Kiss of Temptation: A Deadly Angels Book (6 page)

“Well, I was ’spectin’ ta see chain gangs outside and jailbirds inside walkin’ around, carryin’ them homemade knives made from tin foil, and lookin’ at us wimmen with hungry eyes lak we was an afternoon delight.”

“Oh good Lord!” Gabrielle muttered.

“Remember Paul Newman in
Cool Hand Luke
? Yum! I woulda shared a cell with him anytime.”

In all the years Gabrielle had been visiting her brother at Angola, she’d never once seen a Paul Newman look-alike. Not even close. More like the nut cases in
Stir Crazy
. Or bad-ass criminals like
The Sopranos
or that hardened ex-Angola inmate in
Urban Cowboy
. And chain gangs? They’d been outlawed years ago.

“Tante Lulu, you know this isn’t regular visiting day,” Charmaine said, as if movie celeb convicts would be here on regular visiting days. “They only let us come this afternoon as a special favor to you.”

And wasn’t that an amazing concession, one Gabrielle had never been able to gain on her own?

“I didn’t know you and the warden’s mother used to double date with the Jemeaux brothers. I dated Jimmy Joe Jemeaux one time, but he had hands like an octopus.”

“So did his grandfather,” Tante Lulu said.

Gabrielle did not want to be picturing Tante Lulu engaged in a make-out session, not even a young Tante Lulu.

Charmaine winked at Gabrielle, as if they shared a joke.

Gabrielle felt as if the joke was on her, but then she saw Leroy in the doorway, and she plastered on her positive smile, the one she always wore when visiting Leroy, no matter the news. But he wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were riveted on Charmaine. No surprise there. Everyone they’d passed in the past half hour had practically tripped over their hanging tongues.

Gabrielle stood and waved for her brother to come join them.

That’s when she noticed the man rising from his knees at Leroy’s side. He was the same height as her brother, about six foot four, but his shoulders were broader, his waist and hips narrower, every bit of exposed skin striated with muscle. Long blondish-brown hair was tied at his nape with a leather thong. A designer stubble adorned his classically sculpted face . . . in fact, he resembled that male model with pure, sharp Nordic features in those glossy magazine cologne ads. But no designer clothing on him and no denim prison garb, either. Nope, he wore an odd, little white turtleneck collar under a black muscle shirt that hung loose over tan Bermuda shorts. His big feet were exposed in a pair of rubber flip-flops.

She was staring at the man . . . and 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 her connections, has managed to get you another parole board hearing in November.”

That news stunned Leroy. “That’s impossible. Inmates only get one chance every few years, if that.”

“You’d be surprised what you kin do when you rely on the big guy.” Tante Lulu pointed to the St. Jude candle now sitting in the center of their table.

“And that’s not all,” Gabrielle went on. “Tante Lulu thinks there are some folks in the governor’s office who might be open to a commutation, if all else fails.” Gabrielle took Leroy’s hands in hers. They were trembling. Both of them.

“Why . . . why would you be willing to help me . . . a stranger?” Leroy asked Tante Lulu and Charmaine.

“ ’Cause yer sister asked us to. ’Cause St. Jude is allus lookin’ fer hopeless cases ta make hopeful. ’Cause it’s the right thing ta do. ’Cause we can.” Tante Lulu shrugged. “But you gotta have help from the inside, too. We cain’t do all the work.”

Leroy straightened, instantly suspicious. “How?”

“Well, you gotta behave yerself. Not get inta trouble.”

“And not piss off any more politicians . . . at least for a while,” Charmaine contributed.

“And work with us within the prison,” Gabrielle said. “Maybe we can influence that guy who was a star witness against you.”

“Us? Within? I don’t like the sounds of that.” Leroy was shaking his head, already rejecting what they wanted to do, even before he knew what that was. “No way are you getting within a mile of Little Eddie Hebert. He’s vicious as a rattler in a bucket.”

Tante Lulu spoke right over Leroy’s objections. “Yep. We’s gonna work on that talent show here at the prison. Dontcha be worryin’ none. We’ll take care of Little Eddie. Betcha I know his mama, or one of his kinfolks. There are Heberts up and down the bayou. He’ll be squealin’ like a stuck pig before I’m done with him.”

Leroy’s eyes got wider and wider. He turned to Gabrielle as if for help.

What could she do? She was caught in the path of the same Cajun tornado.

“Does Sigurdsson know you’re gonna help with the talent show?” An expression of amusement bloomed on Leroy’s face, replacing the usual gloom.

“Sigurdsson? Do you mean Reverend Sigurdsson?” Tante Lulu asked.

“Can you introduce us?” Charmaine wanted to know.

