She winced. She’d known that thump hadn’t sounded good. The last thing she needed was an expensive car repair. “Is it bad?”

He lifted a shoulder. “It’s hard to see exactly where the oil’s coming from or how much is leaking.”

“But we’ll be okay to drive back home, won’t we?”

“Probably . . . Best-case scenario it’s a slow leak, and you can have it looked at later.”

“And worst-case scenario?”

“You don’t want to know.” He looked at the front desk. “Maybe we should check their availability, just in case.”

“The lady at the desk already told me they’re full. Anyway, I can’t leave Pippa home alone. She’d be frantic. We have to go back—we really don’t have much choice.”

He gave her a long look, then nodded. “All right. Want me to drive?”

She handed over the keys. “Be my guest.”

*  *  *

Aiden hunched over the steering wheel, straining to see the road through wipers that swished frantically back and forth. The storm had worsened. Trees bowed deeply and random objects flittered and flew under formidable gusts of wind. Sophie remained quiet, seeming to recognize his need for focus.

They’d been on the road for twelve minutes when the oil light blinked on. Aiden’s stomach dropped at the orange glow. The Tahoe must be losing oil fast for the light to have come on so quickly. He didn’t like the looks of this.

Sophie just had to bail out her brother. Aiden stuffed back his irritation—and the I-told-you-so that begged for release.

He made an effort to temper his tone. “The oil light just came on.”

“Oh no.” Sophie peered over at the dashboard. “What do you think we should do? We can still make it home, can’t we?”

“Maybe. We’re about halfway there. But one thing I know for sure—we don’t want to run out of oil.”

She paused for a beat. “Is that the worst-case scenario you were talking about?”

“The engine could seize up, and you’ll be looking at a lot of money. On the other hand, if we pull over now we might be stuck waiting for help for hours.”

Her gaze burned into the side of his head. “Let’s keep going then.”

And they did. But six minutes later a deafening clunking sound tore through the vehicle.

chapter ten

“What is that?” The repetitive clunking sounds were even louder than the storm.

Tension seemed to roll off Aiden in waves as the vehicle rolled to a stop. He put it in Park and shut off the ignition. The SUV shuddered in the wind and, with the wipers no longer moving, the windshield quickly became a deluge of water.

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound good. Hopefully we caught it in time.” Aiden released his seat belt.

“Caught what in time?”

“The engine.”