“That is rude. And do you still speak to her?”
“Only when I have to. That's when I went to Kenya. It was a very interesting year. I enjoyed it.” That was her signal to him that she didn't want to discuss the matter further, and Coop didn't blame her. She had been painfully honest with him, far more than he would have dared with a stranger. And he admired her for it. He told her about his last safari after that, which had been fraught with miseries and discomforts. He had been invited to a game preserve, as their guest, and by his estimation, they had tortured him with every horror they could think of. He had hated every minute of it, but listening to him tell it, he made it sound funny, and he had her roaring with laughter at his description of the scene.
They had a wonderful time sitting beside each other, and they both ignored their other neighbors. She was still laughing at him when the meal came to an end, and he was sorry when she got up and went to talk to some old friends she had spotted at another table. They were friends of her parents, and she thought she should speak to them, but she told Coop how much she had enjoyed meeting him, and she meant it. He had made it a memorable evening for her.
“I don't have time to go out much. And Mrs. Schwartz was sweet to invite me. She's a friend of my parents. I only came because I was able to get the night off, but most of the time, I'm stuck at the hospital. I'm glad I did come.” She shook his hand firmly, and a moment later, Louise Schwartz was tittering beside him.
“Watch out, Coop,” she warned him. “She's a handful. And if you take her out, her father will kill you.”
“Why? Is he in the Mafia or something? She looks perfectly respectable to me.”
“She is. That's why he'd kill you. Arthur Madison.” It was a name that anyone would have recognized. It was the oldest steel fortune in the country, and the biggest. And she was a doctor. An interesting combination. Abe Braunstein's words rang in his ears as Louise said it. She was not only a rich woman, but possibly one of the richest. And totally simple and unassuming, and one of the brightest girls he'd ever met. Better than that, she had a lot of spirit. It would have been difficult not to be attracted to her, or amused, or challenged at least. Coop watched her with interest as she spoke to a number of people. She had scored a hit with Cooper. He ran into her again as he was leaving. He had timed his exit perfectly to match hers, and pointed to the waiting Bentley
“Can I give you a lift?” He sounded friendly, and harmless. He had calculated that she was roughly thirty, and had been correct in his estimation. He was exactly forty years older than she was, but at least he didn't look it, or feel it. And the funny thing was that he wasn't drawn to her because of who she was. He actually liked her. She was clearly a woman who would not tolerate any nonsense. Better yet, or worse, she'd been hurt, and he could see that she was cautious. And who she was, or who her father was, only added depth and color to the picture. She appealed to him immensely, and would have, with or without her father, or his money. Odd as it was, Coop mused as he watched her, he liked Alexandra for herself.
“I've got my car, but thank you,” she said politely, smiling at him. And as she said it, one of the valet parkers brought up her old beat-up Volkswagen, and she smiled at him.
“I'm impressed. Very humble. I admire your discretion,” he teased her about her car.
“I just don't like wasting money on cars. I hardly ever drive it. I never go anywhere. I'm always working.”
“I know, with those dreadful mouse babies. What about beauty school? Have you ever thought about that?”
“It was actually my first career choice, but I couldn't pass the exams. I kept flunking crimping.” She was as quick and as irreverent as he.
“I enjoyed meeting you, Alexandra,” he said, looking her in the eye with the blue eyes and the cleft chin that made him a legend, and irresistible to women.
“Call me Alex. I enjoyed meeting you too, Mr. Winslow.”
“Maybe I should call you Dr. Madison. Would you prefer that?”
“Absolutely.” She grinned at him, as she slid into her battered car. It didn't bother her in the least to have come to the Schwartzes' in a car that looked like it should have been abandoned by the side of a highway somewhere, or perhaps had been. “Goodnight,” she called to him with a wave as she drove away, and he called after her.
“Goodnight, Doctor! Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.” He could see that she was laughing as she drove down the driveway, and he was smiling as he got into the back of the Bentley He reminded himself to send Louise flowers in the morning. A lot of them. He was so glad that he had decided not to see Charlene that night. He had had a wonderful evening with Alex Madison. She was a most unusual girl indeed, and a very interesting prospect for him.
