A Perilous Eden Read Online Free PDF Page B

of man to make a person tremble. He wasn’t a man she would want to cross.
    â€œHello,” he said.
    Amber felt a little like a fool. She nodded, then smiled in return. He was an intriguing man, but Washington was full of them. Powerful men, ambitious men. She felt that this one was powerful, but maybe not so ambitious. Or maybe he just didn’t have the same ambitions as other men. It didn’t matter, she assured herself. She was standing there staring at him, which was rude, and the least she could do was say hello back.
    â€œHello,” she returned. Then she swung around quickly and started for the subway station. As she walked, she felt that he was still looking at her. She turned around. He was watching her. And he didn’t pretend to look elsewhere when she caught him; in fact, he waved. She waved back, then kept walking, more quickly. She even ran down the steps when she reached the subway.
    Once she was seated on the train, she tried to think ahead to lunch with her father, but the face of the stranger kept coming back to her.
    It would fade, she assured herself.
    By the time she reached the restaurant, she had almost forgotten his face. She wanted to tell her father the truth about what she was doing. She didn’t want him to feel sorry for her—she didn’t want him to say, “I told you so,” and she didn’t want him to worry. But neither could she forget five years of her life, and she didn’t want to pretend that what she was going through wasn’t heartbreaking.
    They had arranged to meet at Zefferelli’s, a hole-in-the-wall not too far from the Capitol building. Amber arrived first. She was pleased when Zefferelli recognized her and led her to a small booth in the back with a single glowing candle and a spotless white cloth. Amber ordered wine, then sat back to wait for her father.
    He arrived within five minutes. She saw him enter and speak with Zefferelli. She jumped to her feet, waving. She was so proud of him. He was a handsome man, with a distinguished touch of gray at the temples and his lean, straight form. He meant everything in the world to her, now more than ever.
    He weaved his way among the tables and came over to her. She hugged him enthusiastically, curiously near crying as she did. She laughed, and her eyes watered, and they broke apart at last and sat across from one another.
    After they ordered, Amber began by asking him about life in the White House. He told her about the president’s granddaughter, an eighteen-month-old, who had been left with the goldfish for a moment. She had taken all the pretty little creatures out and laid them on the table. The poor baby had been heartbroken to discover that they had all died.
    Amber laughed; then Ted told her with a sigh that things weren’t going very well. They’d had another diplomat kidnapped in Rome the other day.
    â€œHow terrible!” Amber cried softly. “Did he have a family?”
    Her father swallowed a sip of water. “Two little girls, a young, pretty wife.”
    â€œIt makes my problems seem rather shallow,” she murmured.
    Ted Larkspur took his daughter’s hands in his own. “Nothing about you has ever been shallow, sweetheart. What’s going on? I’ve been worried sick since you called.”
    â€œI left Peter, Dad.”
    Ted absorbed the information silently, nodding. “For good?”
    She shrugged. “Maybe I didn’t really intend to at first. I don’t know. Maybe I was dreaming. I might have thought that if I actually walked away—packed my bags, stored my belongings—he would realize that I wasn’t bluffing.” She smiled ruefully, picking up her wineglass. “We all just keep on believing in Prince Charming, I suppose. I thought he’d run after me and swear that he understood. So far, it hasn’t happened.”
    Ted looked at Amber. He didn’t want to say, “I told you so,” but