Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You (v1.2) Read Online Free PDF

don’t want to see how the other half lives, and nobody certainly wants to livens the other half lives. Just the thought is giving me shivers. It would only deject you. Trust me on this.”
    Shelby drew her hands into fists, trying to find the words to say what she meant. “I don’t mean poor, exactly, Uncle Alfred. I mean… I mean real. Yes, that’s what Jim called it. Real. I want to feel real. I want to experience life as a real person. A normal person.”
    “No, you don’t, darling. I have it on good authority that the real people don’t think real life is all it’s cracked up to be. And you said Jim? Who, pray tell, is Jim?”
    “Our chauffeur, Uncle Alfred. Surely you know his name.”
    He blinked at her, pushed himself away from the mantel, truly not comprehending. “Why? Is there a reason I should? It’s enough that he knows me, knows he’s supposed to pick me up, take me places, not lose me.”
    “You’re insufferably arrogant, do you know that?” Shelby asked, smiling at her uncle.
    “A large part of my charm, my darling,” he said, saluting her with the snifter. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I believe the esteemed Jim is waiting for me outside. Wouldn’t it make Somerton happier if we were to call the man James? Well, never mind about that. Do you remember who I’m squiring this evening, my pet, and, for God’s sake, why?”
    Shelby grinned, shook her head. “Mrs. Oberon, Uncle Alfred. To a special summer presentation of the opera, which explains your tails.”
    “Oh, yes, yes, the penguin suit,” Alfred said, trying to turn about to look at his own backside. “Well, I’ll be on my way then. Unless you want to discuss more of this real-life business?”
    Shelby shook her head again. “No, Uncle Alfred. That’s all right. I think this is something I’ll just have to work out for myself.”
    He patted her cheek. “Splendid idea, darling. Just don’t say work, all right? You’re a Taite, remember? Work. What a horrible four-letter word. Why, next thing we know, you’ll be abusing my sensitive ears with words like industry and discipline -and—ye gods!— social conscience.”
    Shelby bit her lip. “Uncle Alfred? Aren’t all those words somewhere on the Taite family crest?”
    “What a depressing reminder. Somerton wears the damn thing on those ridiculous blazers he wears at the yacht club, which is horribly embarrassing.” Alfred looked at her owlishly. “How you’ve pained me, to remind me of those nagging Taite responsibilities. Responsibility —another horrible word. You’re so unlike me at times. In fact sometimes, Shelby , I wonder if I had anything to do with your birth.”
    “You didn’t, Uncle Alfred.”
    “Oh, that’s right. Pity. My brother was so like Somerton, right down to that horrible cleft in his chin—which is why I wear this beard, you know, to camouflage mine own. You’d have more spirit if I’d cuckolded your father, damn me if you wouldn’t. But then, I never could abide your mother, God rest both their starchy souls.”
    Shelby’s smile faded. Not because of his comments about her parents, who’d both died a dozen years ago after living lives quite separate from those of their two obligatory offspring. It was her uncle’s comments about her lack of spirit that upset her. “I don’t have any spirit, Uncle Alfred? Do you really believe that?”
    Alfred laid down the top hat and cape he’d picked up and walked over to his niece. “Did I say that? Oh, I’m sorry, darling. But you have been moping a bit of late, haven’t you? Chin—blessedly not cleft—dragging on the carpets and all of that? You’ve been unhappy. Probably because you’re so very proper and upright otherwise.”
    “Unlike you,” she said sadly.
    “Ah, yes. I remember my own youth, long gone and sorely lamented. Was asked to leave two prep schools and three colleges—a Taite record, and one of which I remain inordinately proud. But I lived, darling, I experienced! I