Ry grinned at the way Keenan ma.s.sacred his name and flipped the brim of the boy's baseball cap to the back of his curly head. "Ry."

"'Cause," Keenan said, big eyes sober and hopeful. "I never, ever did it before."

"No, not why, Ry. You call me Ry. And sure you can slide down it. Hold it." Laughing, he caught Keenan at the waist before the boy could make the leap from floor to pole. "No flies on you, huh?"

Keenan looked around, grinned. "Nuh-uh."

"Let's do it this way." With Keenan firmly at his hip, Ry reached out to grip the pole. "Ready?"

"Let's go!"

In a smooth, practiced move, Ry stepped into air. Keenan laughed all the way down.

"Again!" Keenan squealed. "Let's do it again!"

"Your brother wants a turn." Ry looked up, saw Bryant's anxious, eager face in the opening. "Come on, Bryant, go for it."

"Definitely daddy material," Cilia murmured, watching her son zip down the pole.

"Shut up, Cilia." Natalie slipped her hands into the pockets of her blazer. She was itching to try the ride herself.

"Just an observation. Attagirl, Allison," she added, cheering her daughter on when Allison dropped lightly to the floor. "He's giving the kids the time of their lives here."

"I know. It's very sweet of him." She smiled as Ry obliged Keenan with another trip down the pole. "I didn't know he could be sweet."

"Ah, hidden qualities." Cilia glanced over to where Boyd was holding a conversation with two uniformed fire fighters. "Often the most attractive kind in a man. Especially when he's crazy about you."

"He's not." It amazed Natalie to feel heat rising to her cheeks.

"We're just... enjoying each other."

"Yeah, sure." With a mother's honed reflexes, Cilia crouched and caught her youngest as he flew at her.

"Look, Mom. It's a real, actual fireman's hat." The helmet Ry had given Keenan to wear slipped down over the boy's face. Inside, it smelled mysteriously, fascinatingly, of smoke. "And Ry says we can go sit in the fire engine now." After wriggling down and dancing in place, he shouted at his brother and sister. "Let's go!"

Accompanied by two fire fighters, the children dashed off to check out the engine. With a signal to Cilia to wait, Boyd disappeared up the steps with Ry.

"Well." Cilia sniffed and shrugged. "The womenfolk have been dismissed. They'll go upstairs to grunt significantly over official business."

"I wish Boyd wouldn't worry so much. There's really nothing he can do."

"Older siblings are programmed to worry." Cilia slung an arm around Natalie's shoulder. "But, if it helps, he's feeling a lot less worried since he's met Ry."

"That's something, I suppose." Relaxed again, she walked with Cilia toward the back of the engine. "So, how's Althea doing?"

Around the front, the children were barraging the fire fighters with questions. "The last time I talked to her, she claimed she was as big as two houses and miserably bored with desk duty."

"She's the s.e.xiest expectant mother I've ever seen. Since Colt and

Boyd ganged up on her, she's at home on full maternity leave. I dropped over to see her one day a couple of weeks ago and caught her knitting."

"Knitting?" Natalie let out a full-throated laugh. "Althea?"

"Funny what marriage and family can do to you."

"Yeah." Natalie's smile faded a bit. "I suppose that's true."

Upstairs, Boyd was frowning over Ry's reports. "Why upstairs, in the office?" he asked. "Why didn't he start the fire in the showroom? It seems to me there would have been more damage more quickly."

"The showroom window could have put him off. I figure the storeroom would have made more sense if he was just looking to burn the place down. It's private, full of stock and boxes." Ry set aside his coffee. He really had to start cutting down. "I figure he was following instructions. Clarence is real good at following instructions."

"Whose?"

"That's the ticket." Ry kicked back in his chair and propped his feet on his desk. "I've got two incendiary fires that are obviously related. The target in both cases is a single business, and both, I believe, were started by a single perpetrator."

"So he's on somebody's payroll." Boyd set the reports aside. "A compet.i.tor?"

"We're checking it out."

"But it's unlikely a compet.i.tor would be able to give your pal Clarence access to either building. You didn't find any sign of forced entry."

"That's right." Ry lit a cigarette. A man couldn't cut down on two vices at once. "Which leads us to Natalie's organization."

Boyd got up to pace. "I can't claim to know her staff, certainly not in this new project of hers. I don't deal with the business end of Fletcher unless I'm backed into a corner." He regretted that now, only because he would have been more help if he'd been familiar with her procedures and personnel. "But I can get a lot of information from my parents, particularly on her top people."

"It couldn't hurt. The fact that there was only cosmetic damage at the last fire leads to the conclusion that there'll be another. If Clarence follows his pattern, he'll hit her again within the next ten days." He tossed papers aside. "We'll be waiting for him."

Boyd looked back and measured the man. Tough, smart. But, as he knew from personal experience, the job could get sticky when a man found himself involved with a target.

"And while you're waiting for him, you'll keep Natalie out of it."

"That's the idea."

"And while you're doing that, you're going to be able to separate the woman you're involved with from the case you're trying to close."

Ry lifted a brow. That was going to be a challenge, and the difficulty of meeting that challenge had crossed his mind more than once. The trouble was, he wasn't willing to give up either the woman or the case.

"I know what needs to be done, Captain."

With a nod, Boyd placed his palms on the desk and leaned forward. "I'm trusting you with her, Piasecki, on every level. If she gets hurt-on any level-I'm coming after you."

"Fair enough."

An hour later, Natalie stood on the curb outside the station, waving goodbye. "You were a big hit, Inspector."

"Hey, a shiny red fire truck, a long bra.s.s pole-how could I miss?"

Laughing, she turned to link her arms around his neck. "Thanks."

She kissed him lightly.

"For?"

"For being so nice to my family."