“Do I look like I’m crazy?” Luc snapped back.
The cowboy must have decided to check, because he was back to playing with the flashlight. This time he made a slow sweep of the light from the tops of their heads, down to their toes, then abruptly back to their midsections, where two wet circles on her blouse and a bigger, wetter circle at Luc’s crotch were highlighted.
A lazy grin spread across the lips of the cowboy, whose face was mostly in shadow. “Yep. One-hundred-proof crazy.”
Luc reached out and shoved the flashlight to the right so it was no longer shining on them. Grudgingly, he introduced them. “This is Sylvie Fontaine, the chemist I told you about.”
“The hell you say!” the cowboy remarked, still grinning. Then, he added a belated “Ma’am.”
“Sylvie, this is my little brother, Remy. He’s the pilot we’ve been waiting for.”
“Pleased to meet ya, ma’am,” Remy said, taking her hand in a firm shake. The whole time he was trying to get a better look at her while she was ducking her head with embarrassment. “So, you’re the one who gave Luc the love potion, huh?”
“I didn’t give him the jelly beans. He took them.” Even Sylvie was startled by her quick change of mood from turned-on to turned-off.
“Ma’am, by the looks of my brother, those sweet thangs,” he said with an exaggerated drawl, “sure put some kick in his giddiup.” He waggled his eyebrows toward Luc’s ignominious stain.
“My giddiup didn’t need any kick, I’ll have you know,” Luc contended, snagging Sylvie by the hand and beginning to backtrack down the wide path toward the houseboat. His brother walked on his other side.
“Can I try some?” Remy asked Sylvie. He was leaning his face forward so he could see around Luc. “I’d be much obliged if you’d give me a sample, ma’am.”
“Oh, no! Not you, too.” Luc threw his hands up in the air despairingly. “First, Tante Lulu. Now you. Who next? Charmaine and René?”
“Tante Lulu wants a love potion?” Remy asked incredulously.
“Yeah,” Luc said with disgust. “I think she was just kidding, but who knows!”
“Well, I wouldn’t mind trying some, too,” Remy persisted.
“I am not giving you any love potion jelly beans,” she insisted, then had a second thought. “Unless, of course, you want to participate in the lab trials at Terrebonne Pharmaceuticals.”
“Uh… I don’t think so, ma’am. I prefer my love potions in private.”
“Like you’ve ever taken a love potion before,” Luc grumbled.
“I’m game for anything. I took Viagra on a bet, didn’t I?”
“You did?” Sylvie and Luc asked, their mouths dropping open with surprise.
“Sure. Best six-hour hard-on I ever had. Not sure I’d ever try it again, though.” He tipped his hat at Sylvie again and winked. Then: “Oh, geez, ma’am, I am so sorry. My tongue just has a mind of its own today.”
“Since when do you need any extra jingle in your spurs?” Luc inquired.
“There’s no such thing as too much jingle, if you get my drift,” Remy replied.
“How did you know that I took the love potion?”
Remy raised his eyebrows mockingly. “Everyone knows, Luc. Everyone. Besides, your lady looks like she’s been rode hard and put up wet. No offense meant, ma’am; that’s a compliment. But you, Luc, you look like you been layin’ pipe back here in the bayou… and you sprung a leak. Love potion would be my guess.”
Sylvie put a hand to her hair. Yep, it was wild. She was afraid to touch her lips for fear of what she would find.
“Remy! Rode hard and put up wet? I’m surprised at you,” Luc said, reversing the etiquette tables on his brother. “A gentleman always treats a lady with respect. Isn’t that what you always say?”
“Could we change the subject, please?” Sylvie begged.
“Hey, I came out in the middle of the night to fly you to the end of nowhere, risking life and limb,” Remy was telling Luc, “and this is all the appreciation I get? Criticism, criticism, criticism.”
“I have two words for you, Remy. And they’re not ‘Thank you.’ ”
“Likewise, bro… though it seems to me that you were about to do just that when I arrived on the scene… just in time, I might add.” Remy glanced toward Sylvie then and groaned, no doubt suspecting he’d used some more bad language.