Heart of Glass Read Free

was about to come true.
    She reached for the long, thick rolls of architectural plans tied with black ribbon on the seat beside her, set them on her lap, and ran her gloved hand down the newsprint. She’d poured years of painstaking work into the plans for the reconstruction andrefurbishing of the once-grand house at
Belle Fleuve
. Her mother called it an obsession; for Kate it was a labor of love.
    She’d spent almost half of her life preparing for this day. People told her she was crazy, that architecture was a man’s field. They said she would be better off getting married and raising a houseful of children. Kate wanted no other home.
    For now, all that mattered was the house at
Belle Fleuve
and its owner. She had awaited his return for so very, very long.
    “I hear he’s insane.” Myra O’Hara startled Kate out of her reverie, forcing her to turn her gaze back to the interior of the carriage. Myra straightened her cocoa-brown traveling skirt, folded her plump hands across her ample waist, and lowered her voice as if
he
could hear. “Crazy as a loon. Won’t come out of the
garçonnière
. Holed up in there like a madman.”
    “I’ve heard the rumors.” Kate feigned nonchalance. “They’re nothing but gossip, and I’ll take no stock in them until I’ve seen Colin Delany for myself.” Who knew what state Colin might be in? She hadn’t laid eyes on him since before he went off to war.
    If rumors were to be believed, Colin was no longer the dashing, confident young man who had enlisted with his father and gone off to fight for the Confederacy.
    “You’re obsessed with the place,” Myra grumbled. “Much as you are with him.”
    That much was true. Kate’s heart had broken the first time she’d witnessed the neglect and decay that threatened to ruin the place beyond salvation. From that day until now she had labored over the reconstruction plans.
    “This isn’t just about
Belle Fleuve
or Colin.” Kate never tired of defending her vision. She blinked away tears. “It’s about how good the Delanys were to me, about how they opened their home and their hearts to me. My childhood would have been terribly empty without them. Besides, if Colin is as bad off as they say, then it’s my Christian duty to help him.”
    Surely Colin would appreciate all the work she’d done, thedetails and effort she had put into the drawings. After all, it was his father, Patrick, who’d inspired her love of architecture.
    But according to the rumors, Colin had sequestered himself from the world. What if he refused to give her permission to begin?
    Kate took a deep breath and reached up to be sure her hat was secure.
    Let him try to stop me
.
    “Did you just say something?” Myra raised her voice over the crunch and clatter of carriage wheels against the oyster-shell drive.
    “I don’t think so.” At least Kate hoped not.
    “Wouldn’t y’ know it? It looks about to rain.” Myra stared at the sky.
    The carriage turned onto an
allee
, an arcade of ancient live oaks flanking a narrow lane that led to the wide front gallery of the mansion at
Belle Fleuve
. Kate had instructed the driver to pull up near the
garçonnière
next door.
    As the carriage rolled past the main house, Kate slid a finger beneath her spectacles and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. It never failed to upset her — the terrible condition of this once impeccable, glorious house.
    The first time she’d witnessed the toll the war had taken on
Belle Fleuve
had been four years earlier. She had just returned to New Orleans from an extended stay abroad and settled into her mother’s townhouse. She then went directly to
Belle Fleuve
. Her Irish temper had flared the moment she saw the odious notice nailed to the front door: Auction Due to Failure to Pay Back Taxes.
    Kate had ripped down the offending poster and immediately returned to the city. She’d marched into the tax office and used funds from her inheritance to pay the back taxes on
Belle