Cold Paradise (Stone Barrington 7)

Stone shook himself fully awake. “Callie? What’s happening?”

“You were about to get made love to,” she said, “but you spoke to the wrong girl.”

“I’m sorry. I was dreaming. I thought you were … somebody else at first.”

“Stone, I know very well that Arrington is Vance Calder’s wife—rather, widow. The whole world knows. Why would you be dreaming of her crawling into bed with you?”

“I don’t remember exactly what I was dreaming,” Stone said, sitting up in bed and dragging a couple of pillows behind him.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” she said. “But if it’s none of my business, tell me so, and I’ll get out of here.”

“No, no,” he said, stroking her hair. “Arrington and I were … close, before she married Vance. We don’t have a relationship now, at least not a very good one.”

“You’re sure about this? I don’t want to intrude where I’m not wanted.”

He pulled her head down onto his shoulder, and she stretched out beside him. “You’re wanted,” he said.

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She ran a hand down his belly until it stopped at his penis. She held it in her hand. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “It’s alive!”

“Alive and well,” he replied.

She rolled on top of him, sat up and guided him inside her. She bent down and put her lips close to his ear. “You’d better be telling the truth about Arrington Calder,” she whispered, “or this will never happen again.”

12

STONE WAS AWAKENED BY CONFLICTING SMELLS—ONE chemical, one culinary. He sat up in bed in time to see Callie enter his cabin, bearing a covered tray, kicking the door shut behind her.

“Smells good,” he said. “But what’s the other odor?”

“Paint,” she replied. “The painters finished their work last night, and all the windows in the house are open. The decorators and moving people are in there now, working like beavers.” She set the tray on the bed between them and whipped off the cover. “Voilà!” she said. “Brie omelettes!”

Stone picked up a plate and dug in. “Fantastic!” He sipped some orange juice.

“We’ve got the yacht to ourselves this morning,” she said. “Thad has already made a lot of phone calls and had a business breakfast aboard and has taken a party into town for some shopping.”

“I can’t believe he’s putting that house together in a day,” Stone said.

“Oh, he’s had the designers shopping for a year. They’ve planned out every room, right down to the pictures on the walls.”

“It took me a year to get my house to that state.”

“You must not have been newly superrich,” she said.

“Good guess.”

“What are your plans for today?”

“Plans? Me? I never have plans. I just sit back and let you and Thad do it for me. I don’t think I’ve made a decision of any kind since I met the two of you. What do you have planned for me today?”

“Absolutely nothing. I plan to get some sun, do some reading and rest up for tonight.”

“Oh, that’s right. You’re going to be pretty busy, aren’t you?”

“Not if the caterers don’t want to get fired. They’re turning up at five, and I’ll show them the kitchens and where to set up. After that, they’d better not bother me because I’ll be partying.”

“Well, I think your plan for the day sounds good. I’ll join you, if that’s all right.”