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“So, take an aspirin.”
His gravelly laughter brought Stormy up short. Geez. She’d done it again. Fallen under his charm as if it were manna sprinkled from Heaven.
A bearded, disreputable-looking man shuffling out of the pawnshop counting his money drew her attention. Stormy cringed. She couldn’t do it. She put the car key into the ignition. Then, frowning, she dropped her hand into her lap.
She had to do it. She was every bit as needy as the old indigent now peddling away on a bicycle. Give her a few weeks without cash, and she’d be as scruffy as he was.
Tyler watched her, obviously reading her indecisiveness. He looked like he wanted to swoop in and help her…as if he were her savior.
Tyler Mangus to the rescue, right. He wanted something from her. Something she couldn’t give him.
“You ever sell anything to a pawnshop before?” he finally asked.
Mortified at having an audience for her predicament—especially because that audience was Tyler Mangus—Stormy shook her head.
“Nothing to it,” he said gently. “The first two years I was in the army, I hocked my watch the day before every payday. It got so regular that the pawnbroker just put the watch on his wrist and handed me twenty bucks. When I shipped out, he cried. He liked that watch so damned much.”
She gave him a baleful look. “You’re making that up.”
“Part of it,” he admitted, opening the car door. “I’ll carry the stuff in for you.”
“Don’t rush me.”
“This’ll look good on my report.Subject of investigation pawned valuables to raise cash.”
Stormy capitulated and stepped out of the car. “Honestly?”
“Unless it’s a subterfuge to foil my investigation.”
“If those weren’t my things you’re holding, I’d stomp on your instep,” Stormy assured him.
But once inside the pawnshop, she was glad of Tyler’s presence. The pawnbroker looked positively Machiavellian.
“I don’t pay much for TVs. Got plenty of them,” he said. “If it has a working remote, it’s worth more.”
Stormy pushed the jewelry box toward him. He put a loupe to his eyes and inspected each piece. “It’s all costume except for the pearls. He jotted down dollar amounts for the TV and the pearl necklace.”
Stormy stood there, appalled at the low offer. “Swarovski is costume jewelry? But—”
“Yep. They’re crystals, a brand. We have drawers full of the stuff. Can’t move it. Take it or leave it, lady. I got TVs up the—”
Tyler coughed.
“Up to the rafters.”
She looked to Tyler for advice. He shrugged.
“I’ll take it,” she said.
It wasn’t much, but once the cash was tucked safely into her wallet, she felt wonderfully affluent. It was more money than she’d had in hand in over a year.
“What now?” Tyler asked as he ushered her outside. “A shopping spree?”
“Nope. I’m going into business for myself.”
“On what he gave you?”
“If I can manage it.” She paused. “Thank you for helping me in there.”
