Bertrice Small - Sudden Pleasures

***

She awoke to the sound of a knock on her bedchamber door.

"It's eight o'clock, Miss Ashley," Byrnes's voice said through the door. "I've set your breakfast out on your terrace."

"Thank you," Ashley called out to let the butler know she was awake. Getting up, she ran into her shower and refreshed herself with a quick warm-to-cold rinse. Then, toweling off, she slid on a pair of pale green silk bikini pants, and wrapped a matching silk robe about herself as she moved from her bedroom out into her sitting room and then onto the stone balcony overlooking the sparkling waters of the bay.

Seating herself at the little round cafe table, she gobbled down a bowl of strawberries and cream. The berries had obviously just been picked, as they were still warm with the sun, as last night's fruit had been. The plate beneath the silver dome contained her usual breakfast: one scrambled egg, three strips of bacon, and half of a whole-wheat English muffin with butter. And iced tea, since Ashley occasionally had the odd habit of preferring Crystal Light iced tea to coffee with breakfast. Mrs. B. kept a large container of it in the fridge for her.

Her breakfast finished, she picked up the telephone and called Tiffany Pietro d'Angelo before she left for the office. "Hey, Tiff! Ashley. Any word for me on Prince Charming?"

Tiffany laughed. "Ray was out of town taking a deposition in D.C. yesterday. Joe didn't want to discuss it with his assistant. He should be back to the city this morning. How about if I call you when we get something from him?"

"Okay," Ashley said. She was disappointed. She had hoped for something this morning. "Tiff, are you sure this is okay?"

"It could be a perfect solution for you, Ashley."

"But if this guy is normal, how come he isn't already married?" Ashley wanted to know again. It was such a radical idea, an arranged union. "What if he has two heads?"

"Well, if he does, let's hope they're both handsome and have wicked tongues," Tiffany said mischievously.

"You are terrible." Ashley giggled. "Okay, I'll admit to being nervous. I just wish I knew a little bit more. I mean, if I have to go out on my own again, I better get moving pretty fast. Eighteen months will go like wildfire, Tiff."

"Look," Tiffany said, "it's Thursday. We should have something late today or tomorrow to tell you. Now I gotta run, sweetie. I open the office in the morning. Have a good day."

Tiffany put the phone down and turned to her husband. "Joe, first thing, you phone Ray. Ashley is very nervous, and she needs to know something about this guy. And frankly, I'm dying of curiosity too."

"I'll call him. I'll call him," her husband said. "How about I call him now? He'll be commuting, and his cell is always on."

"He'll be on the subway," Tiffany protested. "He won't be able to hear a thing."

"Subway? Ray Pietro d'Angelo? Not since he was thirty, babe. He has a car service pick him at his apartment every morning." Joe picked up his own cell and began to dial. "Ray? Joe. You know that client you were telling us about the other night at dinner?… Yeah, the guy who needs to get married. I've got the same situation with a client… Ashley Kimbrough, owner of Lacy Nothings… Yeah, the gift Tiffany brought Rose came from there. She's pretty, thirty-three, rich, successful, and has to get married by thirty-five or she loses everything to some cockamamie group called the Society Seeking Extraterrestrial Life… Yeah, SSEXL." Joe listened a few moments, and then he laughed. "Nah, her grandfather put a clause in the will to satisfy his crazy girlfriend who's into that crap. Now tell me a little more about your client." He listened for several minutes, finally saying, "Sounds to me like he'd be perfect for my client, Ray. They're both self-made with regard to their businesses, and dedicated to what they do. They're careful with money. Different religions, but not overly religious. This could be a win-win thing. Talk to your client, and let's set up a meeting as soon as possible. Your guy has only nine months left before he hits the big four-oh… Yeah, okay. I'll talk to you later today, buddy. Hi to Rose." Joe Pietro d'Angelo closed his cell and turned to his wife. "Ray says hi to you," he said.

"And?" Tiffany asked.

"And what?" he teased her.

"Joe, I'm gonna kill you," she threatened. "Gimme the details!"

"The guy has to get a wife before he's forty or, like Ashley, he loses everything. Crazy thing is, he's the one who made his father's firm so profitable, but the family is very old-school. When the old man died he gave a quarter mil to each of his six daughters; set his wife up in style; and then the bulk of it went to the son. With a catch, of course: If the son doesn't marry by forty it all gets sold and divided among the women. The sisters are even now looking for a buyer for the business," Joe said.

"Nice girls," Tiffany remarked. "Filled with sisterly love. So how come the brother is turning forty and isn't married? Is he gay?"

"No. Just a workaholic. There's never been time for him to get into a relationship that could thrive. If he isn't working, he's flying all over the world drumming up work for his business. He loves what he does, and Ray says he does it very well."

"Does what well?" Tiffany wanted to know.

"Oh, I didn't tell you? He's Restorations and Replications, R &R. You've heard of them, Tiffany. They're the fancy antique restorers, and they also design furniture that looks like it's antique for all that new money that wants to look old and respectable," Joe told his wife. "His father had a good restoration business going, but it was the son who saw the need for new antiques. And it's all American-made, although he has brought expert artisans over from Europe and Ireland to teach his employees the old tricks of the trade. He's one smart guy. Just like Ashley, he saw a need and stepped in to fill it. It's made him a multimillionaire. He won't lose it for lack of a wife."

"He could get one of those mail-order brides, couldn't he?" Tiffany said.

"Nah, not his style. With the people he associates with in his business, he'll want someone who is educated, can speak intelligently with his clients, and will be a terrific hostess. And Kimbrough Hall would be a wonderful place for him to entertain. We both know that Ashley isn't going to give up her home for anyone, and besides, he'd be nuts not to want to live there. It's a perfect venue for a guy in his field."

