About the AuthorDanielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world’s most popular authors, with over 590 million copies of her novels sold. Her a lot of global bestsellers include Happy Birthday, 44 Charles Street, Legacy, Family Ties, Big Girl, Southern Lights, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is likewise the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina’s life and death.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Chapter 1
The scene in the lobby of the Hotel Vendôme on East 69th Street in New York was one of impeccable elegance and meticulous precision. The black-and-white-checked-marble floors were immaculate, red runners were rolled out the instant there was a drop of rain outside, the moldings on the walls were exquisite, and the enormous crystal chandelier that hung in the lobby was remindful of the finest palaces in Europe. The hotel was much littler than the one that had inspired it is decor, but for practiced travelers, it was in an outstanding manner similar to the Ritz in Paris, where the Hotel Vendôme's proprietor had worked as an assistant manager for two years, for the duration of his training in the finest hotels in Europe.
Hugues Martin was forty years old, a graduate of the illustrious and valued École Hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland, and the hotel on Manhattan's Upper East Side was his dream. He still couldn't believe how lucky he had been, how utterly it had all come together five years before. His Swiss banker father and evenly conservative mother had been devastated when he declared that he wanted to go to hotel school. He came from a family of bankers, and they thought that running a hotel, or working in one, had a seamy quality to it, of which they strongly disapproved. They had done everything they could to talk him out of it, to no avail. After four years at the school in Lausanne, he trained and at last had valued positions at the Hotel du Cap in Cap d'Antibes, the Ritz in Paris, and Claridge's in London, and even did a brief stint at the famed Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. He figured out for the duration of that time that if he ever had his own hotel, he wanted it to be someplace in the States.
Hugues worked at the Plaza in New York before it closed for spacious renovations, and he assumed that he was still light-years away from his dream. Then it happened. The Hotel Mulberry was put up for sale, a little tired hotel that had been run-down for years and had never been considered chic, in spite of it is perfective location. When he heard in regards to it, Hugues put together each penny of his savings, took out each loan he could get in both New York and Switzerland, and employed all of the modest inheritance his parents had left him, which he had conservatively put apart and invested. And the combining made the buy of the hotel possible. He just managed to do it, with a mortgage on the building. And all of a sudden Hugues was capable to buy the
Mulberry and do the necessary renovations, which took two years, and at the end of it the Hotel Vendôme was born, to the amazement of New Yorkers, most of whom said they had never even realized that there was a hotel in that location.
The building had been a little private hospital in the 1920s and was turned into a hotel in the 1940s, with abysmally bad decor. In contrast, in it is transformed state, each inch of the Vendôme was magnificent, and the service was superb. Hugues had brought chefs from all over the world for their now exceedingly standard restaurant. His catering manager was one of the best in the business, and everyone accorded that even the feed from room service was fantastic. In it is firstborn year it had become an for the length of one night success and was booked months in advance now, with reservations made by visitors to the city from around the world. The presidential suite was one of the finest in the city. The Hotel Vendôme was an sheer gem, with beautifully beautified suites, and rooms with fireplaces, moldings, and high ceilings. The hotel faced south, so most of the rooms were sunny, and Hugues had chosen the finest china, crystal, and linens, and as a heap of antiques as he could afford, like the chandelier in the lobby, which he had purchased in Geneva at a Christie's auction. It had come out of a French château near Bordeaux and was in perfective condition.
Hugues ran his 120-room hotel with Swiss precision, a warm smile, and an iron hand. His workers were discreet and experienced, had a remarkable memory for each guest, and held elaborate files on each important client's needs and requests while they were there. It had made the Vendôme the most general little hotel in New York for the past three years. And the moment one entered the lobby, one knew it was a special place. A young bellboy stood at the revolving door, in a uniform inspired by those the chasseurs wore at the Ritz: navy pants, a short jacket, a little amount of gold braid on the collar, and a little round hat with a strap underneath the chin, tilted at an angle. To meet the clients' needs, there was a fleet of more than willing bellmen, a crew of brilliantly capable concierges. Everyone moved quickly to serve the guests, and the entire staff was ready to service big requests and little ones. Hugues knew that impeccable service was
essential.
