Lulu's Recipe for Cajun Sass - Sandra Hill Page 0,22

red beans inside black pods. This particular sketch had been hand-colored. Although the colors were faded, they were still vivid enough to differentiate, in fact, more lovely because of the shadings. The directions said, Boil seeds. Drink liquid 3 x day for newmoanya, colds, bronkeyeyetis.

Justin scoffed at this one, whether for the misspellings or the cures, she wasn’t sure, and didn’t ask.

“I’d really like to get to a sweet gum tree I’ve visited in the past. You’re probably aware that healing herbs sometimes make use of all parts of a plant—the roots, the stems, the bark, the twigs, the flowers—and each has a different purpose. One part can even be poisonous, while another is beneficial. And the time of year they’re harvested can make a difference, too. Anyways, I use the sweet gum leaves for headaches.” She paused and asked, “Am I boring you?”

“Not at all.” He tapped one of the receipt books and remarked, “These are a treasure, you know. They probably belong in a museum or something.”

“Pfff! Museum people don’t care about anything lowdown like Cajuns.”

“Someday they will,” he predicted. “But I know what you mean. From the beginning, when the Acadians first fled France and Canada, they were considered a lower class, ignorant people. Little credit was given to the fact that they were survivors, willing to live in the swamps, do the grueling, dirty work of shrimping or trapping, eat foods no one else would touch, like possum or gator, and cook them in a simple style without fancy sauces, play music that to the more refined ear sounds raucous rather than melodic, and—”

She was laughing, which caused him to stop and blush.

“I do get carried away.”

“I take it you’ve had to defend our culture up north.”

“A time or two,” he admitted.

Louise wrapped one of the books in oilcloth…the one that had the plants she was seeking today…to protect it against any dampness or accident while traveling in a pirogue through the bayou.

“I’m ready,” she said when she was all packed up. “Are you sure you want to spend your day off out on the bayou?”

“Well, I can think of a few things I’d rather do.” He gave her a quick once-over and stepped closer.

She backed up and hit the counter. She wasn’t dumb enough to ask what he meant. She knew. His arrogance was maddening…and unwarranted. At least, she didn’t think she’d given him welcoming signals. “That’s the only activity on the agenda.”

“Not even a kiss?”

“No! Why would I kiss you?”

“To be friendly?”

“I don’t know you well enough to be friends. Besides, I don’t make a habit of kissing my friends.”

“Because you like me, then.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I can tell. Your cheeks are flushed.”

He put a hand to the side of her face, and she felt an electric shock, accompanied by a dizzying current of heat that traveled to all her extremities. She hadn’t felt this kind of instant arousal since Phillipe.

Before she had a chance to object to his touch, his hand moved lower, and his fingertips brushed her mouth. “Your lips are parted,” he pointed out.

She would have been hugely embarrassed, except that his voice was whispery raw. He was equally affected.

“Sorry. That was a bit too much…too soon,” he said, stepping back.

“I should say!” She put her hands to his chest, about to shove him away.

But he leaned in quickly, took her hands in his, and brushed her lips with his, soft as a butterfly, fast as a dragonfly. Then, just as quickly, he backed up, grabbed her carry bag, and said, “You gonna dawdle all day, chère?”

Louise was stunned speechless, but only for a moment. Time to tie a knot in this boy’s tail. As she walked out the door in front of him, she put a little extra swing in her hips, knowing without looking back that his eyes were glued to her hiney. She was pretty sure she heard him murmur, “Mon Dieu!”

Yep, the rascal should be praying. She intended to show him what a bayou gal with Cajun Sass could do to an overconfident man, with or without Cajun Brass.

Chapter 4

Love is a burning fire, or is that lust?…

Justin was playing with fire. He knew, sure as sin…and, yes, sin was exactly what he had in mind…that he was treading too close to the inferno where Louise Rivard was concerned. That little swish of her hips was a challenge he found both tempting and dangerous.

His stay in Houma would end with his brother’s wedding at the end