Read Online The Stallion (1996) by Harold Robbins - Free Book Online

away. They talked about going out but decided instead to take a walk on the beach and then go to their suite.
    It was ten o’clock before either of them mentioned the name Angelo Perino.
    Roberta was by then wearing a peach-colored negligee, semisheer for the most part except for a panel of completely sheer material at the level of her armpits that exposed her ample breasts to easy view. She smoked a Chesterfield and had a Scotch within reach.
    Loren was naked. He sat on the floor at her feet, bending down from time to time to lick her toes.
    “The secret is to use Perino while keeping him under control,” said Roberta.
    “Yes, of course. But how do I do that?”
    “Your grandfather will help you. And so will I.”
    “I don’t know…”
    “Have confidence in yourself, Loren,” she said sternly. “The old man swore he’d never allow a Japanese engine to be put in a Bethlehem Motors car. You won that battle today.”
    “Angelo Perino hates me. Well, shit … I suppose he has good reason.”
    She reached down and stroked his cheek. “You made a mistake,” she said gently. “Everybody’s entitled to a mistake, even a big one. But you won’t do it again. Mama’ll be watching over you and won’t let you.”
    He pushed the skirt of her negligee back and licked the insides of her legs.
    “Anyway,” she said, “the old man’s on your side now.”
    “He oughta be,” said Loren bitterly. “Imagine … my grandfather fucked my mother! What the hell is Anne to me, anyway? My half sister or my aunt?”
    “Both,” said Roberta. “But what’s the difference? She stays in Europe with the prince and doesn’t meddle.”
    “Also, Perino fucked my second wife.”
    “Only before she was your wife. You can’t hate him for that. Do you hate my late husband?”
    “It’s different. Perino knew I cared for Bobbie and was planning—”
    “Forget it, Loren. You’ve got other things to think about.”
    “I won’t let that wop son of a bitch screw me again. Roberta, I hate Angelo Perino. My grandfather is going to beg him to come back with the company. I wish his plane would crash on the way down here. I could arrange some-thing like that maybe, sometime.”
    She smiled and shook her head. “I think we’d better do something for your frame of mind.” She stood and hiked the skirt of her negligee up around her hips. She sat down again and spread her legs wide. “C’mon,” she said. “And do it good, so Mama doesn’t have to put any new welts on your ass.”
4
    Cindy had at first felt a little awkward about posing nude for Amanda. There was no way she could do it without being seen by the au pair. Also, of course, Angelo wandered in and out. The baby, John, saw her, of course, but was too young to see anything significant in his mother being the only naked person in the apartment.
    She was posing when Angelo came in with the news that he’d had another call from Number One, who wanted him to come to Florida for a brief visit.
    “Your master’s voice,” said Cindy. “Are you going?”
    “I feel that I have to. It may well be that he wants to say good-bye. He’s ninety-seven, you know.”
    They had become accustomed to discussing all but the most private matters in the presence of Amanda, and Cindy sneered and said, “He’ll live until somebody shoots him in the heart with a silver bullet.”
    “He’s got a goal, he’s often told me, of living to be a hundred.”
    “What if he offers you something?”
    “Like what?”
    “Control of the company.”
    Angelo shook his head. “He won’t do that.”
    “He’d better. The company is going under.”
    Angelo glanced at Amanda. She seemed not to have heard anything, but obviously she had. Clearly, too, she knew what they were talking about.
    “He can’t depend on Number Three,” Cindy continued. “That’s obvious. He’s calling you in to bail him out. And if you do, you’re a damned fool. He tried to kill you once. How the hell can you forget