Read Online Sleeping Beauty by Judith Michael - Free Book Online Page B

least he was a lesser prince, if Vince was the one her grandfather preferred. So there was no one on her side who had any power in the family. Who would believe anything she said now if Vince didn’t want them to believe it?
    â€œTamarack,” Vince said on Halloween. He sat propped against the pillows on her bed, winding a strand of her hair about his finger as she lay beside him, staring out the window. “Do you know how far we’re going to go with Tamarack?”
    â€œIt sounds like you’re chewing when you say it,” said Anne. “Like it’s a candy bar and you’re licking it and taking little bites. Like you’re swallowing one tiny bit of Tamarack at a time.”
    Vince’s eyes narrowed. He wound her hair more tightly, until she winced, and she knew she had gone too far; he didn’t like it when she saw through him. “I asked if you know how big our plans are,” he said softly. “And look at me when I’m talking to you.”
    She turned from the window and met his bright brown eyes. “I only know what Grandfather talks about at dinneron Sundays, and he hasn’t said much lately. I thought he’d finished building there. Last summer, when we were there, it was all changed; I didn’t know he wanted to do anything else.”
    â€œHe wants to make it bigger. He wants it to be the best; bigger and more exclusive than Zermatt and Gstaad. He wants it to be the most famous resort in the world.” When Anne was silent, he said, “And what do you make of that?”
    She hesitated. Often in the past few months he had asked her what she thought, mostly about plans he was making for the company and for himself. She no longer had to entertain him with stories; now he wanted to talk about himself. He even talked about his quarrels with Rita. He asked Anne how she felt about all of it, as if he wanted her advice. But Anne never gave advice. She knew what he really wanted was to be listened to and agreed with. “I guess . . . if that’s what he really wants. I didn’t want him to change it at all. I loved it the way it used to be; it was such a funky little town. All those empty miner’s cottages and falling-down buildings and unpaved streets . . . it was a nice little ghost town and the people in it kind of moved around in it without really touching it. I loved thinking it was so hidden away in the mountains it was eternal just the way it was.”
    â€œThat was a long time ago,” Vince said dismissively. “It hasn’t been like that for ten years. It won’t even stay the way it is now; in another year or two you won’t recognize it. That’s what I asked you about; you haven’t answered me.”
    Once again, Anne hesitated. She didn’t like to talk about Ethan to Vince; it seemed like a betrayal. “I don’t know anything about famous resorts. I told you, I thought Grandpa had done what he wanted; I didn’t know he wants to do more. In fact, I don’t think he does. He’s not interested in Zermatt or any other place. He just loves Tamarack. Why would he care whether it’s bigger or smaller or more famous or anything than Zermatt?”
    â€œHe put me in charge of it,” Vince said flatly.
    â€œWell, but . . . just to run it, isn’t that right? He didn’t tell you to go change it all.”
    Vince frowned. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    â€œThen why did you ask me?”
    â€œI want to know what you think about him. Sometimes you see things that other people don’t. What does he want there?”
    â€œI think,” Anne said after a moment, “he wants to make a paradise where everyone will be perfect and happy and no one will ever be sad or disappointed again.”
    Vince was amused. “He’s not a dreamer, sweetheart; he’s one of the shrewdest businessmen you’ll ever