Business or Pleasure? by Julie Hogan Page A

to drag her fingers through it. His smile and his laughter were quick and genuine.
    She’d been out of her mind to take this job. They’d onlybeen here half a day and he was already driving her crazy. How was she going to handle ninety-odd more?
    There was an up side, however, and it was that Daisy now found herself among friends. Joseph Baldwin was charming and witty, Virginia was a wonderful hostess, and their beautiful island home, perched high above the town of Paloma, was comfortable while still screaming style and sophistication. During a meal that had been prepared by the Baldwins’ personal chef, their hosts gave them an entertaining history of Santa Margarita and spoke of their excitement at finally realizing their dream of restoring the old mansions.
    â€œAre you sure I haven’t told you this story already?” Virginia asked as the final course was served. When they assured her she hadn’t, she went on with her story. “A long time ago, my father owned a movie studio. You may have heard of it. Cosmopolitan Pictures?”
    Daisy and Alec both nodded. Everyone had heard of Cosmopolitan Pictures. The studio had made some of Daisy’s favorite classic films.
    â€œIn the studio’s heyday, my father bought up the majority of the land on this island so he would have a safe place for his most famous actors and actresses to come and vacation. That way he could keep an eye on them and keep their names out of the gossip columns.”
    She went on to explain how the island grew up around the seven mansions he’d built for his stable of stars to party in, how one particularly savvy and beautiful actress of the depression era, Paloma Estrella, had convinced him to build a casino and to bring in businesses like bars and grocery stores and laundries and motels. “And that was the start ofthe town of Paloma. It seemed only fair to him that the town be named after his inspiration.”
    â€œWhat an exciting childhood you must have had,” Daisy said, smiling at the wistfulness on Virginia’s face. “All those glamorous people.”
    â€œI’m afraid I was in boarding school most of the year, but the summers here with my mother and father were magical,” she said with a smile that made her look years younger. “Watching those mansions slowly fall apart for the past thirty years has depressed me. That’s one reason I’m so anxious to see them full of people and life and laughter again.”
    While they finished their dinner, Virginia explained that the properties had been tied up in the courts after Cosmopolitan Pictures was sold off, piece by piece, upon her father’s death.
    â€œIn the end,” Joseph said as a maid cleared away the last of the dishes, “the fact that the properties were under court protection is probably the only thing that kept them from being sold to a developer and torn down.”
    When the two couples moved to the terrace, Joseph and Virginia settled onto one overstuffed rattan love seat, leaving the other for Alec and Daisy. Alec waited for her to take a seat, but after eyeing the intimate space, she opted to stand at the terrace’s railing to watch the activity on Paloma’s dock and main street below. A moment later, Alec finally sat down and asked the Baldwins to tell him about the architect who had designed their beautiful hillside home.
    Only a very few cars were permitted on the island at any one time, so golf carts were the transportation of choice. Most locals drove them, and visitors, like Daisy and Alec, usually used one provided by their hotel. The result of thiswas that the town looked Lilliputian from her vantage point—little white carts darted about and people honked their high-pitched horns as they waited impatiently to maneuver into miniature stalls in tiny parking lots. Daisy found it all vaguely disorienting, as if she’d been transported to another dimension.
    When the maid