Danielle Steel - Hotel Vendome

The wedding went off perfectly. Heloise watched it for a long time and left before they cut the cake, which was unusual for her, but she felt unwelcome after what Hilary had said and could feel her eyes on her all the time. Heloise went upstairs and watched a movie, then came back downstairs after the wedding was over and walked into her father’s office to say hi. She almost fell over in astonishment when she saw Hilary sitting there with her angel face on, laughing as Hugues poured them each a glass of champagne. Cristal, their best.

“What’s she doing here?” Heloise blurted out as Hilary turned and gave her a victorious look.

“We’re talking about the next few weddings, to bring Hilary up to speed,” he said calmly, looking unconcerned.

It amused him that whenever he wanted a private moment, his daughter never failed to show up. And he didn’t know why, but he could sense the tension between the temporary catering manager and his daughter. It made no sense. He had invited Hilary to his office for a drink after the wedding. She had done a good job, said she wanted to talk to him, and he wanted to put her at ease. And she was a lovely-looking young woman. There was no harm in sharing a glass of champagne.

“Why don’t you go upstairs, Heloise?” he suggested. “I’ll be up in time for dinner.” It was clear he wanted to be alone with Hilary. Heloise looked upset when she left the room and went back to their apartment.

“She’s very possessive of you, and her turf,” Hilary commented with an innocent smile, and he looked at her ruefully and nodded.

“She’s been the woman in my life since she was four, almost all her life, as she remembers it. She likes having me to herself.” He smiled apologetically.

“In a few years she’ll be gone,” Hilary said thoughtfully, “and you’ll wind up alone.” She sounded sympathetic. “You can’t let her run your life. She’s just a little girl.” And Hilary was a big girl who knew a golden opportunity when she saw it and planned to make the most of it while she was there. She would have liked nothing better than to become the girlfriend, or better yet the wife, of the owner of the hotel. She had read Hugues’s bios in hotel magazines for years. The temporary job at the Vendome was her dream, and so was he. She saw this as a long-term opportunity and had pounced on it when the agency offered to send her there. She had done her homework, and her plan was to seduce Hugues Martin, and she wasn’t going to let a precocious twelve-year-old stand in her way.

They drank half the bottle of champagne together, and after that Hugues went to his apartment upstairs. He was attracted to Hilary, but it was against his better judgment to get involved with an employee. She was very seductive, and he told himself that at least she was a temp. Maybe he could go out with her after she left. He was very attracted to her; and Hilary was making the most of it and flirting with him.

When he got to the apartment, Heloise was watching a movie on TV, looking unhappy. She hardly spoke at dinner, and most of Hugues’s efforts to engage her in conversation went ignored, until she finally turned to him, with tears in her eyes.

“That woman is after you, Papa. She’s a liar, and she’s mean to everyone. She yelled at Jan and made her cry.”

“She gets good results,” he defended Hilary quietly. “We’ve never had a wedding as pretty. Everything went smoothly today. She runs a tight ship. And she’s not after me,” he reassured her. It was more the reverse. He was after her. “You have nothing to worry about. You’re the only woman in my life.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, and Heloise looked at him cautiously, wanting it to be true forever.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” she said, mollified, and they chatted till the end of dinner. But she hated Hilary more than ever. She could sense that she was after Hugues. And there was something insincere about her, although Heloise didn’t know what it was.

For the next several weeks Hilary made enemies among the employees and put all her energy into charming Hugues. She was on a mission. She dropped by his office, used every excuse to talk to him, and constantly asked his advice about how “things were done at the Vendome.” It was a little oppressive, although he didn’t seem to mind it, and it flattered him, and Jennifer noticed it too. Everyone did. By the time she’d been there a month, it was clear that she was determined to land the owner of the hotel, at the altar if possible, or at least in bed. She asked him to show up at every wedding, flirted with him shamelessly, and Hugues remained proper and discreet, but they could see he was attracted to her, and Jennifer caught them kissing once in his office. She’d never seen him do that before. Hilary was relentless in her pursuit.

Jennifer was uncomfortable about her. Hilary was obvious in all her games and ploys, but she was so convincing and seemed so innocent that Hugues appeared to be falling for it hook, line, and sinker, which was unusual for him. He was usually smarter than that but she was good at the game. She was twenty-seven years old, eighteen years younger than he, and she seemed like a dangerous woman to Jennifer. And Heloise had sensed the same thing about her. What everyone felt, except Hugues, was that Hilary was not sincere. And she was playing Hugues like a violin.

Hilary seemed to get a better grip on him every day. He looked completely besotted whenever she walked into a room. Heloise was beside herself over her and talking constantly to Jan and Jennifer about her. She wanted to protect her father but didn’t know how, and then destiny intervened.

In Hilary’s tenth week at the hotel, with everyone she worked with hating her and their boss in her back pocket, providence was on Heloise’s side. She was working on a science project at school and didn’t have time for lunch, and she was starving when she got home. Instead of ordering room service, as she often did, she went down to the kitchen to find something for herself. She walked into the cold room, not sure what she wanted, and found Hilary there, wrapped around one of the male sous chefs like a snake, with her skirt hiked up to her waist, and his hand between her legs.

Heloise had never seen anything quite so graphic, but she got the drift. She was too stunned to say a word, as he pushed Hilary against the wall and reached into his checkered pants. Heloise said nothing, but with impressive clarity of mind, she held up the cell phone in her hand and snapped a picture of them. The sous chef was Italian, unbelievably handsome, and about twenty-four years old. It was obvious even to Heloise what had been about to happen.

She ran out of the cold room, before they could stop her or grab the phone. She was halfway up the stairs before they came out of the cold room, looking embarrassed. Hilary tried to look dignified but only looked foolish as the young Italian grinned. The entire kitchen staff knew it had been going on for several weeks, when she wasn’t pursuing Hugues. This was just a fling. Hugues was more of a long-term plan for her, an investment for her future, as everyone had figured out. She was a piece of work.

Breathless and with her hair flying, Heloise marched into her father’s office and stared at him across the desk.

“Where have you been? You look like you’ve run a mile.” He was smiling at her.

She didn’t say a word. She brought up the picture of Hilary and the Italian on her cell phone and laid it on her father’s desk, right in front of him, and ran out of the room. It illustrated the old adage that one picture is worth a thousand words.

No one ever knew what happened between them after that. Hugues gave Heloise back her phone that night without a word. The photograph of Hilary and the sous chef had disappeared. Hugues said nothing to Jennifer or anyone else about it. Sally came back two days later, still on a cane, but happy to be back, a little earlier than planned. And Hilary disappeared without a trace the day after the photograph was taken of her with the Italian sous chef. No one dared to mention her, and the sous chef was smart enough to say nothing. It had just been a game for him.