Read Divine Temptation for Free Online Page B

every Thursday evening to hear your confessions, along with the third Saturday of every month. I encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities to strengthen your spiritual armor.”
    Maggie watched her daughter, who was whispering to her friend rather than listening. When Sarto paused, Maggie felt the hairs on her arms prickle. Looking up, she saw that he’d turned his attention to her.
    “I take it we’re ready downstairs, Mrs. Brock?” Half of the thirty or so people in the pews turned to look at her, and she simply nodded. “Excellent. Please, join us downstairs for a small earthly indulgence—coffee and dessert. Let us thank the Lord for bringing us together to learn of the powers he instills in each one of us and to now partake in the fruits of the generosity and talent of the people of our parish. Amen.”
    A rumbling of amens cascaded through the pews and then the guests filtered into the aisles. Maggie turned to go downstairs, and when she did, she noticed Father Tom sitting to the side of the altar—in the chairs reserved for the altar servers. His face tilted slightly downward as he stared with a hard expression toward the carpet, apparently deep in thought. If he came down to the basement later that night, Maggie didn’t see him.
    On the car ride to pick up Liam at his friend’s house, Maggie asked Kirsten how Monsignor Sarto had come to be the one delivering the lecture.
    “Father Tom talked for most of it. But I don’t know, somebody asked a question, and Father Tom started to answer, but then Monsignor Sarto interrupted and, I don’t know, just kept answering the questions from there.”
    “Huh. Well, did you get anything out of it?”
    “Five extra credit points and a huge chocolate chip cookie.”

    Maggie was jolted from her sleep by a familiar sensation. Keeping her sleep mask on, she flipped to her other side in an attempt to force her mind into other territory. She’d decided the chase in the garden had been unacceptable and entirely caused by indulging in thoughts of the angel. After being fairly successful at blocking him from her daydreams, she wasn’t about to let him back into her nighttime ones. But whenever she started to drift away toward another realm, her awareness of him would reemerge and jerk her back to her bed.
    “Get out!” she shouted in frustration after the third or fourth time it happened. Ripping off the eye mask, she sat straight up to face him. He was exactly where she’d expected—standing in the corner of the room. “I said get out. I don’t want you here!”
    He didn’t move, simply watched her, his forehead creased in concern.
    Maggie threw off her covers and launched from the bed. She was done playing around. She was going to attack the intruder and beat him out of her brain for good. At least she would have if her sleep-numbed legs hadn’t given out and sent her careening to the floor. The carpet burned the heels of her hands as she skidded, and she lay still for a moment, face to plush. The pain was real.
    Thinking she’d once again physically acted out her dream, she lifted her head, expecting to find an empty room. Instead, she saw him kneeling next to her.
    “Are you okay?” he asked.
    Her mouth fell open, but she didn’t respond. She only stared at him. He looked exactly the same as he had the other times—pleasant, ordinary features, but with something ethereal about him. He emanated an intensity, but also a gentleness. Both qualities had been reflected in the smooth tones of his voice as well.
    She pulled herself up to all fours and then pushed back to sit with her legs folded beneath her. Rubbing the sore bits of her hands, she said in as steady of a voice as she could manage, “I’d be better if you told me who you are and why you keep coming here.”
    “I’m sorry. You’re not supposed to see me. Or rather, you’re supposed to see me if you’ve been allowed to, but…I can’t understand why it’s happening