Totlandia: Winter Read Online Free PDF Page B

Keith, had this much fun up here, too.
    His guess was yes.
    Right then and there, he realized he’d married the wrong woman.
    If only he’d met Kelly first! Granted, the Connaught connections—not to mention the trusts, which would be his to manage the minute Eleanor kicked off—were nothing to sneeze at, but the Bryant fortune was renowned.
    Kinky Kelly and her nest egg. What a combo. Hey, why not? Already he was getting the benefit of one. Maybe the other could be had, too.
    He’d ask when the time was right. Tethered to a bench wouldn’t do. She’d wanted to clamp him to the wrist-and-ankle shackles on the far wall, but so far, he’d balked at the thought of being spread-eagled over a trompe l’oeil copy of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. If he acquiesced with the caveat that she toss him a spare million to see what he could do with it, maybe she’d go for it.
    At the very least, she could act out the wet dream of his other investors and punish him whenever her stocks tanked. That thought had him groaning ecstatically. Or maybe it was the slap from Kelly’s sixteen-inch paddle, something she claimed she’d made herself.
    He closed his eyes, better to enjoy the fantasy of her straddling a workbench, naked, as she guided her jigsaw drill over a three-eighth-inch-thick Baltic birch. She’d have to have a steady hand for that diamond-hole pattern. Why, there must be at least five coats of black lacquer on that thing. What a deviant little homemaker she was, unlike Bettina, whose idea of kinky sex was the one time she allowed him to watch her while she masturbated with her dildo.
    The thought of it was enough for him to give Kelly what she wanted. Even the pony bit gag of his leather muzzle couldn’t muffle his loud, proud declaration, “I fucking hate that bitch, Bettina!”
     
    11:20 a.m.
    “Why don’t you let me buy you lunch today?”
    Lorna wasn’t expecting to hear Bettina’s voice on her cell phone. And she certainly wasn’t expecting her phone to ring as she waited in UCSF’s Pediatric Autism and Neurology Clinic for the latest assessment of Dante’s condition.
    It sent a chill of dread through her. The last time she’d seen Dante’s physician, Dr. Remfeld, he’d been standing beside Bettina at the Union Street Halloween parade. Lorna had been afraid he might see her and Dante and wave. In no time at all, Bettina would put two and two together about Dante’s situation.
    But no. Lorna knew Bettina hadn’t a clue because when she had handed Dante off to Dr. Remfeld today, she broached the topic herself. “I realize you know my sister-in-law, Bettina Connaught Cross. I’d like your assurance that there will be complete discretion about Dante’s condition. I’ll be breaking the news to the family at the right time.”
    “Absolutely, Lorna,” he assured her. “However, I would advise you to do so sooner than later. You’ll be surprised how much having your family’s support will mean to you.”
    He obviously didn’t know the Connaughts as well as she had presumed.
    Dr. Remfeld’s diagnosis, just a week ago, had stunned her. Until he and his staff had run out of tests to do on Dante, Lorna wasn’t giving up on the possibility that he’d been wrong, that Dante’s condition was just temporary.
    Until that happened, no one else would know about it. Not even Matthew.
    Certainly not Bettina.
    “Where are you?” Bettina demanded. “I’ll come pick you up.”
    “No!...I mean, I’m out shopping with Dante. I’ll drop him off with Matt for his lunch and nap, and meet you wherever you like.”
    “Why not bring him along?” It was the first time Lorna had heard anything that came close to true concern in Bettina’s voice. She was tempted to do her sister-in-law’s bidding, but then it hit her: Bettina would be looking for something to be wrong with Dante. She’d scrutinize him and ask questions.
    Now was not the time to answer them. Not yet, anyway. It would be hard enough to tell