Star by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online

he had been their CO. It was unimportant. “And Hiroko too. Do you know her?”
    She shook her head slowly. “No one’s allowed to talk to her.”
    He nodded, sad for them, but not surprised. It was what he had feared for them from the first and now this startling creature had confirmed it. “That’s too bad. She’s a nice girl. I was at their wedding.” It was hard finding things to say to her, because she was so young, and because he felt everything in him constrict with longing as he looked at her, and then he wondered if he was crazy. She was a child, he told himself, or a very young girl anyway. She couldn’t have been more than fourteen or fifteen, and yet everything about her made him feel breathless.
    “Are you from San Francisco?” He had to be. People in the valley didn’t look like him, and she couldn’t imagine being from anywhere farther than San Francisco.
    “I am now. Actually, I’m from New York. But I’m going to school here.” He smiled at the words, and she laughed openly, a clear sound like a mountain stream, as she came a little closer. The other children were still playing in the distance, and they didn’t seem to have missed her.
    “What kind of school?” Her eyes were bright and alive, and he sensed that hidden beneath the shyness was mischief.
    “Law school.”
    “That must be hard.”
    “It is. But it’s interesting, and I like it. What do youdo?” It was a foolish question and he knew it. What could she do at her age, other than go to school and play with her friends in the valley.
    “I go to school.” She pulled a long blade of grass from where she stood and played with it.
    “Do you like it?”
    “Sometimes.”
    “That sounds about right.” He smiled at her again and wondered what her name was. Probably Sally or Jane or Mary. People didn’t have unusual names here. And then, as though it would matter to her, he introduced himself, and she nodded, still watching him with cautious fascination.
    “I’m Crystal Wyatt.” The name seemed perfect for her.
    “Are you related to the bride?”
    “She’s my sister.”
    He wondered that Tom hadn’t waited for her instead, but perhaps people here didn’t realize how incredibly beautiful she was, although it was hard to imagine that they didn’t.
    “It’s a beautiful ranch. It must be a nice place to live.”
    She smiled then, more openly than before, as though anxious to share a secret. “It’s prettier back in the hills, there’s a river you can’t see from here. My dad and I ride up into the mountains together sometimes. It’s beautiful back there. Do you ride?” She was curious about him, almost as curious as he was about her, as he listened to her.
    “Not very well. But I like it. Maybe I’ll come back some day and you and your dad can show me.” She nodded, as though she liked the idea, and then someone called her. She ignored it at first, and then turned, and was sorry she had. It was her brother. Spencer felt his heart sink. They had finally missed her. “It was nice talking to you.” He knew that in a moment she would leavehim, and he wished he could reach out and touch her for just an instant. He was afraid he would never see her again, and he wanted to make time stand still so he would always remember that moment, beneath the trees … before she grew up … before she went away … before life could change her.
    “Crystal!” There were several voices raised in chorus now. And there was no ignoring them. She shouted to them that she would be there in a minute.
    “Will you really come back one day?” It was as though she sensed it too. As though she didn’t want him to leave her, she had never seen a man as handsome as he was, except the movie stars she’d pinned up on her wall. But he was different, he was real. And he talked to her as though she weren’t a baby.
    “I’d like to come back. Now that I know Boyd is here, maybe I’ll drive up sometime to see him.” She nodded, as though in