by Donna Alward
Luca stared at the papers once more, leaning back against the plush sofa and crossing his ankles on the coffee table. There was nothing really wrong with the hotel, not really. It was a nice establishment, comfortable, good service.
But good wasn’t Fiori. His father had taught him that.
The new manager was something else, too. Mariella. Right now it appeared the only thing she shared with his grandmother was her name. She’d let down her guard for a few moments, but she was a woman bound up in rules and boundaries, that much was crystal clear. All through the tour she’d mentioned how profitable or efficient their amenities were. Which was all well and good—he wanted to make a profit. But it wasn’t the be all and end all. There was more to the Fiori brand than a balance sheet. It was what set Fiori apart from the rest.
He put the papers down and wandered over to his balcony. He slid open the door, crossing his arms against the chill of mountain fall air. Listening, he caught the whispered rustle of the wind through the gold-coin leaves of the trees below. He hadn’t missed the way she kept putting distance between them, either. After that preliminary handshake, it had been like there was an invisible shield around her. The woman was a big contradiction. A sexy woman wrapped up in bubble-wrap. He wondered why.
And he really had to stop thinking about her.
He leaned against the railing, looking out over the white-capped range before him. He liked the gray stone exterior of the hotel, the way it mimicked the slate color of the peaks surrounding them. It reminded him of a small castle, a retreat tucked into the side of a mountain. A fortress.
A knock at the door shook him from his musings and he went back inside to answer it.
Mari had to struggle to keep her mouth from falling open when he opened the door. She completely forgot about the file in her hand or her reason for going to the suite as soon as she saw him. Gone was the suit of earlier. Instead he wore jeans, old ones. The hem was slightly frayed, the thighs faded. And he’d changed into a sweater, a ribbed tan pullover that accentuated his lean build and complemented his dark coloring. He looked completely approachable. Delicious.
This was ridiculous. She was staring at a virtual stranger like he was a piece of the chef’s sachertorte. Good looks were just that. Good looks. They said nothing about the man, nothing at all. A man could hide behind his good looks. An all too familiar ache spread through her chest.
“Mari. Come in.”
He’d acquiesced and used the shortened version of her name. She should have been grateful, but the way he said it, the way the simple syllables rolled off his tongue, sent flutters over her skin.
He reached out and took her hand and the skitters fled, replaced by an automatic reaction. She pulled her hand back, couching it along her side, and took a step away from him.
His brows furrowed in the middle. Of course he wouldn’t understand.
Handshakes were a matter of business etiquette and she tolerated it, but that was the extent of the personal contact she could tolerate. Taking her hand probably meant nothing to him. But to her it meant taking a huge personal liberty. She couldn’t help her reaction any more than she could change the past. She couldn’t stop the fear, even when it was irrational as it was now. It didn’t matter how much time went by, it was impossible to stop the instinctive reactions. He’d done nothing to make her believe he’d hurt her, but it didn’t matter. The trigger was the same.
“I brought you the financial statements.” She covered the uncomfortable moment by holding out the manila folder.
“You’re serious?”
It was her turn to be confused, and she gratefully switched her focus to business. “Of course I am. I thought you’d need them.”
“Are we in the black?”
“Of course we are!” When he didn’t take the file, she lowered her arm again, hiding behind it.
“Then that’s all I need to know.”
“It is?”
“Please, sit down. Would you like a drink?”
“No, thank you.”
She perched on the edge of an armchair like a bird waiting to take flight, while he walked over to the small bar. She noticed he was in his bare feet and for a moment her gaze was drawn to the frayed hem of his jeans, the way it rested against the skin of his heel.
She couldn’t let his good looks distract her. She’d bet anything he was aware of his appearance and used it to his advantage all the time. But it wouldn’t work with her. She wasn’t so naive as that.
He wasn’t interested in the numbers? Worry plunged through her stomach. What was he going to do to the hotel? Run it into the ground? Every decision she’d made in the last two and a half years had been carefully thought out, balanced against the pros and cons. What to do, where to live, what to wear and say…And he was treating this whole thing like it was no big deal. More and more he was bearing out her initial judgment. That for him this whole thing was a rich boy’s game. But it was her livelihood. It was all she had. She’d built it from nothing. And he’d been given everything—life on a silver platter.
“What are your plans for the Cascade?” She spoke to his back as he poured a glass of red wine, filling a second glass despite her decline.
He returned and handed her the glass, then perched on the arm of the sofa. “I have many plans. I think revamping the hotel is going to be fun.”
Fun? Her heart sank further. Great. He was charming, handsome. There was no denying it. In fact he was the first man she’d responded to physically ever since leaving Toronto. Her eyes narrowed. Acknowledging his good looks meant nothing except that she still had eyes to see with. Taking her livelihood in his hands for fun didn’t sit well.
“Don’t you think those sorts of decisions should be examined, weighed?”
“What’s the fun in that?” His lips tipped up as he sipped his wine. “Aren’t you going to have any? I brought it with me. It’s Nico—the vineyards of my best friend, Dante Nicoletti. You’ll like it—it’s a fine Montepulciano. And it’s a staple on all Fiori lists.”
