Ghosts of Manhattan Read Free

entertainment. His eyelids were heavy with lack of sleep. All around him, devastation reigned. The drawing room was cluttered with discharged glasses, a few still holding the remnants of their former owners' drinks. Accompanying these were the pungent stubs of fat, brown cigars and pale cigarettes; even a woman's red silk scarf and a man's topcoat, abandoned there in the early hours by drunken lovers, carefree and searching for intoxication of a different kind.
    Gabriel had a love/hate relationship with New York society; it loved him-or rather, it loved his wealth and status-and he hated it. He disliked "society" as a concept. To him it was a metaphor for the socially inept, the "upper" classes, a means of filling one's head with notions of self-import and grandeur. Yet he adored people. He needed people. He surrounded himself with them, night and day. He was an observer, a man who watched life. An artist without a canvas, a writer without a page. He lived to amuse himself, to attempt to fill the vacant space where a real life should have been.
    Gabriel Cross was a nothing. A man defined by his inheritance, characterized by his former life. He'd heard people whispering in hushed tones at the party, huddled in small groups under the canopy on the veranda, or leaning up against the doorjambs in the drawing room, drinks in hand. "Yes, it's true! He used to be a soldier. I heard he fought in the war." Or, "A pilot, I heard. But now he just throws parties. Parties! Who needs parties?"

    Gabriel knew they were right. Yet they swarmed to his Long Island parties like honeybees searching for pollen, intent on finding something there that would make their own lives that little bit easier to bear. He had no idea what it was. If he did, he would administer it to himself in liberal doses.
    Gabriel rubbed a hand over his bristly chin. "Better send a Bloody Mary with those eggs, Henry. God knows, it's going to be one of those days." He turned and looked out of the window at the sound of a motorcar hissing onto the driveway in the watery morning sun. Its wheels stirred the gravel track, whilst black smoke belched from its rear funnel. He recognized the sleek curves of its ebony bodywork, as well as those of its owner, who sat in the driving seat, her head and shoulders exposed to the stiff breeze. It ruffled her shock of bright auburn hair as she turned toward the house and saw him watching. Smiling, she raised her hand and offered him a brief wave. Gabriel smiled and raised his own hand in reply. He watched her climb out of the car's side door, swinging her shapely legs down from the cab. Gabriel felt his heart beat a little faster in his breast. Celeste. Celeste Parker.
    He'd missed her at the party. Missed the opportunity to peel away with her to a quiet spot and blot out the presence of everyone else. But he was also pleased, in a sense, that she hadn't come. She didn't need the party, not like everyone else needed the party. And for that reason, if no other, he was very much in love with her.
    Gabriel listened to the sound of her heels crunching on the gravel, a soft rap on the front door with a gloved fist, Henry's footsteps as he crossed the hallway to let her in. Smiling, Gabriel retrieved the newspaper from the breakfast table and rustled it noisily, as if intent on continuing with an article he had earlier abandoned. He attempted to exude his most nonchalant air. He knew Celeste would see through this ruse, but then, such was the game they played.

    A moment later the drawing room door creaked open. Gabriel didn't look up from the newspaper to watch Celeste enter the room. She hovered for a moment at the threshold, silent save for her soft inhalation, awaiting his acknowledgement. The moment stretched. Gabriel turned the page and pretended to scan the headlines.
    Finally, the visitor broke the silence. "You look terrible, Gabriel. I see the party was up to its usual ... standards." Her voice was soft and melodious; it had broken