Half Past Mourning (30 page)

Trembling in his arms, Nina felt the fire of desire building. “I don’t know if I can wait that long,” she protested.

“It’s not going to be easy, is it? Not for either one of us.” He pulled away. “I shouldn’t have started this, and I know it. But you were tormenting yourself, tearing yourself apart with doubt, getting to the place where you didn’t have any faith in your ability to make choices or judgments. And when you said you didn’t know what love between a man and a woman felt like, I had to do something. Maybe I went too far, maybe I unleashed the wildcat in you. I may have been premature, but by heaven, I’m glad to know that wildcat is there. And before I do all the things I want to do with you, I think I’d better get you home.”

“Drive me home, walk me to the door, and give me a goodnight kiss like a proper gentleman?”

“Drive you home, walk you to the door, sure, but I think you’ve had enough kissing for one night. There’s a temptress behind that schoolmarm smile of yours, young lady, and I’m not foolish enough to let it loose again tonight.”

Chapter 18

Nina lived the spectrum of emotions for the rest of the week. One moment she was in a state of bliss—she loved Peter, loved him in a way she’d never experienced before, could only think of a lifetime spent in his arms. The next minute her heart plummeted as she remembered she wasn’t free to plan any kind of future, not until she talked with Danny’s lawyers or someone found out what had happened when Danny walked away from the church. It could be that the question might never have a satisfactory answer. Where would that leave her? Nina had thought the questions that whirled in her mind were perplexing enough when she was unsure of her feelings for Peter. Now that she knew the power and reality of love, the confusion only ran deeper.

By Friday, the day of the car show, she’d made a dozen plans, come to a compendium of conclusions, only to discard each one.

“I can’t deal with this today, Sinbad,” she told the indifferent cat. His bowl was full and a nice cushion on the porch was waiting for him. Human problems were too insignificant to disturb a well-earned catnap. “I have to go get the Princess and bring her down for the judging,” Nina was saying. “I’ll be driving Unc’s pickup and pulling the trailer. I can’t let my mind go wandering toward a certain redheaded professor while I’m behind the wheel. Uncle Eldon would have me drawn and quartered if anything went amiss at this point.” She glanced back in time to see her audience slip through the open window and settle on the cushion in the yellow rocking chair on the porch. “I guess that tells me how trivial my problems and I are. Thanks, cat. I’ll remember your concern when I buy cat food next time. See if I indulge your taste for lamb kidney anymore.”

Nina pulled on a worn pair of jeans and a faded shirt. She’d have to dress up, wear the pretty flapper dress and high heels, for the rally on the next day. For ferrying the car from the museum to the courthouse square, she didn’t need to make a fashionable appearance. Tennis shoes and a ball cap would do for this event. Catching up the keys to her woody, she started for the door. Half an hour to get to the museum and check out the Princess, another hour or so to trundle the ancient lady to her spot in the contest area, and then home, Nina told herself.
As soon as I can get the Isotta out of the trailer and squared away, get her set up for the show, I’m finished. I can just come home, maybe make a toasted cheese sandwich, and look over possible routes for the rally. It won’t take any time to get back...
Nina’s thoughts stopped cold.
Have time to look over the rally routes? Not a chance!

She’d have to stay with the car until the judging was over, sometime late in the evening. The priceless machine couldn’t be left where strangers could touch or possibly damage the restored masterpiece. She hurried to the living room and reached for the phone.

“Peter? I have a small dilemma.” Chagrined at her own failure to plan, she outlined her problem in as few words as she could manage.

“So you’re going to be babysitting your uncle’s car till the car show closes this evening? And it’s hot, you won’t be able to leave, and would somebody who has your best interests at heart see you have a break now and then and get food and drink to you once in a while? Is that the question, sweetheart?”

She took his teasing in stride. “Something like that. You did want to see the car show, didn’t you? There will be a great collection of the classics, Duesenbergs to Morgans, and all well worth seeing. Can you help me out?”

His soft laugh at the other end of the wire suggested the plan met with his approval. “I didn’t realize you’d have to do the show by yourself, Nina, but it won’t be any hardship to help. I can meet you at the courthouse square in an hour or so. Do I need to bring you anything? A cooler?
Some soft drinks?”