She dutifully sipped and looked down as the rich flavor surrounded her tongue. Oh, it was nice. Very nice. But that was hardly the point.
“I take my job seriously, Mr. Fiori. Not something to enjoy on a whim.”
“Sometimes whims are the very best things.” He smiled disarmingly and she found she actually had to work at not being charmed. Damn him!
She sipped again, sliding further back in the chair and crossing her legs. “I like what I do.” Would she have called it fun? Probably not. But it gave her a sense of accomplishment. Working in a hotel in the majesty of the Rockies suited her wallflower qualities to a tee. She could glimpse the fairy tale while still being able to watch from the sidelines. She felt protected, and yet had room to breathe. But fun?
She wasn’t sure she knew what fun was.
“But that’s not the same thing. Tell me, Mari, what drives you? What makes you get up in the morning?”
The fact that I can.
She pushed the automatic answer away. She didn’t have to justify her choices to him. He didn’t need to know how she’d had a narrow escape, how it could have turned out so very differently years earlier.
“This isn’t about me, it’s about what’s going to happen to this hotel. Paul Verbeek resigned when you bought the hotel. How much more is going to change? Staff is already upset at the possibility of change and insecurity. If I start handing out pink slips, morale’s going to take a serious dip.”
“That’s the first thing you’ve said that I agree with.”
She bristled. He waltzed in here and after what, four hours? decided she was wrong about just about everything. She knew how to do her job and she did it well, despite being new at it. This was going to be another case of owners sending in an emissary, turning everything upside down, then leaving the mess for local management to clean up. She sighed. Everything had been going fine. Why did this have to happen now?
“I don’t know what to say. We obviousl
y have differing opinions yet I have no wish to cause any discord. You’re the boss.” She folded her hands. One of them had to keep a logical head.
“Describe the Cascade in three words.”
She squeezed her left fingers in her right hand. “Are you serious?”
“Perfectly. What are the first three words you think of when you think of this hotel?”
“Efficient. Class. Profitable.” She shot the words out confidently. She prided herself—and the hotel—on them. It was the image she tried to portray every day.
He stopped pacing and sighed. “I was afraid of that.”
“What’s wrong with that? We have an efficient staff, an elegant establishment and we make a profit. You should be happy with all those things.”
“Come here.” He went to the balcony door again and slid it open. She followed, bringing the wine with her and cradling her glass in her hands. What on earth was he doing now?
“Look out over there.”
The afternoon was waning and the sun’s rays filtered through trees and shadows. Goose bumps rose on her skin at the chill in the air and she shivered.
“Just a minute,” he murmured, disappearing back inside.
When he returned he draped a soft blanket over her shoulders and took the glass out of her hands. She tensed at his casual touch.
“Now look. And tell me, what do you see?”
“The valley, poplar trees, the river.”
“No, Mari.”
His body was close, too close and she fought against the panic rising instinctively in her chest. Please don’t touch me, she prayed, torn between fear and an unfamiliar longing that he’d disobey her silent wishes. What would it feel like to have him cradle her body between his arms? Torture, or heaven? The way her heart was pounding, she recognized the sensation for what it was—fear.
As if he sensed her tension, he stepped to the side and gripped the iron railing. He breathed deeply, closed his eyes. When he opened them again he gazed over the vista before them.
“Freedom. Right now, what I’m feeling is freedom.” His smile was wide and relaxed. “Look at this place. Look at where we are. There’s no place in the world like this place. The Cascade can be a jewel in a beautiful kingdom. Wild and free on the outside. And inside…a place to rest, rejuvenate, to fall in love. Can’t you feel it seducing you, Mari?”
Tears pricked her eyes but she blinked them away, gripping the edges of the blanket closely around her in a protective embrace.
Freedom. Rest. Rejuvenation. All the things she had spent years searching for, and exactly how she felt about her new life in this tiny resort town.
And with his good intentions, Luca Fiori was about to ruin it all.
CHAPTER TWO
“I DON’T understand.”
Mari stepped back from the railing, away from the whispering trees and Luca’s warm voice. He was talking castles and falling in love? She’d stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago. “How exactly do you intend on accomplishing this?”
Before he could answer she scuttled back inside, removed the blanket from her shoulders and kept her hands busy by folding it. Having it around her shoulders had felt too much like an embrace and that didn’t sit well. It was becoming increasingly clear that she and Luca were two very different people. She was firmly grounded in reality. Full stop.
He followed her, watching her from the glass door until she put the blanket down and then he stepped forward, giving her back the wine.
“I’m just working on impressions, for now.”
“I prefer to work with facts, and so far all I’ve heard from you are nebulous statements of…of grandeur,” she finished, faltering a little. Her heart pounded in her ears as she fought back the feeling that she was crossing an invisible line.
It was beginning to feel like an argument and she forced herself to relax, taking slow breaths and picturing the stress leaving through the soles of her feet. She hated conflict. With a passion. She’d learned to stick up for herself over the last few years but it didn’t mean it came easily to her. If it weren’t for the rest of the employees looking to her for leadership, she’d be tempted to back away and let him have a go at it rather than argue.
