Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 12

found some lobsters, and his wife had steamed them perfectly. There were clams, too, and corn on the cob, dripping with butter, and two bottles of a Beringer reserve chardonnay from Dick’s cellar.
    After dinner they moved into the study, where Arrington found a Scrabble board in a bookcase, and they played game after game until they were all sleepy. Arrington sent Peter to bed, and after a while, the adults drifted upstairs.
    Stone and Arrington made wonderful love for nearly an hour, fueled by the good wine and good feeling from their evening, then they lay in each other’s arms, getting their breath back.
    Stone stroked her hair and kissed her on the forehead. “You know,” he said, “we really ought to start thinking about making this a more permanent relationship.”
    Arrington sat up in bed and tucked her legs under her. “I’ve thought about that a lot,” she said, “and it wouldn’t work.”
    Stone said nothing, just waited for her to continue.
    â€œFirst of all, I love you, Stone, and I always will, and I know you love me in the same way.”
    â€œThat’s perfectly true,” Stone said, “but somehow I don’t see that as an impediment to a relationship.”
    â€œThink about our lives,” she said. “They’re completely incompatible.”
    â€œI don’t see why.”
    â€œThen I’ll explain it to you. Peter and I live in Virginia, and we both love it there. You wouldn’t last a month in Virginia. You need New York: You need Elaine’s and you need to earn a living, and New York is the only place you can do that. Sure, you could hang out a shingle in Virginia, but you’d hate the work, and although I’m certainly rich enough to support you in the style to which you’ve become accustomed, you’d never let me do that, and I’d have a lot less respect for you if you did.
    â€œPeter is in a wonderful school that will take him right through high school, and when he’s ready for college he’ll be able to choose between the Ivy League and the University of Virginia, which is right down the road, in Charlottesville. I know you can raise children in New York, but I would never subject him to the things we’d have to do to keep him safe: limos to school, organized play groups, security guards. In Virginia he’ll be able to ride his horse every day, ride it to school in a couple of years. He has the fields and woods to roam and plenty of great, unspoiled kids his own age.”
    â€œYou don’t want to get married again, do you?” Stone asked.
    â€œThere’s that, too. I’ve been married, I’ve had my child and I enjoy my freedom. There isn’t a single thing that being married could do for me that I can’t do anyway. Then there’s you: You’ve been following your cock around since you were fifteen, and you’re not going to stop now.”
    â€œYou don’t think I could be faithful?”
    â€œI’d give you three months, tops,” she said, laughing. “Then you’d meet some girl at Elaine’s, and you’d be in the sack in the blink of an eye. Look, I don’t mind that about you, at least not in our present relationship, but if we were married, it would piss me off royally, and we’d be divorced in no time.”
    â€œI think we could make it work,” Stone said.
    Arrington sighed. “There’s something else,” she said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI wasn’t going to bring this up, at least not on this trip, but it would have come up eventually, so we’d better face it.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?”
    â€œYou’re still not sure that I didn’t kill Vance.” Arrington’s husband had been shot dead in their home; Arrington had been suspected, but Stone had gotten her cleared. Another woman had been tried for the crime, but acquitted. The murder was still unsolved.
    Stone knew he had to choose his words carefully. “Arrington, is there something you want to tell me?”
    â€œThat’s just the point, I don’t want to tell you anything, but maybe I should. It’s just that you are a very moral person, and if you thought I had killed Vance you’d never look at me the same way again.”
    â€œYou’re starting to worry me, Arrington.”
    â€œI don’t want you to worry. Let’s just say that, if I had killed Vance, I would