Deadly Prospects (9 page)

Mandy had three messages from Ally on her phone when she returned to her office. As a circuit-court clerk, she was banned from taking her phone into the courtroom. Since Judge MacIntosh had a full docket that afternoon, Mandy hadn’t had a chance to even look at the phone since mid-morning.

She was lifting the phone to ear to listen to the messages when a brunette cyclone stalked into her office.

“Why haven’t you returned any of my calls?”

Mandy lowered the phone, fixing Ally with a hard look. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m having a crisis.”

“Define crisis.”

“Well, let’s see, I had sex with Jake last night.”

Mandy’s eyebrows shot up. “How was it?”

“Great. Beautiful. Wonderful.”

“So, what’s the crisis?”

“Well, for starters, my brother walked in on us this morning.”

Mandy made a face. “He went to your house? I told him not to do that.”

“Well, he did. Why did you tell him anyway?”

“The towing company called this morning,” Mandy said. “I gave them your brother’s number because I figured he’d know more about cars than I do. Since I know nothing about cars, except they get me to the mall and back, I figured he should be in charge of that situation.”

“And?”

“And, well, I told him the truth,” Mandy said. “I can’t lie. Well, I technically lied to him yesterday. I told him Jake left early because I asked him to. Well, that wasn’t a lie. Still, it was kind of a lie.”

Ally contorted her face into an exaggerated frown.

“Hey, I distracted him all night.”

“I’m sure that was a real hardship for you,” Ally said, throwing herself into one of Mandy’s open office chairs.

“Actually, I think we kind of needed it,” Mandy said. “He didn’t even want to fight this morning when he found out what I’d done.”

“Well, he wanted to fight when he came to my house.”

“What exactly did he see?”

“Well, I was on top and there were noises,” Ally said.

Mandy winced. “How did he take it?”

“He freaked.”

“How did you take it?”

“I freaked.”

“Well, you are Hardys. How did Jake take it?”

“He said ‘oh crap.’”

Mandy giggled. “Well, he’s never been overly verbose.”

“Then everyone met up in the living room again, and that’s when Jake said it had been a lapse in judgment.”

Mandy stilled, gripping the file in her hand tightly. “What?”

“Yeah,” Ally said, tears forming in her eyes. “He says it was a lapse in judgment.”

“Oh, Ally.”

Mandy was around the desk, her arms wrapped around her friend, before a solitary tear managed to travel down Ally’s face.

“I felt like he was ripping my heart right out of my chest,” Ally said, sobbing. “You know that scene in
Alien
where that little rubber alien bursts out of that guy’s chest?”

Mandy nodded.

“This was worse.”

“What happened then?”

“I kicked them both out, called in sick, and spent the whole day watching soap operas,” Ally admitted.

“Well, at least the day wasn’t a total loss.”

Ally wrinkled her nose.

“I’m sorry,” Mandy said. “I don’t know what to say.”

“There’s nothing to say,” Ally said. “I’m a lapse in judgment. I might as well get used to it.”

“Ally.”

“No, I’ve got it all figured out,” Ally said.

“Oh, really?”

“I’m going to become a nun.”

Mandy fought the mad urge to laugh. “You know that nuns can’t have sex, right?”

“Hey, that’s what got me into this mess,” Ally said. “My burning loins just can’t be contained.”

“Your burning loins? Have you been reading romance novels again? Nuns can’t read romance novels.”

“Well, maybe I’ll figure out something else to do with my life,” Ally ceded.

“I hear the circus is always hiring.”

“There you go. Now you’re thinking.”

MANDY
found James sitting on the couch in the living room when she returned to the apartment. He didn’t look up when she entered.

“So, I hear you’ve had a busy day.”

James scowled. “I knew Ally would call you.”

“She called three times,” Mandy said. “Then she showed up at the courthouse.”

James shifted his weary brown eyes to her. “She showed up at the courthouse? What did she say?”

“She’s upset.”

“Do you want to expand on that?”

Mandy moved over to the couch, sinking down on it and pressing her leg against James’ thigh, offering him comfort in the form of physical contact. “Well, for starters, she said you walked into her bedroom while they were having sex.”

