“Twenty-five. And Con doesn’t know. Do I look dumb? I’m going to put them in his room and run like hell.” She strolled over to the bed and sat down. “But it’s his own fault. I told Holgarth, who told the owner, about last night’s spectacular sexual extravaganza. And the owner immediately demanded that all the castle’s plants be transferred to Con’s room so they could share in the overflow of sensual energy.” She cast Mandy a curious glance. “That is where all the action is going down, isn’t it?”
Mandy didn’t bother closing her gaping mouth, because it would only fall open again. “Spectacular sexual extravaganza? Who told you this story?”
Sparkle shrugged. “An anonymous tip.” Her eyes gleamed with barely suppressed excitement. “Tell me all about it.”
“No. You tell me, then we’ll both know.” Who? Okay, she could eliminate Con. He didn’t have loose lips. And no one else had been in the castle. Even with binoculars, no one could see much through the narrow arrow slits. Hidden cameras? Paranoid Central, Harcourt.
Sparkle waved Mandy’s comment away. “This is no time for false modesty. I heard the foreplay lasted two hours.”
“Two hours? I don’t—”
“I heard you hung by your heels from the door frame while Con brought you to a screaming climax with his tongue.”
“Door frame? I never—”
“I heard he’s twelve inches long, and once you slid your magic lips over him, it was all over. Woo woo, you go girl!”
“Twelve inches? He—”
“Well, as much as I’d like to hear more of the luscious details, especially the ones about your intense multiple orgasms that left you absolutely begging for mercy, I have to get those plants into Con’s room before he shows up.” She rose and hurried from the room.
Mandy knew her eyes must be glazed as she watched Sparkle unlock Con’s door and take the plants inside. A few minutes later, she came out and locked the door behind her. Before leaving, she stuck her head into Mandy’s room.
“The owner will be ecstatic. Sweetie Pie grew three inches. Let’s hear it for great sex. Oh, and keep the purple. It’s you.”
Mandy heard Sparkle drag the cart into the elevator, but she didn’t move from where she stood in the middle of the room. She was still standing there when Con walked in a few minutes later.
“Mmm. A purple top. I’m a corrupting influence, but corruption definitely looks great on you.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the nape of her neck. “I met Sparkle as she was leaving. She looked seriously smug.”
Mandy bent her neck to give him easier access. “And well she should. Obviously, we had a lot more fun last night than we realized.” She hit the high points and watched his eyes widen. “Oh, and we’re doing such a great job with Sweetie Pie and Jessica, the owner wants us to work our magic on twenty-five more leafy friends.”
Without speaking, Con strode from the room and unlocked his door. Mandy waited. Any second now . . .
“What the hell is this?” His outraged shout made her wince. He answered his own question. “It’s a frickin’ jungle.”
Mandy joined him as he stared at the roomful of plants. “Why don’t you jump into the shower, and then we can go get something to eat.” She surreptitiously checked for hidden cameras.
Without comment, he headed for the bathroom, leaving her alone with the plants. “Sorry, girls, but you’re out of luck tonight.” No way could she make love here with Con tonight. Just the thought of all those leaves watching them gave her goose bumps. Good grief, Sparkle was making her crazy.
Con pulled out of Guido’s parking lot onto Sea Wall Boulevard and drove toward the west end of the island. Over dinner, Mandy had tried to come up with the identity of the idiot spreading crazy rumors about their sex lives. Con pretended bafflement. Mandy wouldn’t want to have the kids of a man who talked to cats.
Kids? His spontaneous thought startled him so much he almost drove his truck off the road. Where had that come from? From the little over a week they’d been together? Or had it lain dormant all these years, waiting to pop out and surprise him? And what did it really mean? You know what it means.
“Where’re we going?” Mandy stared past him at the Gulf.
“To the place of perfect memories.” He looked over at her and grinned. “The place of blue butterflies and black roses.”
“Oh.” And that’s all she said until he eased the truck to the side of the road.
“Ten years have changed a few things.” He stared at the line of beach houses. Ten years ago buildings were sparse this far west on the island.
“No kidding.” He didn’t miss the regret in her voice.
“With all the new houses, this beach is off-limits for the truck now, but we could get out and walk.” It was off-limits for lovemaking, too, unless they wanted to outrage all the weekend visitors.
She shook her head, her gaze pensive. “I guess that old quote, ‘You can never go home again,’ is right.”
“But you can make a new home.” With me. Now that sounded like a man thinking about a serious commitment. It should scare him more than it did. “Guess we better get back to the castle.”
“Right.” Mandy stared straight ahead at the gathering darkness for the rest of the drive.
Con let quiet fill the cab, because he wasn’t feeling too talkative either. Once inside the castle, he decided to work on his project for a while. The air around them was too emotionally charged. If he went upstairs with her, he’d want to make love to her, and that might lead to him admitting something that would make her uncomfortable.
“I’ll be working down in the dungeon if you need me.”
She simply nodded and headed for the elevator.
Exhaling deeply, he strode to the steps leading down to the dungeon, flipped on the lights, and descended to the
