The Devil and the Deep - By Amy Andrews Page 0,12
three big white, powerful boats strong and, while she knew Rick was proud of what her father and he had built up, his passion had always been the classic beauty of the Dolphin. ‘Perish the thought.’ She grinned.
Rick grinned back at her and felt a hum of excitement warm his belly. There was something different about Stel this morning. Last night she’d been the Stella he’d always known—slopping around, no airs and graces, no special treatment.
This morning she glowed as if she had a secret that no one else knew. Her olive-green eyes seemed to radiate purpose. Her cheeks seemed pinker. Even her scraped-back ponytail seemed to have more perk in it.
She looked like women did when they were pregnant, as if they were doing something truly amazing and they knew it.
She was radiant.
It was quite breathtaking and his stomach clenched inside in a way that, as a man, he was all too familiar with.
But not where she was concerned.
He looked at Diana, all sleepy and tousled with her knowing eyes and cute mouth, and waited for the twinge to come again.
He got nothing.
Hmm.
‘Right.’ He drained his coffee quickly. There were things to do and not being here for a while was a good option. ‘Gotta go get some things sorted. I’ll see you both later.’
Stella busied herself in the kitchen until Rick left the house five minutes later. ‘How are you going to break it to Joy?’ she asked Diana.
‘Oh, forget that,’ Diana said, waving the query away. ‘I’ll tell her you’ve gone off to be inspired. There are much more important things to discuss.’
Stella frowned. ‘There are?’
Diana nodded vigorously, her shirt pulling tight across her chest as she leaned over the kitchen bench. ‘You two should have sex,’ she said.
Stella almost dropped her second mug of coffee. Was she mad? ‘Ah no.’ She shook her head. ‘Bad. Idea.’
Diana raised an eyebrow. ‘Okay, well, you’re going to have to explain that one to me.’
Stella didn’t even know where to start with how bad an idea it was. ‘Because we’re friends. And colleagues. I’m his silent partner, for crying out loud! And trust me, I know better than anyone not to get tangled up with a man of the sea. They never choose land. They never choose love.’
Diana rolled her eyes. ‘You’re just having sex with him, not marrying the man.’
‘Which is just as well because men of the sea should not marry. My father chose the sea over my mother. Rick’s mother left when he was a baby because his father wouldn’t settle on land. We’ve both seen how that kind of life isn’t compatible with long-term relationships.’
‘You’re. Just. Having. Sex,’ Diana reiterated.
‘Oh, come on, Diana, you know I’m not good at that. The last guy I was just having sex with I ended up engaged to.’
Diana nodded. ‘And the sex was lousy.’
‘Hey,’ Stella protested. ‘It wasn’t lousy, it was...nice. Sweet. It may not have been...imaginative but it could have been worse.’ Her friend didn’t look convinced. ‘He was a pretty straight guy, Diana. Not all men want to have sex hanging from the chandeliers. There’s nothing wrong with sweet.’
‘No, absolutely not,’ she agreed. ‘Except you did write a book full of hot, sweaty, dirty, pirate sex during your time with Dale.’ She shrugged. ‘I’m no psychologist but I think they call that transference.’
‘They,’ Stella said, bugging her eyes at her friend, ‘call it fiction.’
Diana held up her hands in surrender. ‘All right, all right. I’m just saying...you’re going to be on that boat with him for long periods of time where there’ll be nothing to do...it might be worth thinking about, is all...’
Stella shook her head at her incorrigible friend. ‘I’ll be writing.’
Diana laughed. ‘Good answer.’
* * *
At two Stella hugged Diana ferociously and thanked her for locking up after them. She was staying on for another night to get some work done far from the distractions of London. ‘I promise I’ll come back with a book,’ she whispered to her friend. ‘The ideas are already popping. Tell Joy she’s going to love Lucinda.’
Diana laughed. ‘Joy will be overjoyed.’
Stella grimaced. She hoped so. She’d added a decade to her very patient editor’s life and she owed Joy this. Not just a book, but a book to rival Vasco’s. She scurried to Rick’s hire car with her bag, hoping they made it out of Cornwall before another storm blew in.
Rick pulled up beside Diana and smiled at her. ‘See ya later, Miss Kitty. It was nice spending some time