Free Sunset in St. Tropez by Danielle Steel Page A

undress, Diana looked annoyed. The fraternity of men always stuck together, and as long as Robert could have some “fun,” who cared what kind of tramp Gwen Thomas was? Clearly, Eric didn't, and John was saying much the same thing to Pascale at their home.
    “Oh, alors!” Pascale was arguing with him. “And what if she is going to break his heart, or use him?”
    “Use him for what?” John said in obvious irritation. “Hell, I can think of worse fates than being used" by a movie star.”
    “Well, I can't. Robert is a kind, loving, decent, honorable man, and an innocent.”
    “Maybe she is too.”
    “Mon oeil.” My eye. “You must be drunk. Or maybe you"re jealous of him.”
    “Oh for chrissake. The poor guy has been heartbroken over Anne. Let him have some fun.”
    “Not,” Pascale looked daggers at him, “with the wrong girl.” “Give the poor guy a break. He'll probably never even see her again. I"m sure a sixty-three-year-old superior court judge isn't her idea of a hot ticket to romance. Maybe he was telling the truth, and they"re just friends.”
     
    “We have to get him out of New York, and make him come to St Tropez,” she said firmly.
    And with that, John laughed at her, and couldn't resist teasing her. “Maybe he'll bring her.”
    “Over my dead body, and Diana's,” she said nobly, and John shook his head as he got into bed.
    “God help him. The vice squad is here to protect him, poor bastard. I hope for his sake that he doesn't come to St Tropez.”
    “You have to convince him to come,” Pascale looked imploringly at her husband. “We owe that much to Anne, to protect him from this girl.” Like Diana, she had become a zealot overnight, hell-bent on protecting their friend.
    “Don't worry, there will be others. At least I hope so for his sake. What would you like me to do, get you a voodoo doll so you can protect him? I"m sure I can find one somewhere.”
    “Then get it,” Pascale said, looking righteous and enraged. “We have to do everything we can.” She was now on a sacred mission, and as he put an arm around her in their big cozy bed, all John could do was laugh at her.

5
    The last dinner the Morrisons and Donnallys shared with Robert was at the Four Seasons, just before Pascale left in June. They talked about a variety of subjects, and inevitably, they brought up the house in St Tropez. Robert still insisted he didn't want to go there, and John reminded him that he'd paid a third of it, so he might as well come.
    “That was just to cover Anne's obligations,” he said, looking sad again. “She wanted so much to go. She would have loved it.” He had a faraway look as he spoke to them.
    “So would you,” John said matter-of-factly. “I didn't want to go either. I told Pascale I wouldn't go when I found out she'd put a deposit on it before I'd agreed to it. But what the hell,” he looked a little sheepish as he said it. He had long since reimbursed her mother and agreed to go. “It'll be fun. Why don't you come with us? I don't think Anne would have wanted you not to go.” She had been far more generous of spirit than that, as they all knew.
    “Maybe,” Robert said quietly, thinking about it. “It might be fun for Amanda. Maybe she'd join me for part of it at least. I don't have to stay the whole time.”
    “There's enough room for Jeff and Mike to come too, if they come in shifts. We have plenty of room. I think Katherine and her husband will join us for a few days too.” As Diana said it, Pascale and John exchanged a look.
    She knew John wasn't in love with the idea of entertaining their kids. But after a quelling glance from Pascale, he didn't say a thing.
    “The boys go to Shelter Island in the summer, and they wouldn't have time to come to France. But Mandy would.
    I'll ask her. Maybe if she comes with me, it would do me good.”
    “It would do you good either way,” Diana said. Pascale had noticed again that night that she was looking strained.
    But Eric