“Pumpkin, I’m glad you think so.” He let her go. “If you need anything, you let us know, all right?” he asked Michelle. “But you’re in good hands.” He smiled at Gabriel.

“She’ll be safe, at least.” Gabriel gave Reverend Blair a complicated look. “Make sure about those new locks, will you? I’ve gotten used to having you around.”

The other man made a face. “Locks and bolts won’t keep out the determined,” he reminded him. “I put my trust in a higher power.”

“So do I,” Gabriel replied. “But I keep a Glock by the bed.”

“Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel.”

Everybody looked at Michelle, who blushed.

“Sorry,” she said. “I was remembering something I read in a nonfiction book about the Middle East. It was written by a former member of the French Foreign Legion.”

Now the stares were more complicated, from the two males at least.

“Well, they fascinate me,” she confessed, flushing a little. “I read true crime books and biographies of military men and anything I can find about the Special Air Services of Great Britain and the French Foreign Legion.”

“My, my,” Gabriel said. He chuckled with pure glee, a reaction that was lost on Michelle.

“I lead a sheltered life.” Michelle glanced at the grave. The maintenance man, a little impatient, had started to fill the grave. “We should go.”

“Yes, we should.” Reverend Blair smiled. “Take care.”

“Thanks. The service was very nice,” Michelle said.

“I’m glad you thought so.”

Gabriel took her arm and led her back to the car. He drove her home first, so that she could change back into more casual clothes and get her overnight bag. Then he drove her to his own house, where Sara was due to arrive any minute.

Michelle had this picture of Sara. That she’d be dark-haired and dark-eyed, with a big smile and a very tender nature. Remembering what Gabriel had told her in confidence, about the perils Sara had survived when they were in school, she imagined the other woman would be a little shy and withdrawn.

So it came as something of a shock when a tall, beautiful woman with long black hair and flashing black eyes stepped out of the back of the limousine and told the driver where he could go and how fast.

Chapter 6

“I am very sorry, lady,” the driver, a tall lanky man, apologized. “I truly didn’t see the truck coming...”

“You didn’t look!” she flashed at him in a terse but sultry tone. “How dare you text on your cell phone while driving a customer!”

He was very flushed by now. “I won’t do it again, I swear.”

“You won’t do it with me in the car, and I am reporting you to the company you work for,” she concluded.