"Woods, Stuart - Dead In The Water" - читать интересную книгу автора (Woods Stuart)

meet you at the St. Marks airport tomorrow night, then." "Oh, don't
do that; just sit tight, and I'll grab a cab." She lowered her voice.
"And when I get there, sweetie, try and be well rested, because I'm
going to bounce you off the bedsprings a whole lot; you read me?" "I
read you loud and clear. I'd better run; they've

DEAD IN THE WATER

almost finished boarding. And remember, we've only got the boat for
ten days; don't waste any more."

"I really am going to make it up to you in the best possible way,
Stone," she said. "Bye-bye."

"Bye." Stone hung up the phone and ran for his plane. Moments later,
he had settled into a comfortable leather seat and had in his hand a
rum and tonic, in honor of his long-anticipated winter holiday. As the
big jet taxied out to the runway he looked out the window and saw that
it had started to snow. Good. Why have a tropical holiday if you
can't gloat?

Vance Calder was, arguably, Hollywood's premier male star, often called
the new Cary Grant, and he had played an important part in Stone's and
Arringtorg lives already. She had been in Calder's company when they
had met at a dinner party at the home of a gossip columnist nearly a
year earlier. Although Stone had been struck by her beauty and had
found her marvelous company, he had not bothered to call her, because
he hadn't believed for a moment that he could take a girl away from
Vance Calder. Instead, Arrington had called him. Vance, she had
explained, was no more than an acquaintance who, when he was in New
York, liked to have a pretty girl to squire around, especially at
dinners like the one at Amanda Dart's apartment, which she would
feature in her column.

Inside a few weeks they were living together, and Stone had never been
happier. At forty-two, he was still a bachelor, and he liked it that
way. Living with Arrington, though, had made a lack of freedom seem
very attractive, and he was determined to hang on to her, even if it
came to marriage. Marriage had been increasingly on his mind of late,
especially since Arrington had been showing signs of feeling a lack of
commitment on his part. On the plane down to St. Marks he had reached
a decision. They would have a wonderful cruise on the chartered boat,
and they would come back engaged, unless it turned out to be easy to be
wed in St. Marks; in that case, they would come back married. He was
looking forward to the prospect.

Then the night began to go wrong. In San Juan, their first stop, he
learned that his flight to St. Martin, the next leg, had been delayed
by two hours. In St. Martin, the connecting flight to Antigua had
also been delayed, and by the time he had arrived there, the light twin