A ruling passion : a novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

magic."
    "Terrible idea," said Nick. "I can predict what a computer will do; I can manipulate it and control it. I couldn't do that with magic."
    "Of course not; if you could, it wouldn't be magic. What do you do when something wonderfiil and magical happens in your life? You reftise to beUeve in it? Or trust it?"
    "I don't even know what that means. It sounds like mythology. I wouldn't bet on it."
    "What do you bet on? Science?"
    "Every time."
    Valerie sighed. "It doesn't sound like a lot of ftm."
    "Fun." He repeated it thoughtfiilly. Their eyes met.
    "You'll figure it out," she said. "I'll help you."

    He grinned at her. "Every engineering student dreams of a moment like this."
    "I can arrange an endless supply of them," she said. "I do it with magic. How about starting tomorrow? I'm going riding at a friend's ranch in Los Verdes. Would you like to come?"
    "I'm not much of a rider; I'd slow you down."
    "You wouldn't let yourself. You like to lead."
    His eyebrows rose. "So do you."
    "Then we'll ride together; the best way."
    He chuckled and refilled their wine glasses. She had barely tasted hers. "Where did you learn to ride?"
    "On our farm. My mother wanted horses for atmosphere. She thinks they belong on a farm the way chintz furniture belongs in the farmhouse and velvet drapes in our apartment. But she never learned to ride, so she got the atmosphere and I got the horses."
    Nick was looking at her curiously. "I wouldn't have guessed you were from a farm."
    She laughed. "I'm from New York. That's where the velvet drapes are. The farm is a weekend place. It's wonderful. Have you been to the Eastern Shore?"
    '*No."
    She studied him. "Or to any part of Maryland?"
    "No. Or the East Coast. Or the Midwest. Or the South. I like the West and I wanted to get to know it, really know it, so I've spent my summers hitching all through it, doing odd jobs and getting to know people."
    Valerie thought again of the way he cooked: deliberate and controlled. "Not Europe either?" she asked.
    "No. Thafs for when I start earning money. Tell me about your farm. How big is it?"
    "About twelve hundred acres, I think; I can't keep track of the parcels my father buys and sells. We have a manager who runs it, and we grow corn and soybeans, and we have a huge vegetable garden; I think we feed half the town of Oxford from it. There are lovely woods with trails that my father had cut years ago so they look natural and quite wild sometimes, and of course a pool, and my mother made a croquet green a few years ago. When she and her friends play they look like a watercolor in a nineteenth-century novel. And the house sits on a rise overlooking Chesapeake Bay, so if we don't sail in one of the regattas we can watch them from the terrace. It's the perfect antidote to New

    York. And Paris and Rome, for diat matter; sometimes we come back to the farm from Europe, to unwind before we go to New York. One of these days you'll come for a visit. You'll love it." She watched him frown. "Is something wrong?"
    "No. It's just that I'm having culture shock."
    There was a brief pause. "No, you're not," she said evenly. "You've been around; you know there's a lot of money in the world, and you know how people spend it. You're just surprised because I have more than you thought I had, and now you have to re-evaluate me." She stood and began to clear the table. "Take your time."
    He watched her stack dishes in the sink. '*When did you last do the dishes?"
    "Ten years ago," she said calmly. "At camp. But I'm always willing to adapt to a strange culture."
    He burst into laughter. Everything is fine, he thought. We have so much to learn from each other and we'll get past our differences and we'll get along. We'll be together. He was surprised at how good that made him feel. He got up to make the coffee. "When did you say we're going riding?" he asked.
    Valerie Ashbrook, of Park Avenue and Oxford, Maryland, was bom to silk and sable, private schools, personal maids, and