MAL INSTALLED NEW MOTOR MOUNTS ON A HONEY OF A ’62 T-BIRD Sports Roadster. At the customer’s directive, he’d all but rebuilt the engine, and when the job was done, all 390 cubic inches would growl down the road like a big sleek cat. He’d already replaced the brake pads, fixed the cooling system, and refined the three two-barrel Holley carburetors.

By his calculations, in a few hours he’d be taking this big bastard for a test drive.

“That’s a beauty.”

He pulled his head from under the hood to see Del, lawyer-suited-up, inside the cavern of the garage.

“She is that. Sixty-two, M-Code,” Mal added, “bullet sleek. One of about two hundred sold back in the day.”

“Really?”

“Bitch was pricey. Customer bought this at an auction, had it restored. Rangoon Red exterior, two-toned red and white in.White-walls, wire wheels. He got a clue after he’d had the exterior and interiors restored that the reason it might be giving him some trouble on the road was the hundred-twelve original miles on the engine.”

“And that’s where you came in.”

“We fix.Take a look.”

“Sure, as long as I’m not required to know what I’m looking at, or half of what you’re talking about.”

“This baby has the chrome dress-up package.”

Del looked in, saw a big engine, a lot of black, some gleaming chrome, and various parts stamped with Thunderbird. Because he knew his job, he nodded. “So, what’ll she do?”

“When I’m finished? Just about anything you want her to except kiss you good night.” Mal pulled the bandanna out of his back pocket, wiped his hands. “Are you having trouble with the Mercedes?”

“No. I had a breakfast meeting in town, so I swung by after to drop off the papers you asked me to draw up. I can give you about ten minutes if you want to look over them now. Or I can leave them in your office, and you can read them when you’ve got a chance, call me with any questions.”

“I’ve got my hands full here, so I’ll read through them later. As long as I’m not required to know what I’m looking at, or half of what you’re talking about.”

“I’ll walk you through it whenever.”With a thoughtful frown, Del looked under the hood again.“Maybe one of these days you’ll walk me through an engine.”

Mal’s office consisted of a cubbyhole off the garage outfitted with a metal desk, a couple of filing cabinets, and a swivel chair. Del stepped in, took the file out of his briefcase, and set it on top of the inbox.

Mal stuck the rag back in his pocket. “We may want to take that ten minutes to talk about some personal business.”

“Sure.What’s up?”

“I took Parker out last night.”

After one slow take, Del shook his head. “You talked her back onto the bike? Did you have a gun?”

“We made a deal.We’d take a ride, grab some dinner, and when I dropped her back home, if she hadn’t had a good time, I’d back off.”

“So you—” A faster take this time. “Back off from what?”

“From her, and this thing we’ve got going.”

“What thing would that be?”

They shared that, Mal thought, the instant Brown frost. “You really want me to spell that out for you?”

“And when did this thing start?”

“For me? About two minutes after she first opened her mouth to me, and it’s been clicking up some levels since. For her? You’d have to ask her yourself. Since she did have a good time, and I won’t be backing off, I’m being up-front with you.”

“Just how far has this thing gone?”

Mal paused a moment. “You know, Del, I get how you are about Parker, about all of them. Switch the circumstances, I’d probably be the same, so I get it. But I’m not going there with you, not about Parker. If you want to ask her, that’s between the two of you. But I’ll say this, if you think I’m just after a quick score, you and me? We don’t know each other as well as either of us thought.”

“She’s my sister, goddamn it.”

“If she wasn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. She’s also a beautiful, smart, interesting woman.And she’s nobody’s push-over. If and when she wants to shake me off, that’s what she’ll do.”

“And if she does?”

“I’ll be sorry, because, like that car, she’s a rare breed. Classy and powerful and f**king gorgeous. And worth a hell of a lot of time and trouble.”

Frustration radiating like sunlight, Del shoved his hand in his pocket. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to say about this.”

“Can’t tell you.” Mal shrugged. “By the way, you can pay her my hundred. After we made the deal, I figured I should be up-front with her, so I told her about the bet in case she wanted to get pissed off and flip me off.”

“Great. Perfect.”

“She didn’t get pissed. She just wanted a cut of the bet. Jesus, who wouldn’t go for a woman who thinks like that? Anyway, it seems fair her take comes from you. I’ll collect my share from Jack, and the two of you can settle it with Carter.”

“I don’t know if we’re square on this. I have to get my head around it. But I know this: If you screw with her, if you hurt her, I’ll kick your ass.”

“Got that. How about this? If I screw with her, if I hurt her, I’ll let you.”

“Son of a bitch. Read the damn papers.” Without another word, Del strode off.

Could’ve been worse, Mal considered. Del could’ve punched him in the face the way he had Jack over Emma. So, he figured he and Del were one up there.

He shrugged it off, then went back to work on the engine, on something he knew, absolutely, how to fix.

KNOWING HER SCHEDULE, DEL MADE IT A POINT TO GET HOME early enough to corner his sister. She had rehearsals, and an event, which might have equaled an overfull plate for anyone else. But he knew damn well Parker routinely built in time for emergencies.

This, to his way of thinking, qualified.

He timed it strategically, arriving at the end of the first rehearsal, while Laurel was busy in her kitchen, Emma and her team already dressing the house for the arrival of the evening’s bridal party, and before the second rehearsal.