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If he co those dark eyes that s No, too girlish I clearedhow a sultry screen vareet a man like the sheik “Hello” Yes, that was better Deeper, more mature

Next, I tried to even out arette holder in one hand, highball in the other But slinking was a bit difficult for s is shorter than the other, not that either of the My mother was so s born It hadn’t healed right, resulting in a one-inch difference, and I have to concentrate if I don’t want to liait, kept ht back and my chin down, bent my knees a little…

Da was harder than it looked

Giving up, I jogged the rest of the way down the alley and pushed open the door to the garage Onceapart the back end of a Cadillac hearse

Officially, he was an auto repair hidden co howof an autoers because they had wide back ends, but I stuck with my Model T Those hearses were creepy

“I’ of his hammer

The noise stopped and he straightened halfway, bracing his hands on the hearse’s fra his chin toward me over one shoulder His profile revealed the crooked line of his nose, which had been broken several times “It’s over there Can you load it?” He jerked his head toward two large boxes labeled Royal Baking Powder sitting on the cement floor near the door

“Sure”

“That’s irl Fifteen per bottle, and don’t take less”

“I won’t This came for you” I moved closer to hiht it said you should answer by tonight”

He took it fro it into the front pocket of his work overalls “To hell with that I don’t answer to him or anybody else”

“What’s this about?”

“It’s nothing Now go on, I’ll et the whole place cleared out, bring it all here”

I nodded That could take a while We had a lot of booz

e stashed in that boathouse, probably enough to—

“What the hell do you want, a police escort?” He waved his ha!”

“OK, OK Jeez,” Iover to the boxes loaded hisky bottles Daddy had a quick temper, but he wasn’t usually so short withabout the letter, or he owed h to house, clothe, and feed us, but every extra di habit Every ers underneath a box And every woman too I could still hear the sheik’s low, velvety voice inhi that crisp white collar, slipping the crimson tie from around his neck A sweat broke out on my back

I lugged the boxes just outside the door, then left the there while I retrieved the car Daddy and I shared a 1921 Model T Sedan he’d rigged with hidden compartments and a trunk with a false floor Jefferson Market was painted on the side in cheerful white letters, and I always had bags of groceries in the back seat, just in case I got stopped After pulling alongside the garage door, I turned off theup the bench seat when I heard a deep voice behind me

“Excuse me”

My head snapped up,as I backed out Please don’t be a fed I turned around and sucked in my breath

The sheik was leaning against the brown brick wall, barely three feet from me

“What are you doing back here?” Definitely not the sultry greeting I’d rehearsed

“Looking for you” He lit one of his Fati above his head

“Why?”