Excerpt: Working: "Flame in the Forest"

Pyrs groaned. “Geeze, Cadfael, next time, I’m driving.” He unhooked his seatbelt. “I’m gonna be bruised.”

“No whining.” Rory shoved at him, already out of her belt and ready to get out of the car. “I’ll whine if it’s necessary.” Turning, she fixed Cadfael with a glare. “Like if something got damaged that I consider important.”

“If that got damaged, Pyrs’d be making a lot more noise.” Cadfael climbed out of the car, careful not to scrape the Caddy’s door on the building wall. “Where the hell are we, Rory?”

“Told you, a shop.” She pushed Pyrs ahead of her, ignoring his grumbled whines about how narrow the passage was between the side of the car and the wall. “Don’t eat so much Bit o’ Honey, then, Pyrs.”

“But it tastes good!” He shot her a pout, barely visible in the murky gloom of the alley.

“Stop flirting,” Cadfael growled, scrambling after them. He thought it would’ve been easier to go over his car but he didn’t want to leave scuff marks. He wasn’t exactly Luke Duke to go sliding across the hood of the Cadillac.