Forbidden Pleasure

'Either is all right with me,' Emily said. 'I'll go with Mick's schedule.'

He'd planned to look for a small summer rental at Montauk this weekend, but small rentals could always be found, especially if he didn't quibble over price. And besides, he wanted to know more about Emily Shanski, a.k.a. Emilie Shann. 'This weekend will be fine,' he said in his deep, lilting voice. 'I've been back almost six weeks, and haven't had a weekend in the country yet. I like the country. Where would you recommend I stay?'

'Aaron has my number. Call me and I'll give you directions. Of course you will stay with me,' Emily said almost breathlessly. A tall, handsome man with an Irish lilt in his voice wandering about the town would certainly attract attention in Egret Pointe. If she kept him bottled up in her house and garden for the weekend no one was likely to see him, and there would be no gossip about the good-looking guy with Emily Shanski.

'Good, good,' Aaron said, relieved that it was all now settled. He let Michael Devlin pay the bill, and took the box with the tarts and the bag of green gunpowder tea from the waitress. They bade Felicity good-bye, introducing Michael Devlin before they went. Rina was just pulling up in her Lexus as they stepped out onto Madison Avenue.

She honked and waved.

'I will bid you good-bye, Emily,' Mick Devlin said, smiling at her. 'For now. I'll look forward to the weekend. I think we'll get some good work done. Aaron, I'll call you.' Then he was off, striding down the street.

Rina had pulled over into a fire lane to allow Emily to get into the car. 'Hey, big brother,' she said. 'When are you and Kirk coming out to open the cottage?'

'I'll ask him,' Aaron said. 'You look mah-vel-ous, Rina. Have you lost weight?'

'Go screw yourself, sweetie. Call me,' Rina said as Emily climbed into the car and belted herself up. 'Ta!' She gunned the car out of the fire lane, and back into the midafternoon traffic.

'Bye, Aaron,' Emily called to him before Rina's window rolled up tightly.

'Who was the hottie with you?' Rina Seligmann wanted to know. 'My God! Tall, dark, and handsome. You don't see too many of them today. Is he straight? Or is he one of Aaron and Kirk's friends? And why were you all having lunch together?'

'He's my new editor,' Emily said. 'Rachel's retired. It's a long story.'

'It's a long ride home,' Rina said. 'Get talking, sweetie.'

Rina Seligmann, nee Rina Fischer, and Aaron's younger sister, was the wife of Egret Pointe's beloved doctor. Her husband had cared for both Katya Shanski and Emily O'Malley until their deaths. Rina had known their granddaughter, Emily, most of her life. Actually, the young woman sitting next to her was the same age as her oldest child. She listened as Emily outlined her morning with Aaron, and her luncheon with her new editor.

'Aaron doesn't want to move you to another publisher?' Rina asked.

'I suppose that will be the court of last resort,' Emily said slowly, 'but it really wouldn't make a whole lot of sense, if we can avoid it. All my backlist is with Stratford, Rina. Even with my name and sales record, it would be starting over again.'

'It makes me so damned mad that none of this is your fault,' Rina said.

'It's like Rachel said: I'm a pawn on a chessboard. If I'm going to check the bitch queen, I have to pull this off. J. P. Woods doesn't give a shit for me. She just wants Martin to make her Stratford's new CEO so she can get back at Mick Devlin.'

'Do you think you can work with him?' Rina asked. 'I mean, without trying to jump his bones. He really is outrageously attractive. I'm glad he's not gay. That would really be a waste. Still, if he were gay we could all be friends, and cause gossip in town.'

'He seems very nice,' Emily said. Nice wasn't quite the word she wanted, but it would have to do. How could she tell Rina that this man she had just met had her thinking about being on a beach naked with him?

'Nice? Nice? The guy is gorgeous, sweetie,' Rina exclaimed. The Lexus swerved just slightly. 'Hell, I wish I were your age.'

