Read Online To Be the Best by Barbara Taylor Bradford - Free Book Online Page A

kiss, clung to him, and he held her hard and very tightly for the longest moment after they stopped kissing.
    ‘Oh, Shane,’ she said at last against his chest, ‘you have me.’
    ‘Yes, I know I do,’ he answered. And then with a deep chuckle he drew away from her, held her by the shoulders, and looked down into her face upturned to his. He shook his head slowly.
    ‘But you’re always surrounded,’ he continued, the residue of laughter clinging to his voice, ‘by children and relatives and secretaries and staff, and I can never seem to get you alone for very long, or have you entirely to myself for a while these days. And that’s why I decided early this morning, when I was flying up to Paris for a meeting with Jean-Claude, that we were going to have this weekend together. Without our usual encumbrances. A bit of private time for us, beforeyou leave for New York. We’re entitled to that, aren’t we?’
    ‘Yes, we most certainly are.’ Paula gave him a small, rueful smile. ‘Coming in from the airport I vowed I wouldn’t say anything about the children, and I’ve only been here a few minutes and already I’ve – ’
    Shane gently placed his hand over her mouth. ‘Sssh! I know how much you wanted to see the kids before going away, and you shall.’
    ‘What do you mean?’ she asked, giving him a puzzled look.
    ‘Tonight and Saturday belong to us, and then on Sunday morning Kevin will fly us down to the Riviera to spend Sunday and Monday at the villa with the brood. You’ll have to go to New York one day later, that’s all. On Wednesday instead of Tuesday. Okay?’
    ‘Oh darling, yes, of course! What a marvellous idea and how lovely of you to think of it, to think of pleasing them as well as us,’ she exclaimed.
    He grinned at her. ‘They’re my kids, too, you know.’
    ‘But you’ve been coping alone with them for the last two weeks and you must have had your fill of them by now.’
    ‘Only too true…in some ways. On the other hand, they’ve really been looking forward to seeing you, and I don’t want them to be disappointed, or you to think I’m an entirely selfish sod. So, I’m prepared to share you with our offspring…after all, you are going to be gone from us for five or six weeks.’
    Paula gazed up to him, loving him. ‘Yes, I am…’ She paused, hesitated, then asked softly, almost tentatively, ‘How’s Patrick? Is he all right, Shane?’ A worried frown knotted her dark brows together and her clear blue eyes turned cloudy and apprehensive.
    ‘He’s wonderful, Paula, and as happy as a sandboy, enjoying every minute of the day and having lots of fun,’ Shane reassured her, his tone very positive. ‘Please, darling,don’t worry so much.’ He put his hand under her chin, tilted her face to his and added, ‘Patrick manages very well, really he does.’
    ‘I’m sorry, Shane, I know I fuss about him, but he’s such a little boy and so diffident…and different. And the others can be so boisterous at times, and I’m always afraid he’ll get hurt when he’s out of his usual environment…’
    She let her sentence trail off, not wanting to express the thought that anything might ever happen to their first-born child. Patrick, who was seven, was slow, retarded, and she could not help being concerned about him when he was not under her sharp and watchful eyes.
    Although Shane was equally protective of their son, he was constantly – if gently – chastising her for being overly anxious. Deep down, she knew Shane was right and so she tried very hard to control her anxiety, to treat Patrick as if he were perfectly normal, like his five-year-old sister, Linnet, and his half-brother and half-sister, Lorne and Tessa, the twelve-year-old twins fathered by Jim Fairley.
    Shane, observing her carefully, fully understanding her complex feelings about Patrick, said with a confiding smile, ‘I haven’t mentioned this to you before, but Linnet’s become a real little mother while