Family Stone Holiday Box Set: (including Stone Cold Heart, Carved in Stone, and Heart of Stone) (Family Stone Romantic Suspense)

by Lisa Hughey

  “Brilliant.” Colin smiled against her mouth and pressed her up against the office wall. “If we ignore him maybe he’ll go away.”

  “I thought I’d offer you a job, you ungrateful Brit,” Jack said without an ounce of anger. “Just so we’re clear, I had planned to do this before I saw the picture of you two.”

  “What do you think?” Jess held her breath. Working together was tricky. Of course, they’d managed it in Port-du-Bois under fairly extreme circumstances.

  “I’m up for it.”

  Jess snickered. “You’re up for more than that.”

  “Oh God, my eyes,” Jack murmured. Right before he shut the door, he begged, “Just please don’t have sex on my desk.”

  They ignored him.

  Carved in Stone

  “Connor!”

  Connor Stone’s oldest brother, Jack, yelled through the doorway of his office. The sound traveled all the way down the hall and through Con’s closed door.

  Con yanked his door open and stomped toward the reception area and Jack’s office. “Jesus, Jack.” He swiped a fall of blond hair from his eyes as he strode past Ava, Jack’s assistant. Con steeled himself to greet her casually with a quick smile, an informal wave, keeping his tone and demeanor low-key so that she would have no idea how much he wanted her. “Hey, Ava.”

  “Hello, Connor,” she replied softly as he barged into Jack’s office. Peripherally, he noted her conservative, trim red suit and matching fingernails. The lush contours of her smoking hot body were hidden beneath the staid boxy clothes. Not that he should be noticing her body, but hell he was a guy.

  He breathed a quick sigh of relief as he successfully managed to make it past her without revealing any of the lust that he felt. She was Jack’s assistant and therefore totally off limits. Plus he was pretty sure he made her nervous.

  “What the hell is your deal?” Con’s suppressed desire made his voice sharper than he intended.

  “I need you.”

  Con tried not to let the words mean too much but he could feel his chest swell and his throat get a little tight. He was still trying to live down his wild, out-of-control teenage past, even though he was twenty-eight years old and had retired from the Army after seven years and multiple tours. “What for?”

  “Close the door for a sec.”

  Con shut the door and raised his blond eyebrows. Jack shifted in his massive desk chair and flattened his lips. He hadn’t seen Jack this out of sorts since the day that Jess and Shelley, their half-sister and her mother, had come to live with them at the Stone Mansion twenty years ago. Their bastard of a father, Jackson Stone Senior, told the whole family Jack was the man of the house and promptly left. Jack had been fourteen.

  Con stood in front of Jack’s desk, military stiff, feet apart, hands clasped behind his back in parade rest.

  “At ease, soldier.” Jack chuckled. “While I love the fact that you consider me like your commanding Lord and Master—”

  Con snorted. His brother always knew how to push it.

  “You’re out of the Army now,” Jack continued. “There’s no need for military protocol in the office.”

  But the military had given him the structure he needed and the discipline to become a better version of himself. Con shrugged. “I’m comfortable with it,” he said simply.

  Jack’s moment of amusement was gone, replaced by a somber frown. “Okay. I have to be out of the office for a few days. Unfortunately.”

  “So do you need intel for your trip?”

  “No.” If anything his frown got deeper. “That part is taken care of.”

  Jack stared off into the distance, his face a mask of grumpiness and annoyance. He rubbed a hand over his mouth and shook his head to clear whatever had taken root in his mind. Con thought he saw a flash of worry in Jack’s eyes but he knew that wasn’t right. Nothing scared Jack. He was the ultimate protector, the ultimate big brother, and the head of their family since the age of fourteen. Damn their irresponsible father.

  “Muscle?” Con asked with bemusement. That seemed unlikely. Jack could take care of himself.

  Another smile quirked Jack’s mouth. “Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

  About some things, yes. About lots of others, not a chance. But he wasn’t about to share that with Jack.

  “It’s a Stone Consulting job,” Jack clarified. “Classified.”

