Silver Linings

have picked up that fancy little Beretta he always carried. I found some spare clips but not the pistol. He would have died with that thing in his hand.”
    Mattie remembered the gun in her purse. “A big ugly pistol? Kind of a yucky blue color?”
    Hugh turned his head, one brow cocked. “Ugly is in the eye of the beholder. Paul loved that gun. You saw it?”
    Mattie nodded and went over to where her shoulder bag lay. “I picked it up. I didn't know who or what I might run into on the way back to the airport.” She picked up the purse, opened it, and removed the heavy blue metal gun. “Here. Is this what you're looking for?”
    Hugh came toward her and took the weapon from her fingers. “Well, I'll be damned.” He looked genuinely approving. “Nice going, babe. You've just doubled our firepower.”
    Mattie gritted her teeth. “That does it. I've had it. Never, under any circumstances, call me babe again. Understand?”
    “You really are touchy today, aren't you, babe? I imagine all the recent stress has made you a little high strung.”
    “Damn it, Hugh.”
    “Going to take that swim?”
    “I'm thinking about it.” She glanced at the dark water, torn between wanting to wash off yesterday's blood and sweat and a fear of swimming in that bottomless pool. “Where will you go while I do it?”
    “Nowhere.” He shoved a fresh clip into Cormier's pistol. “I'll just sit right here and watch.”
    She shot him a disgusted glance. “Then I guess I'll forget the swim.”
    Hugh grinned. “Hey, I'm just teasing you. I'll turn my back and stare politely out to sea, if that's what you want. But it's not like I haven't already seen you in the buff.”
    “You were too drunk that night to remember anything you saw.”
    “Not quite,” he assured her, still grinning and totally unrepentant. “If I'd been that drunk I wouldn't have been able to get it up, and I don't recall any problems in that department. And I remember everything I saw. And touched. Believe me, I've thought about it a lot during the past year, and I don't believe I've forgotten a single thing. You were very tight and very wild. A real surprise, I got to tell you. Looking at you dressed for work, no one would have believed it.”
    “Must you be so crude?”
    “It's fun to watch you turn that nice bright shade of pink.”
    “Well, enjoy it because that's all you're going to see today. I can stand being hot, dirty, and sweaty another day, if you can.”
    “Oh, I can stand it. In fact, at the risk of sounding even cruder, there's something real sexy about you the way you are now. I think I like you best when you're not all neat and pressed and ready to sell expensive art to all those suckers you call clients.”
    “No wonder Ariel got fed up with you.”
    “Ah, ah, ah. We agreed not to talk about the past, remember? Ariel's not here. It's just you and me, babe.”
    “ Don't call me babe .”
    “Oh, right. I forgot. Slipped my mind.”
    “How could it slip your mind?” Mattie raged, skating once more on the ragged edge of her self-control. “I don't think you even have one.”
    “In that case,” he said with grave logic, “I don't see how you can hold me responsible for a few slips of the tongue.”
    Mattie bit off a muttered oath, vaguely aware that for some odd reason she felt better now than she had since she had walked into Cormier's mansion yesterday. Yelling at Hugh was apparently therapeutic. And she really did want a bath.
    “Look, I'll make a deal with you,” Mattie said, her hands on her hips.
    “Sounds interesting.” He was examining the Beretta. “What kind of deal?”
    “Promise me you'll go sit by the entrance and keep your back turned while I take a short swim, and I'll give you my word that I won't mention our unfortunate, extremely embarrassing one-night stand last year again. Okay?”
    Hugh appeared to turn the terms over in his mind. Then he gave a decisive nod. He never took long to make up his mind about anything. “Deal.”
    Mattie did not trust the too-innocent expression in his eyes. “Go sit out there on the ledge and watch sea gulls or something.” Her fingers went to the buttons of her silk blouse.
    “Right. Sea gulls.” Hugh obediently ambled toward the cavern entrance and sat down on the rock ledge that lined the opening. He lounged there, one booted foot drawn up, his back to Mattie. “Yell when you're done.”
    Mattie kept her eye on him as she quickly slipped out of the sadly wrinkled shirt