“Yep.”

“She said she was on top.”

“I don’t need a blow-by-blow recap.”

“Sorry, I just … I have no idea how to even picture that.”

“You don’t want to,” James said. “Trust me.”

“I’ve seen your sister naked more times than I’ve seen you naked,” Mandy said. “I don’t think it’s as shocking as you seem to think it is.”

“It was horrible,” James admitted, rubbing his forehead. “I looked right past the pile of clothes on the floor. I saw Jake’s truck in the driveway, and yet it didn’t click. I just didn’t … I didn’t think … and I threw open the door.”

“Well, at least it’s out there,” Mandy said.

“You knew this would happen,” James said. “You knew.”

“I saw the way they looked at each other,” Mandy said. “I saw the furtive glances, and the light flirting. Yes, I knew it would happen.”

“Well, I must have been in denial or something.”

“She’s your sister.”

“She’s my baby sister,” James corrected. “And I saw a whole heck of a lot more of my baby sister today than I ever wanted to see.”

“Well, as horrible as this was for you, and I do have sympathy,” Mandy said. “It was worse for Ally.”

“She seemed fine,” James said, waving Mandy’s concerns off. “She was really loud.”

“She’s not fine, James.”

James glanced at her, his face unreadable.

“Did Jake really call her a lapse in judgment?”

James faltered. “He didn’t mean it like that.”

“Well, she thinks he did.”

“No,” James said, shaking his head. “He was trying to explain how it happened. He blamed it on the rain.”

Mandy snickered. “Ah, the rain always does it.”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, rain is sexy,” Mandy said. “Haven’t you seen
The Notebook
?”

“Women,” James growled.

“We need to have a serious talk for a second,” Mandy said. “Then I’m going to do my best to distract you from the horror of seeing your sister naked this morning.”

James perked up, interest clouding his features. “Go on.”

“I know it’s hard for men to understand, but women think differently sometimes,” she started.

“Is this going to be like when you thought I didn’t love you because I didn’t want to hurt you by having sex after the explosion?” James asked.

“Kind of, and I thought we weren’t going to bring that up again?”

“Sorry.”

Mandy patted his leg. “It’s fine. I’m about to bring up something you want to put away and forget about, so I guess I deserve it.”

James waited.

“Do you remember the first night we slept together?”

James scowled. “Not again.”

“I’m not bringing this up to make you feel bad,” Mandy said. “I’m bringing it up so you can understand.”

“Great. I can’t wait.”

Mandy sighed. “You’re the love of my life, James, but you really are pigheaded sometimes.”

“Fine,” he said. “I’m listening.”

“When I woke up that next morning and found you gone, it was like … something inside of me broke.”

James reached over, gripping her hand. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am about that whole thing.”

“I know you’re sorry, that’s not what this is about,” she said. “I forgive you. I forgave you even then. I know why you did it. You were scared, and you didn’t want to feel anything for me. I understand.”

“If it’s any comfort, if I knew then what I know now, I never would have done it,” James said, his brown eyes brimming with sincerity.

“I know that, honey,” Mandy said. “Trust me, I believe that you love me. Even when I didn’t believe it, I knew it. It’s … women are weird.”

“You have no idea.”

“Anyway, when I woke up that morning, I felt like you’d kind of … discarded me. Like I was trash.”

James growled. “I … .”

“Don’t. We’re not rehashing this again,” Mandy said. “I forgive you. I love you. I’m only bringing this up so you can understand.”

“Understand what?”

“When Jake called his night with Ally a ‘lapse in judgment’ it was the same thing,” Mandy said. “He broke Ally.”

James glanced over, searching Mandy’s face for confirmation. “He didn’t mean it that way.”

“He might not have,” Mandy said. “Ally said the night was beautiful. She was happy. The next thing she knew, Jake was taking it all back, just like you took it all back.”

James pursed his lips, shifting his gaze as he considered Mandy’s words. “He was saying it for my benefit.”

“I know that, and you know that, but Ally is in a different place,” Mandy said. “All she knows is that Jake slept with her and then … tossed her away.”

James made an exasperated sound in his throat. “I can’t deal with women. You guys are so … sensitive.”

