Free Star by Danielle Steel

Her voice was as unforgettable as her face, and Spencer closed his eyes and let himself drift in the pure, sweet beauty of it, as the sheer power of her voice held him spellbound. She sang four songs, and the last strains seemed to soar into the summer sky like angels flying toward the heavens. There was a long silence when she stopped as everyone stared at her in fresh amazement. They had heard her sing a hundred times before and yet when they heard her again, it always moved them. There was an explosion of applause, and Tad wiped his eyes, as he always did, and in a few minutes the crowd dispersed, and they went back to their conversations and their drinking, but for a moment she had made each of them fall in love with her. And Spencer couldn't bring himself to speak to anyone for a long moment after he'd heard her. He wanted to talk to her again, but she had gone off somewhere with her father, and he didn't see her again until it was time to go, and she was standing near her parents, shaking people's hands as they thanked them for lunch and gathered up their children.
    Spencer thanked her parents dutifully as well, but then suddenly he had her hand in his own, and he was terrified that the moment between them was too fleeting. He might never see her again, and he couldn't bear the thought as he looked into her eyes and wanted to hold on to her forever.
    You didn't tell me you could sing like that. His voice was whisper soft as his eyes caressed her. But she laughed, looking young again, and embarrassed at the unexpected compliment. She had sung the songs for him, and she wondered if he knew that. You might get to Hollywood after all.
    She laughed again, the sound as musical as her singing had been. I don't think so, Mr. Hill ' I don't really think so.
    I hope we meet again one day. Their eyes grew serious and she nodded.
    So do I. But they both knew it was less than likely.
    And then, he couldn't stop himself from saying the words. I won't forget you, Crystal ' ever ' take care of yourself. Have a good life ' don't marry someone who doesn't deserve you ' don't forget me ' what could he possibly say to her without sounding like a total fool, and he could hardly tell her that he loved her.
    You too. She was nodding solemnly. She knew he was leaving for New York in a few days, and their paths wouldn't cross again. A continent, a world, a whole life would separate them forever.
    And then, without saying another word, he bent and gently kissed her cheek, and a moment later he was gone, driving away from the ranch, his heart like a rock in his chest, as Crystal stood silently apart from the others, and watched him.
    On his way home, Spencer took the turnoff before the Golden Gate Bridge, and pulled the car off the road. He needed a moment to think, to compose himself, and remember. Crystal had haunted him for a year, and now she was doing it again, only hours after he had left her. The valley seemed only a dim memory now, and all he could think of was her face ' her eyes ' the way she looked at him ' her voice as she sang the ballads. She was a rare bird and he knew he had lost her forever in the forest. There was no way he'd get back to her again. And it was crazy even to think of it. She was a sixteen-year-old girl, living in a remote California valley. She knew nothing of the life he led. And even if she did, she wouldn't understand it. It was too far from her own ken. What did she know of Wall Street and New York, and the obligations he had to live up to. His family expected a lot of him, and nowhere in their plans was there room for the country girl, the merest child he had accidentally fallen in love with. A girl he barely knew, he reminded himself. His parents wouldn't have understood that. How could they, when he didn't understand it himself? And like her dreams of Hollywood, and movie stars, Spencer had had his own dreams. But those dreams had changed when his brother died in Guam. And now he had not only his own life to