The Tropical Palms had to be available. Someone had merely made a mistake. Otherwise…
Forget otherwise.
‘Philipe!’ she cried with relief when finally the connection was made, hope reborn. ‘I just heard the craziest thing. I thought I should double check.’
A bare minute later she severed the connection, Philipe’s rapid-fire excuses buzzing in her head.
‘Sincere apologies.’ ‘If only you’d already paid the deposit.’ ‘Our hands are tied’…
Numbly she turned. Sure, she’d understood that her booking wouldn’t be solid until the deposit was paid, but they’d given no hint of any other interest in the date, and it had been Philipe who’d told her not to worry—that paying when she came for the meeting would be early enough. They could at least have called and warned her someone wanted to book out the entire complex. They could at least have let her know.
‘Trouble in paradise?’
She gritted her teeth, wishing she was back in the office right now. Somewhere she could throw things. Instead she had to put up with a smiling inquisitor while trying to ignore the prick of tears. What the hell was she supposed to tell Monica and Jake? ‘Nothing I can’t handle,’ she sniffed as she headed past him towards where he’d left the buggy.
‘No?’ he said, already catching up and way, way too close for comfort. ‘I couldn’t help but overhear. I got the impression it was more serious than that.’
‘It’ll be fine.’ It had to be fine. It would be fine, just as soon as she could get away from Daniel Caruana and think.
‘It was about Monica’s wedding, wasn’t it? I take it that was the venue you just called?’
She shook her head, breathing deep as a day filled with frustration after frustration forced a renegade tear from her eye. Damn it, but she would not cry. Not here, not in front of him. ‘It’s between me and my clients. It’s got nothing to do with you.’
‘It has if it concerns my sister!’ She felt a hand on her shoulder, felt herself hauled around to face him. ‘What’s going on?’ He paused, lifted the hand from her shoulder and touched the pad of his thumb to her cheek even as she turned her face away. But nothing could stop the jolt of electricity that sparked through her at his touch. ‘You’re crying. Was it such bad news?’
She jerked her head away, swiping at the dampness on her cheek. ‘I am not crying.’ But her voice was shaky, her breath was choppy, and she knew that he would have had to be blind, deaf and dumb not to notice. Besides, it wasn’t as if she could keep the news some kind of secret. She sucked in a deep breath. ‘The Tropical Palms apparently got a better offer. We’ve lost the venue.’
He took less a second to assimilate the information before nodding decisively. ‘Then the matter is settled. You will arrange the wedding here.’
She blinked away her tears. ‘Now, just hold on. It’s not actually up to you.’
‘And you have a better idea? Other options?’
‘I haven’t explored the other options yet.’
‘I’ve just saved you the trouble.’
‘We could still get a cancellation.’ But she knew she was clutching at straws.
‘Is that what you’re planning on telling Monica? That you’re waiting for a cancellation when she could be married here, on Kallista?’
She looked up at him, just for a second wondering—was it just coincidence that on the very day she met with Daniel Caruana her plans for his sister’s wedding had gone pear-shaped? He’d been determined the wedding should take place here. Was it possible that he was somehow behind the sudden booking? ‘I told you where the wedding was to be held before we took off.’
‘And?’
‘And isn’t it a coincidence that suddenly I find someone’s come along and booked out the entire function centre at the exact same time you’re arguing for the wedding to be held here?’
He leaned an arm up on the roof of the buggy, so close to her shoulder that she wanted to shrink away. ‘You think I did it?’ His tone made her sound completely paranoid. Maybe she was. It was too easy to believe Daniel would go to whatever lengths it took to get his way. Then again, maybe she wasn’t so paranoid. How could she trust him after the massive about-face he’d made today? It was clear that if this wedding was to go ahead he expected it to be on his terms.
She cocked her chin. ‘Didn’t you?’
‘And when exactly was I supposed to have made this booking when I have been with you the entire time?’
It was the question she’d been battling with herself. ‘I don’t know. But you did make a phone call, just before we left the mainland.’