Sandra Hill - [Jinx 03] by Wild Jinx Page B

with them blue eyes?”
    “I was born in Houma but moved away with my parents when I was six. My mother was half Cajun. I didn’t come back ’til I was in high school to live with my grandfather. My mother died of cancer when I was fifteen, and my father . . . ” She paused, not wanting to mention her father’s suicide, “He died soon after. I guess I moved here too late to take on Cajun traits.”
    Tante Lulu squeezed her shoulder, obviously aware of her father’s suicide, and the gesture touched Celine in the oddest way. In that instant, she realized how much she missed a woman’s touch . . . a mother’s touch, actually. She blinked back tears.
    Ronnie, Jake, John, Adam, Caleb, and Brenda began talking about what they hoped to accomplish the next day. Apparently, they would be working from dawn ’til dusk, if necessary. Celine was glad to have the attention diverted away from her.
    They really were professionals, which was enlightening to her. In the past, she’d viewed treasure hunters as delusional crackpots out for a quick buck. But these people, even Ronnie, who had been a corporate lawyer, took treasure hunting seriously. Trained divers. Computer savvy. Mechanically proficient. Able to work as a team. All these things, along with their research talents, impressed her more than she’d expected.
    Everyone in southern Louisiana knew about the pirate Jean Lafitte. He was part of their heritage. Both the good and the bad. Yes, he had been an out-and-out pirate, even involved in the slave trade at one point, but he had also been a hero. Never attacking an American ship . . . in fact, aiding the Americans in the war against the British. Giving to the poor. Not to mention having a reputation as a great lover.
    If by some remote possibility the Jinx team was successful in recovering any of the Lafitte treasure, it would be making history as well as a financial boon. One thing puzzled her, though. “Tante Lulu . . . John . . . how did you get involved with Jinx? They’re based in New Jersey.”
    “Six years back, I went ta Atlantic City ta bring my nephew home,” Tante Lulu said. “He was strippin’.”
    Why am I not surprised.
Celine raised her eyebrows at John.
    “Hey, I like ta dance.”
    “Well, ya doan hafta be showin’ yer hiney ta dance.”
    “It was only two weeks, and I did it on a dare,” John told Celine.
    Everyone at the table was chuckling and shaking their heads at John. Apparently they knew him and his antics well.
    Yep, great father material.
“I saw you dance one time. At a high school dance marathon for some charity.” Why she’d felt the need to impart that news to John was probably an indication of her nervousness.
    “Really? Was I good?”
    “Very good. You won, as I recall.”
    “Did I dance with you?”
    “No.” Good grief! She would have had a heart attack in those days if he had even asked. To her chagrin, she felt herself blushing.
    “Tsk-tsk-tsk! Even I know better than to tell a woman I don’t remember her,” Adam said to John.
    “I didn’t say I didn’t remember Celine. I didn’t remember
dancing
with her.”
    “Same thing.” Adam smirked at John. “Maybe I could teach you something about Yankee finesse.”
    John told Adam what he could do with his finesse.
    Tante Lulu smacked John lightly on the shoulder with a wire whisk.
    Then John frowned, no doubt taking in her heated face. “Did I hurt your feelin’s by not askin’ you to dance,
chère?
”
    Yes!
“Hardly!”
    He was still frowning.
    “That’s like not remembering a woman after you’ve nailed her,” Adam went on.
    “Adam!” Tante Lulu, Ronnie, and Brenda all said regarding his crudity. Tante Lulu gave Adam a whack with the whisk, too.
    But that remark caused John’s face to flush, and hers to turn even redder, for different reasons, obviously.
    Beside her, she heard Caleb chuckle.
    Enough!
“Brenda, did you say something about having a little girl?” Celine asked, opting for a change of