“Our minds do run away with us,” Mandy said, nodding. “It doesn’t mean that Ally doesn’t have a right to feel how she feels.”

“And how do you feel?” James asked. “After it’s all said and done, are you still hurt by what I did?”

“I like to think I’m enlightened,” Mandy said. “I see that what you did ended up hurting you more than me. And I’m guessing that Jake is probably feeling the same way.”

“What should I do?”

“Well, for starters, you need to stay away from Ally for a few days,” Mandy said. “She’s really upset, and she’s really hurt.”

“But?”

“But you might want to try and accept Jake,” Mandy said. “Because I think that Jake and Ally are probably going to find their way back to each other – well, once he pulls his head out of his ass, that is.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“Just call it a feeling,” she said. “Jake and Ally have to work stuff out on their own, but Jake is going to need you to tell him it’s all right before he makes a move.”

“What if it’s not all right?”

“It’s already all right,” Mandy said. “I can tell you’re already accepting it. You’ve got
that
look.”

“And what look is that?”

“When you came back to my apartment after our … incident … you had a look,” Mandy said. “When I saw that look, I finally knew that you’d accepted me, and what I could offer you.”

“And I have that look now?”

“You do.”

James sighed, reaching over and dragging Mandy onto his lap. “I do love you more than anything in this world.”

“I love you, too,” Mandy said, pressing her lips to his. “Just promise me you’re going to give Jake the go-ahead to date your sister.”

“And, if I don’t?”

“Ally says she’s going to become a nun.”

James barked out a hoarse laugh. “Oh, good grief.”

“Just promise me.”

“I promise, baby.” James pressed his forehead to hers.

“Thank you.” Mandy pulled him close, relishing his warmth as they cuddled together.

“Now,” James said. “I believe you said something about wiping the horrors of this morning from my mind.”

“Oh, right,” Mandy said. “I was thinking you might want to check and see if I wore any underwear to work today.”

“You always know how to make me feel better.”

James founds himself at Larry’s Garage early the next morning. Larry Arden was an old friend, and when he called and said he found something interesting on Ally’s car, James figured he’d better check it out in person. He’d put it off for a day, but he was determined to get things back to normal as soon as possible. Ally’s car was merely an item on his to-do list.

He was surprised to find Jake standing next to the car when he arrived.

Jake straightened when he caught sight of James, uncertain. “Hey.”

James sensed the discomfort rolling off the man from five feet away. “Hey. What are you doing here?

“I wanted to check on the car,” Jake said, his tone grim. “I didn’t know if you were handling it or not.”

The two men spent the next few minutes looking at the car, scanning the garage, and pretty much eyeing just about every little thing they could think of besides each other. Finally, James couldn’t take it anymore.

“Listen, I’m sorry about yesterday.”

“What are you sorry about?”

Jake’s question took James by surprise. “What do you want me to be sorry about?”

“I’m not sure I want you to be sorry about anything,” Jake said. “She’s your sister. You were worried. It was … an uncomfortable situation. I don’t think it was a situation that particularly hurt me, though.”

“No,” James agreed. “It was a situation that ripped my sister apart.”

Jake furrowed his brow. “I think she was more embarrassed than anything.”

“I wish that was true.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Ally had a rough day yesterday,” James said. “Thinking I was the cause of it doesn’t make me feel like much of a hero – or a big brother.”

“Did something happen to her?”

James read the alarm on Jake’s face. “Not physically.”

“Then … I’m not sure I understand.”

“I didn’t either,” James said. “Not until a certain blonde explained a few things to me.”

“And what did Mandy have to say?”

“Well, first off, Ally showed up at her office yesterday afternoon,” James said. “She was so worked up she called in sick to work. Oh, and she’s becoming a nun.”

Jake swallowed his upper lip to keep from laughing. “She’s becoming a nun?”

“Or she’s joining the circus. She hasn’t quite made up her mind yet.”

“Ah.”

“Okay, here’s the situation,” James said. “Apparently, when you called sleeping with my sister a ‘lapse in judgment,’ you essentially broke her heart.”

Jake frowned. “I … wait, what?”

