Star by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online Page A

silent approval. “I’ll come to see Tom too …” His voice drifted off, wanting to say “and you,” but he knew he couldn’t say that to her. She would have thought he was crazy, and he didn’t want to scare her. Maybe it was the wine, he told himself, maybe she wasn’t as beautiful as he thought she was, maybe it was just the mood, and the day, and the aura of the wedding. But he knew it was more than that, that she was more than that. And then, with a last look, and a shy smile, she waved and went back to the others. He stood watching her for a long time, as her brother said something to her, pulled her hair, and then suddenly she was running after him, and teasing and laughing, as if she had forgotten they had ever met, but as he started to walk away he saw her turn toward him and stand for an instant, watching him, as though she wanted to say something to him, but she didn’t. She returned to watching the others as he walked back to Boyd and Hiroko.
    He saw her again before he left, standing on the porch, talking to her mother, and it was obvious she was being scolded for something. She carried a heavy platter into the kitchen, and she didn’t come out again, and a moment later, he was driving away, still thinking of the child he had met. She was like a wild colt, beautiful and untamed and free, the child with the eyes of a woman. He laughed at himself then. It was crazy. He had a life to live in a world far from here. There was no reason for him to be attracted to a fourteen-year-old girl in the lush wilderness of the Alexander Valley. No reason except that she wasn’t just any girl. Even her name told him she was different. Crystal. He said it to himself as he drove away, remembering his promise to Boyd and Hiroko to come back and see them after the summer. Maybe he would … maybe he really would … the odd thing was that suddenly he knew that he had to.
    And as Crystal helped her mother clear the last of the platters away, she found herself thinking of him, the handsome stranger from San Francisco. She knew who he was now. She had heard Tom talking about him, his commanding officer in Japan. Tom had been pleased he’d come to the wedding, but he had more important things to think about. He and Becky had left in a shower of rice for their honeymoon by the ocean in Mendocino. They’d be gone for two weeks, and then they’d come home to live in the cottage on the ranch, and work with her father, and have babies. It all seemed so boring when Crystal thought of it. So expected and ordinary. There was nothing magical about their lives, nothing rare and unusual, unlike the people she dreamed about, or the movie stars she read about. She wondered if she’d be like that one day, married to one of the boys she knew, one of Jared’s friends, one of the boys that she still hated. It was odd, as she thought of it, she felt pulled in two directions,toward the familiar world she knew … and a world far beyond it, full of mystery and handsome strangers, like the one she had met at her sister’s wedding.
    It was midnight by the time they’d finished the dishes and cleaned up the last of the mess left over from the wedding. Everything was put away, and Grandma had already gone to bed. The house seemed oddly quiet as Crystal said good night to her parents and her father walked her slowly to her room, and kissed her on the cheek with a tender look.
    “It’ll be your turn one day … just like Becky.”
    She shrugged, not anxious for it, and Jared hooted as he walked past to his own bedroom.
    Her father smiled down at her again.
    “Want to ride with me tomorrow? I’ve got some work to do you could help with.” He was so proud of her, so much more than she knew, as she smiled up at him and nodded.
    “I’d like that, Daddy.”
    “I’ll wake you at five. Get some sleep now.” He ruffled her hair and she closed the door softly. It was the first night she would sleep alone in the room without her sister, and it