The Butler by Danielle Steel

Author:Danielle Steel [Steel, Danielle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2021-10-05T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

—

The apartment looked beautiful. Everything was in order, the wood surfaces shone. The curtains looked splendid, Olivia had arranged white flowers in a silver bowl, and bought an orchid plant for the entry hall. All her new furniture, art, and decorating touches added to the charm of the apartment, and Joachim had everything in control in the kitchen. He had brought his mother’s tray, and his black formal butler’s suit, which he was wearing with a perfectly tailored white shirt, a black Hermès tie, and impeccably shined John Lobb shoes. He looked strikingly handsome and like a butler in a movie when Olivia saw him.

“Carson never looked that good,” she said to him, and he laughed. His tall, blond, Teutonic looks served him well, and were an asset along with his training and skills.

Audrey Wellington and Jean Beaulieu arrived five minutes later. She was visibly impressed when Joachim opened the door. She was wearing a navy-blue Chanel suit, with her still-trim figure and perfectly groomed blond French twist. She’d had two very well done facelifts over the years, and maintained them with Botox shots. She looked younger than her years, was energetic and very chic, as she sat in Olivia’s new Paris living room, while Joachim served an exquisite high tea. Jean Beaulieu admired her tea service and her utterly perfect butler, as Audrey smiled at her, holding one of the Limoges cups Olivia had bought with Joachim at an auction at the Hôtel Drouot. She had gotten a service for eighteen, with only two butter plates missing.

“I was feeling very sorry for you, my dear, when I heard about the magazine. You did such a good job with it. I really enjoyed it. But now that I see you in your divine new Paris apartment, prettier than ever, with a most impressive butler,” she added, “I don’t feel sorry for you at all. In fact, I’m quite envious of you! Are you moving here?”

“I don’t know yet,” Olivia said. “I haven’t decided. I have the apartment for a year. Everything happened at once, the magazine folded. We had to do it, we held on as long as we could. My mother died at the same time, I emptied her apartment, and now I’m here. I haven’t figured out the next step yet. I’m keeping an open mind and seeing what happens.”

“Well, you’re certainly doing that in ideal surroundings, and well-staffed,” she said, eyeing Joachim, who had been the most dignified and professional Olivia had ever seen him. He really did look like a butler in a movie, and his formal service had been flawless. Then he discreetly disappeared to the kitchen. She didn’t tell Audrey that she only had her “staff” for six months, and after that, like Cinderella at midnight, the coach would turn into a pumpkin and the coachmen to white mice. Joachim would become a real butler in England again, for someone else. But he had definitely impressed her guests. Jean Beaulieu was a huge snob, and they had snowed him too.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.