"So now all we have to do is get Ashley to agree," Tiffany said.

"No, first Ray speaks with his client, and then if the man is agreeable we set up a meeting with our client. They might not even like each other, Tiff, and they have to at least like each other to make this work," Joe said to his wife.

"How could any man not like Ashley?" she replied. "She's gorgeous."

"A lot of men have liked her, but for all the wrong reasons," Joe reminded her. "At least with this guy we start with an even playing field. She's rich; he's rich. So we know he's not after her money. Still, I'm going to run a check on him just to be certain. We can't be too careful, and Ashley has got to be protected."

"When will you talk to Ray again?" Tiffany wanted to know.

"This afternoon," Joe replied. "Don't call Ashley."

"Why not?" Tiffany wanted to know.

"Because until Ray's client says he is willing to meet her we have nothing. I don't want her getting her hopes up, only to dash them. She's had enough sorrow these last few years. She doesn't need to be rejected by someone who hasn't even met her."

"You're right," Tiffany agreed. "Poor kid. Losing her grandfather and her brother, having three weddings called off. It's a lot to bear. It's a wonder she's so normal and nice, isn't it?" And then Tiffany remembered Ashley's remark yesterday afternoon about someone's cute butt getting whipped. She almost giggled as she considered what kind of fantasies Ashley must have on the Channel. But hell, if a little naughty spanking took the edge off of her nerves, so what? That was the beauty of the Channel: Nothing was real. She turned to her husband. "You playing cards tonight with your group?"

"Yeah. We'll have dinner at the club and play there," Joe told her. "You don't mind being alone, do you?"

"Of course not," Tiffany said with a smile, and she patted his shoulder. "You need your nights out." And I need the Channel, she was already thinking. Tonight she was going to let the young sultan spank her, and then he would fuck her brains out. No. She didn't mind Joe's card playing after work at all. She welcomed it!

Ryan Finbar Mulcahy winked at the receptionist in the foyer of Alexander, Stoddard, and Kingsley as she told him to go right into Mr. Pietro d'Angelo's office. He heard her giggle behind him, and he grinned. She was petite and blond and cute. Just the kind of girl he'd marry if she weren't so damned young. Was she even twenty? he wondered. And he winced, realizing that the receptionist was probably young enough to be his daughter. He had nine months to go until he was forty. It was a sobering thought.

"What's up, Ray?" he asked as he lowered his long frame into a chair opposite the desk. "What's so urgent that you have to drag me from work?"

"Your mother called me a few weeks ago," Ray began. "She and Frankie don't like what your other sisters are doing. You know they've lined up a buyer for R &R, don't you? What the hell is the matter with them, Ryan? Wasn't what your dad left them enough? Unfortunately there's no way around your dad's will."

"What did Ma want?" the younger man asked.

"To arrange a marriage for you," Ray said, watching to see what Ryan's reaction to this news would be.

"So she did it, did she?" Ryan Finbar Mulcahy laughed. "She's been threatening to sic a matchmaker on me for a year now. She says she and Dad were matched and made a go of it. There's no reason I can't. And Frankie's in on it too? "What a sweetie that baby sister of mine is," he said.

"I found a possibility," Ray continued, and swallowed a chuckle at the look of surprise on his client's face. "She's got the same problem you have-a will that says she's got to marry or lose it all. You've got enough in common to at least meet. I want to arrange it."

"Look, Ray, if I can't drum up enough money to buy the business from the estate, then I'll start all over again, and screw my sisters," Ryan said stubbornly. "Five spoiled little bitches. Only one of them worth anything is Frankie."

"Don't be a fool," Ray replied. "R6cR has a reputation. You willing to give that reputation away to someone else? Especially a son of a bitch like Jerry Klein? Right now he's the high bidder, and he's going to stay the high bidder because he wants R &R. And all you have to do to save your ass is get married."

"I don't like being told what to do," Ryan answered irritably.

"Funny thing-neither does my cousin Joe's client. But unless she gets married by the time she's thirty-five she loses everything she's worked for, because her grandfather thought a woman had to be married to be happy and safe," Ray said candidly. "You see? Already you've got similarities."

"She's thirty-five?"

"She's thirty-three."

"Why isn't she married? Fat? Ugly? Warts?"

"She's been engaged three times, and each time it's fallen through," Ray remarked.

"Difficult, huh? A diva."

"No, unlucky. She's smart in business, but not in men. They wanted her money," Ray said. It was the easiest explanation to offer right now.

"Is she pretty?" Ryan asked.

"I wouldn't know. I've never met her. She lives in a small town called Egret Pointe about a hundred miles from the city," Ray said.

"What kind of business?" Ryan wanted to know.

"She has a lingerie shop," was the answer.

"Doesn't sound like big business to me."

Ray chuckled. "It's upmarket, many one-of-a-kind things. She started small; then came the catalog, and now she's opening two new stores-one here in town, and the other in an elegant suburban mall. It's called Lacy Nothings."

"Geez, Frankie buys stuff from that catalog. It's as expensive as hell, and since there's very little of it I don't know why," Ryan said.

Ray laughed. "My cousin-he's her lawyer-says she's a very nice girl. What could it hurt to meet her? She's got no illusions about any arrangement that you two would make. Joe says her house is gorgeous and filled with antiques. It would be a great place to entertain, and she would be a terrific hostess. She'd know how to speak to your fancy-shmancy clients, Ryan. Her grandfather was probably one of your father's clients."