“Oh yeah! The
Rev
is right over there.” Leroy turned slightly in his chair and pointed at the man still leaning against the wall, still staring at Gabrielle as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Gabrielle realized in that instant that the odd little white turtleneck she’d noticed earlier was actually a clerical collar. Under a muscle shirt? And she recalled her physical reaction to him.
Oh my God! I got an instant turn-on over a priest. How pathetic is that?

“Hallelujah! After all these years my prayers are answered. Thank you, St. Jude!” Tante Lulu had both hands crossed over her chest. The expression on her wrinkled face was one of delighted wonder.

Now what?

“Settle down, Auntie. You look like you’re gonna have a heart attack. What’s the matter?” Charmaine had her arm around her aunt’s shoulders and was squeezing her with concern.

“He’s what’s the matter,” Tante Lulu said, pointing at the man against the wall. “An angel. God has sent me an angel.”

Leroy let out a hoot of laughter. “He may be weird for a man of the cloth, but an angel? I don’t think so!”

“Did you take your blood pressure pill this morning?” Charmaine asked her aunt.

“She must be hallucinating,” Gabrielle told her brother.

“I’m not hallucinatin’. Holy crawfish! Cain’t y’all see his wings? They’re blue and misty-like.”

They all looked at the man, who didn’t seem at all discomforted by their joint perusal. And not a wing in sight, as far as Gabrielle could see.

“Armageddon mus’ be comin’,” Tante Lulu wailed, waving her hands in the air like they were at a revival meeting.

“Yeah, well, let’s get a closer look at ol’ Armageddie,” Leroy said, motioning with a forefinger to the man. “Hey,
Rev
, come on over and meet some folks.”

As if he’d been waiting for an invitation, the man shoved away from the wall and began to amble over toward their table. It might have been Leroy who called for him, but the man’s eyes were still locked on Gabrielle.

And,
be still my horny heart
, he was even more good-looking up close. In fact, Gabrielle didn’t think she’d ever met another man so compellingly attractive. Her heart was racing and her lips parted. She sighed before she had a chance to check herself.

He smiled, knowing perfectly well what effect he was having on her. Without his even speaking a word, Gabrielle knew she was in the presence of a player. The kind of man who could make a woman melt with just an arch of a brow. The kind of man women like her should steer clear of. She had no time for games.

“Rev, these people would like to meet you,” Leroy said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Charmaine LeDeux Lanier, Louise Rivard, and Gabrielle Sonnier, my sister.” He put particular emphasis on that last, as if warning the man off her. Then, “The Rev. Ivak Sigurdsson.”

It was an indication of how smart Leroy was that he could recall all those names he’d just been introduced to.

“Rev?” the man replied. “Hardly.”

“Aintcha a minister?” Tante Lulu asked, her eyes still filled with wonder.

“Sort of. Just call me Ivak.”

“And you kin call me Tante Lulu. Kin I touch yer wings?”

“Sure,” he said, while the rest of them asked, “What wings?”

Ivak pulled a chair from a nearby table and shoved it in between Gabrielle and Tante Lulu, forcing Gabrielle to move slightly to his right.

While Tante Lulu was touching his shoulder, Ivak turned to Gabrielle, his eyes smoldering an erotic message at her. “Did Mike send you here?”

“Mike who?”

He licked his upper lip. “My boss.”

She felt as if he’d licked
her
upper lip, and she just barely stopped herself from mirroring his action. She shook her head slowly from side to side to clear the odd buzzing in her ears. “No. I went to Tante Lulu for help in getting my brother out of prison. She has a lot of connections, or so I was told. And she heard about some prison talent show that she thought her family could infiltrate, or something, and I got kind of bulldozed into coming here today. But holy moly! I’m turning into a regular Chatty Cathy.” She was rambling and couldn’t seem to stop.

He continued to smile at her.

And she felt an erotic thrill pass over her in waves. Just from a smile. But wait. “Oh my God! You have vampire teeth,” she blurted out. And he did, not that they made him any less attractive, just different.

“Oops,” he said, and wiped a hand across his closed mouth. Then, he asked, “Better?” He bared his top teeth at her.

She nodded. The pointed incisors were mostly gone. He now had perfectly straight, white teeth that would do an orthodontist proud.

“Sorry about that. I can usually control myself, but when I’m in high emotion, they come out.” He shrugged helplessly.

“Your teeth elongate and retract at will?” she asked tentatively.

“Not exactly.”

“And why are you in ‘high emotion’?”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk!” he chided her. “Surely, you feel it, too.” His voice was husky as he took her hand in his under the table.

The shock of his touch, palm against palm, was almost her undoing. In a week that had been filled with one shock after another, this reaction to a stranger could be her tipping point. As blood drained from her head, she could feel herself growing faint. The only thing anchoring her to the chair was Ivak’s tighter hold on her hand.