Aces High Read Online Free PDF Page A

of course, and had very much enjoyed being persuaded by her to accept it. Still, he was conscious of the absurdity; neither of them fit their assigned roles. Several of the others did, though. But she had been right in believing that Hagen stood a greater chance of recognizing the two of them unless they were totally out of character.
    Hence the clown suits.
    He would have borne a great deal for her sake; this was certainly little enough. And he had his own ax to grind, of course, since he strongly disliked Hagen’s Byzantine hand thrusting into his life without so much as a by-your-leave.
    “You didn’t practice,” she observed severely when the children, balloons in hand, raced off.
    “I didn’t want you to laugh at me,” he retorted.
    She smiled up at him, the merry smile he had instantly fallen in love with. “I wouldn’t. You’re going to make a wonderful father, darling.”
    His blue eyes softened amazingly as they rested on her face. “I love you, you know,” he said.
    Some moments later a small, childish voice said indignantly, “Clowns don’t
kiss
! And you’ve let go of the balloons!”
    —
    “I am a great man,” Hagen said simply.
    Gigi, who was the sole audience to this grand statement, accepted it with a solemnity belied by the laughter that had leaped quickly to her eyes. “Oh, of course. I have often said so.”
    Comfortably seated on the couch in the living room of her suite, he sent her an approving look. But his voice was a bit dry when he said, “No, you haven’t, my dear.”
    “Well, not
often,
perhaps,” she admitted, still solemn. “But I do recognize it, I promise you. It is very obvious to me. You’re like Charlemagne.” She paused for reflection, then added musingly, “Or Hitler.”
    He ignored that. Splendidly. “Has Prescott discovered anything yet?”
    “He hadn’t this morning,” she replied. “I haven’t seen him in hours, however. Hagen, why are you here now? The governor isn’t due to come for two weeks.”
    “Why, I wanted to see you, my dear.”
    She eyed him with a great deal of understanding and not a little annoyance. “You may have none of my agents,” she said.
    Hagen looked innocent. “My dear Gigi—”
    “None!”
    He wore the expression of a man sadly misunderstood. “I hadn’t seen you in months, and—”
    “You saw me two weeks ago in New York,” she said tartly, even more annoyed by this base attempt to disarm her.
    “Well, but that was business, my dear.”
    “Had you something other than business in mind for this trip?” Her voice was wonderfully polite.
    He began to look a bit uneasy. “Gigi, if you’re still angry with me because of that little argument of ours—”
    “Little argument?
Little
argument?”
    Hagen cleared his throat but said strongly, “We’re both of us past the age for these stupid quarrels, my dear.”
    In an unyielding tone she said, “Your bags have been taken to the suite at the end of the hall. I have much to do; was there anything further you wished to discuss with me?”
    “Gigi!” He saw that her expression was as fierce as her voice had been, and realized somewhat unhappily that she hadn’t changed her mind. He had thought she would have by now; in fact, he had been sure of it. But she was a difficult woman, and in twenty years of knowing her he hadn’t managed a single time to sway her once she had made up her mind.
    She was his only personal failure. She laughed at him and mocked him and more than once in the past had grossly deceived him in matters of business. She went her own way with a fine disregard for his advice or wishes, and he uneasily suspected she always would.
    “Good afternoon, Hagen,” she said coolly, and rose to go over and seat herself behind the big desk by the window. Without another word or glance she became absorbed in paperwork.
    Finding himself ignored—which wasn’t an experience he was at all familiar with—Hagen heaved himself up from the couch and went gloomily