Free Star by Danielle Steel Page A

lead, but he had to live up to his brother's aspirations. His family expected that of him, and at least he was going to try. And what did Crystal know of all that? She knew nothing, except about the valley she had grown up in. He knew he had to forget her now. He smiled sadly to himself as he looked out over the bay, and at the bridge, thinking of her, and he reminded himself that he was being foolish. He had been dazzled by a pretty girl, which only proved to him that he had to get on with his life now. He needed more than law school and hamburgers in Palo Alto with attractive co-eds to provide him amusement. There was a whole world waiting for him. A world with no place in it for Crystal Wyatt, no matter how lovely she was, or how taken he was with her at the moment. He walked back to his car, wondering what his father would say if he told him he had fallen in love with a sixteen-year-old girl in the Alexander Valley.
    Good-bye, little girl, he whispered to himself as he crossed the Golden Gate Bridge for the last time. He had a dinner party to attend that night. It was a duty he owed his father. He wasn't in the mood, but he knew he needed to get his mind off her. She was gone now. But gone or not, he knew he would never forget her.
    He was staying at the Fairmont Hotel for his last few days in town, and he had taken a room with a sweeping view, just to remind himself of what he'd be missing. He was almost sorry he hadn't looked for a job in San Francisco, but that had never been his plan. He had promised his parents he would come home again, and he knew only too well what was expected of him now. His father had been a lawyer until the war, when he was appointed a judge, which was as far as his own political aspirations would take him. But he had always had far grander plans for his sons, especially for Spencer's older brother, Robert. Robert had been killed in Guam, leaving a young widow and two children. He had studied political science at Harvard and politics had been his life's ambition. He had talked of being a congressman, and Spencer had dreamed of being a doctor. But the war changed all that. With four years delay, he himself couldn't imagine spending many more years studying medicine, and law school had been the right decision. Judge Hill had assured him of it, and Spencer knew his father had secret yearnings to become an appellate justice. Be that as it may, the burden of proof rested on Spencer's shoulders now. It was he who had to follow in Robert's footsteps. The Hill family was a solid one, his mother's forebears had arrived in Boston with the Pilgrims. His father was of simpler stock, but he had worked hard to measure up, and had put himself through Harvard Law School. And now it had been important to both of them that Spencer do something important with his life. And to them, important didn't include a girl like Crystal. Robert had, of course, married well. He had always done what they wanted, while Spencer had always been free to do exactly as he pleased. And now suddenly, with his older brother gone, he felt as though he had to make it up to them, as though he had to follow in the footsteps that had never suited him before and now suddenly had to. Going to law school had been part of that. And going back to New York now. And Wall Street ' he could hardly think of himself there, and yet he had just crammed three years of law school into two preparing for just that. But Wall Street sounded so damn stuffy. At least if he could make something useful of it!, use it as a stepping-stone to a grander scheme, maybe then he would be able to stand it. He looked out the window again as he thought of it, staring into the distance, thinking of the place where he had left Crystal. He sighed then, and turned back into the room. The carpets were thick, and the furniture was new and there was a huge chandelier hanging above him. And yet, all he could think of was the ranch ' and the hills ' and the girl on the swing. He had