Conjure Read Online Free PDF Page B

with every syllable, and a faint whiff of something rotten wafts through the air. It’s pungent, sort of like cold cuts that have been in the refrigerator too long. Even though it’s always the same, the smell still takes me by surprise. He gestures toward an empty club chair next to the sofa.
    Keeping my eyes down and my breath shallow, I sink into the plush leather. I’ve always hated this room because of the creepy portrait of Lady Rose Beaumont, the original mistress of High Point Bluff, mounted above the fireplace. I’m sure she was considered beautiful a few hundred years ago, but today that high, bald forehead and gray-white skin are just plain scary. And worse, no matter where you go, her bug eyes follow you. Nothing made of paint and canvas should be able to do that.
    Missy peers over her magazine. “Hey, Emily.” She chews her gum in a slow circle.
    Cooper stares hard as he leans against the arm of my chair. “It’s Emma.”
    I resist the urge to lean over and hug him.
    “Oh, that’s right.” Missy shrugs. “Sorry. Any idea where your daddy is, Emma ? I sent him on an errand to Charleston this afternoon and I haven’t seen him since.”
    I shake my head. “No clue.” Not that I’d tell her if I did.
    She sighs. “I hope he isn’t wasting my time. There’s plenty of stuff for him to do around here.”
    I force a smile as I swallow my response. My dad’s been High Point Bluff’s caretaker for eight years, ever since he and Mom divorced and he moved south from D.C. He doesn’t need a twenty-two-year-old new plantation mistress to tell him how to do his job. As much as I’d like to tell her off, I don’t because Dad doesn’t need any trouble.
    Beau plops down on the cushion, shaking the sofa with his girth. “Now, Missy, you don’t have to worry about ole Jedidiah. We were boys together, just like our daddies, and their daddies before them. He’s practically family. Besides, you can’t run him off. He’s the only decent help I can find.” He swigs some scotch from a glass on the side table. “So, Cooper.” He chuckles and eyes his son’s mud-stained shirt. “What have you kids been up to?”
    Cooper shoots me a sideways look before answering. “Oh, nothing much.” His voice shakes.
    Beau leans forward. “See to it you don’t get into any trouble.” His gaze then shifts over to Missy as he grinds the soggy cigar between his yellow teeth. “Doesn’t that necklace look spectacular around her pretty little neck?” he asks nobody in particular and gestures to the giant ruby pendant every Mrs. Beaumont has worn since Lady Rose.
    It’s mounted like an enormous red camellia blossom, surrounded by thick, pointy gold leaves. It’s even in Lady Rose’s spooky portrait, but back then, it hung low on her chest on a thick gold strand that appeared more like a bicycle chain than a piece of jewelry.
    “It’s beautiful.” I can’t help wonder why she’s wearing it with cutoffs and a tank top.
    Beau sucks his teeth. “Eighty carats of pure fire.”
    Missy strokes the ruby’s face. “It sure is.”
    “Enjoy it while you can, baby, because thanks to my trusty prenup, that bloom’s basically a loaner.” Beau turns to Cooper, who’s grinding his teeth. “And one day it’ll be yours, son, to lend to whichever little filly, or fillies, you decide to harness.”
    Cooper nods stiffly.
    Missy glances at Cooper, her eyes narrowed and jaw set, then releases the ruby, slapping it against the hollow at the base of her throat. “Well, I’m bored.” She gets up, stretches her arms up over her head, and yawns, then baby steps over to Beau in her stilettos. Leaning down, dangling the ruby in his face for a moment, she drapes her arms around his neck.
    How can she be that close and not gag? Either she’s madly in love, or her nose doesn’t work.
    Missy nuzzles his ear. “I’m going out to the hot tub. You coming?”
    “In a minute.”
    She kisses his flaky bald patch. “Don’t make me