Lady Boss by Jackie Collins Read Free Book Online Page A

there’d never been anyone quite like Gino the Ram. What a nickname! Lucky couldn’t help smiling.
    â€˜What are
you
grinnin’ at?’ Gino demanded, sitting down and winking at their regular waitress – a big, surly woman who saved all her good moods for Gino.
    â€˜I was reflecting on your lurid past.’
    â€˜Sweetheart, you don’t know nothin’.’
    â€˜Bullshit.’
    â€˜My daughter the lady.’
    â€˜Just what you wanted, huh?’
    Their eyes met, full of warmth. Gino summoned the waitress and ordered his favourite red wine and hot crusty bread to be brought to their table immediately.
    â€˜It’s on the way,’ the waitress said triumphantly.
    He pinched her big ass, making her day. ‘What a girl!’ he said, and then he turned his full attention to Lucky. ‘How’s Bobby – an’ more important, when am I gonna see him?’
    Gino was crazy about his grandchild, and never stopped complaining about the boy being educated in England.
    â€˜Bobby is fine,’ Lucky replied. ‘I speak to him every day. Naturally he sends you his love. You’re his favourite, as if you didn’t know.’
    â€˜The kid would be better off in New York,’ Gino grumbled. ‘He’s an American, he should be here. What’s he gonna learn in one of them fancy schmancy English schools?’
    She did not feel the time was right to remind her father that Bobby was half Greek. ‘Manners,’ she said.
    â€˜Ha!’ Gino snorted his amusement. ‘I sent you to Switzerland to learn manners, an’ look what happened to you!’
    â€˜Yeah, look what happened to me. I
really
bummed out, didn’t I?’
    The waitress poured a drop of wine for Gino to taste. He sipped, nodded. ‘You’re one hell of a Santangelo,’ he said, facing his daughter. ‘You got my street smarts, your mother’s class,
and
you’re a looker on top of it all. We did OK by you, kiddo, huh?’
    â€˜Thanks a lot. Don’t
I
get any credit?’ Lucky asked good-naturedly.
    â€˜It’s all in the genes, kid.’
    â€˜Sure.’
    Gino’s eyes scanned the restaurant as he drank his favourite wine and tore into the freshly baked bread. ‘So,’ he said slowly, ‘tell me, what’s so important that I had to leave Paige? She thinks I got another broad stashed away.’
    â€˜At your age?’ Lucky asked, raising a sceptical eyebrow.
    â€˜Listen, kid, age has nothin’ t’do with nothin’. Just remember that. In your head you’re always whatever age you wanna be – an’
I’m
stickin’ to forty-five.
Capisce?
’
    My father is a remarkable man
, Lucky thought.
He’s probably going to die on the job — humping his way to heaven!
    â€˜You’re grinnin’ again,’ Gino said. ‘What’s up? Are you pregnant? You an’ Lennie hit the old jackpot, huh? Is that what you got to tell me?’
    â€˜No
way!
’
    â€˜OK, OK, so don’t get excited. It’s about time Bobby had a brother or sister, I’m only askin’.’
    â€˜Why is it that whenever a woman has a secret, every man in the world naturally assumes she’s pregnant?’
    â€˜So stab me in the back. I came up with a bad guess.’
    Taking a deep breath she made her announcement. ‘I’m going to buy a movie studio.’
    â€˜You’re gonna do
what?
’
    â€˜I’m buying Panther Studios,’ Lucky went on excitedly. ‘The studio that has Lennie tied to a three-picture deal.’ Her eyes glowed. ‘You see, the truth is he’s hating every minute of the movie he’s shooting now. He wants out, and
I’m
going to arrange it. Not out – but control. All the control he wants! Isn’t it a sensational idea?
I
own the studio, and
he
gets his freedom.’
    â€˜Slow down, kid – an’ correct me if I’m