  They’d all had jobs that had been classified at one time or another, except for Ava Sanchez. Jack had hired her straight out of college from Cal State Monterey Bay. She’d been with Jack since the beginning of GHR and Stone Consulting. Con knew her degree was in global studies with a concentration in nongovernment organizations— not that he’d happened to read her personnel file or anything—and that she never quite looked him in the eyes.

  “I really need your help on a separate job.” Jack stared out the reflective glass window, the view of the Monterey Bay obscured by lingering morning fog. Wisps of clouds drifted lazily in the gray sky.

  Connor tried not to let Jack’s words raise his hopes. Usually his contribution to the company was relegated to light hacking, keeping both companies’ firewalls intact, and muscle when they needed an extra body on an op. But now, Jack needed his help?

  Con stayed silent. He had no idea where Jack was going with this. When Connor just waited patiently, Jack finally said, “You can get so quiet it’s freaky. How are we even related?”

  And there it was. Connor’s reminder that he wasn’t like the other Stone siblings. He wasn’t the oldest, he wasn’t the charmer, he wasn’t the sister. Hell he didn’t even look like his brothers and sister. They had dark hair and green or hazel eyes while Con was blond with a really weird mix of brown and gold eyes.

  He was the leftover. The extra. His father had reminded him of that fact often enough growing up. When he was a teenager he’d grabbed attention by acting out, being crazy. Fortunately the Army cured him of that habit. Now he had one motto: Deeds not words.

  Con had to play it calm. Deeds not words. He was finally being given the chance to show that he wasn’t the same crazy, spoiled boy that Jack heard about after he left home.

  “Can you run an intensive background check on Jose Fernandez?”

  “Sure.” Connor waited for more information, wondering why that name sounded familiar. “Am I looking for anything specific?”

  “I don’t know.” Jack rubbed his finger along his scarred eyebrow. He’d never confessed how he had scarred it but Con had enough experience in the Army to know that a bullet had come way too close to his brother’s brain. “I need anything and everything you can find on the guy. There’s got to be something there, even if no one has found it yet. I don’t want to influence your search, so I’m keeping it vague. But I believe he is dirty.”

  Connor’s interest was piqued. A puzzle. “You got it. Anything else?”

  “Don’t tell anyone what you are working on.”

  Con shrugged. That wouldn’t be a problem.

  “Stay here a sec.” Jack pressed the intercom on his phone. “Ava, my office now.”

  Con jerked. He tried to avoid being in small enclosed spaces with her. “You want me to leave?” He hoped his tone wasn’t as desperate as he was feeling.

  For whatever reason, the last few weeks he’d had more trouble than usual avoiding her. And every time he saw her, his heart rate soared and his thoughts went increasingly to pictures of them together. Not that he would ever do anything about those pictures. He had changed, matured, and he wasn’t going to destroy his newfound image by getting busy with an employee.

  “No. I still need you here.”

  Ava opened the door and hurried to the office entrance.

  “Yes?” She hovered half in, half out of the doorway. Connor cut a quick glance her way but she was completely focused on Jack. She never said much, even though he knew she spoke four different languages. She was efficient, organized, had the proper attitude and mindset for the Global Humanitarian Relief, and
probably didn’t know everything they did at GHR’s subsidiary, Stone Consulting.

  “I’m going out of town. And I’ve got some instructions for you.” Jack tapped the blotter on his desk. “And Connor.”

  Jack waited one more second and then said, “I’m leaving Connor in charge of the office.”

  “Me?” And damn if Con’s voice didn’t rise slightly like a prepubescent boy getting asked out by the hottest girl in school.

  “Yeah, you,” Jack said as if putting Con in charge made perfect sense. “Riley is delivering books and school supplies to Sulu Island in the Philippines. Jess and Colin are in England until next Tuesday getting his stuff ready to move here. I have to go out of town and I want a Stone in charge.”

  Jack’s brow lifted, as if trying to impart some silent message, but Con was too distracted to interpret that look. Con could care less what the message was. This was a huge step.

  A fierce sense of pride flooded him. Jack was entrusting GHR, his personal baby, to Con. But he’d take that out and examine it later. Right now he needed to focus on logistics. “How long are you going to be gone?”

