Pride After Her Fall Read Online Free PDF Page B

want to keep quiet about that when you meet him.’ Simone sounded arch. ‘You didn’t do any research, did you?’
    ‘I haven’t had time. It was dumped on me yesterday.’
    ‘You do know Nash Blue is a racing legend?’
    ‘Really?’ Lorelei asked without interest, concentrating on weighting the folder down on the passenger seat with her handbag.
    ‘He’s a rock star of the racing world. He’s broken all sorts of records. He retired a few years ago at the height of his career and—listen to this, cherie— he was earning close to fifty million a year. And I’m not talking euros. He was one of the highest paid sportsmen in the world.’
    Must be nice, Lorelei thought vaguely.
    ‘He gave up the track to design supercars—whatever they are. I think the consensus is he’s some kind of genius. But, putting that aside for a moment, he’s utterly gorgeous, Lorelei. I confess I’m a little envious.’
    Unexpectedly Lorelei pictured a pair of intense blue eyes and wished she had this morning to do over again.
    ‘I’m sure I’ll do something to annoy him. I’m on a roll with that, Simone.’
    ‘He rarely gives interviews. The few times he has he’s been famously monosyllabic.’
    Lorelei’s heart sank. So she was going to have to do all the talking?
    ‘But be en garde, cherie. He has a reputation with the ladies.’
    ‘Oh, please. If he doesn’t talk how does that even work?’
    ‘I don’t think much talking is involved.’
    Lorelei rolled her eyes. ‘I think I’m quite safe, Simone. You forget—I grew up watching Raymond ply his trade. I have no illusions left.’
    ‘Not all men are rascals, cherie. ’
    ‘No, you married the one who wasn’t.’ It was said fondly. Lorelei found solace in Simone’s happy marriage, her family life. But it wasn’t something she ever envisaged for herself. Apart from Simone, her longest relationship had been with her twelve-year-old horses.
    ‘All I’m saying is Nash Blue was a bit of a player in his racing days, and given his profile I doubt anything has changed.’
    ‘ Oui, oui. I’ll keep that in mind.’
    ‘All the parties and famous people you meet—you are one lucky girl, cherie. ’ Simone sounded quite wistful.
    ‘I guess.’
    And now she was lying to her best friend.
    For a glancing moment Lorelei wanted to tell Simone about all the unreturned phone calls, the unopened emails...
    But she couldn’t tell her. She was so ashamed she had let it get to this point.
    The villa was a money pit she couldn’t afford to keep up, and the charity was an ongoing responsibility that took time away from paid work. Her father’s legal fees and creditors had basically stripped her of everything else.
    She’d lost so much in the last two years, first Grandy to illness and then her faith in Raymond. Right now the only thing that felt certain in her world was the home she had grown up in, and she was holding on to it by the skin of her teeth.
    ‘Keep me updated, cherie. ’
    ‘Absolutement. Je t’aime.’
    Lorelei was still thinking about the call as she turned into the Place du Casino and began thinking about where she was going to leave her car. She was running late, and thoughts of what awaited her at home were proving a distraction despite her best efforts to pretend to the contrary. Yet the sun was shining, which lifted her spirits, and she told herself she deserved to cut herself a little slack. Tomorrow she’d deal with all those intrusive emails. She might even front up at her solicitor’s office—although perhaps that was going overboard.
    She stilled as she caught sight of a familiar red Veyron parked right outside the hotel entrance. Brakes squealing, she came to a standstill midtraffic. The adrenalin levels spiked in her body, but it wasn’t anything to do with thoughts of bills and creditors. Her heart pounded.
    Behind her horns blared. She made a wide go-around-me gesture with her arm, scanning for a spot. She found one and cut across the flow of