“Ally thinks that you … regretted the time you spent together and wish it had never happened,” James said. “In other words, you slept with her and walked away the next morning.”

“She kicked me out,” Jake protested. “She kicked us both out.”

“Well, I think that I would have been the only one kicked out if you hadn’t used those words,” James said.

“I … I didn’t mean it that way,” Jake said.

“What way did you mean it?” The question was pointed.

“I meant that … I’m not sure I can talk about this with you,” Jake said.

“Because I’m her brother? Or because I’m your employer?”

“Both.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry,” James said. “Your job isn’t in jeopardy. You’re a good worker, and I have a great deal of respect for you. So, take all of the job stuff off of the table.”

“That still leaves the brother stuff,” Jake pointed out.

“It does,” James said. “And, if I could see a way around this conversation, I wouldn’t be standing here right now. I can’t. So, in an effort to get all of this out there and out of the way, I’m asking you one, simple question.”

Jake waited.

“What are your intentions toward my sister?”

Jake barked out a harsh laugh. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Jake sighed, running a hand through his thick hair. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“She’s … impossible. She doesn’t listen. Do you know that she yelled at me to stop my truck the other day and then jumped out in the middle of traffic and started walking home?”

Now James was the one fighting the urge to laugh. “Why did she do that?”

“Because I asked her to stop talking,” Jake replied. “She just … she yammers on and on. She asks question after question. She just can’t sit there and be quiet for five minutes.”

“No, she can’t,” James said.

“Sometimes I need quiet,” Jake said. “I like quiet.”

James hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and waited for Jake to continue.

“She drives me crazy,” Jake said. “I would be lying if I said there wasn’t something there, though. I’m drawn to her.”

“Despite the fact that she won’t shut up?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to date my sister?”

Jake met James’ probing gaze head on. “Yes.”

“Do you promise not to call her a ‘lapse in judgment’ again?”

“I didn’t mean that the way she took it,” Jake said hurriedly. “I never meant to hurt her that way.”

“I know,” James said. “I’ve said a few things myself in the past few days that have hurt her and Mandy that I wish I could take back. Women look at things differently than men do.”

“No kidding.”

James rubbed his jaw. “If you want to date my sister, then I want you to date her.”

“No offense, but that’s not how I read things.”

“Probably not,” James conceded. “I’ve had some time to think it over. Mandy hasn’t given me an option on that front. She points out that I’m being unreasonable. If I have my way, Ally will never date anyone. That doesn’t sound like a very happy life for Ally, does it?”

“I’m not sure I can keep butting heads with you,” Jake said. “I respect you too much to do that, but I have to be on Ally’s side in this.”

“You do,” James said, nodding. “Be on her side. I think you’re here looking at her car on your day off because you’re already on her side.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am,” James said. “Just, for the love of all that’s holy, don’t ever let me walk in on the two of you having sex again.”

“That wasn’t a highlight for me either,” Jake said.

“I bet.”

Jake laughed, this time the sound was warm. “You’re not going to change your mind, right?”

“No,” James said. “As much as the idea of you fornicating with my sister freaks me out, the thought of hurting Ally hurts a whole heck of a lot worse.”

“You know I can’t guarantee that this relationship will work,” Jake said. “We’re still getting to know each other. I can’t make promises, especially if she refuses to shut her mouth.”

James snorted. “I know.”

“So, um, do you have any suggestions for getting her to forgive me?”

“I usually try to bribe Mandy,” James said.

“Does it work?”

“It depends on how mad she is,” James said. “If she’s really mad, there’s no choice but to sit down and have a talk.”

“Oh, good, more talking.”

“You’re going to have to be the one to make her see that you made a mistake,” James said. “Make sure she knows that you weren’t … throwing her away.”

“I wasn’t throwing her away,” Jake said. “I would never do that.”

“I know,” James said. “That’s what she thinks, though. You have to make her realize that it isn’t true.”

“And how do I do that?”

“I find groveling is a great way to start.”

JAKE
felt better after his conversation with James. It was obvious the eldest Hardy brother was going to accept his relationship with Ally. Now Jake just had to figure out what a relationship with Ally would really entail.

