For Lauren, my phenomenal editor and a dedicated champion of the books. This is our tenth project together, and it's still as crazy and exciting as the first. Acknowledgments Many, many thanks to my fantastic agent Robin Rue. So happy to be working with you. To Caroline Phipps, my steadfast friend who's always willing to do a midnight line-edit. To Gena Showalter, because my life's a more meaningful (and riotous) trip with you in it. And to Roxanne St. Claire, a.k.a. G.U.F. Did I happen to mention you're my rock? Prologue New Orleans August 24, 1927 I'll kill you for spurning me... . Struggling to block out memories of Louis Robicheaux's latest threat, N��omi Laress stood at the top of her grand staircase and gazed out over the packed ballroom. As she might cradle a babe, she held bouquets of roses swathed in silk. They were gifts from some of the men in the crowd of partygoers below, a motley mix of her rollicking set, rich patrons, and newspaper reporters. A sultry bayou breeze slid throughout the space, carrying strains of music from the twelve-piece orchestra outside. ... you'll beg for my mercy. She stifled a shiver. Her ex-fianc��'s behavior had become more chilling of late, his atonement gifts more extravagant. N��omi's long-standing refusal to sleep with Louis had frustrated and angered him, but breaking off their relationship