Danielle Steel - Hotel Vendome

Hugues looked slightly embarrassed when he glanced at Jennifer the day after the photo incident, as he sat down in his office. It had been a close call. He hadn’t been fully involved with her yet, but he’d come close. And Hilary had had big plans for him in mind. Even he understood that now. Hilary had never been as innocent as she looked. By sheer luck, his daughter had spared him a dire fate.

“I guess it’s never too early or too late to be a fool,” he said to Jennifer with a sheepish grin as she set his coffee down on his desk.

“She was good at what she did,” Jennifer said softly, and left the room. They were all grateful that Heloise had seen through her and exposed Hilary to her dad. Heloise had saved the day.

Chapter 5

AT SEVENTEEN, THE Hotel Vendome was still all of Heloise’s world. She finished her junior year of high school, or its equivalent, and passed her first baccalaureate at the Lycee, and her father planned a summer of work for her. She was working at the front desk, in a trim navy blue uniform suit, like the other women wore. She filled in at the concierge desk, and her father had arranged for an internship for her at a sleepy little hotel in Bordeaux. An old friend of his from hotel school ran it now, and Hugues thought it would be great experience for her as a summer job. He didn’t expect her to go into the hotel business, and didn’t think he wanted her to, but he wanted her to do more than just hang around the hotel. And she was going to spend part of August in St. Tropez with her mother and Greg. Hugues was a great believer in filling one’s time. He wanted her to apply to college in the fall, preferably at Barnard or NYU so she could stay in New York, and he thought that two summer internships would look good on her application, one at their hotel and the other in Bordeaux. And Heloise liked the idea too. Like her father, she didn’t like being idle.

At almost eighteen, the biggest change in her life in recent years, other than her looks, was the addition of boys to her life. She had had several flirtations at school, and Mrs. Van Damme had introduced Heloise to her grandson Clayton earlier that year, when he came to visit from St. Paul’s. They had met when they were both thirteen and then forgot about each other. He had been in boarding school for four years of high school and graduated just as Heloise started her summer internship at the hotel. His grandmother had invited him to stay at the hotel with her in New York, and he was excited about it, and liked Heloise. They went to dinner and the movies several times and a concert in Central Park. He was going to Yale in the fall, and they enjoyed spending time together before Heloise was due to leave for France. It wasn’t serious, and they both realized quickly they just wanted to be friends. There was no chemistry between them, but the makings of a real friendship. He was a year ahead of her in school, and they were both nervous about college, and talked about it. He was a sweet boy, and his grandmother loved seeing them together. She loved them both.

Heloise was a beautiful girl. She wore her red hair tied up in a bun when she worked at the desk, and Clayton loved to tease her when she was at work and he breezed through the lobby on his way out. The other desk clerks kidded her about him, but she didn’t care. Everyone always asked her if she had a boyfriend, but she didn’t.

Hugues had turned fifty that year and worked all the time, even harder. A little salt had appeared at his temples, woven into his dark hair. He was prouder of Heloise than ever. He loved that she had gotten the first part of her baccalaureate and would complete it at the end of senior year. And he wanted her to think about careers and what she wanted to do. His dream of having her work at the hotel had faded. He wanted more than that for her and was encouraging her to think about law school, which didn’t appeal to her. He thought a career in law would open many doors to her, while the hotel would eat up her life. The one thing he didn’t want was for her to go away to school, he would have missed her too much, and he said it to her often. And she didn’t want to anyway. She had no desire whatsoever to leave the cocoon of the hotel and had never rebelled against it. Her life was still centered there.

She was particularly happy when a summer intern showed up at the front desk. He was a well-bred, intelligent boy from Milan who was attending hotel school in Europe and was going to intern at the Vendome for three months. The chemistry was instant between them, and they often worked together at the front desk. His name was Roberto, he was twenty-one years old, and Hugues was very nervous when he saw them whispering one night behind the desk. He talked to Jennifer about it the next day. She was always his best resource for parental advice and female intuition.

“I don’t want her to get involved with that boy,” he said to Jennifer unhappily, and she laughed at him.

“I don’t think you’re going to have much to say about it, or not for very long. One of these days she’s going to fall head over heels for some guy, and there won’t be a damn thing you can do about it, except pray he’s a good guy.” Her own children had both married, and she was a grandmother now. What she worried about most for Hugues was that one day Heloise would find the man of her dreams and leave, and he would be heartbroken without her. She was an integral part of his daily life, even more so because she hardly ever saw or spoke to her mother. It created an unusually close bond between them. And Jennifer knew they were both going to suffer one day when the cord was cut.

Hugues was beginning to worry about the men who would pursue her. “Roberto worries me. He’ll break her heart.” He was four years older than Heloise, more sophisticated than she was, and flirted with all the women at the desk. Heloise was enthralled with him and told Jennifer she thought he was sexy and handsome, which was hard to deny.

“She’s going away in a few weeks,” Jennifer reminded Hugues to reassure him about Roberto. “But sooner or later there’s going to be some guy. You’d better get used to it soon,” she warned him.

“I know, I know,” he said, looking worried. Jennifer was always a reality check for him. “Just keep an eye on them, and let me know what you hear. He’s too old for her right now, and a little too smooth for my taste.”

What they both heard in the ensuing weeks was that Heloise was smitten with Roberto, and he seemed to like her. But he was no fool. He wanted a good recommendation from Hugues and had no desire to anger him by toying with his daughter. So he was careful and respectful. He took her out to dinner a few times, she showed him the sights in New York on their days off, and they went for walks in the park on their breaks. But from what Hugues could tell, she hadn’t slept with Roberto, and as far as he was concerned, she left for her internship in Bordeaux just in time. He wouldn’t have trusted them together all summer. Roberto was just too handsome and appealing. Jennifer told Hugues that Heloise had told her she was still a virgin when she left. There had been a lot of kissing and fondling in the back room behind the front desk, but nothing dangerous. And when she came back from St. Tropez the end of August, Roberto would be gone. Hugues was relieved.

Heloise left for Paris on the first of July, and from there she was taking a train to Bordeaux. Hugues’s friend at the chateau where she would be interning had promised that he would take good care of her. He and his wife had a daughter the same age. Heloise was going to work at the concierge desk and wherever they needed help in the hotel. It was a small, well-run family hotel, and people rarely stayed for more than a few nights as they toured the region. Heloise was excited about the trip, and the job, although she was a little disappointed when she got there. It was a sleepy hotel, and there was less for her to do than at her father’s hotel in New York. The Chateau de Bastagne was tiny and quiet, but she liked their daughter, who drove her around the area and introduced her to her friends. Everyone they knew was in the wine business, and Heloise was learning about wine and how the grapes were grown. Everything was natural here, they didn’t use irrigation, unlike California; one of the vineyard owners told her that the vines had to “suffer” to make a great wine. She had a lot to report to her father when he called, and he was pleased.