Deceive Not My Heart Read Free

sent it along with one of the servants to the decaying townhouse in New Orleans. But there was something about this particular letter that drew her attention, something that pulled at her, as she stared at the fine, flowing script on the envelope. She hesitated, started to put it with the other items to be sent along to New Orleans, and then, not understanding why, she snatched the letter back and, taking a deep breath, opened it.
    Upon learning that she had a half-sister who was soon to be orphaned and turned penniless upon the world, Leonie had not waited a moment. Consulting no one and taking no time to think of the consequences, which was typical of Leonie, she had commandeered two of the servants and within the hour she was riding along the river road that led to New Orleans.
    New Orleans was only half a day's journey from the Chateau Saint-Andre, and by late afternoon Leonie was knocking impetuously on the door of the small, white cottage on the ramparts below the city where Yvette and her mother lived. Instinctively Leonie had not sought out her grandfather, having a fairly good idea of what he would do if he learned of her interference and rash actions.
    Monique had waited until the very last moment of her life to appeal for help and she had died two days previously, the letter having left her hands barely an hour before she breathed her last. Consequently when Leonie arrived she was greeted by a bewildered, grief-stricken Yvette, unable to comprehend or believe that her mother was dead.
    Before Yvette had realized it, she had found herself efficiently bundled up, all her meager belongings stuffed in one old leather valise, and on her way down river with a small, tawny-haired whirlwind—who forthrightly declared that she was her sister!
    Yvette had been aware that her father had been Damien Saint-Andre, but she'd had no idea that her mother had written to the family asking for help. If she had known she certainly wouldn't have expected the daughter of the house to descend without warning and whisk her away in this breathtaking fashion, but from that moment on an unbreakable bond had been formed between the girls.
    The two family servants who had accompanied their young, unpredictable mistress had been most disapproving of this new "companion" and back at the Chateau Saint-Andre, Mammy, the nearest thing that Leonie had to adult supervision, had been most suspicious. But Leonie determinedly brushed away every objection and question. Hands on her slender hips, a warning gleam in the golden-flecked green eyes, Leonie had faced the mountainous black woman and announced firmly, "Yvette is to be my companion. I chose her myself, and where she comes from is none of your business. I will tell you this... she is an orphan of good family and has lived in Louisiana all of her life—even you will admit that she is far more ladylike than I am!"
    Mammy had rolled her big black eyes skyward and had snorted and muttered, "How's could she not be? You is a hell-born babe if I ever seen one!"
    Leonie had flashed a limpid smile and murmured dulcetly, "Enfin! There you are! That's why I need an example to teach me proper manners. Yvette will be perfect."
    Mammy had been forced to allow Leonie to have her own way, and beyond grumbling dire prophecies of Claude's reaction to this unexpected addition to the household, she had wandered off.
    The confrontation with Monsieur Claude some two months later had not gone as smoothly, but by then Leonie was so filled with the sheer joy of having a friend her own age that nothing short of murder would have separated the two girls.
    At first Claude had been pleasantly surprised, almost pleased that Leonie had found herself a young girl of obviously impeccable breeding to act as a companion—he should have thought of it himself! It had only been when he had inquired after Yvette's family, and wondered aloud about parents who would allow their daughter to leave their roof at such a tender age, that the