Читать книгу Winter Kisses - A.C. Arthur - Страница 7

The Setup

“She's never going to go for this.” Sam Desdune sipped from his glass of wine, looking over the rim at his wife.

Karena Lakefield-Desdune smiled. Marriage and living in the stress-free country house away from the city suited her just perfectly. “The most important thing to Monica is making sure Lakefield Galleries has a stellar reputation and continues to make money. If she thinks for one minute that my missing a meeting might jeopardize that, she'll go to the ends of the earth to fix the problem.”

“And then she's going to come down on you so hard you'll wish you worked in another country,” Sam added with a frown. “I don't want you taking on that kind of stress.”

“I'll be fine, Sam. I'm pregnant, not fragile. I can deal with Monica's backlash.”

“If your guy does his thing we won't have to worry about her backlash,” Deena Lakefield-Donovan said from her perch on a stool at the bar. Standing right beside her with his hand wrapped securely around her shoulders was her husband of about six months, Maxwell Donovan.

“Matchmaking can be a dangerous game,” Max added.

“And matchmaking with my brother is the most dangerous game of all.” Renny Bennett sat on the leather couch with his wife, Sam's twin sister, Bree, beside him.

“I think it's time Alex settled down. He works way too hard and spends too much time trying to take care of his family. He needs to find someone special,” Bree said.

“The operative word being ‘find,’ hence he needs to look for himself, not be conned into a meeting with a woman like Monica,” Sam said.

“And just what's a woman like Monica?” Karena asked, trying not to sound offended.

Sam immediately lifted his hands in surrender while around his den the men looked away, hiding their chuckles. “Whoa, wait a minute. You know I love my sister-in-law. Monica and I have developed an amicable relationship in the time I've known her. But, baby, you know she's not an easy woman. I mean, if she was we wouldn't be sitting here plotting a way to get her laid.”

“We are not plotting to get her laid!” Karena stated adamantly.

“We're not?” Deena gave Karena a perplexed look before putting her glass on the bar.

Bree laughed. “We're plotting to get both of them laid before they drive us all crazy.”

“Fine, we can get Alex there without a problem. The rest is going to be up to them. If you ladies think they're such a good match then a cozy cabin on the slopes of Aspen couldn't be a better place for them to hook up. Now you just need to do your part.” This was from Renny, who wasn't totally convinced but had learned long ago to pick and choose his arguments with his wife. She'd met Monica Lakefield while working with Sam's private investigation agency so she knew the woman and she knew Alex. He would have to trust her judgment, for now.

“Then it's settled. Karena, make the call,” Deena said.

All eyes were on her as Karena picked up the cordless phone and began to dial.

“Monica?” she said a few seconds later. “We've got a problem.”