But she was the manager and if she wanted to keep that job, she needed to fight the battles that needed to be fought. People were depending on her. People who had been there for her since she’d made this her home, whether they knew it or not. She steeled her spine and made herself look up again.
“That’s the problem with the Cascade,” Luca explained. He poured a little more wine in his glass, took a sip and smiled a little. “Everything’s been compartmentalized. One room says cool elegance and another is modern and another is rustic comfort…all admirable designs and styles, but without unity.”
Unity?
His hand spread wide. “We need to decide what the Cascade is. What it means…what we want to achieve…and then work around that. If we work on one area at a time, it means less disturbance to everyone. The goal is to make everything exemplify Fiori Cascade.”
Mari’s eyes widened. “That will cost a fortune.”
“Fiori has deep pockets.”
“Of course…I’m just…weighing the cost versus the benefit. The Bow Val…I mean the Cascade is already doing well. Look at the numbers—we have excellent capacity even for this time of year.”
“That’s not remotely the point.”
And there was where they differed. She realized that they did not see anything the same way. Maybe it was having money and security that made the difference. Luca didn’t have to worry where his next meal was coming from, or where he’d sleep, or what the future held because his was there waiting for him. It always had been. But her life wasn’t that way. It was planning and dollars and cents and making the most out of less, rocking the boat as little as possible. It was staying in the background, out of notice, causing little trouble. And there was nothing wrong with that. It had gotten her where she was. She worked quietly but effectively and she’d been rewarded for it through steady promotion.
“If you implement all these great ideas, when can we expect the memo from head office telling us to downsize our staff?”
“That won’t happen.”
“Will you guarantee that in writing? Because I’ve seen it happen, the expenditures are too great to sustain staffing and layoffs occur. Are you planning on closing us down during renovations? What are these people to do then? They count on their pay to put food on the table. Have you considered that?”
A smile flickered on Luca’s face and Mari steeled herself against the onslaught of charm she knew was coming. This was important. As much as she wanted to back away and say, “Yes sir, whatever you want sir,” she wouldn’t.
“Of course I’m not shutting the hotel down, don’t be ridiculous. And if any employees aren’t required during refurbishing, they’ll get paid vacation. Will that suit you?”
“I want it in writing,” Mari reiterated, and put down her wineglass. He was the boss, and she was treading perilously close to insubordination. She thought back to the timid girl who had started working here only a few years ago. It was the people in this very hotel that had helped her. She wouldn’t let them down now.
“You are a sharp one.” His voice held a touch of irritation and she felt the warm thread of slight victory infuse her. She’d gotten to him, then. His implacable charm was faltering and it emboldened her.
“I’m no one’s yes-man.”
“I’m beginning to see that.” His gaze appraised her and she felt a flush climb her cheeks. It felt as though the air in her chest expanded. No, no, no. She had to keep focused on work!
“Perhaps tomorrow we might schedule a meeting to go over the preliminary details.”
“I have a better idea.”
Mari met his eyes yet again, and for a moment the air seemed to hum between them. The annoyance of moments ago was dispelled as he slid one hand into his jeans pocket. His eyes were warm, cr
inkled at the corners as he smiled at her.
“Have dinner with me tonight.”
She took two steps back as sure footing flew out the window. Alarm bells started ringing in her head. “Absolutely not.”
“Here, in the hotel. It’ll be a business supper. What is it you say…scout’s honor? Strictly work.” He lifted a finger to his forehead.
“It’s two fingers, and dinner is hardly a business meeting.”
Luca stepped forward, putting his glass down on a side table with a small click that echoed in the silence.
He was too close again. Part of her held the thread of panic and the other part was drawn to him, plain and simple, which meant that nothing was simple at all. It was much easier when they were disagreeing. Easier to keep him at a distance. She wasn’t equipped to deal with his charm. He didn’t even seem to know he possessed it.
“Bring your day planner if that makes you happy.” Happy? Huh. He was flirting, and she didn’t flirt. Ever!
“I think my office tomorrow would be much better.”
“Yes, but you see I need to get a complete picture, and that includes the quality of the dining experience. And eating alone does not constitute a fine dining experience, in my opinion.”
Oh, he was good. Smooth and persuasive and actually logical! She couldn’t find a good argument. How could she tell him why she didn’t go out to dinner with anyone? How she went home each night and made a meal for one and ate it with Tommy, her dog? Flimsy at best. And the real reason was none of his business. Not his, not anyone’s. No one here knew how she’d run away. How she still looked over her shoulder.
“A working dinner.”
“Of course.”
There was no polite way out of it. He was here, all the way from Italy, he was her boss and he was calling the shots. Like it or not. She’d pushed him as far as she’d dared just now and her victory was thin. If they were to work together for the next several weeks, months even…her heart quivered at the thought…then somehow they needed to reach an amicable status quo. She swallowed. He had to know she was not afraid. He had to know she put the hotel and its employees first.
