Carnal Curiosity

1

Stone Barrington sat at his desk in the downstairs office of his Turtle Bay town house, poring over documents related to the finances of his new clients, Jack and Hillary Coulter.

Or, perhaps, Hillary and Jack Coulter, since she was the one with all the money, and there was a great deal of it. He added a couple of paragraphs to the memo he was sending to the tax and finance department of his law firm, Woodman & Weld, where his suggestions would be reviewed to keep him out of trouble. His phone buzzed.

Your five-thirty appointment is here, his secretary, Joan, said.

I have a five-thirty? Stone asked, momentarily baffled.

The insurance adjuster, Crane Hart, from the Steele company?

Oh, of course. Give me three minutes, then send him in. He clicked off before she could respond. He tidied the document on his computer, then e-mailed it, then he shuffled the papers on his desk into a fairly neat stack.

"Much better," a female voice said from the doorway.

''Ah, Mr. Hart," Stone said, not looking up. Then he looked up. "I perceive that you are not a mister," he said.

She was tall, wrapped in a suit too tight and with a skirt too short to be businesslike, and her bright, blonde hair was pulled tightly into something at the back of her head. He won¬dered how she could blink, but she did, and slowly.

Before he could speak a moment of carnal curiosity flashed between them. ''Ah," he said, otherwise speechless. He finally managed speech. "I was expecting an insurance adjuster of the male persuasion."

''Ah," she replied. "A natural assumption, but Steele sends out tall, blonde, female adjusters when the loss is great enough." "I must remember to be robbed at gunpoint more often," he said, waving her toward the sofa, instead of the chair before his desk.

She took a seat and crossed her legs without undue expo- sure, an artful act, given the mininess of her skirt.

Stone came and sat at the other end of the sofa. "Now, about your

Stuart Woods is the author of more than eighty-five novels, including the #1 New York Times-bestselling Stone Barrington series. He is a native of Georgia and began his writing career in the advertising industry. Chiefs, his debut in 1981, won the Edgar Award. An avid sailor and pilot, Woods lives in Florida, Maine, and Connecticut.

Praise for Carnal Curiosity

Stone Barrington shows he s one of the smoothest operators around...entertaining. Publishers Weekly

More Praise for Stuart Woods

Stuart Woods is a no-nonsense, slam-bang storyteller. Chicago Tribune

A world-class mystery writer...I try to put Woods s books down and I can t. Houston Chronicle 

Mr. Woods, like his characters, has an appealing way of making things nice and clear. The New York Times

Woods certainly knows how to keep the pages turning. Booklist

Since 1981, readers have not been able to get their fill of Stuart Woods  New York Times bestselling novels of suspense. Orlando Sentinel

Woods s Stone Barrington is a guilty pleasure...he s also an addiction that s harder to kick than heroin. Contra Costa Times (California)