Claudia took a step to the side so she could walk around him, then hesitated for a moment. Her eyes glued to the clipboard, she murmured, ‘I haven’t really said thank you.’
Luke shrugged. ‘It’s okay. I owe you for being such a stubborn bastard last year. I should have done what I’m doing now back then. It’s just that things at work were...’
Luke didn’t really want to get into it but he’d still been under the gun from losing the account his wife—ex-wife—had stolen from him. It was the main reason he’d wanted the resort handed over to a big chain—his career was in crisis and the resort had been an unwanted distraction.
‘Were?’ she prompted softly.
Luke grimaced at the familiar bitter taste the memory left in his mouth. A flash of black ribbon caught his eye again and yanked him out of the past. ‘It doesn’t matter. The point is I’m here now and I’m in.’
‘And I’m very, very thankful.’ Claudia smiled. ‘We’ll have to remember this day and celebrate it next year as the day we really put our mark on the Tropicana.’
Luke smiled back before the full import of her words sank in. His smile slowly faded. ‘You do know this is only temporary, Claude? I did say just until the spa was up and running. I’m not staying for good. I’ll be heading back to the UK as soon as things are settled here. You’re more than capable of managing the place solo.’
Solo. Claudia swallowed. Why did that word sound so bloody lonely?
‘Yes...of course,’ she said with a dismissive shake of her head. ‘Of course.’
Even though she felt like a complete idiot. He’d said this morning it was just until the spa was open but she’d been off building castles in the sky. Spinning fantasies of them running the resort together for the next twenty years as their parents had done.
Luke wasn’t sure about the overly bright light in her eyes. The last thing he wanted to do was to get her hopes up. ‘My life is there, Claude,’ he murmured.
Claudia forced a smile onto her face, determined not to show him how much those five words hurt, no matter how gently he’d said them.
My life is there, Claude.
His life was there. Hers was here. She’d do well to remember that over the coming months.
‘Of course,’ she assured him, her voice more definitive this time. ‘I know. And you’re right, I’m perfectly capable of managing the Tropicana.’
Luke nodded, satisfied. ‘No one better.’ He grinned as soft green satin taunted his peripheral vision.
Claudia grinned back even though it felt as if it had been slashed into her face with a carving knife. ‘Well,’ she said as she put her foot on the next step, pulling the clipboard back to her chest. ‘Guess I’d better get on. I’ll see you when you get back from Cairns.’
Luke nodded, disgusted in his disappointment that the clea**vage show was over. ‘Yep. Should be back in a couple of hours.’
‘Okay,’ she said.
Visions of green satin, black ribbon and caramel nipp**les taunted him as he continued down the stairs.
NINE
Two weeks flew by. Two weeks of getting rooms and grounds ready to open again. All the rooms had escaped major damage. Some power points had blown and three rooms had sustained some minor water damage to the carpet when their windows, despite the cyclone taping, had cracked under the force of the wind and allowed water to trickle in.
But three out of one hundred was good going, considering the other accommodation blocks on the property had been completely smashed.
The landscaping was a big job hampered by transport difficulties due to the state of the roads. The extensive Tropicana gardens that had taken forty years to establish and made guests feel as if they were living in a tropical paradise had been about fifty per cent destroyed in a matter of a few hours.
They would take many years to get back to the way they were but thankfully some of the older trees and vegetation had been left intact so they didn’t have to start from scratch.
The problem was supply of raw material. Mature plants and trees and things like mulch were in high demand post-cyclone and difficult to source, which meant the landscaping would be an ongoing job. But they managed with what they could get, transforming the grounds from decimated to rejuvenated in an amazingly short time.
Gloria and Lena worked the phones like the true veteran hotel professionals they were. Claudia was thankful that they’d stayed on to lend a hand, knowing the process would have been much longer without them and it also freed her up to help Isis and Avery get everything shipshape on the inside.