Read Dream Trilogy for Free Online Page B

so worried.”
    “Has she?” Smoking in shallow puffs, Margo brooded. Out the window, there was a garden, she remembered, arbors that dripped with wisteria. And beyond the flowers, the lawns, the neat stone walls, were the cliffs. She listened to Laura’s voice, the calming balm of it, and remembered how they had peeked into this room as children, when it had been Mrs. Templeton’s domain. How they had dreamed of being fine ladies.
    Turning, she studied her friend. So quietly lovely, Margo thought. A face meant for drawing rooms, garden parties, and society balls. And that, apparently, had been Laura’s destiny.
    The curling spill of hair was the color of old gold, styled with studied care to swing at her fragile jaw. The eyes were so clear, so true, everything she felt mirrored in them. Now they were filled with concern, and there was a flush on her cheeks. From excitement, Margo mused, and worry. Emotion always brought either quick color to Laura’s cheeks, or drained it.
    “Come sit,” Laura ordered. “Have some tea. Your hair’s damp.”
    Absently Margo pushed it back so that it cleared her shoulders. “I was down at the cliffs.”
    Laura glanced toward the windows, where the rain whipped. “In this?”
    “I had to build some courage.”
    But she did sit, took the cup. Margo recognized the everyday Doulton her mother had used. How many times had she nagged Ann into teaching her the names, the patterns, of the china and crystal and silver of Templeton House? And how many times had she dreamed about having pretty things of her own?
    Now the cup warmed her chilly hands, and that was enough.
    “You look wonderful,” she told Laura. “I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since I saw you in Rome.”
    They’d had lunch on the terrace of the owner’s suite at Templeton Rome, the city spread beneath them lush with spring. And her life, Margo thought, had been as full of promise as the air, as glittery as the sun.
    “I’ve missed you.” Laura reached out, gave Margo’s hand a quick squeeze. “We all did.”
    “How are the girls?”
    “Wonderful. Growing. Ali loved the dress you sent her for her birthday from Milan.”
    “I got her thank-you note, and the pictures. They’re beautiful children, Laura. They look so much like you. Ali’s got your smile, Kayla has your eyes.” She drank tea to wash away the lump in her throat. “Sitting here, the way we used to imagine we would, I can’t believe it’s not all just a dream.” She shook her head quickly before Laura could speak, tapped out the cigarette. “How’s Peter?”
    “He’s fine.” A shadow flickered into Laura’s eyes, but she lowered her lashes. “He had work to finish up, so he’s still at the office. I imagine he’ll just stay in town because of the storm.” Or because he preferred another bed to the one he shared with his wife. “Did Josh find you in Athens?”
    Margo tilted her head. “Josh? Was he in Greece?”
    “No, I tracked him down in Italy after we heard—when the news started coming through. He was going to try to clear his schedule and fly out to help.”
    Margo smiled thinly. “Sending big brother to the rescue, Laura?”
    “He’s an excellent attorney. When he wants to be. Didn’t he find you?”
    “I never saw him.” Weary, Margo rested her head against the high back of the chair. That dreamlike state remained. It had been barely a week since her life had tilted and poured out all of her dreams. “It all happened so fast. The Greek authorities boarding Alain’s yacht, searching it.” She winced as she remembered the shock of being roused out of sleep to find a dozen uniformed Greeks on deck, being ordered to dress, being questioned. “They found all that heroin in the hold.”
    “The papers said they’d had him under observation for over a year.”
    “That’s one of the facts that saved my idiotic ass. All the surveillance, the evidence they’d gathered, indicated that I was clean.” Her nerves