by Cara Summers
or the Oak Room. I'm sure with the right menu, the right publicity, you wouldn't have any trouble getting women to come here for an afternoon of shopping and lunch or tea."
"Isn't she wonderful?" Lucy asked. "I told you."
Lily didn't miss that Lucy's last remark was directed to Grace. Not that Grace looked one bit convinced by Lucy's endorsement. Smart girl, Lily thought. Because the suggestions she was making were not going to be I implemented by Tony Romano. She wasn't sure they would ever be implemented. Once McNeil Enterprises took over the hotel, her father had made it clear that he had a team ready to bring the hotel up to McNeil standards. Lily had not been offered a place on that team.
"If you can convince Tony to go along with that, my hat's off to you," Gina said. "He's like the rock of Gibraltar, and he likes to keep things the same. It took me two years to convince him to let me phase out the touristy stuff the gift shop used to carry." "Tony is in a rut," Lucy said. "He can't help it," Lily found herself saying. "An old hotel like this can be a bit of work. It just needs a facelift."
"I can relate to that," Gina said with a laugh. "He won't listen to anything I suggest," Lucy said. "He's doing the best he can." And he was going to fail. Lily didn't say it out loud, but there was a little twist of pain around her heart as she thought it. Unless there was an influx of money into Henry's Place, sooner or later, Tony Romano was going to have to sell the hotel. McNeil could do wonders with the place, , and the hotel deserved to be cared for and preserved. She had to focus on that.
"And you're here to help him out?" Grace asked. Her tone suggested that she didn't believe that, not for a moment, and it earned a questioning look from both Lucy and Gina.
In the time it took her to meet Grace's eyes, the pain around Lily's heart twisted tighter. "I'm here to consult with Tony on improvements he could make."
For a moment, Grace didn't speak. Then she said, "I guess that's my cue to show you around."
Lily turned to smile at Gina. "As long as we end the tour back here so that I can shop."
"Not a problem," Gina said. "I've trained my girls well. All roads lead to Gina R."
In spite of the fact that Tony was still seated at the table with the three other men, Lily managed to follow Grace through the lobby without slipping into paralysis again. She felt his glance as if it were a physical touch on her skin, but she didn't falter. The moment the elevator doors slid shut, she turned to Grace. "You have a problem with me, don't you?"
Grace peered at her through the glasses. "Yes. Lucy has been singing your praises since she woke me up this morning. She thinks you're some sort of fairy godmother who's going to make all her dreams come true. She and Tony are the optimists in the family. Ever since I started law school, they've called me the cynic, and I did a little checking on you. You're from McNeil Enterprises, and they make a habit of gobbling up little hotels like Henry's Place for snacks. I don't believe that you're here to help Tony out, and I'm going to tell him so."
Lily lifted her chin. "He knows who I am. None of you seem to give him enough credit. Do you think he would have agreed to see me without running the same kind of background check that you did?"
Grace studied her for a minute. "Okay, I'll buy that. But I also know that the two of you shared the penthouse suite last night. I was studying late, and I sometimes go up to the roof to clear my head before I can go to sleep. Lucy had told me you were there, and I saw Tony go in. He didn't come out."
Lily felt her temper rise. "So you think I'm some kind of corporate shark who is sleeping with your cousin so that McNeil Enterprises can come along and gobble up the hotel?" "I'm concerned about that. Yes." "Don't you have any faith in Tony at all? Do you think that any woman could make a fool of him that way?"
The elevator slid to a stop and the doors opened, but Grace didn't move for a moment. She merely studied Lily. "That's the third time since I've met you that you've rushed to his defense."
"He needs someone to defend him," Lily said. "You all seem to take him for granted. You have no idea what kind of a job it is to keep a small hotel like this running and serving its guests."
Grace's lips twitched. "I think I do. I have to help him do it—most of the time. I used to think of it as child labor when I was younger. Now I think it's just slavery."
