He laughed. "Of course. The Corderos and the Sevillas go way back."
"My best friend, Ella, has the same philosophy about life, come to think of it. Maybe she's a second cousin, once removed?"
"Ella. Is that the sassy redhead? Lindermann's fiancée, you mean?"
"Carl's what?" Her green eyes widened. Her jaw dropped.
He shrugged. "Significant other, then?" he suggested, misunderstanding the reason for her amazement. "Hey, could be they're married by now. Who knows? They promised to wait for me to get back to New York, but… hey, you know how those two are." He winked. "Last time I spoke to Carl, he was itching to put a ring on his little Brit's finger."
Bells and whistles were going off in Sydnee's head. Any number of weird "coincidences" and "accidental" slips of the tongue over the past months suddenly made sense.
Lindy and his Ella, she thought, shaking her head as she snuggled deeper into Cord's arms. Who would have thought it? Staid professor meets wacko British caterer— the proverbial chalk and cheese. But the couple's differences didn't matter. They'd fallen in love and were getting married despite them!
And, unless she was reading something into the situation that wasn't really there, the two of them had probably set her up, hoping she and Cord would hit it off and maybe do the same.
You're quite capable of doing your own research, aren't you? You didn't really need me to come down here at all, did you?"
"Nope," he admitted, grinning. "But Carl said you were a real workaholic. That you'd feel better about accepting the endowment if it had to be earned. I went along with it, thinking his good friend, the researcher 'Sidney,' was a guy!"
He laughed, splayed his hands over her bottom, and pulled her snugly against him. She smelled good. Felt great. And he couldn't wait….
"Hmmm. I'm damned glad about that, baby," he whispered, unknotting the sash that held the front of her robe together.
She laughed shakily. "So am I," she agreed, shrugging the terry-cloth robe off her shoulders.
She let it slide down her arms, over her fingers, to the polished wood floor.
He whistled as he sucked in a breath. She'd worn nothing beneath it. She stood before him now wearing only her perfume and a great big smile.
"Whoa. Hi, sis," he murmured, his blue eyes glazed.
"The name's Sydnee," she whispered, puckering up and planting one smack on his mouth. "That's with a Y and two Es."
"Any way you want it, sweetheart."
Bare skin gleamed with a pearly luster in the flickering firelight as she undressed him, opening his shirt with a hurried pop! pop! pop! as the buttons burst free.
Parting the chambray front plackets, she bared the warm male chest beneath, running her fingers through the shadowy T of hair that grew upon it. Rubbing her palms over that flat washboard belly… and making an occasional little side trip below the belt for an inch or two. Dipping just far enough beneath it to make him grit his teeth, suck in his belly, and grow still and very tense….
His jeans hit the boards next as she uncinched his belt and eased open the metal buttons to free his bulging arousal.
When he stood before her in only his cotton boxers, she shoved him down onto the bed and took his shaft in her hand.
It felt like hot steel sheathed in velvet, she thought greedily as she curled her fingers around its length. God, he was ready. And big. Bigger even than she remembered.
"Hmmm. Guess I've got a tiger by the tail, don't I?" she said in a throaty voice. She eyed him archly through heavy-lidded eyes. It was a little something the new and improved, sexy Sydnee Frost might say.
"Greeowwwl!" he growled. "You bet, baby!" Planting a hand on her hips, he ground his pelvis against hers.
A thrill shimmied down her spine. She shuddered. "Oh, God. I want you inside me, Cord. I want you. Now."
Framing her head between his hands, he gently pulled her down and kissed her. Made love to her mouth with his tongue and teeth and lips. "Anything you say, sweetheart," he murmured. "Just remember, I love you, Sydnee.…"
He cupped a breast. Her nipple was a diamond-hard point against his palm, with an aureole of puckered velvet.
Falling backward to the bed, he hauled her astride him.
She sank onto his hardness, taking it— taking him— deep inside her, sheathing him perfectly. Knife to scabbard. Fist to glove. Warm, wet, tight. Ahhh, jeez.
He groaned in pleasure. She was ready, oh, so ready to be loved. Neither of them needed— or wanted— much foreplay. Not this time around.
Her lovely green eyes were glazed with ecstasy as he reached up to fondle her breasts, to roll and tug the reddened, swollen nipples between his fingers.
She gave a hoarse cry of delight as he lifted his flanks to meet her, pumping powerful hips to match her rhythm. To fill her, time and time again.
Soon his hands were clamped over her hips, holding her down on him. His jaw was set and hard now, his eyes half-closed with mounting urgency and need. He thrust harder, faster.
Her hips undulated. Her lovely body rose and fell, breasts swollen and hard-tipped, jiggling as she rode him on and on. A beautiful, naked Godiva, straddling a wildly bucking stallion.
Perspiration trickled down her face and throat. It snaked in rivers down the valley between her breasts, slithered over her rosy belly. Where it met his body, his skin gleamed as if oiled in the flickering firelight.
