“Nothing wrong with that. You might enjoy it. Or…” He paused to take a swallow of whisky. “You could marry again.”
Delia stiffened. “Why on earth would I want to do that?”
“Why not?” He smiled faintly. “It’s not as if you abhor the institution.”
“Well, no, of course not, but—” She broke off, her chest tightening as her mind went back into the past, but the pain of those memories was too great to bear, and she veered her mind away from them at once, pasting on a smile. “Send yet another man to an early grave?” she said, her voice light. “I couldn’t possibly.”
“Darling Dee,” he said gently. “You’re not cursed, you know.”
“Do the men of London know that?”
“Are you serious? Half the single men we know, including most of the young blades, would happily take a chance on you.”
“I doubt that, but I love you for saying it. Even so, I see no reason to make a fourth venture into matrimony.”
“What about children? Isn’t that a reason? You adore babies.”
The pain in her chest came again, stronger this time, and it took all the effort she had to hide it and keep her smile in place.
“I adore other people’s babies,” she joked. But Max didn’t reply, so she added, striving to sound offhand, “The point is, I’ve been married three times, and don’t have even one child to show for it.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“Having children is clearly not something my body was meant to do, and I’ve accepted that. It’s all right, truly,” she added, noting the compassion in his eyes. “After all, I have my work here at the Savoy. That’s my life now.”
“Work is all very well, but it isn’t everything.”
“It is for me,” she countered firmly. “And I love what I do here, Max. I have no intention of abandoning my duties, no matter how hard things get.”
“That’s the spirit,” he said with approval, looking relieved, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled. “And since you’ve asked for my advice, my first contribution in that regard would be to avoid callingCalderon a bastard. Second, accept the situation and learn to work with him.”
That prospect impelled Delia to down the rest of her whisky. “How can I?” she asked as she set her empty glass on a nearby table. “The man’s about as flexible as concrete. You should have seen him this morning, judging me, questioning my expenditures, and calling me to account for them as if I’m a young girl who’s overspent her pocket allowance.”
“I seem to remember your late father gnashing his teeth quite a bit about your lavish spending during your marriage to Armand. I feel some sympathy for Calderon.”
She grimaced at the reminder of her woeful lack of restraint during the three years of her second marriage, but she refused to allow herself to be sidetracked. “The point is, Calderon made it quite clear he sees no value in what I do. Half the Savoy policies he’s doing away with were my ideas. He has no use for me, and it’s clear he doesn’t like me.”
“A horrible feeling,” Max said amiably. “And one, I daresay, you’re not used to.”
“This is a fine state of affairs,” she muttered, glaring at him. “You’re my cousin. You’re supposed to be on my side.”
He sobered at once. “I am always on your side. But that’s irrelevant here. The deed is done. I can’t change it. And even if I could, I wouldn’t. The indifference Ritz has displayed recently toward the Savoy—”
“Indifference?” she echoed, stung on behalf of her friend.
“Yes, Delia, indifference. I know you adore the fellow, but even you must admit his attention has been fixed predominantly on his other hotels, and the Savoy is suffering for it. If Calderon’s efforts can succeed in putting Ritz’s priorities back in order, I call that a good thing.”
Having just been to Paris on Ritz’s behalf, she couldn’t reallyrefute that point. “Even when everyone’s grumbling? And they are, Max—at least the ones he hasn’t already forced out. He dismissed Madelaine, you know.”
“Madelaine?”
“My secretary, who, so far as I can see, hadn’t done anything to deserve it.”
“Sometimes staff are let go and it has nothing to do with performance. You know that as well as I do. And choices like that are completely within Calderon’s purview. We gave him a free hand to cut any staff he deems unnecessary.”
“Does that include me?” She sat up straighter, alarmed. “Max, is my job in jeopardy?”
The door opened before he could reply, and Stowell entered the suite, forcing Delia to wait for an answer to her question.
