Too Many Brothers. Roz Fox Denny
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she’d brought, and she figured the kids would enjoy taking them home.
First, she covered Nat’s face with white paint, then added pink blush to her cheeks. Using a brush, she framed the little girl’s face in black, and added a black nose, jet-black arched eyebrows and whiskers. She painted on big ruby-red lips. Rummaging in her bag, she hauled out two red-and-white polka-dot bows. One was attached to round black ears, which she affixed to the back of Nat’s head. The second bow she pinned at the girl’s throat. “Voilà, meet our pretty house mouse,” she announced, presenting the birthday girl to her family and friends. They both curtsied, Nat gracefully, Daphne a bit more awkward given the size of her false feet.
As the children exclaimed over how great Natalie looked, Daphne started on the next child. Whiskers the Cat was followed by a mop-haired boy as El Perro the Dog. He sported a black ring around his left eye when Daphne put on the finishing touch.
Logan was most impressed by the zebra makeup. The boy wore a black-and-white striped T-shirt that made the costume more realistic. The band with pointy ears that Daphne clipped around his head enhanced the total effect of his black-and-white face paint. The kids liked the Bengal tiger best, though.
“Hey, you’re really good,” Logan muttered when he thought the kids wouldn’t be able to hear him talk normally.
Daphne merely smiled in response, but Logan could tell she was pleased. Did she get so few compliments then? He took a minute to really watch her sure and steady strokes.
A boy with a pronounced lisp became another dog. Daphne quickly cut big paws out of a discarded grocery sack she’d asked Natalie to hand her. Dog-boy ended up with floppy, grocery-bag ears, too.
A two-toothed rabbit caused everyone to laugh uproariously. The girl wasn’t shy. She hammed it up, which only increased Daphne’s popularity.
Logan watched the moms ooh and aah among themselves. He had little doubt that his partner had just scored more parties for herself. Strangely, he felt a stab of pride at Daphne’s accomplishments. It was similar to the way he’d feel about another agent’s success.
She finished the final kid, transforming a cherubic girl with naturally apple-red cheeks and a mop of wildly curling black hair rather like Daphne’s own, into a hissing, snarling wildcat. Then she screwed a lid on the paint jar and casually nudged Logan. “Don’t look now, but our watchdog’s back.”
At first Logan thought Daphne was referring to one of the kid animals. But with an elaborate roll of her eyes, she turned his attention to the wooded lot.
Sure enough, the worst of Holt’s henchmen stood at the edge of April’s grass, boldly observing the proceedings.
“Listen up, kids. Buzzy is going to help Mrs. Ross bring out Natalie’s cake. While they’re gone, I want everyone to practice helping her blow out the candles. I’ll dish up ice cream to go with the cake in a minute. Oh—I see an interested neighbor. Maybe he has a child he’d like to book a party for. I’ll go tell him how to contact us.”
Was she nuts? Logan couldn’t believe his eyes. Daphne marched straight up to Billy’s right-hand man, a cold-blooded killer if ever there was one. Logan recognized the man nicknamed Razor for the way he carved up his enemies. Jeez. Did Daphne Malone have a death wish? Logan tried to pull loose from April, but his sister had his clown suit in a grip that he feared would tear the material if he resisted too strenuously. Twisting his head to keep an eye on Daphne didn’t work, either. April opened the kitchen door and shoved him inside, totally cutting off his view.
AFTER YEARS OF LIVING with an excess of authoritative older brothers, Daphne had learned that the best way to divert a problem was to face it head-on. Even though her knees knocked inside her baggy polka-dot clown suit, she walked right up to a man she knew to be on the wrong side of the law. “Hi, I’m Bozo the Clown,” she said. “My partner, Buzzy, and I perform at children’s parties all over the valley. I couldn’t help noticing the interest you’ve shown in our act. Unfortunately, I don’t have a business card with me.” She made a show of holding out her costume so the man could see she had no pockets. “I can give you a phone number, though, if you have a child with a birthday coming up.”
“No kid,” the man growled. He practically stumbled over his feet in an attempt to back away from Daphne.
“Oh.” She actually managed to sound saddened by his revelation. “Well, I’ll let you go then. Buzzy and I always help the hostess serve refreshments. This many kids can make a real mess of cake and ice cream. So, if you’re just out for your daily walk, Mr….” She let her words trail off.
Daphne knew, of course, that he wouldn’t supply a name. As she’d expected, he turned abruptly and all but melted into the woods.
She wanted to grin and pat herself on the back. However, her knees were too spongy. It was all she could do to make it to the patio before collapsing on the camp stool she’d set up to paint faces.
Logan exited the house carrying a sheet cake with seven lit candles.
Daphne saw from the disapproving flash in his blue eyes that she was in for a tongue-lashing. It was only a matter of time. Well, Logan Grant ought to thank her. That was what he ought to do. It was plain to her that the man watching them was suspicious of their act.
When she succeeded in getting her legs under her again, Daphne stood up and flounced into the kitchen.
Logan quickly followed, leaving his sister to oversee blowing out the candles and cutting the cake. “What the hell did you think you were doing out there?” he demanded the minute they were both closed inside.
“He left, didn’t he?” Daphne returned flippantly. She pried the lid off a round carton of ice cream and shoved a scoop that lay beside it into Logan’s hand. “Make yourself useful,” she said haughtily.
He blinked down at the scoop as if to ask how he came to be holding it.
Daphne calmly extended the first bowl. “We’d better hurry. April won’t be able to keep the kids from wanting ice cream for long once Natalie blows out her candles.”
“You may think this is all a kid’s game, like cops and robbers, Ms. Malone. What you did out there was damn stupid. You risked your life and the lives of all those kids and their moms.”
Picking up four bowls Logan had filled with ice cream, Daphne bumped her butt against the door to open it. Lowering her lashes demurely, she gave him a sweet smile, which she knew probably looked grotesque with her makeup. “It’s a little difficult to take a clown’s lecture too seriously.”
Practically frothing at the mouth, Logan started after her to show her how seriously he ought to be taken. But melting ice cream dripped down the handle of the scoop and over his glove. Swearing under his breath, he waddled to the sink and wiped off the sticky stuff. Damn, a man in clown slippers couldn’t even stomp out properly.
Logan was two seconds from going into the bedroom to strip out of this ridiculous costume when an out-of-breath April flew down the hall from the direction of the guest room. “I just walked Mariel Weber to her car,” she said. “I saw at least three strange men nosing along our street, Logan. Are they the people who want to—well…snuff you?” she asked, lowering her voice to a bare whisper.
Daphne had returned for more bowls. “Hop to it, Grant. The natives are getting restless. Our lives won’t be worth a plugged nickel if we don’t feed those boys out there chocolate ice cream. I’m not too popular, ’cause I made them wait till all the girls were served.”
“You’re not too popular with me, either,” Logan snapped. “If you hadn’t waltzed up and consorted with Razor, he and his pals might’ve taken a powder by now.”
“Razor? No wonder he wasn’t eager to share his name.” Daphne didn’t so much as flinch when Logan swore. She just relieved him of the scoop and quickly filled the next set of bowls. “You cop types all need to clean up your language,” she said primly. “You may think swearing is manly, but it doesn’t impress the ladies.”