Nina envisioned the long hot hours ahead. “A cooler? That would be heaven. Thanks for thinking of it. I’ll see you downtown as soon as I can get the Princess into her tiara and on the road.”

After thanking Peter again, Nina hurried back to her bedroom. The faded jeans and shirt wouldn’t do for the show. She couldn’t look like a ragamuffin if she was representing her uncle and the museum. Bad public appearance didn’t draw customers to the collection, and at least part of the reason for showing the Isotta, outside of Eldon Lassiter’s pride in owning the elegant classic, was to bring more visitors to the place. She opened the door to her closet and gave a hasty look at the garments hanging inside. Something that wouldn’t be suffocating in the July heat, something that would look as good at the end of the day as it did in the morning, she told herself, and slid hangers along the rack.

A day outside in the July sun is no place to wear a frilly, full skirt and petticoats. No, people may still have some kind of prejudice against women in pants, but I think that’s the only practical thing to wear for this event.
Nina pushed the skirts farther down the closet bar and glanced at the slacks and capri pants.
That will do nicely.
She unfastened a pair of pale blue capris from the hanger and searched for the print blouse she usually wore with them. Both were lightweight cotton, freshly washed and ironed. The crisp top was thin enough to be cool but not so thin it would need something under it. With a pair of navy sandals, Nina would be as comfortable as weather permitted.

By the time she’d changed clothes and put her station wagon on the road, Nina could see crowds gathering for the parade. To get the Princess into place before the parade held her up, she’d have to hurry. For once the only traffic light in town blinked in her favor, and she pushed the speed limit more than a little to reach the museum promptly.

“Cut it a little close, didn’t you, Snookie?” Eldon Lassiter had the doors to the Isotta’s private bay open and was tucking a chamois and some clean diapers into the trunk. The trailer and pickup blocked most of the rest of the shop.

“Just didn’t get away as quick as I planned,” Nina answered. She wasn’t about to confess to being so distracted by her feelings for Peter she’d forgotten the most basic details of the car show event.

“No matter.” Uncle Eldon turned his chair and rolled to the front of the bay. “We’re going to show them a car they won’t forget. Won’t hurt to have everything else in place when the Princess comes to town. Royalty expects to make an entrance.” He shot a quick glance at Nina. “You got that boy Peter coming to help you out, or do I need to send Ron along with you?”

Thankful that she already had Peter’s promise to come, Nina waved her uncle’s suggestion aside. “Oh, Ron’s getting ready to go see his parents for the weekend, Unc. And Peter’s coming to the car show. He’ll be there to help.” She pushed back the door and hopped into the driver’s seat of the
grande dame
of the roadway. “I’d better be off. You’re coming in later? You’ll want to be there to collect the trophy for Best in Show, and I know we’re going to win it.”

“Tinker’s driving me in this afternoon. I want to take a gander at the competition—not that there really is any.” Lassiter gave a small snort with his words. “Funny how a fella can get used to having somebody do things for him so quick. I didn’t think I needed a personal assistant person hanging around my place, but by damn, I don’t know how I ever got along without that boy. He’s a smart kid, Nina.” He looked up, a sheepish grin pulling at his lips. “I’m thinking to send the boy on to school, give him some courses in business and accounting, so he can take over part of the office work around here. What do you think of that, Snookie? Think the old man’s getting soft in his dotage?”

Nina pulled the heavy door shut and started the engine. “I think if that’s what you want to do and Tinker’s interested, it’s a fine thing. Good for him and good for you. He’s got his heart set on little Buffy Michaels, you know, and it’s going to take some heavy persuading to get her family to agree to that match. He’ll need you in his corner all the way.”

“The Michaels girl?” Lassiter lifted both hands, palms up, in resignation. “The family might as well make peace with it, then. The kids will do what they want, and the rest of us can just wish them well and give a hand when needed.” He looked at the shop clock hanging near the door. “Get on out of here, Snookie, before that parade ties up the roads till noon. And mind the finish on the Princess. Wipe her down, get the dust off, and don’t let anybody, I mean
anybody
, touch my car!”