Emily laughed. 'You haven't looked at another man since you met Sam,' she said. 'Why, you've even made him your hero when you watch the Channel.'

'Now, who told you that?' Rina demanded to know.

'You did, when you first introduced me to the Channel,' Emily answered her. 'You said you thought of the two of you in your younger days.'

'I talk too much,' Rina muttered. 'So what have you been using the Channel for, sweetie? Isn't it fun?' She chuckled.

'I'm just an observer,' Emily said. 'I imagine my books, and have the characters act it all out. It gives me a chance to see if it's realistic and not just silly.'

'You don't put yourself in the heroine's role?' Rina was surprised.

'Good grief, no!' Emily exclaimed. 'Why would I do that?'

'Well, I thought you might, since you don't have a boyfriend,' Rina replied. 'Did you ever have a boyfriend, Emily? I didn't think Katya and Emily O were that strict.'

Emily thought a long moment, and then she said, 'You know, Rina, I don't think I ever have had a real boyfriend. I mean, I like guys, and I was social in college, but no one ever really touched me emotionally. There was never any time, and the story of my parents' little misstep never really went away. I got the feeling the second I hit high school here that everyone was watching to see if I'd screw up like Katy and Joe. You know, some of my teachers taught them. That's why I took all those AP courses, so I could graduate early and get the hell out of Egret Pointe. But then I came back.'

'But you were very popular at Egret Pointe High,' Rina said. 'And you were the class president for four years running.'

'No one else wanted the job.' Emily laughed. 'Katy and Joe were king and queen popular. I was the likable nerd. Oh, I went to pep rallies, and games, and even a couple of dances. But I never let a boy get too close. And then I did college in three years too. Wellesley, like my mother. No boys at Wellesley.' She chuckled. 'And then just before I graduated Aaron sold my first book to Stratford, and the rest is history. I was a writer. I had a career, and no time for men. Actually, when I see some of the girls I went to school with I don't think I've missed a whole lot.'

'You can't miss what you don't know, sweetie,' Rina said as she swung off the parkway onto the Egret Pointe exit. 'Or maybe you do know?' she probed.

Emily laughed. 'I'll take the Fifth,' she said. 'Besides it makes me more mysterious to guard my privacy. People wonder just what I am guarding. And I don't want you selling my story to the Star.'

'As if,' Rina answered her. 'Want to eat supper with Sam and me?'

'Thanks, but I'll take a rain check,' Emily said. 'I always get so keyed up when I have to make these city trips, and today was a shocker. I've got to sit quietly with some wine, and think about what happened. And my new editor is coming up this weekend, but don't you dare tell a soul, Rina!'

'What's he coming for?' the older woman wanted to know.

'He wants to work with me, and help me to direct the new story into a sexier mode,' Emily said.

'And just how is he going to do that?' Rina queried, waggling her newly plucked eyebrows suggestively.

'I don't know,' Emily said. 'Writing sexy is a whole new ball game for me.'

'Where is he staying? The Inn or the Motel 6?' Rina asked.

'He's staying with me,' Emily said.

'Aha!' Rina exclaimed, pulling to a stop before Emily's house.

'Aha, what?' Emily wanted to know. 'My reasons are based in practicality, Rina. Do I want a handsome hunk wandering about the town connected to me? I do not! The biddies would never rest until they had us involved in an affair. Mick Devlin is a nice man, and from what Rachel says a good editor. We're both in danger of losing our livelihoods because of that bitch Jane Patricia Woods. I don't know what Martin sees in her, but he sees something. So Mick will help me write sexy and keep my career, and by doing it I'll help him save his job. It's nothing more than that.' She reached for the car door handle. 'Thanks for the transportation. I'd still be on the train if it weren't for you.' Leaning over, she gave the older woman a kiss on the cheek. 'That's for Sam,' she said.

'Hussy!' Rina shot back.

Emily chuckled and, stepping from the Lexus, closed the car door behind her.