LITMIR.BIZ

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passed these days for his soul.

      ‘Anything?’ asked Jake.

      Luke shook his head. ‘Nothing you want to know.’

      CHAPTER TWO

      MADELINE made a habit of following up on her rehomed street kids the day after she’d dropped them off at their new abode. Nimble-fingered Po had many survival strategies and scams in place, most of which would be calling for his attention right about now. If Jake could manage to keep Po around the dojo for the next forty-eight hours or so … if Jake could offer the boy something to work towards, something he wanted more than his old way of life … then Po had a chance at staying off the streets. That first step away from the old life was always the hardest, Maddy knew, but it could be done.

      All Po needed was the right incentive.

      Jacob was fronting a kick-boxing class when she walked into his dojo. He scowled when he saw her and jerked his head towards the back rooms, the half a dozen tiny rooms where guests and visiting students stayed, along with the occasional wayward boy.

      She found Po in the kitchenette, kneeling on the round table, his attention firmly fixed on an odd assortment of kitchen appliances that had been placed dead centre of the round. Luke Bennett stood opposite Po, fully clothed this time, which was something of a disappointment, his voice a low rumble and his head bent as he too focused on the stuff on the table. Some sort of rolled-out cloth-bound toolkit lay between boy and man, only these particular tools weren’t like any other implements Maddy had ever seen.

      ‘Nearly done,’ Luke’s voice rolled over her, low and soothing. ‘Steady. Steady. Just a li-i-ttle bit more. Okay, Po. Now.’ Po’s hands moved quick and sure as he wielded a tiny pair of wire cutters over a mass of wires, Luke’s fingers just as nimble as he unwound a silver spring and shoved a piece of what looked like Blu-tack in its place. Moments later both boy and man leaned back, their grins wide and white. ‘You’ve got good hands, kid. I’ll give you that,’ said Luke.

      Po beamed. Maddy stared.

      ‘Is that—’ she couldn’t believe her eyes ‘—a bomb?’

      ‘Of course not. What kind of question is that?’ Luke finally deemed fit to look her way, laughter lurking just around the corner. Maddy felt the force of that vivid amber gaze clear down to her toes. ‘It’s a makeshift detonation mechanism attached to a toaster.’

      Maddy opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Where to begin?

      ‘Luke’s got it set up to burn toast unless we can disable the detonator in time,’ added Po.

      ‘And the wallet in the toaster?’ she asked acidly. ‘What does that do?’

      Po suddenly found the cracked linoleum floor pattern fascinating. Madeline stifled a groan. ‘Po, who owns the wallet?’

      ‘Jake,’ said Luke. ‘Po liberated it from him this morning and I liberated it from Po. Po’s currently planning to put it back where he found it. He’d appreciate my silence on the issue. The main problem being that once I set the wallet to toasting, Po has approximately a minute to disable the detonator without jamming the toaster. Any longer than that and I’m pretty sure Jake’s going to notice the scorch marks.’

      Still nowhere to begin. Anywhere would do.

      ‘Okay, debatable disciplinary measures aside, you don’t think it slightly unwise to be teaching a child how to build and dismantle a trigger mechanism for a bomb?’ She’d started the sentence with her voice low and controlled, the better to avoid shrieking by the time she got to the end.

      ‘Maybe under ordinary circumstances, yes, but look at it this way,’ said Luke, using that same soothing voice he’d used earlier. Unlike earlier, when she’d been reluctantly charmed, it made her want to strangle him. ‘Po’s a pickpocket. A career that values steady nerves and nimble hands is a natural progression for him.’

      ‘Exactly how,’ she said, with a generous dollop of sarcasm, ‘is a career in bomb disposal progression?’

      ‘Well, for one thing it’s legal.’

      ‘Did you mention how if you stuff up, you die?’

      ‘Happens I did,’ said Luke. ‘I’m all for full disclosure.’

      ‘There’s so much to admire about you, Luke Bennett. Pity about the rest.’

      ‘Oh, that’s harsh,’ he murmured without an ounce of repentance. ‘Sorry, kid,’ he said to Po. ‘Lesson cancelled. I suggest you think hard about whether or not you’re prepared to live by my brother’s rules because I’m telling you now, you won’t get a second chance with him. If it’s easy money you’re after, go back to picking pockets. Then when you grow up you can join the real thieves and be an investment banker.’ Luke slid Maddy a sideways glance. ‘Or you can always try the minimal-effort, time-honoured method of improving your lot in life and marry someone with money. Happens all the time.’

      Maddy took the hit as she was meant to take it.

      Personally.

      ‘Now I know why your brother enjoys beating the daylights out of you,’ she murmured.

      ‘Trying,’ corrected Luke helpfully. ‘He enjoys trying to beat the daylights out of me. There’s a difference.’

      ‘Po, will you excuse us for a moment, please?’ said Madeline.

      ‘Can I get the wallet first?’

      ‘Maybe later,’ said Luke. ‘And if you steal anything else of Jake’s I swear you’ll be cleaning the dojo floor with a toothbrush.’

      Po grinned and disappeared.

      ‘Is your room locked?’ asked Madeline sweetly.

      Luke cursed and headed for the door. ‘Stay here,’ he told her and pointed towards the table. ‘Guard that while I escort Po to a kick-boxing class.’

      ‘Ah, the masculine mind at work,’ murmured Maddy as he swept past her, all hard and determined male. ‘It’s a wondrous thing.’

      ‘It’d help a lot if you didn’t actually speak,’ he said.

      She blew him a kiss instead. ‘Is that better?’

      ‘No.’

      She smiled her commiseration.

      Only when she was sure Luke Bennett was out of sight did Madeline give in to curiosity and turn her attention to the device on the table. Five minutes later she thought she had the simplicities of the detonation mechanism figured.

      ‘You should ask for permission before you start playing with a man’s toys,’ said a chocolate-smooth voice from behind her. ‘They might not be harmless.’

      Luke. He of the steady hands, stupendous body, and small brain.

      ‘What would happen if I cut this wire here?’ she asked.

      ‘Nothing.’

      ‘What about this one?’

      ‘Cut that one and life gets interesting,’ he said. ‘Jake said you and he were just friends.’

      ‘Aw-w-w. You’re still concerned about poaching? Aren’t you sweet?’ Best to turn and face danger head on—the better to know when to run. Madeline hadn’t learned that in any fancy Swiss finishing school but the lesson had stood her in excellent stead over the years nonetheless. She braced herself as she turned her head to look at him in an attempt to lessen the impact of that clear golden gaze. ‘But Jake’s right. I consider him a friend. I’m glad to hear that he considers me one.’

      ‘You didn’t know that he thinks of you as a friend?’ asked Luke with the lift of an eyebrow.

      ‘Your brother’s not an easy man

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