She hadn’t put darkly handsome Sam down as the type who would do active charity work in a far-flung part of the world. It was a surprise of the best kind.
‘So you work for the same international aid organisation as Jesse?’ she asked.
‘No. I worked as a volunteer during my vacation. We volunteers provided the grunt work. In my case, as a carpenter.’
That figured. His hand had felt callused when she’d shaken it earlier.
‘I’m seriously impressed. That’s so...noble.’ This hot, hunky man, who would have female hearts fluttering wherever he went, spent his hard-earned vacation working without pay in a developing country in what no doubt were dirty and dangerous conditions.
‘Noble? That’s a very nice thing to say, but I’d hardly call it that. It was hot and sweaty and damn hard work,’ he said. ‘I was just glad to be of help in what was a desperate situation for so many people.’
‘I bet it wasn’t much fun, but you were actually helping people in trouble. In my book, that’s noble—and you won’t make me think otherwise.’
He shrugged those impressively broad shoulders. ‘It was an eye-opener. Sure made me appreciate the life I have at home.’
‘I’ve thought about volunteering, but I’ve never actually done it. What made you sign up?’
His face tightened and shutters seemed to come down over his deep, brown eyes. ‘It just seemed a good thing to do. A way to give back.’ The tone of his voice made her wonder if he was telling her everything. But then, why should he?
Sam Lancaster was a guest—his personal life was none of her concern. In fact, she had to be careful not to overstep the mark of what was expected of a deputy manager on front-of-house duty on a busy Sunday.
It was as well to be brought back to reality.
She returned her voice to hospitality impartial. ‘I’m so glad it worked out for you.’ She glanced down at his menu. ‘Do you want to order while you’re waiting for Jesse?’ It was an effort to say Jesse’s name with such disinterest.
‘I’ll wait for him. Though I’m looking forward to exploring the menu; it looks very good.’ Sam glanced around him and nodded approvingly. ‘I like the way Ben built this hotel. No wonder it won architectural awards.’
‘Ben, as in Jesse’s brother? My boss? Owner of Hotel Harbourside?’ She couldn’t keep the incredulity from her voice.
‘I’m friends with Ben as well as Jesse,’ he said.
‘Of course you would be,’ she replied.
If she’d entertained for one moment the idea of following up her attraction to Sam Lancaster, she squashed it right now. She’d grown up with Ben too. The Morgans had been like family. The thought of conducting any kind of relationship with Sam under the watchful, teasing eyes of the Morgan brothers was inconceivable—especially if Jesse had told him about the kiss.
‘Do you go way back with Ben, too?’
‘He joined Jesse and me on a couple of ski trips to Thredbo,’ said Sam. ‘We all skied together.’
‘More partying and drinking than actual skiing, I’ll bet,’ she said.
‘What happens on ski trip, stays on ski trip,’ said Sam with that devastating smile.
Individually, his irregular features didn’t make for handsome. But together: the olive skin; the eyes as dark as bitter chocolate; the crooked nose; his sensual mouth; the dark, thick eyebrows, intersected by that intriguing small scar, added up to a face that went a degree more than handsome.
Jesse or Ben had not been hit with the ugly stick, either. She could only imagine what that trio of good-looking guys would have got up to in the party atmosphere of the New South Wales ski slopes. She knew only too well how wild it could be.
She’d gone skiing with her university ski-club during her third year in Sydney for her business degree. The snowfields were only a day’s drive away from Sydney, but they might as well have been a world away.
Social life had outweighed skiing. That winter break they’d all gone crazy with the freedom from study, from families, from rules. If she’d met Sam then she would have gone for him, that was for sure. Instead she’d met someone else. Someone who in subsequent months had hurt her so badly she’d slipped right back into that teenage dream of kind, trustworthy Jesse. Someone who had bred the unease she felt at the thought of dating men with untamed good looks like Sam.