When her cries and gasps became breathy little screams of helpless pleasure, he rolled her beneath him, onto her back, without missing a stroke.
Pinning both wrists above her head, he spread her high and wide and thrust deeper, harder, faster, until they found release as one.
Panting, he collapsed with her cradled, sobbing and gasping, across his heaving chest.
"Oh, baby. Oh, baby, that was so good. Sooo good. Hmm, Sydnee, I love you so much," he said thickly. His chest still heaved as he stroked her tangled hair.
His heart still pounded. She could hear it beneath her cheek.
"Oh, God, I know, Cord. Oh, I know. And I love you! I love you, too."
A dreamy smile played about her lips as she lay curled in Cord's arms much later that night.
"Love and chocolate," Cord's grandfather had said, she remembered "You get those two right, the rest'll take care of itself."
Well, the love part was working out just fine, gracias, she thought with a sleepy, contented sigh.
Tomorrow— for the rest of their lives— they'd work on the chocolate….
Chapter Ten
Ithaca, New York Valentine's Day
Sydnee sighed as she set her pen aside, pinched the bridge of her nose, and flexed her aching back.
She'd been working on her notes all evening, not because she had a deadline, but because being busy helped her to forget that she'd heard nothing from Cord for the past week.
Today had been Valentine's Day, and it was almost over, without so much as a card or a call from him.
She knew it was childish, but she'd been hoping for something to commemorate their first Valentine's Day together. The day set apart for lovers. Had her card caught up with him on his travels? she wondered.
She sighed again. Truth was, she was lonely with him away on business, and Ella and Lindy enjoying their honeymoon in Cancún, following a lovely if nontraditional exchange of vows at Cornell.
Ella herself had catered the British high-tea reception that followed for their thirty or so closest friends.
Cord was out of the country, too, claiming important business in Japan. And, despite his telling her over and over again that he loved her and intended to spend the rest of his life proving it, there was a part of her that still couldn't quite believe it.
A tiny, niggling part that expected him to suddenly turn into Barry Gordon, say. Or maybe her father, Michael Erickson, and leave. To just go away one day and never come back.
Such a prospect terrified her as nothing else could, because ever since Raymondo's thought-provoking words that day
on the mountaintop in Costa Rica , she'd taken chance after chance to put joy into her life.
Her first attempt at doing so had been to swallow her fears that night at Villa Corazón. To take the risk and dare to love Cord. Oh, God, yes!
She loved him— loved him so very much….
It was at precisely that moment that she heard the doorbell ring.
Hurrying into the entryway to answer it, she flung open the door, expecting to see a messenger standing there.
There was no one. Only the snow-covered Victorian gardens, still and beautiful in their powdery blanket of white.
Across the way, where oak and fir trees stood tall and silent, a tiny frozen lake gleamed like an ancient-looking glass of polished silver beneath the darkening amethyst sky.
Between the trees, Sydnee could see tiny pinpricks of light from homes on the far side of the woods.
Disappointed, she was about to go back inside and close the door when she spotted a single long-stemmed red rose lying on the doorstep at her feet. Puzzled, she lifted it to her nose and inhaled its glorious perfume as she looked around.
There was no sign of whoever had left it there. And yet… Yes! She could see what looked like another long-stemmed rose, tucked into the mailbox flag!
Hurrying down the pathway and out through the wrought-iron gate, she recovered a second flower, its stem tied with a narrow scarlet ribbon, like the first.
Expectantly, she looked around her.
Hmm. How strange. There was still no sign of her mysterious admirer— but there was a third rose! She spotted this one across the street, resting in the forked branch of a leafless tree.
She had followed a trail of five other red roses when she reached the snow-covered clearing and the frozen lake on the edge of the woods.
There she pulled up short, her jaw dropping.
Dozens of Japanese lanterns hung from the lowest branches of the trees, like oddly shaped pears. Seen through pleated rice-paper shades, their golden glow was warm, welcoming. Impossibly romantic.
A round wrought-iron table stood on the snowy bank overlooking the lake. It was covered with a scarlet tablecloth and red linen napkins, deftly folded into hearts.
A silver bowl containing two, perhaps three dozen red roses and baby's breath formed a breathtaking centerpiece.
There were several huge chocolate-dipped fresh strawberries arranged on a silver platter, too, along with a magnum of Cristal champagne on ice, and two exquisite champagne flutes.
As she slowly approached the table, she heard music behind her and, turning, saw that a trio of musicians, two with violins, one with a cello, had taken up position to one side of the clearing. They were playing the "Cinderella Waltz."
She laughed, shaking her head. Was any of this real— or was she having a wildly romantic dream, she wondered?
"It's not a dream, Sydnee," a sexy deejay voice— a very familiar, dear voice— assured her, as if the speaker had read her mind.
Turning around, Sydnee saw Cord step from his hiding place behind a lofty pine tree. His formal attire was the perfect foil for his striking dark looks and tall, broad-shouldered frame.