Lily followed Grace onto the roof of the hotel. The penthouse that she'd spent the night in was at the far corner surrounded by tall plants. The section of the roof they were on now held a garden, all of it in pots. Beyond them were picnic tables, an outdoor grill, and a full-size basketball court.
"Do you play?" Grace asked. Lily shook her head. "I'm not good at sports." "They won't take that as an excuse on Sunday afternoon. Sam's wife, A.J., is pregnant and she's our star player. We'll need someone to fill in for her."
"Not me," Lily said.
"If you're still here, you'll play," Grace warned.
"Tony can be very persuasive.” Lily felt the heat rise in her cheeks as she recalled just how persuasive Tony could be. She also felt that she'd passed some sort of little test with Grace. The Romano family was beginning to accept her. That's what she wanted, wasn't it? She pressed a fist against her heart where the little band of pain was getting tighter.
"I thought we'd start our tour at the top and work our way down," Grace said.
"Sounds good." By the time they reached the lobby again, Lily would have a whole list of weaknesses that she could report to her father. At the top of the list was the fact that the roof space was being wasted.
There was no black cloud over her head today. No siree. She was making great, uninterrupted progress toward the goal of gobbling up Henry's Place. Which was just what she wanted.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Sam spoke the question out loud, but it was in the eyes of both his brothers.
"I have a plan," Tony said. Murphy had left to check on the crew he had working on the eighth floor, and Sam and Drew had been grilling him ever since.
"Then it's high time you shared it," Drew said, then shifted impatiently in his chair. "If you don't talk to us about this, how can we help?"
"If it's money you need, I can talk to A.J.," Sam offered. Sam's wife had inherited money when her parents died, and Tony didn't doubt for a minute that she'd come up with whatever sum Sam asked her for.
"No," he said.
"If you don't want to go to her, Nick would come up with anything you'd ask," Drew pointed out.
"I'm not taking anyone's money if all I can do is throw it into a black hole. This place needs more than repairs if it's going to start turning a real profit. It needs a major renovation."
Sam stared at Tony. "Well, that's the most you've ever shared with us about the running of this place."
"Henry's Place is in that much trouble?" Drew asked.
"Yeah. It's in that much trouble. And Dad made me promise to keep it running," Tony said.
"You know, it's not like we really need it as a family home anymore. Gina is making enough money now that she could easily take Lucy and Grace and move into an apartment uptown," Sam said. "I have an apartment, and Drew could find one. It would be all right by all of us if you had to sell.''
"I promised Dad I wouldn't." Tony smiled. "Besides, I told you I have a plan."
"And sleeping with the enemy is part of it?" Drew asked with a sudden frown. Tony shot him a look. "I'm assuming you're using that phrase figuratively."
"Sam and I saw the way you looked at her when she stepped out of the elevator," Drew said.
He was not going to discuss Lily with them. But his brothers knew him very well—as well as he knew them. And they'd always been able to tell if one or the other of them was interested in a woman.
"Lily's here as a consultant. She's going to make suggestions and draw up a financial plan so that I can make improvements on the hotel that will put us well into the black again," Tony said. "And she's very good at what she does. Sam checked her out."
"Her former employer—a small ex
clusive European chain—valued her creativity. But that doesn't mean she's here to share it with you. How much is she charging for this consultation?"
"Nothing," Tony said.
"There's a red flag," Drew said. "If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is."
"She could be here spying for her father's company. And Grace is giving her the grand tour," Sam said, shaking his head. "I don't like it."
"I'll deal with her," Tony said, and tried to deflect his brothers' attention. "But what I don't need is anymore sabotage. Can either of you do something about that?"
"I know a couple of freelance P.I.s who owe me a favor. They can take turns on surveillance," Sam said. "I'm also going to dig a little more into McNeil Enterprises and see if I can find any history of problems before they come in and do one of their buy-outs."
"Good idea," Drew said. "I'll keep an eye out when I'm around here. And I'll put out the word and see if some of my informants know who might have cut the pipes. Murphy said they knew what they were doing."
