instant or I’ll call the sheriff!” The woman who was surely Gladys Harbison pointed a red-nailed finger in his direction and grimaced with wrinkly, overly glossed lips. “Turner Halliday is a personal friend of mine.”
“That makes two of us. Is there a sofa nearby? I think she just fainted.”
“What?” Gladys inspected Taffy’s limp neck, slack face, and dangling arms. “Oh, my heavens! She really has! What did you do to her?” A dyed black brow arched high over one of Gladys’s eyes.
“Nothing. But she would be more comfortable lying down with a cold cloth on her forehead than hanging here in midair like this.”
“Oh! Heavens! Yes, well, follow me.”
Dante averted his eyes from the view of Gladys’s backside crammed into a skintight skirt and her varicose-veined calves shoved into high heels. Wasn’t there a law that prevented women her age from wearing shit like that? If not, there should be. He followed Gladys to the old-fashioned sofa in her living room, and bent forward, gently transferring Taffy to the cushions.
“Don’t you touch her, now,” Gladys warned. “Keep your hands to yourself. I’ll be right back and rest assured I will catch you if you try anything.”
Dante looked up in time to see Gladys walk away, and had to avert his gaze again.
“Uugghh,” Taffy groaned.
Ah, hell. Dante couldn’t help it. Gladys was gone. Taffy was still out of it. And at that instant he realized that if he didn’t kiss her he would regret it the rest of his life. So he lowered his mouth gently to Taffy’s and kissed her. He’d intended for it to be a quick peck, but it didn’t stay that way, and within seconds his hands were cupping her face and his lips were moving all over hers. Then she started to reciprocate.
He heard Gladys approaching, so he pulled his lips away. When he did, he saw that Taffy’s eyes had opened, and her bottomless-blue-beautifulness stared at him in wonder.
“Shh,” he said, smiling. “Here comes Gladys.” Of course the whole turn of events must have Taffy confused as hell. How had he known where to find her? How did he know Gladys? How the hell had this happened? Dante had a few questions himself, but the fact remained that he’d stumbled upon Taffy and they’d have to find a way to deal with it. “Work with me, baby,” Dante whispered with a wink.
“You just move away from her now, young man.” Gladys bent at the waist to tend to Taffy, but didn’t give him enough time to dodge a close encounter of the spandex kind. Dante jumped to his feet and backed away, finding refuge in an armchair across from the sofa. Though Gladys nearly obscured Taffy from his view, he could just make out her long, strawberry-blond hair as it cascaded across a toss pillow. It was obvious that Taffy was trying to look at him, too, but Gladys was having none of it.
“Hold still, Taffy Marie.”
“But—”
“I really should call Vivienne.”
“Oh, God, no! Please don’t do that. I mean, there’s no need. I am perfectly fine.” Taffy tried to push herself to a seated position but Gladys practically shoved her back down. Dante stifled a laugh. “Gladys, please! Give me some room!”
“Well, all right, now. No need to holler at me.” Gladys helped Taffy sit up, and the cloth fell off her forehead into her lap. She stared at Dante in bewilderment.
“Are you all right, miss?” he asked, sounding as professional as possible.
Taffy squeezed her eyes tight for a second then opened them again. “Yeah. I’m fine. But—”
Gladys glared at Dante. “Was this here man inappropriate with you in any way, Taffy Marie?”
Silence.
“If he’s done anything that would compromise you in any fashion, you tell me and Turner’ll have him locked up faster than green grass goes through a goose!”
More silence. Gladys narrowed her eyes. Dante didn’t know how much longer he could keep from laughing, because hell yes he’d compromised her—over and over again, if he recalled correctly. He noticed Taffy’s mouth begin to twitch.
“… because if he’s violated you in any way I will—”
“For heaven’s sake, Gladys! No! I just got light-headed is all, probably from the overly sweet brownie. This nice man must’ve caught me.”
Taffy didn’t dare make eye contact with Dante. He had to admit she showed a great deal of self-restraint. It was a side of her he hadn’t seen during their night together, which had been about everything but restraint.
“Now, I know this is an indelicate question to put