  “I don’t know.” Jack continued tapping the pen. “And I don’t know what my comm options will be so I may be out of cell reach for some of my trip.”

  Con wondered at the lack of information. Jack didn’t seem to be trying to be intentionally vague. If anything he seemed irritated and out of sorts. Con tilted his head, waiting for more info. But Jack didn’t answer his unspoken question.

  “Ava, is there anything hot right now?”

  “Just the situation with Riley.” Her husky voice scraped over Connor’s spine like a lover’s fingernails over his naked back, and his body responded accordingly. Hell, this was why he tried to avoid her.

  “So you’re on.” Jack pointed at Con. But then he got one last dig in by cautioning, “Don’t fuck it up.”

  Connor’s good humor deflated faster than a parachute canopy after a flare. Thanks for the vote of confidence, bro. But he didn’t say the words out loud. Couldn’t. He’d always be the youngest, no value added, just some leftover kid that ended up living with the Stone family, related by birth but that’s it. Sometimes he wondered why he’d ever come to work for Jack.

  “And no having sex on my desk, damn Jess and Colin.”

  Ava flushed a deep red, her face brighter than the fire engine color of her suit. Her dark eyes were wide as she rushed out of the room without saying a word.

  “Are you trying to get sued?” Connor burst out. “Why would you say that? I barely know her.” And dammit. Is that really what Jack thought of him? That Con would bone Ava on his desk? Hadn’t he avoided her for nine long months, keeping his distance because he was making the effort to be responsible? To show Jack he was worthy of the job? To show everyone that he’d changed?

  Suddenly, Con couldn’t get the vision of Ava, her suit jacket gaped open, skirt rucked up around her waist, her black hair tumbling over her bare breasts and her long, sleek legs wrapped around him as he pounded home.

  He’d constantly, for the nine months he’d worked here, tried to think about Ava in a completely non-sexual way. He focused on her efficiency at keeping them organized and on track, her dedication to her job, and her shyness around him.

  But that picture of her, red lips plumped and dark eyes bright, sprawled on top of Jack’s desk kept shoving its way into his mind. Jesus, was it getting hot in here?

  And why could he not get that picture out of his head?

  ***

  Ava scurried toward her desk and cursed her tendency to blush. Luckily, with her swarthy skin tone and her current healthy tan—she’d spent a decent amount of time at the beach this summer—her blush likely wasn’t too noticeable. However, she couldn’t completely hide her deep embarrassment. When Jack had issued his ‘no sex on the desk’ command, she’d had no chance to temper her reaction. It was as if he’d reached right into her favorite fantasy and blurted it out to Connor.

  She sighed. Connor, who never even noticed her.

  Oh, he acknowledged her. He smiled. Said hello. But there was distance in their interactions that she was pretty sure was deliberate. And since they had very few interactions, none personal, she knew he didn’t want to get to know her.

  Maybe on the outside she appeared as a confident, well-dressed, well-groomed woman, but on the inside she was still that painfully shy wallflower, the migrant worker who didn’t quite belong, who squeaked when spoken to and couldn’t ever act normal in a social situation.

  She’d worked hard to overcome her natural reticence. To learn to be polished and to strive for classy and sophisticated. To eradicate the dust and dirt from the fields and her native Sinaloan accent. She’d come a long way in the last eight years, but she still had difficulty speaking to men she found attractive. And she definitely found Connor Stone attractive.

  “Sorry, Ava,” Jack called from his office. She knew he was. He was gruff and a little rough around the edges but he meant well. He’d given her a job right out of college and helped her acclimate to a new world with affection and patience. He treated all his employees like family, which meant he frequently didn’t think before he spoke.

  Jack, she could handle. She grinned. “Expect my lawsuit in the mail,” she quipped back, completely at ease with her totally hot boss. And he was. Totally hot. At thirty-four, he was also a little on the old side for her. But Ava wasn’t attracted to Jack. He didn’t make her girl parts tingle the way his brother did. Jack was like the older brother she’d never had and always wanted.

