A Fashionable Affair Read Online Free PDF Page B

my father,” she said, “or at least, what hap pened to my father.”
    “I wondered.”
    “You remember how awful it was, Patsy? There was Daddy, president of his own engineering firm, respected, successful, and then— bam —bankruptcy. None of us had any idea that Cal Perkins had been embezzling from the firm. Or making those terrible investments. He was always good ole Cal, Daddy’s trusted partner. Then Cal was in South America, and Daddy was left to face the music.”
    “Which he couldn’t do,” Patsy murmured sadly.
    “No.” Sally stared broodingly into her coffee cup. “The firm’s collapse was bad enough. Daddy’s sui cide was”—she made a gesture—”unspeakable.”
    “I know,” Patsy whispered.
    “Michael couldn’t get it out of his mind that Cal had gotten away with robbery like that for years. He couldn’t believe that an audit hadn’t picked it up. But Cal was clever, and evidently the auditor was not very thorough.”
    “Or as equally crooked,” Patsy said.
    “Or as equally crooked. Anyway, that was when Michael switched majors. Luckily, he had a wres tling scholarship, because there wasn’t any family money left. I think it’s kind of a crusade with him—to catch the crooks and protect the innocent.”
    “The incompetent nuisances with their affairs in a mess,” Patsy quoted wryly.
    “Precisely.” Sally’s thin, intelligent face was very serious. “He’s not too popular in certain quarters, I’m afraid. He stirred up a nest of hornets when he caught Blanco.”
    “Mmm.” Patsy stirred her coffee. “Who are his girlfriends?” she asked, completely changing the subject.
    “There’s been a succession,” Sally replied, “but since college, he hasn’t been serious about anyone. They’ve all been just—diversions.” She sighed. “I wish he would get serious about someone. He should have his own kids, and not be spending all his paternal instincts on mine.”
    “Mmm,” Patsy said again.
    “You too.” Sally eyed her friend. “It’s time you stopped living like a butterfly and started thinking of settling down. You adore children.”
    “Like Michael, I have yours.”
    “Well, I’m not going to nag. I know you have a fairy-tale life and make millions of dollars, but I also know the real you, the person behind that incredible beauty of yours.” She rested her chin on her hands and looked thoughtfully at said incredi bly beautiful face. “I know we were teasing you last night, Patsy, but hasn’t there ever been anyone you wanted to marry?”
    “No,” Patsy admitted regretfully. “There have been men I thought I was in love with, but to be honest, I never had any urge to marry. Which is funny, when you think of it, because I do want to get married; I do want children. But it has to be the right man, and so far ...” She made a helpless ges ture with her hands.
    “I know. I was so lucky to find Steve. Without him, the world wouldn’t make sense—if you know what I mean.”
    “Yes,” Patsy said. “I do.”
    “I used to wonder sometimes what it must be like to be you, to live inside such a flawless body. Every thing always seemed so easy for you. Anything you wanted, you got—with just a smile. The whole world was always in love with Patsy Clark.”
    Patsy’s brown eyes were somber. She brushed a stray golden-red curl off her forehead and said, “It isn’t always good to get things too easily.”
    “I suppose not. I said that to Michael once, you know, about wondering what it must be like to be you.”
    “Oh? And what did he say?”
    “He said a very strange thing—a very perceptive thing, I think. He said that great beauty can some times be a burden, that a great many people will never get beyond the beauty, will be so affected by it that they’ll totally fail to find the person under neath. He said it must often be difficult to be that person underneath.”
    There was a brief silence, and then Patsy said “That was a rather perceptive