Sidney Sheldon - Sidney Sheldon’s Chasing Tomorrow

Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

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London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2014

Copyright © Sheldon Family Limited Partnership, success or to the rights and interest of Sidney Sheldon 2014

Cover layout design © HarperColl‌ins Publishers Ltd 2014

Cover photograph © BBA Travel / Alamy (bridge)

Tilly Bagshawe asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 978-0-00-754198-0

Ebook Edition © October 2014 ISBN: 9780007542017

Version: 2016-10-31

For Katrina, with love.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Prologue

Part One

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Part Two

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Part Three

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Acknowledgments

Keep Reading – If Tomorrow Comes

Keep Reading – Sidney Sheldon & Tilly Bagshawe 3-Book Collection

Keep Reading – Reckless

About the Author

Also by Sidney Sheldon

About the Publisher

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

HE TURNED AROUND AND LOOKED BACK down the empty church, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

‘She’s not coming, is she? She’s changed her mind.’

‘Of course she’s coming, Jeff. Relax.’

Gunther Hartog looked at Jeff Stevens with genuine pity. How terrible it must be to be so in love.

Jeff Stevens was the second-most-talented con artist in the world. Sophisticated, urbane, rich and charming, Jeff was wildly attractive to the opposite sex. With his athletic build, thick dark hair and intensely masculine aura, Jeff Stevens could have had any woman he wanted. The problem was, he didn’t want any woman. He wanted Tracy Whitney. And with Tracy Whitney, one could never quite be sure…

Tracy Whitney was the most talented con artist in the world. It had taken Jeff Stevens a long time to realize that he couldn’t live without her. But he knew it now. The sinking feeling in his stomach got worse. Thank God there were no guests in the church. No one to witness his humiliation, apart from Gunther and the crotchety old priest, Father Alfonso.

Where is she?

‘She’s fifteen minutes late, Gunther.’

‘That’s a bride’s prerogative.’

‘No. It’s more than that. Something’s wrong.’

‘Nothing’s wrong.’

The old man smiled indulgently. He’d been honoured when Jeff asked him to be best man at his and Tracy’s wedding. In his late sixties, with no children of his own, Gunther Hartog loved Jeff Stevens and Tracy Whitney like family. Their union meant everything to him, particularly after the blow of their joint decision to go straight. A tragedy, in Gunther Hartog’s opinion. Like Beethoven retiring after his fourth symphony.

Still, it was wonderful being back in Brazil. The warm, wet air. The scent of bolinhos de bacalhau, the delicious codfish fritters cooked on every street corner. The riot of colour that existed everywhere, from the jungle flowers, to the women’s stunning dresses, to the frescoes and stained glass windows of the tiny, baroque Chapel of St Rita, where they now stood. All of it made Gunther Hartog feel young again. Young and alive.

‘What if Pierpont got wise?’ The worry lines deepened on Jeff Stevens’s face. ‘What if…?’

He stopped, midsentence. There, silhouetted in the church doorway, stood Tracy Whitney. The sunlight blazing behind her looked almost like a halo, as if Tracy were an angel sent from heaven. My angel. Jeff Stevens’s heart soared.

Tracy’s slender figure was shown off to perfection in a simple, cream silk dress, and her shining chestnut hair cascaded around her shoulders like poured molasses. Jeff Stevens had seen her in countless guises over the years – Tracy’s was a fluid, changeable beauty, which accounted for part of her success as a con artist – but he had never seen her look more lovely than she did today. Tracy’s mother used to tell her that she had ‘all the colours of the wind’ in her. Jeff Stevens understood exactly what Doris Whitney had meant. Today Tracy’s eyes, incredible eyes that could change from moss green to dark jade according to her mood, sparkled with happiness, and with something else besides. Triumph, perhaps? Or excitement? Jeff Stevens felt his heart rate quicken.

‘Hello, Gunther, darling.’ Tracy walked purposefully toward the altar, kissing her mentor on both cheeks. ‘How wonderful of you to come.’

Tracy Whitney loved Gunther Hartog like a father. Tracy missed her father. She hoped he would have been proud of her today.

Turning to Jeff Stevens, she said, ‘Sorry I’m late.’

‘Never apologize,’ said Jeff. ‘You’re far too beautiful for that.’

He noticed that her cheeks were very flushed, and a fine mist of sweat had begun to form on her brow. Almost as if she’d been running.

Tracy smiled.

‘I have a good excuse. I was picking up your wedding present.’

‘I see.’ Jeff smiled back. ‘Well, I do like presents.’

‘I know you do, darling.’

‘Especially when they’re from you.’

The priest interrupted grumpily, looking at his watch. ‘Perhaps we could begin?’

Father Alfonso had a baptism to perform in an hour. He wished these tiresome Americans would get a move on. The explosive sexual chemistry between Jeff Stevens and Tracy Whitney made Father Alfonso deeply uncomfortable. As if he were committing a sin just by standing next to them. On the other hand, they had tipped him very handsomely for the use of the chapel at such short notice.

‘So did you get it?’ Jeff asked, not taking his grey eyes from Tracy’s.

‘Get what?’

‘My present, of course.’

‘Oh yes.’ Tracy grinned. ‘I got it all right.’

Jeff Stevens kissed her passionately on the mouth.

Father Alfonso coughed loudly. ‘Please, Mr Stevens. Restrain yourself! Estão na casa de Deus. This is a place of worship. You are not yet married.’

‘Sorry.’ Jeff grinned, looking anything but.