Penthouse Suite Read Free Page A

for anybody who was rich. Well, except for Lolly Daye, the owner of Lolly’s Amusement Park in Tennessee, but I never actually met her.”
    “Were you a plumber there?”
    “No. I was a painter. I worked on the carousel. The animals were magical. There was one special one, a unicorn. He was all white and gold. I could sit on his back, close my eyes, and imagine I was anywhere.”
    Carousel. Max had a flashing memory of the first time he’d ever seen the carousel on the Carnival Strip. He’d been just a child. The animalshad seemed gigantic to him on the first ride, and he’d held on to his horse’s reins for dear life. Dorothea had been on the giraffe next to him, pretending to be a cowgirl and yahooing at the top of her lungs. He hadn’t thought of that carousel in years.
    “What brought you to my hotel?”
    “Oh, I never intended to stay here permanently. I knew this place was too rich for my blood. But La Casa del Sol, a place in the sun—I couldn’t resist staying one night. Then came the poodle and the wheelchair, and my car died. It was fate.”
    Max took a swallow of mineral water and wondered what he was doing sharing his kitchen with a woman who lived in a TV repair shop, painted carousels, and repaired her own car. He’d never met a woman who moved from place to place.
    “I never knew women moved around like that, unless they were circus employees or migrant workers. I thought all women wanted to settle down. You know, roots, that sort of thing.”
    “Not me. Not yet. Maybe someday, after I’ve been everywhere and done everything. For now, my plan is to do something different every day for the rest of my life. Roots? That’s just another name for chains. And that’s one thing I’m not interested in. After three months in one place, I’m out. What about you? What do you do for fun?”
    “Me? I don’t know. I don’t suppose I ever thought much about it before. I’ve always had goals and worked to reach them. That gives me great pleasure.”
    “You mean making money?”
    “Yes, I guess it does boil down to that. Goals, problems, solutions, success. Fun never entered into it.”
    “Sounds dull to me. How old are you, Max?”
    “I’ll be thirty-six on my next birthday. How old are you, Kate?”
    “I’ll be twenty-six on my next birthday. At first I thought you were older. More like Cesar than Lorenzo.”
    Max wasn’t certain he liked being thought of as old. “Cesar and Lorenzo? Who are they?” he asked curiously. The woman kept him constantly off balance.
    “They star in a Friday night television series called
Falcon Crest
. Cesar Romero is the suave older wealthy lover. Lorenzo Lamas is the young rich stud.”
    “I take it you’re making a comparison to my wealth rather than to my sexual prowess.”
    Max tilted his head quizzically and gave Kate a smile that made her feel all warm and tingly.
    “Well, sure, of course,” she mumbled. “You’re rich, aren’t you?”
    “I suppose so. I don’t think much about it.”
    “You don’t watch much television, do you?”
    “Not much. And you don’t impress me as the type to watch television, either. That seems rather a tame pastime for a liberated lady plumber.”
    “I watched television with my mother, six years of television. I haven’t always been a liberated traveling lady.”
    “Oh, what liberated you?”
    “My mother died.”
    An uncomfortable silence followed Kate’s statement. Max felt his throat tighten. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, and touched her hand. “My mother died, too, when I was very small.”
    “I was twenty-four. That’s when I hit the road,” Kate said, allowing herself to enjoy the unexpected comfort of his touch for a moment before shepulled her hand away. “I guess I’d better go. I’m sorry about the mess. But I really do know what I’m doing, and I’ll get the water temperature problem fixed as soon as I get a new shower head.”
    She stood up and started toward the door, stopping to