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Larry.

“Sorry,” Larry said, tugging down his filthy overalls. “I had some woman in the front office who would not stop screeching about her car. She’s run over so many curbs she’s bent the rims, and yet she doesn’t believe me. Women should not be allowed to drive.”

Jake smirked. He’d never met Larry before, but there was something amusing about his backwards attitude.

“Speaking of women drivers, what’s up with Ally’s car?” James asked. “She’s been putting oil in it, right?”

“It’s not oil,” Larry said.

“She said something about hitting a pothole before the car started acting up,” Jake said.

Larry glanced at him. “Who are you?”

“This is Jake Harrison,” James said. “He works for me … and he’s dating my sister.”

Jake arched an eyebrow, but he didn’t argue with James’ assertion. If all went well, he would be officially dating Ally before the night was out. If things didn’t go well, he had a feeling he’d be groveling for weeks.

“Well, she definitely hit a pothole,” Larry said, moving to the front of the car and pointing to the driver’s side tire. “She bent the rim, and the car could probably use a front-end alignment.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound so bad,” James said. “Why do I think that’s not why you called me?”

“Because there’s something else,” Larry said. “A bent rim wouldn’t explain why the car wouldn’t start.”

“Ally said the car was lurching,” Jake said. “That’s why she pulled over. I think she would’ve kept driving it on the bent rim.”

“She’s a woman,” Larry said. “They all do that.”

“So, what’s the problem?” James asked.

“The fuel line was leaking,” Larry said.

“How did that happen?”

“I can’t be a hundred percent sure,” Larry said, walking over to his workbench and returning with a small hose. “But look here.”

James followed Larry’s finger. “What am I looking at?”

“A big hole.”

“Could that have happened when she hit the pothole?” Jake asked.

Larry shook his head. “Absolutely not.”

“So, how did it happen?” Jake asked, his scalp suddenly tingling.

“Someone put the hole in it,” Larry said. “Something this big couldn’t have happened naturally.”

“I don’t think I understand,” James said. “Why would someone cut a hole in her fuel line?”

“That’s not the biggest concern, ironically enough,” Larry said.

“What’s the biggest concern?”

Larry motioned for the two men to follow him. He led them out of the garage and into the field behind the building. There was a small box on the ground when he stopped, and Jake didn’t miss the fact that Larry was keeping his distance.

“I had no idea what that was when I pulled it out from under the car,” Larry said. “I carried it around like an idiot.”

James moved forward, kneeling down. “This looks like … .”

“An explosive,” Jake finished, his blood running cold.

“That’s what I thought,” Larry said. “I brought it out here because I didn’t know what else to do with it. I didn’t know if I should call the police.”

“Where did you find this?” James asked.

“Right next to the fuel line,” Larry replied.

“Be more specific,” Jake said.

“Let’s just put it this way, that fuel leak was right above that little box,” Larry said.

“It was meant to explode,” James said, his jaw clenching. “Someone tried to blow up my sister. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?”

“I see no other explanation,” Larry said. “Hitting that pothole probably saved her life.”

Jake and James exchanged a look.

“It has to be because of Michael Sawyer,” Jake said. “There’s no other explanation.”

“No,” James agreed. “Ally is annoying, but she usually doesn’t drive people to murder.”

“So, what do we do?”

James shook his head, glancing around the field. “We call the police,” he said finally. “We need them to detonate this thing, and they have to know what we suspect.”

“What do you think they’ll do?” Jake asked.

“I have no idea,” James said. “For now, I think we should keep this to ourselves.”

Jake’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “You don’t want to tell your brothers?”

“We can tell them,” James said. “All females are to be left out of the loop, though, at least for now.”

“Do you really think you can keep this a secret?”

“Do you want Ally to freak?”

“No,” Jake said.

“Well, if she finds out about this, she’s going to freak,” James said. “That means I can’t tell Mandy, because she can’t keep a secret. Grady can’t tell Sophie, because she’ll tell Mandy.”

“What about Emma?”

“I have no idea what Emma will do,” James said. “I’m not willing to take a risk.” He glanced at Larry. “Call the police. Let’s get this over with.”