“That’s perfect.”

“Would you two stop it!” Toni, to her horror, started laughing, hating both males for making it happen. “I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”

“Not a boyfriend, darlin’. A hook-up.”

“I don’t need that, either from you or anyone else.”

“But—”

“Shut up, Cooper!”

The males fell silent for a few moments until the wolf noted, “You do seem tense, though.”

Toni’s brother, tall and lanky, stepped away from his sister. “You know what?”

“Cooper,” the She-jackal practically hissed. “Don’t you dare.”

“I should check on the kids. They’re probably worried.”

“About what? I’m sure they’re blissfully unaware anything has happened.”

“No, no. They could be very concerned. Yeah. I better check.”

“I’ll go with you,” she said, and tried to slip out of his arms, but Ricky had a real good grip on her and no intention of letting her go. He was just too damn comfortable.

“Absolutely not! You need that sling the wild dogs are getting you.”

“A sling? We can make a sling at home.”

“You’re right! I’ll go get you one!” Then the jackal took off, leaving his sister all alone.

Yep. Ricky liked that boy.

“This is a nightmare.”

“Now, now. Don’t be hard on him. He only cares.”

“By handing me off to a wolf he doesn’t even know?”

“He probably has a good sense of things. Besides . . . my charm speaks volumes.”

“Your charm makes me want to punch you in the nose.”

That made Ricky chuckle. “I’m not trying to piss you off, darlin’. Just trying to get you to give me a chance.”

“Why?” she had to ask. “I’m really not that interesting. I’m cute but not stunning. I’m not excessively tall. And sexually, I’m rather vanilla. So then what is it?”

Ricky decided to be honest with her. “I like your hair.”

She suddenly went tense. “You don’t have to be mean.”

“I’m not. I like the curls. If we have sex, can I play with them?”

“I don’t even know how to respond to that.”

“Just say yes and I’m in.”

She shook her head. “Look, I really have to go. I have an interview in a few hours.”

“You need a sling and someone needs to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t get the fever.”

“From a thrown-out shoulder?”

“It could happen. My brother got the fever last night. But that was from the crushed jaw and nicked artery. He’s probably still passed out at the hotel.”

“If your brother got the fever, why are you here?”

“I had to escape. My sister wanted to talk to me.”

“Good God,” she said flatly. “What was she thinking?”

Ricky heard the sarcasm but chose to ignore it. “Exactly! What was she thinking?”

Toni tried to move away again, but Ricky heldher a little tighter.

“I’ll make you a deal,” he promised. “We hang out together today so I can make sure you’re really all right. And if we get along . . . you go out with me.”

“For sex?”

“Hopefully, but I was thinking dinner to start.”

“And if we don’t get along?”

“You can hit me in the nose if you’re still inclined.”

Toni gave a little snort. “Something tells me I will be.”

“You forgot your dog outside,” a black female standing in the kitchen doorway stated. Toni looked to see the thirty-pound dog she’d yanked from in front of that truck sliding to a stop by the cabinet she was on. He tried to leap onto the top of it but couldn’t quite make it, so he seemed to take pleasure in grabbing Toni’s foot between his two front legs and trying to chew her running shoes off.

“Oh,” Toni replied. “Yeah. My dog.”

The female snorted a little and held up a strip of cloth. “I have your sling.”

“Thank you, uh . . .” Although she could kind of guess who this was.

“Toni,” Ricky said from behind her, “this is Jessie Ann Ward-Smith.”

“And you’re the daughter of my son’s stalker,” the wild dog shot back.

“Uh-oh,” Ricky softly muttered against her ear. “Watch yourself, darlin’.”

Now it was true that Toni didn’t need to involve herself in any of this. It was her mother’s thing, not Toni’s. But if Toni didn’t get involved, then she’d be forced to hear about this situation all goddamn summer. It would involve scheme after wacky scheme until her mother got what she wanted. Like most geniuses at Jackie’s level, she could focus on a problem and work it until her last breath. There was no getting bored for Jackie Jean-Louis. No “getting over it.”

So Toni did what she had to do.

She looked the wild dog over, quickly sized her up, and went right for the superior but straightforward approach.

“Let me tell you something”—and Toni felt the wolf behind her tense at her high-handed tone—“you’ve got two choices. You can let your son settle happily into life as a second chair in the Ice Capades orchestra, or you can let my mother work with him for the summer and open the door to not only first chair with the New York Philharmonic but more likely a solo career. My mother,” Toni went on, “is internationally worshipped. She doesn’t waste time with artists she thinks are really nice or cute or will stroke her ego. If anything, that’s what my dad is for. So what you need to know is that, yes, your son is talented. I know this not because I’ve heard him play but because my mother wouldn’t waste time with him if he didn’t have a substantial amount of talent. Substantial. There are people who’d do bodily harm to others just to have a quarter of the chance she’s offering your son. And, lady, if you don’t think having my mother’s name on your son’s résumé as his teacher, his mentor, is going to help him achieve unimaginable heights—then you’re an idiot.”