Sticks and Stone by Jennifer Dunne Read Free Book Online

pursing her lips. He couldn’t think
about those lips, where they’d been, what they’d done. He forced his gaze back
to her eyes.
    “You looked familiar when I saw you last night,” she
admitted. “I thought you had come from that big wedding. You’re obviously an
American.”
    There was no point in lying to her. All she had to do
was pick up any news account of Tami’s wedding and his photo would be there.
The fact that he’d attended his former nanny’s wedding had been billed as a
great human interest angle, a softening of the Stone image.
      “My name is
Stone. Dermot Stone.”
    She smiled, as if the name meant nothing to her. “Dermot
is a good Irish name.”
    “My mother is Irish. Well, of Irish descent. She always
makes sure everyone knows her family moved to America long before the potato
famine brought so many Irish immigrants over.”
    He worried for a moment that he’d offended her, but she
just nodded sagely. “I understand what she means. When the American publishers
first started approaching me, one had the nerve to ask if I wanted an American
‘expert’ to ghost write my books, after I’d already sold three of them here.
We’re the most literate country in Europe—well, maybe second after Iceland, it
depends who you ask—but the fools couldn’t get past my accent.”
    “That’s why you decided to get rid of your brogue?”
    “Yes, they—” She frowned at him. “How did you know
that?”
    “It comes back when you’re excited. I figured it was a
recent change.” He paused, then asked the question
hammering at his heart. “What kind of books do you write?”
    “Some history, but mostly nonfiction
references on being a priestess of the light. What my publisher
calls ‘New Age’ material.”
    He smiled. Of course. She was a
witch. She wrote books about witchcraft. “How are they doing?”
    “They sold very well over here, that’s why Silver Moon
was interested in publishing me. My first book of theirs is already in its
fourth printing, and they contracted for an open-ended series. The second book
will be out in two months.”
    Dermot whistled. He’d heard of Silver Moon. They had
double digit growth rates and 20% profits, when most publishers were struggling
for any growth and happy to make 8% profits.
    He cast his mind back to the cocktail party cum
investment meeting he’d attended in New York, where he’d heard those figures.
All but the most inept New Age publishers were doing well, but Silver Moon had
a sizable lead over its competitors. One of the reasons given had been their
ability to identify talented writers and build a following for them. And one of
the writers they’d crowed loudest about had been an Irish witch named Eileen
Lyons.
    “You’re Eileen Lyons.”
    She blushed, her fine alabaster skin glowing rose. He
was amazed that someone so uninhibited about sex could be embarrassed about
public recognition.
    Dermot breathed deeply, the bands of fear that enclosed
his chest shattering like sugar candy. She would never expose his secret to the
press. Her career depended on her image, and any scandal would destroy her
completely.
    “Yes, that’s the name I write under. But how did you
guess?”
    “I was approached about investing in the company a few
months ago. I remembered the name.”
    She tilted her head, resting it on her bent arm, and studied
him. “You’re uncommonly clear sighted for one who doesn’t walk the path.”
    “I pay attention and I know what I want.” He shrugged.
“No great trick.”
    “And what is it you want?”
    Money. Power. To make his mark in the world and surpass his father’s achievements. And right now, her.
    “To spend the rest of this day in bed with you,” he
admitted. “But I can’t. I’ve already missed a breakfast meeting with our Dublin
directors. That was only a status meeting, and I’ll get as much from reading
their reports as from listening to them. No doubt they figured I was sleeping
off the wedding