With Private Eyes Part 23

She shook her head.

"Don't take it to heart," Stacy said kindly. "You know what he's like. He wants to one-up you, that's all. Easier to do that if you aren't around."

"I suppose." But it bothered Claudia. Derrick could be a real pain sometimes, turning everything into a compet.i.tion. The sad truth was that she didn't really enjoy him anymore. She used to. Derrick had been a good big brother when they were kids. He'd taught her how to play poker, ride a bike, use a computer. Maybe, she thought sadly, the problem was that there wasn't anything for him to teach her anymore.

No address book yet, but she found the lipstick she'd been looking for earlier. She twirled it up to make sure it was the right shade.

"Derrick is probably still mad because the family put you in charge of keeping track of Ethan." Stacy frowned. "Not that I'm sure that was such a great idea."

"Why not?" Claudia dropped the lipstick back in her purse. No point in applying it now-Ethan would just kiss it off her when he arrived. He was taking her to a party at his aunt's this afternoon. She smiled.

"Throwing you and Ethan together may not have been such a great idea, that's all. The two of you are doing all kinds of things together these days."

Claudia snickered. "You ought to know."

"I mean-oh, you know what I mean."

Claudia found it quite amusing that Stacy was more embarra.s.sed than she was about her accidental intrusion last Monday. It wasn't as if she and Ethan had actually been doing anything when Stacy walked in. "Ethan does have a marvelous bottom, doesn't he?"

"I didn't notice," Stacy said stiffly. "I suppose I was referring to s.e.x, but other things, too. You two are spending pretty much every minute together."

"Not every minute. He does have other cases he has to spend some time on." The first time he'd told her he had to work on a different case, she'd followed him, suspecting trickery. Then felt guilty when it became obvious he'd told the truth. "But as much as possible, yes. Might as well make the most of it while it lasts. Oh, there it is!" She pulled out her address book.

"I'm worried about you."

"About me?" Claudia was surprised, and somewhat distracted. Where had she left her cell phone? It wasn't on the charger.

"You're not acting like yourself. There's the way you started an affair with Ethan before you broke off with Neil. That's not like you."

She did feel rotten about that. "That was a mistake. Neil took it very well when I spoke to him, though." Almost too well. A touch of angst over their breakup would have been nice.

"You skipped a Junior League meeting."

"You know Ethan and I were chasing down a lead in South Boston that day. I did make sure Mary had my report."

"And you're forgetting things. That is so not like you."

Forgetting ... oh. Suddenly Claudia understood. "Oh, dear." She dropped the address book and hurried over to hug Stacy. "I still can't believe I forgot our lunch. You're right-that isn't like me. At least I hope it isn't. I don't want to be the kind of woman who ignores her friends whenever she's involved with a man."

Stacy flushed. "You're not."

"Well, anyway..." Claudia gave Stacy's shoulders a last squeeze. "I am sorry. You know how important you are to me, don't you?"

Stacy blinked rapidly, looked down, then had to push her gla.s.ses up when they threatened to fall off her little dot of a nose. "I did get my feelings hurt, I guess," she said gruffly.

"I've been distracted lately. And not just by Ethan."

Though when she thought about last night at his apartment, when she'd knelt in front of him to put the condom on, and- Not now, she told herself firmly. Stacy's myopic eyes could zero in on her emotions with uncanny ease. "Did I mention that Ethan is redoing his place? He has this old brownstone in South Boston , and it's really great. Or will be when he's finished. Who would have thought the man had good taste?" She shook her head, thinking of his clothes. "With house stuff, anyway. He's going for a period look. Right now he rents out two of the floors, and-"

"And you're avoiding the subject. I don't think you're distracted. I think you're worried and have worked up a serious case of denial. Is it Ethan?"

She sighed. "Derrick, mostly. I can't put my finger on what's wrong, but something is."

"There's always something wrong in Derrick's life."

"I know, but ... something's different. I've always thought of him as sort of the Ugly Duckling of our family, and kept waiting for him to find his niche, the place he could shine, but he hasn't. He's not athletic and daring like his twin. And our cousins are hard to compete with. Poor Derrick isn't heroic like Alex. He doesn't have Nicholas's charm or Joseph's economic savvy, and he can't pull off Reese's in-your-face independence. There's nothing he's best at," she finished sadly. "And he's always needed to be best at something."

Stacy c.o.c.ked her head to one side. "It's easy to forget how insightful you can be. You travel at such a gallop most of the time that insight has to shake a leg to keep up."

"Well, thanks." Claudia's forehead wrinkled. "I think."

"But don't you see? With all this other stuff going on, this is a bad time to get involved with someone like Ethan Mallory."

"No, I don't see." Claudia glanced around the kitchen. The cell phone did not seem to be in there. "I'm having a grand time. Nothing like mind-blowing s.e.x to take one's mind off one's problems."

"When have you ever gone into a relationship just for s.e.x?"

She blinked. "I didn't mean that it's just about s.e.x."

"What else can it be about when you start out by agreeing that it's only temporary? Do you have a clue how you really feel about the man?"

"Good grief. Not every relationship has to lead to marriage. It would be darned confusing if they all did, wouldn't it?" She started for the living room. Maybe she'd left the phone in there. "You're making too much of this."

Stacy followed. "You don't do temporary, not with people. I'm not the only friend you've kept since grade school."

"So maybe Ethan and I will stay friends when the affair is over." That thought made her smile. She felt good with Ethan, alive yet comfortable, like being with a good friend, only with lots of sizzle. Surely they could hold on to the friendship after the sizzle part was over ... somehow.

Stacy shook her head. "Some people manage that. Wanda Ellis, for example. She's remained friends with two ex-husbands and several former lovers. But are you friends with any of your former boyfriends?"

"Uh..." The doorbell chimed. "That will be Ethan," she said brightly.

"You told me he was picking you up at four!"

"I lied. I want you to meet him."

"Two's company, three's annoying." Stacy spun and started back to the kitchen. "And my frozen things are thawing. I'll stay out of sight until the two of you leave."

"No, you won't." Claudia grabbed Stacy's arm. "Come on, be brave. Maybe you'll stop worrying so much once you know Ethan. At the very least you'll have a different image in your mind when you warn me about him. Hard to think he isn't an a.s.s," she said cheerfully, "when all you can remember about him is that pretty b.u.t.t of his, isn't it?"

Stacy groaned. "Now, that just guarantees what I'll think of when I see him."

"You were going to, anyway. Now, stay put." Claudia went to the door and peeped through the spy hole. "Oh, good. He wore the yellow shirt. Canary yellow is an excellent color for Ethan," she informed Stacy as she undid the various locks and opened the door. "Even if it is November." She forgot about colors and shirts and everything except the happy b.u.mp her heart gave.

"Hi," he said softly, and bent to brush her lips with his.

"Mmm." She realized her eyes had drifted closed and made them open. "Come on in and meet someone." She stepped aside. "This is Stacy. Whom you haven't quite met, though you sort of intersected with her on Monday."