Free Kiss of Temptation: A Deadly Angels Book by Sandra Hill

couldn’t stop herself.
    His blue eyes were fixed on her, as well, even when he stood and then leaned against the wall. He shook his head from side to side, as if in disbelief.
    “Who is he ?” she whispered at the same time her brother asked, “Who is she ?”
    She blinked several times to clear her head.
    Leroy was gawking at Charmaine.
    She reached up to hug her brother and whispered in his ear, “Forget about it. She’s married, happily. With children.”
    “Shit! That figures. Here I thought you brought me some good news, for a change.” He sank down to a chair at the table and folded his arms over his chest, his lower lip extended like that of a petulant child denied a treat. In his case, a woman. Jeesh!
    “I have brought some good news.” Quickly, Gabrielle introduced Tante Lulu and Charmaine to Leroy and vice versa, then added, “They’re going to help me get you out of here.”
    “Give me a goddamn break!” He looked pointedly at first Charmaine, the quintessential bimbo, then at Tante Lulu, who had to appear old and weak. He couldn’t be more wrong. In the two days she’d come to know these two women, Gabrielle had been given innumerable reasons to admire Charmaine’s intelligence, and the old lady was the strongest woman she’d ever met. “What’re they gonna do? Hold a friggin’ bake sale for my benefit?”
    “Watch yer mouth, boy,” Tante Lulu warned, whacking him on the arm with her folded Richard Simmons fan. “Yer in no position ta be turnin’ down help, wherever it comes from.” She took a small St. Jude candle out of her pocket and shoved it into Leroy’s hand. “They wouldn’t let me bring in any little plastic St. Jude statues ’cause ya might melt it down into a weapon. Talk about!”
    Leroy squeezed the candle angrily, probably hoping to break it in half, to no avail. He glared at Gabrielle then, stunning her with the pronouncement, “I want a divorce.”
    “What?” all three of the women exclaimed.
    “I want to divorce you, Gabby. You’re no longer my sister. You are no longer my lawyer. I don’t want you to visit me anymore. I’m putting you on my official black list. It’s over. No more wasting your time and mine on a hopeless cause.”
    “Bullshit!” Gabrielle said before glancing at Tante Lulu with a shrug of apology. “I’m not going anywhere.”
    Tante Lulu tapped her fingertips on the candle that Leroy still held in his hand. “Hopeless ain’t a word St. Jude recognizes.”
    “Y’all gotta believe, sweetie,” Charmaine added.
    “I believe, all right. I believe I’ve landed in the middle of some senile dingbat circus.”
    “Are you sayin’ I’m a dingbat?” Tante Lulu narrowed her eyes at Leroy.
    “Are you sayin’ I’m old?” Charmaine narrowed her eyes at Leroy, too.
    Both of them wore so much mascara it was a wonder they could hold their eyelids open at all.
    “Now wait just a minute,” Gabrielle said. “Leroy, Tante Lulu and Charmaine have already done a lot to help you. You should be grateful, not antagonizing them.”
    He continued to glower at them all, waiting for an explanation. Her brother was not making a good impression, but instead of being mad at him, her heart ached with sadness. He was a good guy caught in a bad place. He had no reason to think that his situation would get any better.
    “First of all, don’t you think it’s odd that I’m here visiting on a nonvisiting day?” She arched her brows at him. When he didn’t answer, she went on, “Tante Lulu arranged that, with help from Charmaine’s husband, who used to be an inmate here. He’s outside right now talking to the head of security about some concessions we want them to allow you.”
    “Concessions?” he asked, unable to maintain his silence. “Have aliens stole your brain? They don’t give concessions to inmates, especially lifers.”
    Gabrielle waved a hand dismissively. “We can discuss that later. The most important thing is that Tante Lulu, through