Page 80 of The Cajun Doctor

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you putting the moves on me?”

“Moi?” he said with mock innocence. But then he grimaced in a self-deprecating way. “Any moves I might have once had have surely rusted from disuse.”

“Maybe it’s like riding a bike. You never really forget.”

“You think?”

It was fun bantering with the usually dour Daniel, who was surprising her with his flirtatious actions. She liked it. Of course, he would probably zap her with a sarcastic remark any minute now, if she didn’t snark him first. Their mutual bickering had become a hard-to-break habit.

Just then, they both glanced upward at the sound of someone walking on the first floor of the mansion.

“Luc or John?” she guessed.

“Maybe, but they would have probably knocked.” He grabbed a broom, as if that would provide protection against the mob or Nick. Once again, she thought she should get a weapon. Add that to her list.

As Daniel began to walk up the back stairs, she got an enticing view of his very fine behind in the black running shorts. How did he keep in such good shape?

“Do you run, Daniel?” she called after him with what was an out-of-place question in the midst of possible danger.

He answered with the same disregard for timing, “Only when I have to. Were you thinking about chasing me?”

Or being chased, she thought, but didn’t dare say out loud.

A short time later, he returned with Aaron, the two of them laughing about something to do with animals. They would have passed the second parlor on their way to the back stairs.

“Hey, Sam,” Aaron greeted her with the nickname she disliked so much, second only to the hated “Sammie” that Nick taunted her with. She’d been haunted by the “Sam” nickname in childhood. “Sam the Yam,” they’d called her because her hair had been the color of the root vegetable back then. Thank God for modern hair products! It wasn’t worth correcting him, though. And at least he wasn’t calling her “Beanpole,” her other nickname. She’d been taller than all her classmates until high school, and even then, taller than most of the girls. Later she became comfortable with her “model thin” height, but back then, not so much.

“Aaron,” she returned his greeting. “You done working for the day?”

“Nah! I need to go back later this afternoon. A swamp tour by some real estate investors.”

“I appreciate your letting us stay here until we resolve . . . well, you know the situation.”

“No problem. Is there anything to eat?”

Angus and Lily Beth joined them for lunch, and soon the kitchen table was spread with bread, sliced ham, Cajun chicken breast, bologna, and all the condiments, along with Tante Lulu’s leftover salads and Lily Beth’s fruit tart. Daniel gave his brother a brief update while they ate.

Aaron’s grin kept getting wider and wider as he listened, especially when Daniel, who was sitting on the bench across from him, next to Samantha, kept finding excuses to touch Samantha. Once he even blew against her forehead to push back a strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail. That gesture was so outrageously personal it caused everyone at the table to stop and stare.

“Idiot!” Aaron remarked.

“Moron!” Daniel countered.

Samantha couldn’t help but notice the closeness between the two brothers as they ate and chatted, even the exchange of insults. They were twins, of course, and there was a strong resemblance, even though they dressed differently. Daniel was more the khakis and loafers type, even though he wore running shorts and Nikes this morning, while Aaron was more cowboy, right down to his Levi’s and boots. And his hair was longish, pulled back with a rubber band at the back of his head into a knot or small bun . . . a mun, some people called those popular ponytails which weren’t really big enough to be tails.

Aaron caught her looking him over and winked at her.

Daniel caught the wink and reached across the table to jab his brother with a serving spoon.

“What?” Aaron pretended his chest hurt where Daniel had jabbed him. “Private property? Already? Whoo-hoo! Everybody, raise the flag and do a drum roll. My brother has his mojo back. The doctor is back in the game!”

Samantha arched her brows at Daniel. So much for his rusty moves!

“That’ll be enough, Aaron,” Daniel said. “You’re embarrassing Samantha.”

“Me? Why would I be embarrassed? I haven’t done anything.”

“Yet,” Daniel said, and squeezed her thigh, under the table.