Love Overboard - By Janet Evanovich Page 0,42

during the summer months, if she wanted. In the winter, he’d like the house to be theirs. He didn’t want to share Stephanie year-round with a constant flow of guests.

She smiled slyly and crawled onto the bed, reminding him of a predatory feline, and straddled him at the hips. It hasn’t taken her long to assert her sexuality, he thought, pleased. She wasn’t afraid to say what she liked, and she wasn’t afraid to be aggressive. Those were traits that followed her in and out of the bedroom. Strength. She had strength of character. He slid his hands under her gray Rutgers University sweatshirt and confirmed what he’d suspected. No bra.

She’d seemed surprised when he’d strolled into her bedroom five minutes before and kicked his shoes off. She’d thought about it for a moment and lowered the shade. She hadn’t questioned his moving in, and he hadn’t asked permission. He was probably being presumptuous as hell, he thought, but it felt natural. Besides, there was the dead guy in the gray suit. Ivan didn’t care how many years of karate she’d had, he didn’t care if she had a marks-man rating, and he didn’t care how many times she’d survived being thrown into the Hudson River. He had no intention of letting her sleep alone until he found out what was going on in Haben.

She leaned back slightly, popped the snap to his jeans, and slowly slid the zipper all the way down. His hands grasped her at the waist. “Pretty brazen,” he said, with a smile.

“I was afraid you were going to strangle.”

The room was lit by a small ginger jar table lamp that sat on her nightstand. It was a small room, one of the few in the house that Stephanie had filled with her own furniture. She stood at the side of the brass bed and peeled her shirt over her head, enjoying the way he watched her with affection and desire and a touch of amusement. Because there was the hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth, she smiled, too. “You like being entertained, don’t you?”

Ivan reached out for her, but she stepped away. She unzipped her jeans and worked them down her legs in a sensuous slow motion that caused her breasts to sway seductively. She came a little closer and stuck her thumb in the elastic waist of her bikini panties.

“I didn’t think virgins were allowed to wear panties like that,” Ivan said.

“I’m not a virgin anymore. I bought these panties five years ago, and I’ve been saving them for this special occasion.”

He removed his shirt and shucked his own jeans. “They’re very pretty, but if you value them, you’d better get them off. I’ve got about thirty seconds of self-control left, and then I’m going to rip those panties to shreds.”

Stephanie was half-asleep when she heard Eileen Platz shouting. She sprang out of bed and had her hand on the doorknob when she realized she was naked. She grabbed a terry-cloth robe, belted it quickly, and ran into the hall. She was almost knocked over by Mrs. Platz, rushing from the master bedroom.

“It was there!” Mrs. Platz screamed. “It was at my window. The ghost!”

Lucy and Melody joined them. “What’s going on?”

Mr. Platz staggered from the bedroom. He pointed to the window, opened his mouth, and crashed to the floor.

Stephanie bent over him. “He’s fainted. Lucy, get me a wet cloth.”

Mr. Platz opened his eyes. “Did I faint? It was awful. It was horrible. I’m going home to Maryland right now, and I’m never coming back.” He struggled to his feet. “That Tess is the ugliest woman I’ve ever seen.”

Mrs. Platz rolled her eyes in disgust. “That wasn’t Tess, you dimwit. It was an old man!”

Stephanie and Ivan exchanged grimaces.

“Just exactly what happened?” Ivan asked.

Eileen Platz took a deep breath. “We were in bed. I was reading, and Frank was doing his crossword puzzle. And I started hearing creaking sounds, and then this rhythmic thumping and moaning…”

Ivan bit his lip and stared at his bare toes.

“I told Frank it was Tess, but he said it was the wind, just like last night. So, I said he should get up and look, but would he do that? Nooooo.”

“It didn’t sound like a ghost to me,” Mr. Platz said.

“Well, after a while it stopped, and I just lay there, waiting. Then it started again! And Frank still wouldn’t go look out the window.”

Stephanie felt the blush burning her ears. She cleared