A Sudden Change of Heart by Barbara Taylor Bradford Read Free Book Online Page A

picking up the menu on the coffee table. “I’m going to have
anything
with their
pommes frites.
They make thebest, as you well know.” She grinned. “If I eat too many meals here, I’m going to start putting on weight. I just can’t resist them.”
    “I know what you mean. I’m going to have grilled sole —and
pommes frites
too.”
    “That’s what I’ll have. Want anything first, Claire?”
    “Just a green salad. Hercule thinks I look like a waif, far too thin. What do you think? I don’t, do I?”
    “You’re a bit thinner than you usually are, but you look great, Claire, honestly, and very chic. I love you in deep purple. It sets off your red hair.”
    “Thanks. I must admit, I have been dieting a bit more strenuously to fit into my dress for Hercule’s New Year’s Eve party.” She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “He gave me a bit of a lecture on the way from the studio. About my weight, I mean.”
    “He fusses about you, I know that. But then, he loves you.”
    Claire stared at her and raised a brow. “Like a father, yes, I realize that.”
    “Not like a father,
no.
Like a lover, or, rather, a potential lover, potential husband.”
    “You’ve got to be kidding!” Claire exclaimed, looking askance. “Hercule and me. Don’t be so silly.”
    “I’m not being silly. I’ve always known he has … well … a thing about you, Claire. It’s written all over his face. Even Doug has mentioned it to me, and more than once.”
    “So I’m the last to know, huh?” Claire shook her head vehemently. “I love him as a person. He’s been wonderful to me always, my best friend in Paris … but I’m not interested in him …
romantically.”
    “Because he’s too old, you mean?” Laura probed.
    “No, age doesn’t matter, and in any case, he’s much younger than a lot of people I know in their thirties, even though he’s seventy-six. I’m just not interested in men anymore. I’ve told you that for years now. Shall we order dinner?”
    “Yes, let’s, and I’m going to have another champagne. What about you? Another martini?”
    “God, no! I’ll be drunk. One’s enough for me.”
    Laura went to the phone, dialed room service, and gave their order. Then she went on carefully. “Look, just because you had one bad experience doesn’t mean you’ve got to close up shop, close your heart to another man. Okay, so you’re not interested in Hercule, but maybe there’s somebody else out there who’s just right for you, Claire, if only you’d give yourself half a chance—”
    “No!” Claire cried softly but emphatically. “I’m not interested. Marriage is a battlefield, and I have the scars to prove it. I won the war by getting off the battlefield, and I’ve no intention of putting myself in the line of fire ever again.” She laughed hollowly. “Being in harm’s way is being no place … no place at all.”
    “Marriage doesn’t have to be a battlefield,” Laura argued. “Mine isn’t.”
    “You’ve been luckier than most, Laura. You met Doug and fell in love, and somehow, for you, it all went smoothly. No arguments and fights, no big differences of opinion. The two of you perfectly in sync, leading nice, orderly, happy lives together.”
    “You make it sound awfully dull!” Laura exclaimed. “Doug’s not all that easy to live with, and you know he isn’t. He’s persnickety, a perfectionist, and he can be veryopinionated. And he’s a nag! God, he never stops nagging about my having a baby—” Laura broke off and pursed her lips, shook her head. “That sounds disloyal,” she finished lamely, looking chagrined. She sat back hard against the sofa.
    “I know he nags you about having a child, but it could be his fault you don’t get pregnant. Why does he blame you?”
    “I don’t know, but he does. At least, that’s the way it seems to me. We’ve both been tested again, and there’s nothing wrong with either of us, seemingly. But pregnant I’m not.”
    “Do you
want
a