  Jack gave a shout of laughter.

  Why had Jack said that? Could he know that she frequently daydreamed about the youngest Stone brother? All the other women in the office were loco over Riley. And no doubt Riley was extremely handsome, smooth, and very charming. He always made her feel feminine and special. But he did that to everyone. Ava preferred the quiet confidence and the understated smarts of Connor Stone.

  He was physically intimidating, as big as Jack and definitely as muscular. Since she wasn’t a simpering, skinny swizzle stick, but a solid woman with more curves than she’d like and the build of a peasant, Ava appreciated Connor’s bulk. She imagined that he would make her feel delicate and dainty if he wrapped his massive biceps around her and cupped her ass in his large palms.

  “Hey.” Connor stood in front of her desk.

  Ava jerked and blinked up at him. She could feel an even deeper flush thunder through her body like a wave of heat. Great, while she’d been daydreaming, he’d been watching her imagine him naked and wrapped around her. “Er. Hello.”

  “Ignore him. He’s an idiot.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  And if only he’d shut up then, because that was the perfect place to stop. Instead, he kept going. “Of course we aren’t going to….”

  Of course. Because no way could a guy that good looking, that smart, that everything, ever want to have sex with her. Ava’s temper began to simmer. “Of course not.” Her snide tone left no room for interpretation.

  Connor looked very uncomfortable as he figured out that he’d just insulted her. “Uhhh, I don’t think that came out the way I meant it.”

  And like that she boiled over. “How did you mean it?” she said sweetly, softly. She blinked at him with her most innocent, wide-eyed, non-threatening expression for the first time truly looking him in the eyes. He had gorgeous eyes, a sunburst of caramel, chocolate and a hint of pale green in a kaleidoscope of color. Tawny, gold, predatory.

  He was a very smart man. And he’d figured out that no matter what he said, he was trapped and going to offend her. Like the very smart man he was, Connor backed away. “I meant no disrespect.”

  If that was the way he wanted to leave it. “Fine.”

  That stereotypical Latina temper was a stereotype for a reason but she usually left her hothead reactions at the door. She needed this job and most importantly, she wanted this job to atone for the past. It was a bonus that she
loved working here. She loved that she was using her degree but also doing some good. GHR was the perfect vehicle for her need to do penance. For her luck in surviving when Maria…Maria hadn’t.

  “Ava….”

  He wasn’t going to go away until she forgave him for the insult and let him off the hook. Too bad she didn’t want to forgive him.

  “Sure. None taken,” Ava said dismissively, clearly lying. She purposely stared at her monitor and started typing away. Too bad she had no idea what document was open or what she was typing. If he looked at the screen, he would only see gibberish.

  Connor stood in front of her desk, arms hanging limply at his sides, half-turned toward Jack’s office, half-facing her, as if undecided about what to do next.

  She continued to pretend that she was ultra-busy, praying he would go away so that she could run to the bathroom and compose herself. She could hear Jack on the phone in his office, arranging the company jet to be at the Monterey regional airport. Soon.

  Jack didn’t sound happy. And she wondered why he was doing his own scheduling rather than having her take care of it. There was plenty of work that he took care of himself already. But he always had her schedule their pilot, Shane, and make the travel arrangements.

  Connor hadn’t left the area by her desk and his presence was beginning to make her sweat. She wondered if Connor was going to use Jack’s office while Jack was gone, and if so, how was she going to get any work done with him less than twenty feet away and always just…there? She’d be a distracted mess the entire time.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she noted his feet had started moving.

  Only he wasn’t leaving. He was stalking toward her, literally like a leopard toward its prey. Finally, all she could see was his thick, muscular thighs and the intriguing bulge in his crotch, covered by tan cargo pants, before he slammed his hands down on her desk, his blunt fingers and wide palms flattened on top of the report she was supposed to be typing.

  His biceps rippled as he leaned close, his broad solid torso loomed over her and Ava fought the urge to lean away from the clear menace in Connor’s pose. “Let’s get one thing perfectly straight,” he said softly. His face was set in fierce lines, and his multi-colored eyes glowed with fiery intensity.