“How do you plan to decorate the loggia?” Lamar asked Jasmine.
“I’d like to suspend a Florentine candle-burning chandelier close to the wooden cross ceiling beams, eliminating the need to install wiring. The furnishing will resemble primitive pieces found in Mexico. I’ll look for materials in wicker, teak, or wrought-iron because they weather the elements well.”
Lamar angled his head. “It sounds as if the converted warehouse will become a showcase worthy of anArchitectural Digestlayout.” He turned his attention to Cameron. “How soon do you want to move in?”
Cameron leaned forward. “I know it’s going to take time for you to get approval for the permits.”
“I have a contact who will remain nameless and he may be able to fast-track them. I’m projecting the contractor should be able to begin work by early July.” Lamar paused seemingly deep in thought. “August, September, October. Maybe you’ll be able to move in by Thanksgiving.”
Cameron smiled. “That sounds good. Bram, you can revise the plans and send me a bill?”
Bram nodded, smiling. “Consider it done.”
Cameron shifted and picked up several binders, handing one to each at the table. “We’re done with business, and now we can eat.”
* * *
Cameron held an umbrella over Jasmine’s head when he escorted her up the path to the house in Marigny. It had been raining nonstop since the afternoon, flooding many streets and low-lying areas. He’d suggested Jasmine spend the night but she had insisted she needed to go back home. In another week she would call her suite at the Louis LaSalle home, where they would exist separated by a connecting door.
His excuse as to why he didn’t want to marry vanished when Jasmine told him he was going to be a father. Nathan had drilled it into him from as long as he could remember that what made a man honorable was his ability to take care of his family. If or when he got a woman pregnant, then it was his responsibility to take care of her and the children—for Nathan that meant marriage. As a realist, Cameron knew he wasn’t in love with Jasmine because he’d never been in love. Yet what he felt for Jasmine was so different that it frightened him and he could not imagine losing her.
He knew she did not want to marry again, that she was content to raise the baby as a single mother, while allowing him to be involved in their child’s life. Cameron was relieved he didn’t have to coerce Jasmine to move in with him or argue about going along with the pretense they were engaged. He’d asked for the engagement to spare Jasmine the embarrassment of being linked to Big Easy playboy: Cameron Averill Singleton. He was certain the news of their engagement would spread through the city like a wildfire, and shock a few people who’d believed he would spend the rest of his life as a perpetual bachelor.
He closed the umbrella, waiting as Jasmine searched her purse for the house keys. Then without warning the door opened and Hannah stared at them. “Come on in. Both of you,” she urged when Cameron hesitated.
“Maybe another time, Hannah. I just came to drop Jasmine off. I need to get home before the streets become impassible.” Leaning down, he brushed a kiss over Jasmine’s mouth and jogged back to his car.
* * *
Jasmine slipped off her shoes, leaving them on the mat inside the door. “Why do you look like the cat that swallowed the canary?” she asked Hannah. “Not you, Smokey,” she said when the cat came to see who had come into the house.
“St. John just called to tell me he finished his segment, and that he’d be coming home Wednesday night.”
“Good for him, and you,” Jasmine added. “I’m going to take a shower and then get into bed.”
“Tired?” Hannah asked.
“Not really. I had a dinner meeting with Cameron’s architect and engineer about revising some of the renovations to his house.”
“How did that go?”
“Well. I made a few suggestions and fortunately they went along with them.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Jasmine?”
She knew it was time to tell Hannah about her future plans. “Cameron and I are getting engaged and I’ll be moving in with him Friday.”
Hannah clapped a hand over her mouth at the same time her eyes widened in surprise. “I don’t believe it,” she whispered through her fingers. “You just did what so many women have tried to do for years—get Cameron to marry them.”
She didn’t want to burst Hannah’s happy bubble and tell her she wasn’t marrying Cameron, that their engagement was a ruse. “I suppose I’ll have to deflect a lot of daggers,” she said jokingly.
“Child, please,” Hannah drawled. “You may have to start wearing body armor.” She hugged Jasmine. “Congratulations! I can’t wait to host an engagement party for you.”
“You can’t.”
Hannah dropped her arms. “Why not?”
“Because we haven’t set a date for the wedding,” Jasmine explained.
