I find that strange?”

      “I don’t know why. Do you?” She pushed the key for the elevator, and when Silas opened the door, she said, “Parking garage, Silas, and no stops.”

      “Yes, ma’am.” Silas closed the door.

      Eli pulled his coat on. Nerves fluttered through him.

      “Does this happen often?”

      “Roo’s kind of hyper and it’s gotten worse since her mother died,” he said, trying not to sigh. “It’s hard to keep a nanny.”

      “She’s a child,” Darcy said. “How bad can she be?”

      He gave her a sidelong look. “You don’t have children.”

      “I do want them eventually.”

      The wistful look on her face sent a small jolt of electricity through him.

      “Look,” she said, “we’ll bring her here and put her in the day care center. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll put our heads together and come up with something else.”

      The elevator stopped on the ground floor and opened. Silas tipped his hat at Darcy as she stepped out of the elevator and walked rapidly to the doors that led to the parking garage.

      “Why do you care?” Eli asked. He almost had to trot to keep up with her.

      “Why do you care that I care?” she asked, shoving open the door.

      Cool air, with a hint of moisture and a promise of snow, surrounded them. He didn’t like her butting into his business, but he didn’t know how to keep her out. She was like a hurricane with two legs and enough power to knock a fifty-story building down.

      She walked to the nearest car and clicked on her remote. A Mercedes beeped and as he approached he saw that it was a brand-new hybrid. He didn’t even know Mercedes produced a hybrid.

      Darcy’s cell phone chirped. She answered and listened for a moment. Then closed the phone. “That was Mabel,” she said as she sat down and put her key into the ignition. The car purred to life. “The officer arrived and is with your daughter.”

      “Nice car,” Eli said, feeling relieved that Roo was safe, as she backed out of her spot and he saw her name, Ms. Darcy in large letters on the wall of the garage.

      “Thanks. It’s a Christmas present to myself.”

      “Don’t you think it’s in poor taste to spend this amount of money in this economy?”

      One elegant eyebrow rose and for a second he was back in second grade with a teacher who’d used the same “we are not amused” look.

      “I bought this from Hanson’s Mercedes-Benz. Mrs. Hanson and her five daughters are some of my best customers. If we are going to get out of these recessions, we need to spend money and since I have money to spend, I did. Eventually I’m going to get it all back when Mrs. Hanson and her daughters show up today for their annual Christmas shopping spree. And finally, we should all be driving a hybrid.”

      She paused at the stop sign at the exit, and made a right turn when a break in traffic allowed.

      I’m not going to feel guilty about my Escalade. I’m not going to feel guilty about my Escalade… I’m going to feel guilty… Great, now she had him worried about the environment.

      She’d programmed his address into her GPS and as they slid through the downtown traffic the voice-activated directions took her directly to his house.