Susan Elizabeth Phillips by Ain't She Sweet?

Author:Ain't She Sweet? [Sweet?, Ain't She]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Mississippi, Psychological fiction, Repentance, Contemporary, Fiction, Psychological, Children of the rich, Female friendship, General, City and town life, Women
ISBN: 9780061032080
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2005-01-07T06:00:00+00:00

". . . she had ample time to observe her sister's lover."

GEORGETTE HEYER, Devil's Cub

CHAPTER THIRTEENColin answered the door. Ryan stood on the other side, which wouldn't have been unusual except it was ten o'clock on Monday morning, and he looked like hell. "You look like hell."

"Thanks."

Colin hadn't spoken with Ryan since Saturday night. The lapse had been deliberate, since he'd had a fairly good idea of what direction their next conversation would take. Ryan was Colin's best friend. Their old relationship of teacher and student had happened so long ago that neither of them thought much about it anymore. They played in a basketball league together, occasionally jogged on weekends, and Ryan helped him coach the boys' soccer team.

"Has the plant burned down?" Colin said. "I can think of no other reason you'd abandon your customary workaholic habits."

"The plant's fine. We need to talk."

Colin wished he could avoid this particular tête-à-tête. Sugar Beth had appeared on schedule this morning, predictably ignoring the fact that he'd fired her, and then she'd made herself scarce while he'd holed up in his office, staring at his computer screen. He couldn't stop thinking about her. Making love with her yesterday had been better than anything he could have imagined, which, considering what he'd been reading lately, was fairly astonishing. She'd been bawdy, spontaneous, thrilling, and unpredictable. Afterward, she'd shown no interest in engaging in a postcoital examination of their relationship, which should have relieved him. Instead, he'd experienced this unhealthy compulsion to make her spill her secrets. Although he knew who she'd been, he didn't entirely understand who she'd become, and the mystery enticed him. Maybe this was why so many men had fallen under her spell. She issued a subtle, irresistible challenge that lured them to their deaths.

But the image of Sugar Beth as a cold-blooded man-killer wouldn't take hold.

Ryan gazed down at Gordon. "Where did the dog come from?"

"Just showed up one day." He gave in to the inevitable. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Why not? I might as well make the hole in my stomach even bigger."

"You should switch to a low-acid organic coffee."

"And give up all that stomach pain? No, thanks."

Gordon followed them into the kitchen, then waddled over to the sunroom and lay on the rug. Ryan pulled out one of the counter stools, only to push it back and begin to pace. "Look, Colin, you deserved some payback, no question about it, but this situation with Sugar Beth is out of hand. Now other people are being hurt, and you have to get rid of her."

The faint sound of water running overhead pressed home the need to get rid of Ryan, and Colin only filled the mug halfway before passing it over. "Winnie's upset, is she?"

"Winnie's way past upset. Sugar Beth's been seeing Gigi."

News, indeed. Still, nothing Sugar Beth did could surprise him.

"Yesterday while we were at the concert, Gigi sneaked out of the house to meet her. Sugar Beth probably encouraged it. I don't know how it happened.

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