As Sam and Drew continued to plot a defense against future sabotage attempts, Tony glanced around the lobby. Lucy was busy at the registration desk with two businessmen who were snappy dressers. Alistair had joined Dame Vera, and she'd taken out her crystal. Outside the glass entrance doors, he saw that a steady rain had started to fall and he glanced at his watch. Hopefully, it would lighten up before he and Lily took their run. Either way, when they came back from it, they'd have to shower. Just thinking about the possibilities had his lips curving.
"You want to share the joke?" Drew asked. Tony clamped down on the image that had begun to fill his mind and shifted his gaze to his brother. "I'm going to have a word with Dame Vera and Alistair. I don't know anyone who spends more time checking the comings and goings of everyone, and I think they'd enjoy becoming amateur sleuths, don't you?"
Tony had started to rise from his chair when he heard Grace's laughter, then saw his sister and Lily step out of the elevator. "Well, it looks like Lily and Grace have hit it off."
Sam frowned. "Grace isn't won over easily. All the more reason for you to watch your back, bro."
A difficult maneuver, Tony thought. How was he supposed to watch his back when he couldn't seem to take his eyes off Lily McNeil? The tour had taken nearly forty minutes, and he'd found himself glancing at his watch no less than three times.
He'd missed seeing her. He'd missed being in the same room with her. He'd missed her. The stream of realizations rocked him.
Desire was one thing. He was quite comfortable with the fact that he wanted her in bed again—soon. He was even enjoying the latest little fantasy playing around the edges of his mind on just how he was going to get her out of that very businesslike suit. The scenario centered on the lacy little bow on the blouse she was wearing. He imagined untying it, and then slowly unbuttoning her blouse while he watched nothing but her eyes.
He was going to turn that fantasy into reality, but he wanted more than that from Lily McNeil. He wanted to get to know her. He wanted some part of that easy camaraderie that his cousin Grace had seemed to find with her.
Sam was right. He damned well better watch his back.
When Grace hugged her, Lily felt like a complete slug again. The fact that she could feel Tony watching her made her feel worse than a slug. Lightning chose that moment to flash outside the glass entrance doors and her stomach plummeted even further.
"I have to go," Grace said. "I have a big constitutional law test on Monday, but I'll see you at the basketball game on Sunday. Tony will drag you there."
She was doing her job, Lily tried to tell herself as Grace's arms tightened briefly around her before let- ting her go. And her job was to make sure Tony Romano sold out to McNeil Enterprises. That was what she wanted, Lily reminded herself. As she watched Grace step back into the elevator, she again felt like a traitor. .
Getting what she wanted was now within her reach. She knew exactly what the weaknesses in the hotel were—plumbing, a restaurant that was seldom filled to capacity, poorly utilized space, and rooms that were in dire need of renovation. Her father would make good use of the information. But her notebook was also filled with ideas for turning Henry's Place into a profitable small luxury hotel. She hadn't been able to prevent herself from jotting down her ideas. Of course, she would present them to Tony in her "fake" consulting report along with a financial plan. She'd jotted down some notes on the latter, also.
Lily sighed. There was a part of her that wanted to implement the ideas she'd come up with. This was just the kind of work she'd excelled at when she'd worked for the Marchmount Hotel chain in Europe. Unfortunately, her skills wouldn't be put to use at McNeil.
Lightning flashed again, and this time thunder growled. Lily whirled toward the entrance doors to the hotel and saw that a pouring rain had started to fall.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dame Vera on her settee. As she shifted her gaze to meet the older woman's, Dame Vera's earlier words echoed in her mind as clearly as if the woman had spoken them out
loud again. Beware the Ides of March. Disaster is near.
"Lily? What are you doing here?"
Lily recognized the voice even before she turned.
Still, she wasn't prepared for the sight of the two men walking toward her from the hotel entrance. Her step-brother, a mix of disapproval and annoyance on his
face, was bad enough. Her father had given her his word—the Romano job was hers. Had he changed his mind? Didn't he trust her at all?
