Any Way You Want It. Kathy Love

Чтение книги онлайн.

      KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

      http://www.kensingtonbooks.com

      BRAVA BOOKS are published by

      Kensington Publishing Corp. 850

       Third Avenue

       New York, NY 10022

      Copyright © 2008 by Kathy Love

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

      Special book excerpts or customized printings can also be created to fit specific needs. For details, write or phone the office of the Kensington Special Sales Manager: Kensington Publishing Corp., 850 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022. Attn. Special Sales Department. Phone: 1-800-221-2647.

      Brava and the B logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

      ISBN: 978-0-758-28330-6

      For all my new friends in New Orleans

      Contents

      Acknowledgments

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      Chapter 13

      Chapter 14

      Chapter 15

      Chapter 16

      Chapter 17

      Chapter 18

      Chapter 19

      Chapter 20

      Chapter 21

      Chapter 22

      Chapter 23

      Chapter 24

      Chapter 25

      Epilogue

      Acknowledgments

      As always, special thanks to The Tarts.

       I love our talks, our plotting and the wine.

      Thank you to my dear friend Erin McCarthy.

       It’s been quite a year

       and all sorts of ridiculous!

      Thanks to the friends who are always there to keep me sane.

       Julie Cohen, Erin McCarthy (again), Lisa Cochrane,

       Arianna Hart, Kristi Ahlers, Jordan Summers, Christy Kelley

       and my mom.

      A special thanks to Sonny Kane, who helped

       bring The Impalers to their wonderful undeaths and

       answered all my endless, and often clueless, questions

       about music.

      And all my love to my family.

      Chapter 1

      “That is what you are offering the most famous and powerful voodoo priestess in New Orleans?” Maggie glanced at her friend Erika, then back to the cracked, weathered tomb, then to the items cradled in her palm.

      “I just scratched Xs into her final resting place, I can’t imagine she’ll mind these.”

      “She doesn’t mind the Xs,” Maggie’s other friend, Jo, said, skimming the voodoo book she’d bought at one of the strange little shops along Dumaine Street. “They symbolize your three requests.”

      “I get three?” Maggie managed to ask seriously. “Just like with a genie?”

      “Genies don’t exist,” Erika stated, as if the very idea was so ludicrous she couldn’t believe Maggie had even mentioned it. So Maggie didn’t bother to point out they apparently believed in the wish-granting powers of a voodoo queen, who’d died sometime over a hundred years ago.

      Maggie looked back to the tomb, which was covered in Xs and other symbols designed to communicate with the long-dead woman laid to rest inside. Obviously others believed too, but Maggie couldn’t help feeling it was all a little silly. Still, she had made the Xs. So she wasn’t completely dismissing the idea, was she?

      “Erika’s right,” Jo said, glancing up from the book long enough to raise a disdainful brow at the objects in Maggie’s cupped hand. “Marie Laveau expects something better than that. It says she expects items that are personal to the one making the request; an offering that has the giver’s energy attached to it.”

      Maggie stared at her usually sensible friend. They were talking about a dead woman, weren’t they? As far as Maggie knew, the dead really didn’t expect much at all, but she decided not to mention that to her suddenly very superstitious friends.

      “Well, there’s nothing personal about those,” Erika stated, eyeing Maggie’s choice of offerings with a grimace.

      “Well, they’re all I’ve got. Marie can take them or leave them.”

      Both of her friends frowned at Maggie’s cavalier attitude. If Maggie wasn’t mistaken, they also appeared a bit nervous, as if they expected Marie to unseal her tomb, march up to them, and start complaining in person. Or maybe worse. What did dead voodoo queens do when they got an gift they didn’t like?

      Maggie looked down at the items in her palm. Maybe she should rethink all this. She laughed slightly that she was actually worrying, too—although she had to admit her chuckle sounding a little strained, even to her.

      Maggie could understand Erika’s reaction to all this. She was more open to the idea of magic and ghosts and other paranormal phenomena. But Jo? Maggie never would have guessed her sensible friend would buy into this.

      “You two are taking this all way too seriously,” Maggie said as she stepped forward to place the offering СКАЧАТЬ