"Bennett, Cherie - Sunset Island 011 - Sunset Paradise" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bennett Cherie)

"Hey, wait a minute!" Sam protested. "Are you pulling a fast one?"
John-Claude laughed. "A fast one? This is a wonderful expression!" He reached into his pocket, took out ten one-hundred-dollar bills and handed them to Sam. "There. This is about twice what you have won, yes? If I am indeed pullingЧhow do you say?Чa fast one, then you will at least make a profit, no?"
"Uh, no," Sam said, staring at the large sum of money sitting in the palm of her hand. "I mean, yes!"
The dark-suited men went off with the buckets of corns, and Jean-Claude threw back his head and laughed. "Vous etes tres charmante, mademoiselle!"
"Say what?" Sam asked.
"He said you are very charming," Emma translated.
"Exactement," Jean-Claude agreed, looking at Emma curiously. "Have we met before, mademoiselle? You look very familiar to me."
"What a line," Carrie muttered under her breath.
"Actually, we have," Emma said smoothly. Carrie and Sam turned to her in shock. "My mother is Katerina Cresswell. We were your
parents' dinner guests at your summer home in Les Vosges three years ago."
Sam stared at Emma. "You actually know him?"
"But of course!" Jean-Claude exclaimed. "I stopped in for only a moment, on my way to the Riviera. Je me souviens bien que tu as etee tres belle et tres ennuyee!"
"Thank you to the first part, and yes to the second," Emma said with a cool smile.
"What did he say?" Sam demanded.
Carrie shrugged. "Don't ask me, I took Spanish."
"Jean-Claude is the son of Francois du Barry Chantilly and his wife, Claudine," Emma explained. "Friends of my mother's."
"I don't suppose you have a title or anything like that," Sam asked brashly.
"Sam!" Carrie said reprovingly.
Jean-Claude smiled. "It is no matter," he told Carrie. Then he turned to Sam. "As a matter of fact, mademoiselle, my father is a vicomteЧa viscount."
"What's a viscount?" Sam asked.
"Minor royalty, I assure you," Jean-Claude said with a self-deprecating shrug.
"Oh well, as long as it's only minor ..." Sam said.
Jean-Claude laughed. Just then the dark-suited men returned with Sam's chips.
"There, you see?" he said, his eyes twinkling as he handed her the chips. "I did not pull a fast one."
Sam looked down at the five gold-colored chips in her hands. "Oh yeah? Only five chips?"
"They are worth a hundred dollars each," Jean-Claude explained.
Sam looked closer and saw that he was right. "I knew that," she said with dignity.
"I would love to take you to the blackjack table," Jean-Claude told Sam, staring into her eyes. "Just looking at you will bring me luck."
"Would you excuse us a moment?" Emma broke in smoothly. "We'll be right back."
Emma cocked her head in Carrie's direction and took Sam by the elbow, propelling her away from Jean-Claude.
"Where are we going?" Sam demanded.
"The ladies' room," Emma said, keeping her hand firmly on Sam's arm.
"You could have gone by yourself," Sam groused. "It is so beat when girls have to go to the bathroom together, like they can only travel in packs. It's reallyЧ"
"Shut up and get in there," Emma hissed, half pushing Sam through the door.
"What is your problem?" Sam asked, her hands on her hips.
"Sorry," Emma said, "but I had to talk to you privately."
"Is that guy really a viscount?" Carrie asked, "whatever that is?"
Emma snorted. "His family may think they're royalty, minor or otherwise, but there hasn't been any recognized nobility in France for a long time. Of course, there are still some pretentious people who insist on using titles like that. His family is extremely wealthy, though."
"Pay dirt!" Sam squealed. "If I marry him, do I become a viscountette?"
"Viscountess, I think," Carrie said.
"I wanted to warn you to stay away from him," Emma said. "I really mean it."
"Why?" Carrie asked.
"Yeah, why?" Sam said petulantly. "He seems really nice. And as you can see, he thinks I'm mondo charming."
"He has a terrible reputation," Emma said.
"Well, so do I," Sam said blithely.
"I mean it, Sam," Emma said. "He's a spoiled playboy used to getting his own way. There was some scandal with a girl in Burgundy that was covered up by his father."
"Aren't you being a little dramatic?" Sam asked, rolling her eyes.
"I don't think so," Emma said levelly.
"Look, he likes me, he's rich, I'm on vacation, what's the big deal?" Sam demanded.
Emma sighed. "You don't understand. A guy like that looks at you, an American girl who he sees as not being of his class, and he's after you for only one thing."