, the building only a few years old but built to blend in with its vintage neighbors.Nice space for a man who thought ten hours a week in the office just fine. She worked sixty hours a week or more and would never own a place like that or a car like his. But she knew all too well that money didn’t buy happiness and neither did things. People were the only thing that mattered, and all the money in the world couldn’t buy the good ones.
Chapter 2
Chapter 3Anamaria couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled free. “Not yet. But there’s still time.” Mimicking Robbie, she waved one hand lazily at the empty chair. “Please join us, Detective.”This time he did so, swinging the chair around to straddle it. “You can call me Tommy.”He was about Robbie’s age, an inch or two shorter and probably twenty pounds heavier, all muscle. Black hair, dark eyes, olive-skinned, with a stubble of beard on his jaw that gave him a slightly disreputable look. He didn’t need the badge or the pistol on his belt for his air of authority; he came by it naturally.The sorrow hovering around him, though, wasn’t natural. A new hurt having to do with Ellie Chase, an old one connected to his mother. Anamaria couldn’t tell if Mrs. Maricci was dead; she wasn’t sure Tommy knew himself. But wherever she was, in this life or the next, she wasn’t here and hadn’t been for a very long time.“So you’re in the psychic business,” Tommy said.“And let me guess—you’re in the skepti
Chapter 3
Chapter 4In his job, Robbie made a lot of decisions based on whatever sketchy information he had: whether a client was being truthful, whether he could create reasonable doubt in a jury’s minds, whether he could trust the story a witness was telling him. Instinct said Anamaria wasn’t being entirely truthful.But he didn’t know whether it was real instinct or if, as she’d said, he’d come expecting the worst of her. He was a lawyer. He’d seen the worst of a lot of people. He’d come by his distrust honestly.Truthfully, though, it didn’t matter whether he believed her. Distrust alone wasn’t going to keep him away from her. It wasn’t going to keep him out of her bed.She was leaning against the kitchen counter, hands resting on the chipped laminated top. She could go to church or appear in court in that outfit, but it still struck him as damn sexy. The skirt was neither tight nor short, but it made him focus all too much on the curves underneath it—the flat belly, the rounded hips, the long m
Chapter 4
Chapter 5The trip back to Copper Lake was quiet, followed by another journey along its backstreets. Anamaria gazed out the window, thinking about secrecy and temptation and pride, before she recognized the car next to them as hers. Glancing around, she saw that they were at the mall, that Robbie was waiting for her to get out of the car. She forced a smile as she opened the door. “Thanks.”“You’re welcome.”“You don’t have to go with me to see Marguerite tomorrow.”His shrug was impossible to read. Not a problem, I’m happy to go, I’m happy to not go.“I’ll see you.”He nodded, muttering something that she barely heard as she got out of the car. Soon, she thought, but she couldn’t be sure.Soon, she knew anyway. Destiny or foolish desire, he wouldn’t stay away. She didn’t want him to.With a wave, she got in her car, started the engine, rolled down the windows and drove away. He was still sitting there when she caught her last glimpse before distance and traffic blocked him from sight.She retu
Chapter 5
Chapter 6The power was back on, the rain still fell and Anamaria sat at the kitchen table, wearing a white nightgown of cotton batiste. The hem bore a ruffle that tickled her knees, and two more served as sleeves on the thin shift. Her feet were drawn up in the chair, one knee bent, her hands clasped around it.It was nearly seven o’clock, the sky darker than usual because of the rain. She gazed out the window, wondering who had thrown the bricks that afternoon, why they’d done it, if they were out there tonight in the woods, watching.The shiver that danced down her spine was almost enough to make her close the blinds.Across from her, Robbie was finishing the last of his dinner. She’d fried red potatoes, onions and peppers, added chopped ham and cheese and topped it off with fried eggs. The fragrant aroma would last far longer than the food.She’d put on the gown when hunger had driven them from bed, but he’d gotten dressed, down to his shoes. His clothes hadn’t even wrinkled in their ho
Chapter 6
Chapter 7She was all right.Robbie had passed on the message from Mama Odette, and in the early dawn hours the following day, Anamaria knew it was true. Mama Odette had read her cards, spoken to her spirit guides, all topped off with a generous dose of good ol’ prayer, and the answers were the same. Anamaria was all right.Did you ask Auntie Charise what she saw? she’d wanted to know. But by the time she’d finished her bath, and Robbie had carried her to bed and made love to her until she was senseless, it had been too late for calling her family. She didn’t need Charise’s confirmation anyway. Things were different. She’d awakened a few minutes ago to the certainty that her life had changed for good. She had found passion, and her own sweet little girl was now growing safe and protected inside her.Unwise love and a pretty daughter to remind her of it. That was her destiny, and she accepted it, but was it wrong to want more? To wish that just once destiny could include a husband, marriage
Chapter 7
Chapter 8Anamaria ate doughnut holes while watching Robbie skim through the Copper Lake journal. She knew what he was looking for; it could have been a category on a game show: Last Names Beginning with the Letter C. How badly would he react if he found any of his relatives in there, particularly with a dollar sign after them?He wouldn’t call her mother a prostitute again, she thought stiffly, especially if it turned out that his relatives were among her clients.Could they discover anything else that would make her even more unsuitable in his eyes? Good thing she’d come into this affair knowing there was no hope for the long-term, or her heart would be hurting right now. Even knowing what to expect, she felt a faint twinge.He paused on a page about halfway through the notebook. “Here’s where she started seeing Lydia. And two weeks later, here…” His voice trailed away, his finger tapping a place on the page.Anamaria walked around the table to look over his shoulder. C. Calloway, 9 a.m.
Chapter 8
Chapter 9Her tires were flat. The rusty screens that encircled the porch had been slashed and torn. The porch furniture was upended, two legs broken off the table, and the light fixture was shattered, leaving only wires hanging from a hole in the wall. The front door had been kicked with enough force to break both the lock and a hinge, and inside, clearly visible in the dim shadows, a word sprayed in paint led off to the kitchen. WHORE.Robbie stood at the bottom of the steps, hands knotted into fists, as fury vibrated through him. Who the hell had done this? Was the bastard a coward who’d waited for them to leave that morning, or had it just been coincidence? What would he have done if he’d found them there? Worse, if he’d found Anamaria alone there?She sat in the front seat of the Vette, with her door open and her arms wrapped around her as if she were freezing. She didn’t look so strong and serene now but hurt and frightened. Soon enough, she would become angry. Robbie wanted her ang
Chapter 9
Chapter 10On Saturday morning it was Robbie’s turn to awaken alone in bed. He lay on his stomach, face buried away from the sunlight, but he still smelled Anamaria’s fragrance. He still felt her absence. Worse, he still felt her presence—the hour they’d made love, the hours she’d slept beside him. If she returned to Savannah, her imprint was going to haunt him right out of his home.Unless he went to Savannah with her.Or persuaded her to stay. How difficult would that be? And would the difficulty come from her or him?He allowed the aroma of coffee drifting up the stairs to distract him. It was the only thing to offer for breakfast unless the chocolate-dipped cakes left over from dinner counted. As his stomach growled, he decided they definitely did.He rolled out of bed, stepped into a clean pair of boxers and headed downstairs. As he approached, Anamaria filled another cup from the pot, then slid it across the island to him. She wore a white button-down shirt of his and socks and was be
Chapter 10
