Love Be Mine (The Louisiana Ladies Series, Book 3)

Love Be Mine

The Louisiana Ladies Series

Book Three

by

Shirlee Busbee

New York Times Bestselling Author

LOVE ME MINE

Reviews & Accolades

"...a passionate tale sure to keep readers engrossed."

~Rendezvous

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ePublishing Works!

www.epublishingworks.com

ISBN: 978-1-61417-478-3

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Please Note

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Copyright © 1998, 2013 by Shirlee Busbee. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

Cover by Kim Killion
www.thekilliongroupinc.com

eBook design by eBook Prep
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Dedication

To more dear friends and fine companions.

PHELPS and PATTY DEWEY, who gave us a succinct explanation of the "jerk" factor in the publishing business and especially, dear,
dear
Patty, who always strokes my ego!

AND

JEFF and LINDA CARTER, long-lost relatives, the kind that you are delighted and pleased to discover and are
really
happy to claim.

And, my one and only, HOWARD.

Chapter 1

"Merci!
What do you mean, he is moving
here
? Surely you have misread the letter,
Maman?"

Lisette Dupree sent her daughter a reproving look. "I assure you,
petite,
that I did not make a mistake. Hugh Lancaster states quite clearly that he is moving to the New Orleans area just as soon as he is able to put his business affairs in Natchez in order. Here, read the letter yourself."

Gingerly, almost as if she expected it to bite her, Micaela Dupree took the letter from her mother. She sighed as she read the offending document. "It is true," she said gloomily. "He is moving here."

The two women were seated side by side on a delicate settee covered in worn blue velvet in a small room at the rear of the Dupree town house in New Orleans. It was midmorning on a cool, wet Monday in late February of 1804 and the two ladies had been enjoying a cup of chicory-laden coffee when the letter from Hugh Lancaster had been delivered.

The arrival of a letter had been unusual enough to add some excitement to a dull day, but the news it brought had destroyed their pleasant mood as they sipped their coffee and chatted comfortably with each other.

Micaela's lovely dark eyes were troubled as she looked at her mother. "François," she said, referring to her brother, a year younger than she, "is going to be most disturbed by this news."

Lisette nodded. "And your
oncle
Jean, too."

The two women sighed simultaneously. Their resemblance to each other was obvious. Only a few weeks away from her twenty-first birthday, Micaela was in the full power of her undeniable beauty, while Lisette, having turned thirty-eight just the previous month, was a fetchingly mature version of her only daughter. They did not look precisely alike; Micaela's nose was longer than her mother's charmingly retroussé affair, her brows thicker and more noticeably arched, and her mouth was more lavishly formed, with a saucy curve to it. Both women were small-boned, although Micaela, much to her chagrin, stood three inches taller than her petite mother. The shapes under their simple muslin gowns were curvaceous, with full bosoms, narrow waists, and generously rounded hips. The celebrated creamy matte complexion which each possessed contrasted enchantingly with their gleaming blue-black hair and long-lashed midnight black eyes. With lips as red as cherries, pale lovely skin, and flashing ebony glances, their proud Creole blood was evident.