Black Moonlight Read Online Free Page B

onto the verandah. Up here, above the trees and dense vegetation, the clean ocean air circulated freely. It provided a breezy refuge for the island’s human inhabitants and a cool napping spot for the small, fluffy black cat curled up on the verandah floor just outside Marjorie and Creighton’s bedroom.
    Creighton followed his wife through the window and smiled as he watched her stoop down and scratch the stray behind the ears.
    “How’s that?” she asked the young cat as he purred and rolled onto his back. “Does that feel good?”
    “You know, I’ll roll around like that too if you rub me the right way,” Creighton remarked with a twinkle in his eye.
    Marjorie stood up and threw her arms around her husband’s neck. “Hmmm. That, I’d like to see.”
    “Coming right up,” Creighton quipped as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her.
    All the while, the scrawny black cat meowed and rubbed against Marjorie’s leg.
    “I know this honeymoon hasn’t been a lot of fun for you,” Creighton acknowledged. “Between your seasickness and then finding my whole family here—”
    “I don’t mind your family being here,” Marjorie said supportively as she reached down and picked up the mewing cat. “I won’t lie and say it wouldn’t have been nicer had we been alone, but I want to get to know your family. I want to know everything about you.”
    She gazed out upon the water and the low-hanging red sun. “I couldn’t imagine a more beautiful place to be right now.”
    “I couldn’t imagine a more beautiful woman to be with,” Creighton replied as he undid the shoulder tie of her sundress and kissed her again.
    Marjorie kissed him back and then, opening one eye, glanced at her watch. “Oh!” she cried. “Drinks are at seven-thirty. We only have—”
    Creighton drowned out her next words by placing his mouth on hers. “We have time enough,” he reassured as he pulled her back through the bedroom window.
    Moments later, Creighton could be seen closing the shutters of the bedroom. But not before evicting a certain black cat.

Giggling and snorting, Marjorie and Creighton stumbled down the large cedar staircase just as the grandfather clock in the study sounded the half hour.
    Upon reaching the entry hall, they exchanged a quick kiss and re-examined each other’s appearance for any evidence of their recent activities. Perhaps it was the glow of love, but they could find few flaws. Creighton was dashing in his recently purchased white dinner jacket with silk piping, black tie, and black trousers, and Marjorie resplendent in a new green silk t-back evening gown, silver pumps, and a pair of emerald and diamond earrings. After a quick straightening of Creighton’s tie by Marjorie and an even quicker pat of Marjorie’s bottom by Creighton, they walked, arm-in-arm, into the study to face the Ashcroft family.
    Fitted with cedar bookshelves, an Adams-style fireplace, and satin drapes in a classic palm frond motif, the study made an intimate gathering area for hors d’oeuvres and aperitifs.
    Griselda had changed from her swimsuit into a retina-damaging gold-sequined evening gown with a daringly low back. She played the role of hostess to the hilt. “Manhattans?” she asked Marjorie and Creighton as she leaned over the well-stocked bar trolley.
    They nodded their consent and were immediately accosted by a small, slightly plump woman in a black, ruffle-sleeved evening dress that overwhelmed her small stature.
    “Creighton!” she exclaimed in a soft English accent, as she endeavored to stretch her short arms around Creighton’s tall frame.
    “Hi, Pru. It’s wonderful to see you,” Creighton greeted, as he leaned down and planted a kiss on his sister-in-law’s cheek.
    “And I know who this is,” she asserted as she moved to Creighton’s wife. “You must be Marjorie! I’m Prudence, but you can call me Pru. I’m so glad we’re going to be sisters. It’s been just me and the men for much too