Morning Noon Night By: Sidney Sheldon Category: Fiction Thriller Synopsis: The Stanford family is one of the most respected in America - but behind the facade of fame and glamour lies a hidden web of blackmail, drugs and murder.. When Harry Stanford, one of the wealthiest men in the world, mysteriously drowns while cruising on his yacht off the rugged.coast of Corsica, it sets off a chain of events that reverberates around the globe. At the family gathering following the funeral in Boston, a strikingly beautiful young woman appears. She claims to be Stanford's daughter and entitled to a share of the tycoon's estate. Is she genuine, or is she an imposter? Sweeping from the splendours of the Italian Riviera, to the fashion salons of Paris and New York, and the opulence of Boston and Florida, Morning, Noon & Night twists and turns its way through intrigue, smoke and mirrors to a surprise ending you'll never forget... 'Sheldon is a writer working at the height of his power.. powerful enough to drag us along with him. I hung on till the very end.' Last printing: 05/06/02 ':4<3' Morning, Noon & Night Books by Sidney Sheldon IF TOMORROW COMES MASTER OF THE GAME RAGE OF ANGELS BLOODLINE A STRANGER IN THE MIRROR THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT THE NAKED FACE WINDMILLS OF THE GODS THE SANDS OF TIME MEMORIES OF MIDNIGHT THE DOOMSDAY CONSPIRACY THE STARS SHINE DOWN NOTHING LASTS FOREVER SIDNEY SHELDON Morning, Noon & Night a Harper Collins Publication HarperCollinsPublishers 77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London,W6 &JB Special overseas edition 1996 This paperback edition 1996 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1995 Limited partnership 1995 The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work ISBN: 0-1898- 00 649806 X Set in Times Roman by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Printed and bound in Great Britain by Caledonian International Book Manufacturing I.Ad, Glasgow All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. To Kimberly with love Allow the morning sun to warm. Your heart when you are young And let the soft winds noon Cool your passion, But beware the night For death lurks there, Waiting, waiting, waiting., ARTHUR RiMBAUD MORNING Chapter One. Dmitri asked, ' you know we're being followed, NIT Stanfordt '.' He had been aware of them for the past twenty-four hours. The two men and the woman were dressed casually, attempting to blend in with the summer tourists strolling along the cobbled streets in the early morning, but it was difficult to remain inconspicuous in a place as small as the fortified village of St.-Paul-de-Vence. Harry Stanford had first noticed them because they were too casual, trying too hard not to look at him. Wherever he turned, one of them was in the background. Harry Stanford was an easy target to follow. He was six feet tall, with white hair lapping over his collar and an aristocratic, almost imperious face. He was accompanied by a strikingly lovely young brunette, a pure-white German shepherd, and Dmitri Kaminsky, a six-foot four-inch bodyguard with a bulging neck and sloping forehead. Hard to lose us, Stanford thought. He knew'who had sent them and why, and he was filled with a sense of imminent danger. He had learned long ago to trust his instincts. Instinct and intuition had helped make him one of the wealthiest men in the world. Forbes magazine estimated the value of Stanford Enterprises at six billion dollars, while the Fortune 500 appraised it at seven billion. The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, and the Financial Tbnes had all done profiles on Harry Stanford, trying to explain his Mystique, his amazing sense of timing, the ineffable acumen that had created the giant Stanfofd Enterprises. None had fully succeeded. What they all agreed on was that he had an almost palpable, manic energy. He was inexhaustible. His philosophy was simple: A day without making a deal