"Happy Valentine's Day, sweetheart! I thought it was high time you enjoyed a little frivolity in your life."
"Oh, Cord, this is wonderful!" Sydnee exclaimed, her green eyes shining. "Thank you for doing all this! But… well, look at me! God, these awful sweats! If I'd known, I would have worn—"
"Shh. What you wear isn't why I love you," he murmured, placing his finger gently across her lips. He pressed her down onto one of the chairs. "Or the reason I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
She was trembling as he knelt in the snow at her feet. Withdrawing a velvet jeweler's box from his pocket, he opened it.
She gasped.
A large diamond, flanked by two smaller diamonds, nestled on a bed of midnight blue velvet. The three stones flashed with blue and purple fire in the glow of the paper lanterns.
"Sydnee," Cord murmured, still on his knees before her, "I love you more than anyone or anything on this earth. And if you'll marry me, you'll make me the happiest man alive. Will you marry me, Sydnee?"
There was an agonizing pause of two, perhaps three seconds, before she whispered, "Yes, oh, yes, I will! I love you, too, Cord. I have from the very first!"
He was grinning and weak with relief as he slipped the beautiful diamond ring onto her finger, then stood and raised her to standing.
He kissed her long and hard, a hungry, deep kiss, filled with love and promise.
"Happy Valentine's Day, sweetheart," he murmured again.
"Oh, thank you. Thank you!"
He nodded and, releasing her hands, turned his attention to the magnum of champagne. Deftly uncorking the Cristal with a subtle pop, he wrapped a scarlet napkin around the bottle's neck and splashed sparkling pale gold liquid into both flutes.
"We have time for a quick toast to our future," he murmured, handing an elegant glass to her. "Then we should be going."
"To dinner?"
"No. To Kennedy."
"The airport?" she exclaimed, taking a sip of the exquisite champagne.
"Right. I thought we could enjoy a second glass or two in the limo, and still arrive in good time to board the Concorde."
Champagne spattered everywhere as Sydnee snorted instead of swallowing. "The Concorde?" she asked hoarsely. "Why? Where are we going?" She was almost afraid to ask.
"Where else, sweetheart? Paris. To the restaurant at the top of the Eiffel Tower , to be precise."
"For dinner? We're going to Paris for dinner?"
"Not exactly. You accepted my proposal, right? So I thought we'd get married there in about… oh, twelve hours or so," he explained casually, glancing at his wristwatch.
"At the Eiffel Tower ? You've arranged for the two of us to get married at the Eiffel Tower ," she repeated, convinced she must have missed something, somewhere.
He nodded. "Yeah. But you mustn't worry about the height, sweetheart. With everything going on, and me beside you, you won't even notice the City of Lights right at your feet. I promise!"
She gulped. "But… I'm not dressed for it. Or packed. And what about the house?"
"It's all being taken care of, even as we speak."
"But I'll need a wedding gown…."
"And you'll have one. From the runway of the top designer in Paris."
"Then there's your family. What about them?" She'd met the Westridges at Christmas, and had loved the diminutive, affectionate Catalina Westridge and her husband, William, almost as much as she loved their handsome son.
"They're already there. Mama's driving up from Monte Carlo with Dad. I spoke to her last night. You'd think she was the mother of the bride, she's so excited about seeing you again!" He laughed.
"I'm so glad. But… I really wanted Ella and Carl to be there—"
"They will be. They're flying in from Cancún to join us."
"In Paris ?"
"In Paris. Ella's going to be your matron of honor." He laughed as he looked down at her lovely, astonished face, and brushed a stray curl away from her cheek. At once it twined softly about his finger, just as this lovely, special woman had twined herself about his heart.
"Anything I've forgotten?"
Dazed, she shook her head. "No. I think you've covered just about everything. Were you that certain I'd accept?"
"Hell, no! I wasn't certain of anything. There— er— there was a plan B. For contingencies. Let's see. It involved ropes and gags and, yeah, cutting words for a ransom note out of the newspaper…. Want to hear the rest?"
She burst out laughing. "No, you idiot. You won't be needing it."
"Ah, Sydnee. Sweetheart," he murmured, drawing her hand up to his lips and kissing her fingertips. "I'm going to love spoiling you for the rest of our lives. Together we're going to do all the wild and wonderful, crazy things there are to do in this world. More champagne?"
"Hmm. Yes. To celebrate. But only a li
ttle. You know what alcohol does to me," she reminded him.
"Know? Sweetheart, I'm counting on it!" he teased. "Now. Come on," he urged, holding out his hand to her. "Let's go get married."
"All right," she agreed happily. Her smile was radiant as she linked her fingers through his. "Let's!"
Table of Contents
Copyrights
Table Of Contents
Sweet Sin By Nina Bangs Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Eliza's Gateau By Lisa Cach Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Meltdown By Thea Devine Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Seducing Sydnee By Penelope Neri Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten Ithaca, New York Valentine's Day
Seduction By Chocolate Page 29