Nina waved, put the magnificent old machine in gear, and rolled up the ramp into the trailer. Months—no, actually Eldon Lassiter had spent years putting the car in mint condition—years of hard labor and careful attention had led up to this day. Nina felt a glow of pride fill her as she fastened the Princess into her private carriage and headed the pickup toward town. The spotlight was sure to be waiting for their arrival. The classic car show, an annual event in Santa Rita, always drew a large crowd. The contest, though friendly, was in deadly earnest and taken seriously by the participants. Eldon Lassiter had won three times in the past, but only by a narrow margin. He was convinced, and Nina agreed, that this year there wouldn’t be a car in the field that could compare with the ruby red coachwork and gleaming chrome of the Princess in all her restored glory.

By taking side roads and bypassing most of the crowd, Nina was able to get to her numbered slot in good time. People were still gathering for the parade just beginning to spiral out of the high school parking lot, and she attracted minimal attention as she came across the old bridge and through the narrow road behind the courthouse. She slipped the truck into place and eased the Isotta down the ramp. Spacing was tight, and she backed with caution. As she aligned the long car and began to slip into the designated place, Peter emerged from the oleanders along the walk beside the aging building. Nina waved but kept her concentration on situating the car perfectly in the parking spot. With a satisfied grin, she checked her placement, took the car out of gear, and shut down the motor.

“Hey, you looked like a pro putting that long hunk of machinery into place, sweetheart.” Peter held out a hand as she dropped down from the driver’s seat.

“And had my heart in my mouth every inch of the way, as well as every foot of the road here,” she assured him. “I can drive anything I can get to run, but this lady is special. I was scared I’d hit an armadillo and bounce something loose. Uncle Eldon’s put years and thousands of dollars into bringing it back to showroom standard. I’d rather eat an earthworm without salt as tell him I put a nick in her paintwork.”

Peter dropped a quick but warm kiss on her lips and draped his arm over her shoulder. “But you got the lady here, and in good order. Now all you have to do is sit and wait for the applause, right?”

“Oh, wrong, my friend, very wrong. First I’ve got to get the truck and trailer out of here. Then there’s all the paperwork to be filled out for the contest. And then
we—
you and me, friend—need to grab the diapers and chamois in the trunk and wipe down every inch of the Princess, front to back and top to bottom, to make sure every speck of dust is gone and she’s shining. We don’t want to lose points on a little thing like a fly speck. And
then
we sit and keep the visitors, especially their kids, from touching anything, any little bit, of the car. Except the judges, of course. They’re permitted to touch, but they’ll have on gloves and have every sharp corner covered. Even their belt buckles will get covered so they don’t scratch. And once the judging is over, we sit and wait for the results. Uncle Eldon will be here when the trophy is handed out, but we’re the infantry. We keep the invaders at bay.”

“A long, hot afternoon in the July sun? Thousands of people streaming by with but one desire, to put candy-coated fingers on the most expensive car in the state? Polish the paint and chrome till it gleams and keep it that way? Sounds like all the fun a man could ask for, at least all he’d ask for if he was with the girl who had his heart in her pocket.”

The look in Peter’s grey eyes, the eyes she’d once thought cold and stern, made Nina’s heart thump till she felt it in her throat. “Oh, my, Peter, if you keep that up I’m going to have a hard time remembering what I’m supposed to be doing here.” She grabbed a paper bag from the trunk and tossed him one of the lint-free diapers. “Here, take this and start wiping while I go park the truck and trailer.”

Before he could answer, Nina hurried away. Once the pickup was parked in a nearby lot, she dashed toward a red-striped awning at the far end of the town square. She didn’t give herself time to think about the electric moment that had passed between them. Peter could somehow reduce her to a quivering mass of need with just a look. Realizing they’d be together for hours, isolated from the other rally participants, for most of the next day gave her pause. Somehow they’d have to concentrate on the directions, keep to the schedule, and make a decent showing so Uncle Eldon’s pride wouldn’t take a pasting. All that while Peter sat within arm’s reach, the summer sun gave them a perfect reason to stop under a cool shade tree, and the chemistry stirring between them had every chance to build to the boiling point. Nina wondered how she’d keep her mind on her driving and pay heed to Peter’s directions.