Free Jed's Sweet Revenge by Deborah Smith

it was anger, but part was curiosity too. “Damn,” he said under his breath.
    SalHaven stood in the distance with all the wistful dignity of an aging Southern belle. She was closely surrounded on both sides by suitors of live oak who nodded to her deferentially as the breeze moved their gnarled limbs.
    Thena listed architectural details in a calm voice, ignoring the knot in her stomach. “SalHaven has three stories. Before the 1945 hurricane destroyed the left end of the house, there were twenty rooms—ten guest bedrooms, a master suite with a bedroom and a living room, servants’ quarters, two kitchens, a formal living room, a formal dining room, and a ballroom. The style is a mixture of classical Greek and Federal. You might say it’s like Tara in
Gone With the Wind
—but instead of big columns acrossthe front, there’s a one-story portico above raised staircases. You can still see two of the chimneys. There were three. The third was on the side that the hurricane destroyed.”
    Thena gestured gracefully with one hand. “These overgrown lawns and magnolias—see the old flower beds everywhere—my grandfather said this used to be beautiful. Your grandmother Gregg’s Arabians used to graze out here. On the back side of the mansion, there’s a semicircular pavilion of white marble. You can almost see the ocean from it. The rest of the house is built of gray blocks made of cement, sand, and crushed seashells from Sancia’s beaches. Think of it, Jedidiah. It’s as if SalHaven rose from the island. It’s a part of the island. It’s not imposing at all, for such a big place. It has a very warm aura. The outbuildings and your grandmother’s big stable are gone. The hurricane got them—”
    “Too bad it didn’t wash the whole damned place away,” Jed interjected curtly.
    Thena stared at the hard set of his face and the dark distaste in his eyes. Her head drooped with disappointment. “You promised to be quiet and keep an open mind.”
    “I didn’t expect for you to bring me to this fancy hellhole without a warning. That’s not fair. I didn’t want to see it.”
    “You promised,” she said hoarsely. “This is where your mother spent her childhood. Don’t you at least want to go inside, for her sake?”
    He turned brooding eyes on her, studying the way her expressive features molded themselves in sadness. She already held a power over him that no one else ever had, and he couldn’t bear to leave that wistful pain on her face. “For your sake,” he muttered. “I’ll go inside for your sake.”
    A little stunned, Thena simply nodded.
    Her grandfather, the caretaker hired by H. Wilkens Gregg, had boarded up the mansion’s windows anddoors forty years earlier, but the wood had fallen away from the main entrance. They left the horses to graze on the front lawn. Curving stone staircases flanked the portico on both sides, and Thena led the way up the left set. She glanced at Jed out of the corner of her eye, watching him as they stepped through the tall, arched entrance into a spacious foyer. He looked tense and unhappy.
    “Italian tile,” she said wearily, and pointed to the dirty floor. “It’s a beautiful oyster color underneath all this grime. When I was little, I used to come here to play. I scrubbed these tiles with a brush once, just to see how pretty they were.”
    “You weren’t scared here?” Dappled sunshine came through cracks in the boarded windows and the open door, making odd patterns on the peeling walls. Jed listened to the slight echo of his voice in the empty rooms.
    “No. I’ve never felt afraid of SalHaven. It has a serene atmosphere that I enjoy.”
    “Good spirits, huh?” He sounded sarcastic.
    “Yes.” Her chin up, Thena walked down a hallway and stopped outside a triple doorway easily ten feet tall. Jed’s breath caught at the ethereal sight she presented, standing in the shadows. She belongs here, he thought suddenly. This old house loves her.
    He rebuked himself for