But even as the questions streamed through her mind, she couldn't prevent her attention from shifting to the second man—Giles Fortescue, her ex-fiancé and ex-lover. It was the first time since she'd broken off her engagement that she' d seen him. Not one disaster, but two were striding toward her. A double whammy, and she felt it in her stomach like a blow. Her notebook was the first thing to slip away from her. It hit the floor with a splat. Even worse, she could feel all of her newfound confidence begin seeping away as surely as if she'd been pricked by a hundred little pins. Her one thought was that she had to plug the leaks.
The next thing she knew, Giles captured one of her hands and raised it to his lips.
"I can't believe my eyes," he said. "I thought for sure that Jerry was mistaken when he called your name. You've changed."
Thunder growled more fiercely, and Lily struggled to gather her thoughts and her confidence. She wasn't the naive girl Giles had so easily seduced, and she would not be taken in by him again. She had changed. She was the new Lily. She could gobble up hotels with the best of them.
"I'll take that as a compliment, Giles." She managed a smile. "What brings you to Henry's Place?"
"You," he said. "I learned through the grapevine that you were scheduled to come here on behalf of McNeil Enterprises, and I decided to take a little vacation and join you."
He was so smooth, Lily thought, from the words right down to the gentle way he was massaging her hand. Two years ago the charm and the intensity of his gaze as he looked at her would have worked. But she was discovering that the new Lily didn't believe a word he was saying. Whatever the reason he'd come to Henry's Place it wasn't to join her. She was willing to put money on it and on the fact that his presence was a clear indication that McNeil Enterprises wasn't the only company interested in buying out Tony Romano. Though she was curious about that, she had bigger fish to fry. Turning to her brother, she said, "What brings you here, Jerry?"
"You're supposed to be stuck in Tahiti." Leaning over, Jerry picked up the notebook that she'd dropped. "J.R. sent me to meet with Romano in your place."
"That won't be necessary since I'm here, and I've-already met once with him."
Instead of handing her the notebook, Jerry began to leaf through the pages. "Looks like you've been busy." The smile he sent her when he glanced up was cool and superior. "Since I'm here, I'll be happy to take your preliminary ideas back to J.R."
Lily wanted to kick him. Instead, she extracted
her hand from Giles's grip and extended it, palm out. "That notebook is mine, and when I'm ready to present my ideas, I'll deliver them in person." Jerry held the notebook just out of her reach. "Since you haven't bothered to call in, I'm under orders to report back to J.R," he said. "I'll just pass this along."
"The lady wants her notebook back," Tony said. Lily nearly jumped. She'd been so focused on the two men in front of her that she hadn't heard Tony approach. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that he'd brought the two men who'd been sitting with him. "This is a family matter," Jerry said. "The lady is my stepsister."
"What a coincidence," Tony said with a smile. "My brothers and I are making this a family matter, too. The lady is a guest of our hotel, and we're asking you nicely to give her back her notebook."
Or else.
Not one of the Romano men spoke the words, but Lily heard them clearly in the silence. Jerry's color was rising, but he wasn't extending the notebook. For the first time, she noted that Giles had distanced himself from the confrontation, slipping back toward the registration desk.
Jerry stood his ground. She couldn't help but admire him a bit for that. For the space of five long seconds, the four men said nothing, but Lily could hear the tension ratcheting up between them as clearly as if someone were cranking it. Testosterone seemed to crackle in the air.
Taking a deep breath, she reached out, closed her fingers around the notebook and tugged it free of Jerry's grip. "Thank you," she said and smiled sweetly at her stepbrother. "I don't think Father would appreciate it if you got into a fight with any member of the Romano family."
The whole scene was almost worth the quick flush of humiliation that flashed across Jerry's face. She'd pay for it, of course. But it would be worth the price.
With a brief nod to the three men behind her, Jerry stalked off and exited through the revolving doors.
That was the good news, Lily decided. At least Jerry hadn't registered to stay in the hotel and spy on her. The bad news was that Giles had. She caught a brief glimpse of him taking a key from Lucy before she turned to Tony. "Thank you."
