Read Online A Perfect Stranger by Danielle Steel - Free Book Online Page B

familiar hands. But just this once it was amusing to play this game with a stranger. And she did remember him now from the night when she had been so desperately lonely and had fled the house and sat, crying, on the long stone steps that led down the hillside. She had looked up and seen him, and before he could approach her, she had fled through the garden roof. But as she thought of it she noticed that Alex was smiling at her again. Is it difficult being a magic lady?
    Sometimes. He thought he heard an accent as he listened but he wasn't sure. And then, lulled by the safety of the game, he decided to ask her.
    Are you an American magic lady?
    Still smiling at him in return, she shook her head. No, I'm not. Although she had married John Henry, she had remained a citizen of both France and Spain. She didn't see what harm could come of talking to Alex, who seemed to be staring at the collection of rings on both her hands. She knew what he was wondering, and knew also that he would have a hard time finding out what he wanted to know.
    Suddenly she didn't want to tell him, didn't want to be Mrs. John Henry Phillips, just for a while. For a little while she wanted to be just Raphaella, a very young girl.
    You haven't told me where you're from, Magic Lady. His gaze tore itself away from her hands. He had decided that whoever she was, she was successful, and he had been relieved not to find a solid band of gold on her left hand. He had decided for some reason that she probably had a wealthy father and maybe her old man had been giving her a hard time, maybe that was why she had been crying on the steps when he first saw her. Or maybe she was divorced. But the truth of it was that he didn't even care. All he cared about were her hands, her eyes, her smile, and the power he felt drawing him to her. He had felt it even at a distance, and it made him want to reach out to her again. And now he was much closer, but he knew he couldn't touch her. All he could do was play the game.
    But she smiled at him openly now. For an instant they had become almost friends. I'm from France.
    Are you? Do you still live there?
    She shook her head in answer, suddenly more sober. No, I live in San Francisco.
    I thought so.
    Did you? She looked up at him in surprise and amusement. How did you know? There was something very innocent about her as she said it. And yet at the same time her eyes were wise. Her way of speaking to him suggested that she had not been much exposed to the big bad world. Do I look like a San Franciscan?
    No, you don't. But I just had a feeling that you live here. Do you like it?
    She nodded slowly, but the bottomless sadness had come back to her eyes. Talking to her was like sailing a boat through difficult waters, he was never quite sure when he was about to run aground or when he was safe and could sail free. I like it. I don't see very much of San Francisco anymore.
    Don't you? He was afraid to ask a serious question , like why she didn't see much anymore. What do you do instead? His voice was so soft that it caressed her, and she turned to him with the largest eyes he'd ever seen.
    I read. A great deal. She smiled at him then and shrugged, as though embarrassed. Blushing faintly, she looked away and then back at him to ask a question. And you? She felt very brave, asking something so personal of this strange man.
    I'm an attorney.
    She nodded quietly and smiled. She had liked his answer. She had always found the law intriguing, and somehow it seemed a suitable occupation for this man. She had guessed that he was around her own age. In truth he was six years older than she. Do you like it?
    Very much. And you? What do you do, Magic Lady, other than read?
    For a moment, with a touch of irony, she was going to tell him that she was a nurse. But that seemed an unwonted cruelty to John Henry, so she said nothing for a moment and only shook her head. Nothing. She looked up at Alex frankly. Nothing at all.
    He wondered again what her