Nine Lives - Danielle Steel Page 0,36
answered with a grin. “I’ve been divorced twice, no kids. My exes tell me that my lifestyle is not compatible with marriage. Formula One racing, I climbed Everest ten years ago, helicopter skiing. I still like the scary challenges, women don’t. Not in a husband anyway. And it never seemed right to me to have kids, given the things I like to do, so I never did. It wouldn’t be fair to them.”
“So you haven’t changed.” She smiled. He still liked all the high-risk, dangerous activities, her mother had been right. But she admired him for being responsible and not adding children to the mix. And his wives had bailed. “Where do you live?”
“All over the place. Paris, London, I have an apartment there. In Paris, I have a permanent suite at the Ritz. I have an apartment here too,” he said.
“I just stayed at the Ritz,” Maggie said.
“I spend time in Switzerland too. New York occasionally. My work goes with me, so I can live pretty much anywhere.” He seemed totally at ease and comfortable in his own skin. And he looked delighted to see her again. “How old is your son?” He wanted to know everything about her.
“He just started college in September, at Boston University.” He understood better now. She was trying to find her way, and totally alone. Her husband had died, her son was gone. He felt a pang of deep sorrow for her, but she was brave and honest as she gazed at him. She always had been, and she looked no different to him now. “This is my first trip alone, and first trip to Europe,” she confessed.
“What did your husband do?” He wondered what kind of man she’d married.
“He owned a family accounting firm.”
“Do you work too?” He could just imagine it, they had had a wholesome, clean-cut, simple suburban life, and the bottom had dropped out of her world when her husband died.
“I worked for my husband’s father before we got married, and I haven’t worked full-time since our son was born. I’m trying to figure all that out now, about what to do next.” She didn’t look depressed about it. She looked like a newborn in some ways, trying to learn everything at once. It was sweet and it touched him. She seemed very pure and unspoiled, unlike the women he knew and was used to now. He admired her all the more for coming to Europe alone, which must have been daunting for her. She didn’t seem like she was looking for a husband, in her austere, plain black dress. Its simplicity somehow highlighted her beauty. There was nothing to distract from her perfect figure, and flawlessly lovely face. He thought she was a hundred times more striking than all the painted dollies in the room, half of whom were expensive hookers, which he knew Maggie didn’t realize, though he did. He was used to seeing them and could spot them with ease.
“I have a boat here. Would you like to come sailing with me tomorrow?” he asked her simply, and she nodded.
“I’d love it.” He had been her high school sweetheart, and it was fun seeing him again. “I heard that you were a famous Formula One racer, but somehow I don’t think I really connected the dots. I was living our quiet life in Lake Forest and that seemed very unreal.” She understood it better now, seeing him in this setting and how people reacted to him. He was a very big deal. “Do you still race?”
“I do. Just not as often. I do the big races for my sponsors. And in case you’re wondering if I’m an arms dealer, or a drug dealer, I’m not. I did well with racing and other dangerous pursuits, and invested intelligently. The more dangerous the sport, the higher the pay. And it does pay off very nicely. Most of the time, I follow my investments now. I have a contract to race when I want to. I pick and choose the races around the world. I don’t have a home life anymore, but no one is complaining about the risks I take either. It’s a trade-off. Freedom is addictive after a while, just like danger is. I’m hooked on the adrenaline rush.” He said it with the same mischief in his eyes that she remembered from thirty years before. And he was honest about himself. He had been as a boy too. He’d never lied to her, and