Charming Grace by Deborah Smith

Author:Deborah Smith [Smith, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Contemporary Romance, kc
ISBN: 9781585474349
Google: 1iKWPwAACAAJ
Amazon: 1585474347
Publisher: Little, Brown
Published: 2004-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

All hell broke loose when I called Stone at dawn and told him I’d let his kid get beaten up. He and Diamond were in the middle of their a.m. weight-training session when my call came in, so she grabbed a phone to listen. She went deadly quiet. Stone started yelling.

“I thought you taught my kid to fight, Noleene! I told you to teach him every Cajun street trick you know! What the hell happened?”

“Leo’s not the eye-gouging and ball-kicking type. He’s a thinker. So I taught him a few wrestling and nerve-pinch techniques. It’s called Brazilian ju-jitsu.” I didn’t mention I’d picked up the skill from a South American arms dealer at Angolo. “Leo’s pretty good at it. He was just outnumbered tonight, that’s all.”

“What the hell is Brazilian ju-jitsu—kung fu for sissies wearing gaucho pants? You sent my kid into a street fight pretending to be Mr. Spock doing the Vulcan neck grab?”

“I’m not proud of what happened to him.”

“Well, neither am I. This isn’t like you, Noleene! Where the hell were you?”

“In bed.” I let it go at that.

“In bed! In bed? You let my kid hit the bars with Grace’s crazy women relatives while you turned in early for some beauty rest?” He did a lot more yelling but Diamond continued to lurk like a piranha in the deep end of the river, just waiting for the blood to reach ‘appetizer’ level.

When Stone stopped for breath she swam in, mouth open, teeth bared. “I’ll be down there in two hours, max, in Stone’s jet, to pick Leo up and bring him back to Atlanta. Noleene, you keep Grace Vance out of my way or she’ll need an ER visit, too. And so will you.”

I gritted my teeth. “You can chew me up and spit me out, but don’t come down here and kidnap Leo. He’s sleeping. He’s fine. Mika’s holding his hand and won’t budge. Grace and her cousin are guardin’ his door. I swear I won’t let anyone else near him. I’ll drive him back to Dahlonega later today when he can sit up without drooling. I’ll bring Mika and Grace and Grace’s cousin Dew with us. He likes them. He wants it this way.”

“You’ll take care of him like you took care of him tonight?” she said sarcastically. “And you think I’ll just accept your ‘word’ on that? You think I’ll let you keep my nephew surrounded by Grace and her coven?”

“He’s nineteen. Don’t treat him like a kid.”

“Don’t you tell me how to treat my nephew, you loser—”

“Enough!” Stone yelled. “Noleene, get out of the way. Diamond’s coming down there and get him. I want to see you here in Dahlonega this afternoon, and I want some explanations that make sense! For now you just take care of Grace and her girls. Try not to screw that up, too, huh?”

He hung up on me.

Leo was a kind of kid brother I had wanted to protect the way Armand always tried to protect me. Now I knew how Armand felt every time I got whacked, shot, or cut in a fight.

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