Bed of Roses Page 0,10

voice jumped a bit and reminded him it was cold. "Go ahead and get in the car, and I'll hook it up. Don't start it, don't touch anything in there, until I tell you."

He pulled his car around so it was nose-to-nose with hers. As he got his jumper cables, she got out of the car again. "I want to see what you do," she explained. "In case I ever have to do it."

"Okay. Jumper cables, batteries. You have your positive and your negative. You don't want to get them mixed up because if you hook them up wrong you'll - "

He clamped one onto the battery, then made a strangling noise and began to shake. Instead of squealing, she laughed and smacked his arm. "Idiot. I have brothers. I know your games."

"Your brothers should've shown you how to jump-start a car."

"I think they sort of did, but I ignored them. I have a set of those in the trunk, along with other emergency stuff. But I never had to use any of it. Under yours is shinier than mine," she added as she frowned at his engine.

"I suspect the pit of hell is shinier than yours."

She puffed out a breath. "Now that I've seen it, I can't argue."

"Get in, turn it over."

"Turn what over? Kidding," she said.

"Ha. If and when it starts, don't turn it off."

"Got it." In the car, she held up crossed fingers, turned the key. The engine coughed, hacked - made him wince - then rumbled to life.

She stuck her head out the window and beamed at him. "It worked!"

He had an errant thought that with that much power, her smile could have sparked a hundred dead batteries. "We'll let it juice up a few minutes, then I'll follow you home."

"You don't have to do that. It's out of your way."

"I'll follow you home so I know you didn't conk out on the way."

"Thanks, Jack. God knows how long I'd've been out here if you hadn't come along. I was cursing myself for going to that damn party when all I wanted to do tonight was zone out with a movie and go to bed early."

"So why'd you go?"

"Because I'm weak." She shrugged. "Sam really didn't want to go alone, and, well, I like a party, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to meet him there and hang out for an hour."

"Uh-huh. How'd it work out with him and the blonde?"

"Sorry?"

"The blonde you palmed him off on."

"I didn't palm him off." Her gaze slid away, then rolled back to his. "Okay, I did, but only because I thought they'd like each other. Which they did. I'd've considered that good deed worth coming out tonight. Except I ended up broken down on the side of the road. It seems unfair. And mildly embarrassing since you noticed."

"On the contrary, I was impressed. That and the salsa were my favorite parts of the evening. I'm going to take the cables off. Let's see if she holds a charge. If we're good, wait until I'm in my car before you pull out."

"Okay. Jack? I owe you."

"Yeah, you do." He gave her a grin before he walked off.

When her car continued to run, he shut her hood then his own. Once he'd tossed the jumper cables back in his trunk, he got behind the wheel and flashed his lights to signal her to go. He followed her through the lace of the light snow, and tried not to think of that moment under the hood when her breath had brushed warm over his lips.

She gave a friendly toot of her horn when she reached the private road for the Brown Estate. He eased over, stopped. He watched her taillights shimmer in the dark, then disappear around the bend that led to the guest house.

Then he sat a little while longer, in the dark, before turning the car around and heading home. I N HER REARVIEW MIRROR, EMMA SAW JACK STOP AT THE MOUTH of the drive. She hesitated, wondering if she should've asked if he wanted to come down, have some coffee before he doubled back and drove home.

She probably should have - least she could do - but it was too late now. And all for the best, no question.

It wasn't wise to entertain a family friend who banged a booming ten on your spark o-meter, alone, late at night. Especially when you still have some belly vibes going from a ridiculous moment under the hood of a car when