The Affair: Week 4 Read Online Free PDF

avid fans of stock cars, though,” he said, stirring his coffee thoughtfully. “My company sponsors stock car racing here in the States, and F1 racing in Europe, but this is the first time we’ve tried to do a stock car road race in France. You’ve heard of the Monaco Grand Prix? My race won’t be covering that specific route, but we’ll still be on very hallowed F1 racing ground.”
    “And you’re worried the French will give your American cars the cold shoulder?” she asked, taking a sip of coffee.
    “And the drivers, yes. Although I’ve managed to convince some very big names in European racing to enter, including some major Formula One drivers.”
    “And they all will drive stock cars?”
    “That’s the agreement.” Something about his wry expression suggested to her that he’d wrestled and bargained considerably to get that agreement from the Formula One racecar drivers. He noticed her raised brows. “It helped having Niki as the Montand Formula One driver. He agreed to it, and then dozens of drivers signed on, if only for the chance to beat him at a game where he might show a weakness.”
    “Niki Dellis is a racecar driver?” Emma asked, recalling the handsome, charming man at Cristina’s funeral.
    “The best,” Vanni said simply. “He’s driven a Montand car almost since the beginning of his career.”
    “Is Niki French as well?”
    “Greek. Although he has relations in Italy, Monaco and France. He comes from a very old family.” He seemed distracted for a moment, his long, blunt-tipped fingers caressing the handle of his coffee cup. Warmth infused her. It was a strangely erotic sight, his masculine fingers idly stroking the delicate china. “In fact, Niki is distantly related to Cristina.” Emma blinked in surprise. “Cristina and her sister were both renowned Italian socialites. Her sister is Maria Carboni.”
    “The actress?” Emma asked, vaguely familiar with the curvy, tempestuous film actress who had transferred her success to Hollywood in the 1960s and ’70s.
    Vanni nodded. “Maria is Niki’s grandmother, an older sister of Cristina’s. I try not to hold his relationship with Cristina against him,” he said with dark amusement. “But that’s how we met. He came and visited us in the States when he was ten, and we’ve been friends since.”
    “When did your father marry Cristina?”
    “When I was eight. Nine months after my mother died.”
    He appeared entirely impassive saying it, but something struck her. She set down her coffee cup with a clatter she hadn’t intended. “Your mother passed away the year before Adrian did?” she asked weakly.
    He nodded once. “I suppose someone like you would say it was a blessing.”
    “
What
?” she asked, stunned and more than a little confused. “What do you mean
someone like me
?”
    “Someone who believes that there’s meaning in something random like death,” he said. He noticed her stung expression. “Since my mother died young of leukemia, she never had to see one of her children die. That would have killed her on its own. You probably see that as a blessing. Meaningful. That’s all I meant. Of course, Adrian would never have died if she hadn’t died first, and if my father hadn’t felt the need to run off and find someone else to fill his bed and play mother to us. Someone entirely incompetent, at the latter task, anyway,” he added cynically under his breath.
    She sat forward slightly. “Is that what you think?” she asked quietly. “That I don’t realize how hard it is, how sad, to lose someone you love, just because I told you about my experience with dying? That’s not fair, Vanni.” He blinked at the cold steel in her tone. “I still grieve my mother. I miss her every day of my life. Do you want to know the real reason I haven’t gone all self-righteous over this whole thing with Amanda and Colin?”
    “I assumed it was a combination of the facts that you were ready for the relationship to end and