Read Online Hotel Vendome by Danielle Steel - Free Book Online Page B

what had happened to him after that, but she didn’t dare ask.
    Half an hour later, room service arrived and knocked on the door. She answered immediately and spoke through the door, and the waiter delivering it recognized her voice.
    “Thanks, Derek. We’re not dressed. Just leave it outside. And thank you.”
    “Sure thing. Have fun.”
    She waited until she heard the elevator door close, then pulled the rolling table in as Billy’s eyes grew wide. The food smelled delicious, and she pulled a chair up to the table for him. “Have a nice dinner,” she said softly. She wrote down her cell phone number, and told him to call her if he had any problem, or wanted something else to eat. “I’ll get you breakfast tomorrow morning. You’ll have to leave pretty early, before things get busy in the hotel. I can get you out the same door.”
    “Thank you,” he said, his eyes filling with tears again, as he started to eat the delicious dinner. “You must be an angel from Heaven, disguised as a little girl.”
    “That’s okay,” she said. “Keep the door locked, and put the chain on and don’t go out in the hall.” It never occurred to her that he might refuse to leave the next day. So far everything had gone according to plan. “And don’t answer the phone.” He nodded and devoured his steak as she let herself discreetly out of the room and went back down the stairs, happy with the way things had gone. The look on Billy’s face was worth it all.
    She checked things out in the ballroom, and the decorators and florists were setting things up for the wedding the next day. She hung around for a while, and then went down to the basement and visited the wine cellars. She stopped in the uniform room, where everything was hanging in dry cleaner bags. She knew it was going to be a long night, and all she had to do was avoid her father for the rest of it. No one was surprised to see her drifting from place to place. She let herself into the first aid station, knowing they had a bed and an exam table; with luck, she could spend the rest of the night there. It was after midnight when one of the room service cooks came in for some burn medicine and was surprised to see her there.
    “What are you doing here?” she asked with a look of surprise to see Heloise lying on the exam table half asleep. She was listening to her iPod in the dark, and both of them were startled as she leaped to her feet.
    “I’m playing hide and seek with a friend,” Heloise said nervously with a grin. “She’ll never find me here.”
    “Are you up to mischief?” the cook asked her with a suspicious look.
    “No. But please don’t tell my dad.”
    “You’d better go back upstairs.” The room service cook was not one of Heloise’s closer friends and hadn’t worked at the hotel for long. Heloise went back up to the ballroom then, and everyone had gone. There were voluminous billowing satin curtains, and Heloise concealed herself behind them and tucked in for the rest of the night. All she had to do now was wake up in time to get Billy out of the hotel. And by sheer luck, the morning cleaning crew started vacuuming at six A.M. and woke her up. She came out from behind the curtains and went back to the second floor and knocked on Billy’s door. She could hear the TV on, and she spoke through the door and told him who she was.
    He whispered through the door, “Is that you?”
    “Yes,” she whispered back, and he let her in. He looked as though he had bathed, and he was clean shaven. His hair was combed, and he looked happy to see her. “Did you get some sleep?”
    “Yeah, best night of my life.” There was an empty wine bottle next to the bed, from the minibar, but he didn’t seem drunk, and he was wide awake. He was used to getting up early to clear out of the door-ways where he lay.
    “I’ll order you breakfast. What would you like?”
    “Fried, sunny side up?” he asked cautiously, and she ordered them, with muffins, a pastry