Leonie by Elizabeth Adler

Author:Elizabeth Adler [Adler, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-307-81697-9
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2012-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

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• 40 •

Verronet sighed with exasperation as he searched through the mass of papers on Monsieur’s desk. Something would have to be done, he thought resignedly; it was impossible to find anything these days. There were still papers about the long-dead court case for the child—he had kept them all. He picked up a document and stared at it in amazement—it was a report on a proposed merger of the two steel companies. He thought it had been taken care of weeks ago. Hadn’t de Courmont told him that? The man must be going crazy. Just look at this desk! He pushed at the pile impatiently, who knew what was lost in here. All de Courmont cared about these days were the reports on Léonie and the futile search for that child. He was obsessed with that damned child! She was the reason he neglected his business matters. Why didn’t he give up on her—and Léonie? It wasn’t as though he had no other women. God, there was a succession of them—and they cost him a fortune. But he was like a child who’d lost a favorite toy—he only wanted that one!

The only things he cared about with any passion, besides Léonie and her daughter, were his automobiles—and thank heaven for that, at least he still kept those under his personal control—almost everything else was delegated these days so that he could follow her around Europe. Whenever Léonie went off on one of her tours, he’d disappear for a few days here and a few days there. He simply couldn’t keep away.

Ah! Here was what he was looking for—the breakdown of the component prices for the new limousine they had scheduled for production next autumn. As usual, rubber cost more than steel, more than almost any of the other items on the list. Those tires were becoming prohibitively priced. He thought about the rubber for a while, something must be done about it—he’d speak to de Courmont when he came in. He had a couple of ideas.

Monsieur stood at the back of the darkened theater not watching the stage, lost in his thoughts. He was there every night, as he always was when Léonie was in Paris. This was the last night of her third season and she grew more accomplished each time. He brooded on her success—it was more than success, she had become a cult, a celebrity. She was treated like a queen wherever she went, not just in France but all over Europe, and he’d heard a rumor today that she was to go to America. America! How often had she begged him to take her there. And now she was her own woman; she set fashions for others to follow, they copied her style, her hair, her look. Even the one who was waiting for him now in the blue suite of the Hôtel Crillon had blond hair, swinging smooth around her shoulders in the same long Egyptian bob that Léonie had.

The usher glanced at him disinterestedly—the man was always there, never took a seat, said he preferred to stand.

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