The assistant managers wore black tailcoats and striped trousers, once again inspired by the Ritz. And Hugues himself was on hand night and day, in a dark blue suit, always with a white shirt and dark Hermès tie, and he had an extraordinary memory for everyone who had stayed with them and, whenever possible, greeted essential guests himself. He was the consummate hotel owner, and no detail missed his practiced eye. And he expected his division heads to meet the standards that he set. Guests of the hotel came as much for the service as the luxurious decor.
As an added touch, the hotel was always filled with spectacular flowers, and it is spa was one of the best. There was almost no service the staff wouldn't provide, as long as it was legal and in comparatively good taste. And in spite of the objections Hugues knew his parents had had, he couldn't support sentiment that they would have been proud of him now. He had applied their cash well, and the hotel had been such a success in it is firstborn three years that he was closely out of debt. It wasn't surprising, since Hugues worked day and night himself to make it what it was. And personally, his victory had come at a high price. Owning the hotel had cost him his wife. It had been the subject of substantial gossip amongst staff and guests.
Nine years before, when Hugues had been working at Claridge's in London, he had met Miriam Vale, the globally famous and spectacularly gorgeous supermodel. And like everyone else who laid eyes on her, he had been dazzled by her the moment they met. He had been infinitely proper and professional, as he had always been with guests of the hotels he worked in, but she was a twenty-three-year-old girl, and she had made it clear that she wanted him, and he fell head over heels in love with her overnight. She was American, and finally he had followed her back to New York. It had been an stimulating time for him, and he took a lesser position at the Plaza to be in the same city with her and proceed their romance. And much to his own amazement, she was just as much in love with him, and they were married within six months. He had never been happier in his life than in their early years together.
Eighteen months later their daughter Heloise was born, and Hugues was madly in love with his wife and child. He trembled when he said it, for fear of angering the gods, but he always said then that he had the perfective life. And he was a committed man. Despite whatsoever temptations came his way in the hotel business, he was exclusively in love with and faithful to his wife. She continued her modeling career after Heloise was born, and every one at the Plaza had fawned over his little girl and indulged her, and teased them in regards to her name. Hugues assured them frankly that she had been named after his great-grandmother and he didn't suppose to stay at the Plaza forever, so there was no reason not to use the name. Heloise was two years old when he purchased the Mulberry and turned it into the Vendôme. He had everything he wanted then, a wife and child he loved, and his own hotel. Miriam had been far less enthused regarding the project and had complained bitterly that it would take too much of his time, but owning his own hotel, and one of the sort he was creating, had always been his dream.
His parents had been even less pleased in regards to Miriam than they had been with regards to his working in the hotel business. They had severe doubts that a spoiled, twenty-three-year-old, spectacularly beautiful, internationally known supermodel would make him a good wife. But Hugues loved her profoundly and had no doubts.
As Hugues had expected, it took two years to renovate the hotel. It came in only more or less over budget, and the end result was everything he had hoped.
He and Miriam had been married for six years, and Heloise was four, when the Hotel Vendôme opened, and Miriam had obligingly posed for a lot of of their ads. It added a distinguishable cachet that the owner was married to Miriam Vale, and male guests in peculiar always hoped they'd catch a glimpse of her in the lobby or at the bar. What they saw far more many times than her mother was four-year-old Heloise following after her father, with one of the maids keeping her hand, and she enchanted everyone she met. She had gone from being Heloise at the Plaza to being Heloise at the Vendôme, and became something of a mascot for the hotel, and was without doubt or question the pride and joy of her father's life.
Greg Bones, the famous and notoriously severely behaved rock star, was one of the primary guests in one of the penthouse suites, and fell in love with the hotel. Hugues was uneasy in regards to it, because Bones was well known for trashing hotel rooms and causing chaos wherever he stayed, but he behaved breathtakingly well at the Vendôme, much to Hugues's relief. And they were wholly prepared to meet celebrity needs and requests.
On Greg's second day there, he met Miriam Vale Martin at the bar, surrounded by assistants, magazine editors, stylists, and a widely known and esteemed photographer after a shoot. They had just finished a twelve-page disseminate for Vogue that afternoon, and as soon as they recognized Greg Bones, they invited him to join them. And what happened later on hadn't taken long. Miriam expended most of the following night in Greg's s...
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A outstanding read
Terrible waste of time
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