‘So you’re friends with Ben, too; I didn’t know. We all went our separate ways during the time you guys must have met each other.’ A thought struck her. ‘Ah, now I get it. You’re in Dolphin Bay for Ben and Sandy’s wedding on Saturday.’
‘Correct,’ he said. ‘Though I’m not one for weddings and all the waste-of-time fuss that surrounds them.’
Kate drew herself up to her full five-foot-five and put her hands on her hips in mock rebuke. ‘Waste-of-time fuss? I don’t know if I can forgive you for that comment as I happen to be the wedding planner for these particular nuptials.’
‘Deputy manager of a hotel like this and a wedding planner? You’re the very definition of a multi-tasker.’
‘I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you,’ she said. ‘I like to keep busy. And I like to know what’s going on. Jesse calls me the self-appointed arbiter of everyone’s business in Dolphin Bay.’
She regretted the words as soon as they’d slipped out of her mouth. Why, why, why did she have to bring up Jesse’s name?
But Sam just laughed. ‘That sounds like something Jesse would say. You must be good friends for him to get away with it.’
‘We are good friends,’ she said.
And that was all they ever should have been. When they’d been still just kids, they’d shared their clumsy, first-ever kiss. But it hadn’t happened again until three days ago when she’d provocatively asked her old friend why it had been so long between kisses. A suggestion that had backfired so badly.
‘What Jesse says is true,’ she continued. ‘He calls me a nosy parker. I like to call it a healthy curiosity about what’s going on.’
‘Necessary qualities for all your various occupations, I would think,’ he said.
‘Thank you. I think so too. I particularly need to be on top of the details of Ben’s wedding which is aaargh...’ she mimed tearing her hair out ‘...only six days away.’ She mentally ran through the guest list. ‘Now I think of it, there is a Sam on the guest list; I’ve been meaning to ask Ben who it was. I don’t know anything about him—uh, I mean you.’
Sam spread out both hands in a gesture of invitation. ‘I’m an open book. Fire away with the questions.’
She wagged a finger in mock-warning. ‘I wouldn’t say that to a stickybeak like me. Give me carte blanche and you might be here all day answering questions.’ What was she saying? ‘Uh, I mean as they relate to you as a wedding guest, that is.’
‘So I’ll limit them,’ he said. ‘Five questions should be all you need.’
Five questions? She’d like to know a heck of a lot more about Sam Lancaster than she could discover with five questions.
‘Don’t mind if I do,’ she said.
Do you have a girlfriend, fiancée, wife?
But she ignored the first question she really wanted to ask and chose the safe option. ‘Okay, so my first question is wedding-menu related—meat, fish or vegetarian?’
‘All of the above,’ he said without hesitation.
‘Good. That makes it easy. Question number two: what do you plan to do in the days before the wedding? Do you need me to organise any tours or activities?’
With me as the tour guide, perhaps.
He shook his head. ‘No need. There’s a work problem I have to think through.’
She itched with curiosity about what that problem could be—but questioning him about it went beyond the remit of wedding-related questions.
‘Okay. J
ust let me know if you change your mind. There’s dolphin-and whale-watching tours. Or hikes to Pigeon Mountain for spectacular views. Now for question number three: do you...?’
Something made her look up and she immediately wished she hadn’t. Jesse. Coming in late for his lunch. She swallowed a swear word. Why hadn’t she made her getaway while she could?
Too distracted by handsome Sam Lancaster.
Now this first post-kiss encounter with Jesse would have to be played out in front of Sam.
Act normal. Act normal. Smile.
But her paralysed mouth wouldn’t form into anything other than a tight line that barely curved upwards. Nor could she summon up so much as a breezy ‘hi’ for Jesse—the man she’d been friends with all her life, had been able to joke, banter and trade insults with like a brother.
Jesse pumped Sam’s hand. ‘Sorry, I got held up.’
‘No worries,’ said Sam, returning the handshake with equal vigour.
