Nine Lives - Danielle Steel Page 0,37

was clear about his priorities, even then.

“You always were hooked on that,” she reminded him. “That was what my mother objected to, since my father was a fly junkie and it killed him.”

“What happened to your brother?” he asked her. “He was such a cute kid. And a pain in the ass occasionally.”

“He was. He died in Iraq, at twenty-three. He was a Navy pilot. It killed my mother. It took a while, but she never recovered. I married Brad right after that. I know being married to an accountant doesn’t sound glamorous, but he was such a good man, and I wanted a safe life. I knew I’d have it with him. We were happy. And the irony is that he never took a single risk. We went to New York for a two-day trip, to an accounting convention, and the plane crashed. So I guess you never know how it’s going to turn out, even if you’re with the safest guy on the planet.” And some men, like Paul, got away with taking all the risks. So far anyway.

“That’s not fair.” He was surprised she was still standing after losing her father, her brother, and now her husband, but Maggie had always been like that. Brave and determined. He knew she’d be okay now, but it must have hurt like hell.

He walked her back to her hotel then, and told her he’d pick her up at ten the next morning to go sailing. She smiled when she looked up at him and thanked him. She was thinking of him at eighteen, and what a sweet kid he was. How he had befriended her when no one else did. “That’ll be fun.” It was so odd to have run into him here and she was happy she had.

“And no scary stuff, I promise. Just a nice, tame day sail.” He had never tried to frighten her, he saved all the high risks for himself.

“I’m looking forward to it.” She went to her room thinking about him. Once she talked to him, he didn’t seem to have changed much, no matter how sophisticated he looked. He was still so appealing and so profoundly nice, but her mother had been right too. He liked everything dangerous, and had sacrificed two marriages to do it. Romantically, he was a good man to stay away from. But she had no intention of getting involved with him, and he probably wouldn’t want to either. They were just old friends connecting for a minute. There was nothing dangerous about that. It was just a funny quirk of fate that they’d run into each other. An odd coincidence, with no risk involved. He was just a reminder of a sweet memory from the past.

Chapter 6

Paul picked her up the next morning in a pale blue vintage Lamborghini that was almost a work of art. He drove her down to the port at full speed, chatting with her, and stopped next to an enormous sailboat. Suddenly, she realized that it was the one she had admired the day before. The Lady Luck was Paul’s boat.

“I saw this boat yesterday.” Maggie grinned at him in surprise. “She’s beautiful.”

“I love her,” he admitted. “I’ve had a few boats, but I only love this one. She was built in Italy. I keep her here. She’s registered in the Cayman Islands for tax reasons, I like keeping her here. I spend as much time on her as I can. In some ways, she’s home to me.” He had apartments all over the place, but his boat was home. He had certainly grown up to be footloose and fancy-free, and lived extravagantly. It suited him. He didn’t seem to be hurting, or grieving over his marriages. She wondered what kind of women he had married, probably flashy ones. They had both grown up so much in thirty years, and taken such diametrically different paths. But his seemed to be working well for him. Hers had too, until the crash. She was doing okay now. She was slowly getting back on her feet and trying to get used to being alone.

* * *

—

Their day of sailing on the Lady Luck was absolutely perfect. They motored out of the port, and when they were clear of it, the crew turned off the engine and sailed his spectacular boat, which glided peacefully through the water. He was an expert sailor, and took the wheel for a while. He had a crew of