“I’m happy to see you,” I said.
“I read all your books,” he said. “When I retired I had the time to read them. Even the first one when you wrote about me.”
“Watch the show.” Joe laughed. He found Laura’s hand and held it tightly. “I was working for him when you sold my first short story.”
“Then he was the—”
“Yes,” Joe whispered. “The one in the book.”
Then the fanfare sounded and the standard finale of the dance began. The girls locked arms on the stage and kicked in precision twelve times, then suddenly they turned around, their backs to the audience and flounced their skirts back up over their derrieres. The audience began to applaud wildly. Each bared bottom was imprinted, one letter on each cheek—and a twinkling exclamation point on the last bottom—in sparkling silver. Together they spelled out the words CONGRATULATIONS JOE CROWN! Then the stage went dark as the girls ran off.
The applause was still ringing as the lights came on. He leaned over and kissed Laura. “Thank you,” he said. Then he turned to Jamaica. But the old man had gone.
He started to get up and go after him. Laura held his hand. “Let him go,” she said softly. “He wanted to share a memory with you, and you both did. Now you can let it go.”
“But—”
Laura interrupted. “It was another world then. Don’t spoil it for him. This is not his world.”
Joe was silent. “Is it mine?” he asked.
“Your world, lover,” she said, “is whatever you want to make it be.”
BOOKS BY HAROLD ROBBINS
from Tom Doherty Associates
The Betrayers (with Junius Podrug)
Blood Royal (with Junius Podrug)
The Carpetbaggers
The Deceivers (with Junius Podrug)
The Devil to Pay (with Junius Podrug)
Heat of Passion
The Looters (with Junius Podrug)
Never Enough
Never Leave Me
The Piranhas
The Predators
The Secret
The Shroud (with Junius Podrug)
Sin City
The Storyteller
Praise for Harold Robbins
“His characters are compelling, his dialogue is dramatic, and his style is simple and straightforward.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Robbins grabs the reader and doesn’t let go.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[Robbins] was a literary rebel with a cause.”
—The Washington Post
“Robbins’s faithful fans will be lining up for this one.… The plot is spiced with loads of fantastical sex and nymphomaniacal women.”
—Booklist on Sin City
“Tight-packed plot and inside detail on gambling cheats in Las Vegas gives off blue rocket fire.… Seminal Robbins. The pages go whoosh.”
—Kirkus Reviews on Sin City
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE STORYTELLER
Copyright © 1985 by Harold Robbins
Originally published in 1985 by Simon & Schuster.
All rights reserved.
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN 978-0-8125-7790-7
First Forge Edition: January 2011
eISBN 9781466833784
First eBook edition: November 2012
The Storyteller Page 28