‘Kate,’ said Jesse with a friendly nod in her direction, though she didn’t think she was imagining a trace of the same awkwardness in his eyes that she was feeling. ‘So you’ve already met my mate Sam.’
‘Yes,’ was all she managed to choke out.
‘I see you got the best table in the house,’ Jesse said to Sam, indicating the view with a sweep of his hand.
‘And the best deputy manager,’ said Sam gruffly, nodding to Kate.
‘Why, thank you,’ she said. For Sam, her smile worked fine, a real smile, not her professional, hospitality smile.
Jesse cleared his throat in a way she’d never heard before. So he was feeling the awkwardness, too.
‘Yes; Kate is, beyond a doubt, awesome,’ he said. Kate recognised the exaggerated casualness of his tone. Would Sam?
‘We’re just friends,’ Kate blurted out. She shot a quick glance at Sam to see a bemused lift of his eyebrow.
‘Of course we’re just friends,’ Jesse returned, too quickly. He stepped around the table to hug her, as he always did when they met. ‘Kate and I go way back,’ he explained to Sam.
Kate stiffened as Jesse came near. She doubted she could ever return to their old casual camaraderie. It wasn’t that Jesse had done anything wrong when he’d kissed her. He just hadn’t done anything for her. He was probably a very good kisser for someone else.
But things had changed and she didn’t want his touch, even in the most casual way. She ducked to slide away.
Big, big mistake.
Sam frowned as he glanced from her to Jesse and back again. Kate could see his mental cogs whirring, putting two and two together and coming up with something other than the zero he should be seeing.
It alarmed her. Because she really wanted Sam Lancaster to know there was nothing between her and Jesse. That she was utterly and completely single.
‘Why don’t you join us for lunch?’ Jesse asked, pulling out the third chair around the table.
No way did she want to make awkward small talk with Jesse. The thought of using her three remaining questions to find out all about Sam Lancaster was appealing—but only when there was just him and her in the conversation.
She pointed her foot, clad in a black court pump, in the direction of the table. ‘Hear the ball and chain rattling? Ben would have a fit if I downed tools and fraternised with the guests.’
Did she imagine it, or did Sam’s gaze linger on her leg? She hastily drew it back. ‘Shame,’ he said. He sounded genuinely regretful.
Not only did she want to walk away as quickly as she could from this uncomfortable situation but she also had her responsibilities to consider. She’d spent way too much time already chatting with Sam. ‘Guys, I have to get back to work. I’ll send a waitress over straight away and tell the chef to fill your order, pronto. I’m sure you both must be hungry.’
In an ideal world, she’d turn and walk away right now—and not return to this end of the room until both men had gone—but before she went there was wedding business to be dealt with.
‘Jesse, will I see you this evening at Ben and Sandy’s house for the wedding-planning meeting? We need to run through your best-man duties.’
‘Of course,’ said Jesse. ‘And Sam will be there too.’
‘Sam?’ Ben had never mentioned that the Sam on the guest list would be part of the wedding party.
Sam shrugged those impressively broad shoulders. ‘I’ve got business with Ben. He asked me to come along tonight.’
She’d anticipated seeing Sam around the hotel, but not seeing him so soon and in a social situation. She couldn’t help a shiver of excitement at the thought. At the same time, she was a little put out she hadn’t been informed of the extra person. Didn’t her friends realise a wedding planner needed to know these things? What other surprises might they spring on her at this late stage?
Ben hadn’t mentioned employing a carpenter. Were they planning on getting Sam to construct a wooden wedding arch on the beach where the ceremony was to be held? She wished they’d told her. They were counting down six days to the wedding.
But she would find that out later. Right now she had to get back to work.
‘I’ll see you tonight, Kate,’ said Sam.
Did she imagine the promise she heard in his voice?
Copyright © 2014 by Kandy Shepherd
ISBN-13: 9781460334928
THE RETURN OF THE REBEL
Copyright © 2014 by Jennifer F. Stroka
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