by Olivia Miles
“Alec Montgomery’s suite, please,” she said briskly, wincing with the vain hope that the hotel worker didn’t recognize her voice.
“Mr. Montgomery has asked not to be disturbed, Ms. Daniels,” Raymond said flatly.
Kate willed herself not to say something she would live to regret or might prompt Raymond to officially file a restraining order. The menswear shop had been generous enough to offer her another time slot for the fitting, but they had been clear that anything past five o’clock would make it impossible for them to promise the suit would be ready in time. Alec had to be present for that appointment, but how could she guarantee anything when he was making it impossible for her to even contact him? Of all the things to go wrong, this one was too ridiculous to have even predicted.
“Would you like to leave a message?” Raymond continued.
She had already left two. A third wouldn’t make a difference, and she had the sinking sensation she was becoming the brunt of some joke behind the front desk of the hotel. A place where she was known, and a place she would be frequenting again soon.
Very soon, she thought, narrowing her eyes.
“No, thank you,” she said, placing the phone back on its cradle. She leaned back in her chair and focused on the beautiful arrangement of white hydrangeas in the ivory vase on her desk. She considered calling Elizabeth, or William, to ask for Alec’s cell phone number, but it would only cause them alarm.
No, she would have to figure this one out on her own, and if Alec was determined to isolate himself in that hotel suite, then he would be sorely surprised to discover he was about to have company. He may think he was in Misty Point for business, but he had some unfinished business with her, too, and blocking her calls would only buy him so much time.
And your time is up, Kate thought, standing to gather her files. Without further contemplation, she plucked her tote off the hook behind her door and darted out into the summer afternoon. A cool breeze was blowing in off the ocean, and she shrugged into her cotton cardigan before heading to her car. It was showing signs of being a beautiful night…surely this meant the evening couldn’t end in complete disaster.
“Where are you going?”
Kate whirled to see Meredith pulling herself up to full height at the corner of the street; her signature extra-large cappuccino was clutched in her hand with a grip resembling a bird’s claw.
“I have an appointment with a vendor for the Jones-Montgomery wedding.” She could feel her heart pounding within her chest. Even when she wasn’t doing anything wrong, Meredith had an amazing way of making her feel like she was hiding something.
“Which vendor?”
“The menswear shop. I want to be sure all the groomsmen are accounted for.” And the best man.
“What time is your appointment?” Meredith asked pertly.
Kate struggled to come up with a response. Three o’clock had come and gone and it was now coming up on four. “I planned to stop by before they closed for the day.”
“Hmm, well, they’re open until five, so come back inside for a minute. I have something I need you to do for me first.”
Kate glanced at her watch and back to Meredith, who stood impassively on the sidewalk, her stone-cold eyes blazing, her lips thinned with disapproval. She wasn’t being left with a choice.
Planting a smile on her face, she followed Meredith back into the cool, pristine offices of Bride by Design. She lifted her chin as Meredith led them past the curious receptionist and down the hall to her magnificent office. The other assistants and planners seemed to stop typing so they could watch out of the corners of their eyes, pretending not to stare. Was it just her or had the corridors fallen silent? They were all thinking this might be it: the day she got the axe.
Tonight she would add forty bucks to that Future jar. She might not even bother with a two-week notice when the day finally came. And she’d solicit all of her clients’ friends to her new start-up. Discreetly, of course.
She smiled at the image of Bride by Design all boarded up.
Maybe she’d take over the lease!
Meredith’s assistant gave her an especially pitying smile, no doubt mistaking Kate’s smile over her fantasy for a friendly grin.
Of course, this kind of look was nothing new. She’d seen the change in the way everyone treated her since she’d come back. The pitying glances, the hushed voices, the way they all tiptoed around her in the kitchen while they made their coffee, speaking to her as if she were a child, in upbeat, chipper tones, as if encouraging her to live through the day. It was humiliating, and a sad reminder of what had brought it about. She’d been jilted. A word that was feared at Bride by Design.
Kate beamed back at the assistant, showing that she didn’t have a care in the world. Just following her boss into her office for an impromptu meeting. Yep, nothing amiss. Nothing to be worried about. Nothing at all.
Except that she was suddenly worried. Meredith wasn’t one for cozy chats or office gossip. When she called you into her office, it was because there was a problem.
And her Future jar certainly wasn’t full enough just yet.
She hovered in Meredith’s doorway, watching as the woman took brisk strides to her oversized desk and pulled open a drawer. “One of my brides just came to me with the most beautiful square of lace,” she said, holding out a small handkerchief for Kate to see. Kate nodded her recognition and reluctantly ventured farther into the room, happy when Meredith didn’t ask her to close it. The carpet felt too plush under her feet, the floor-to-ceiling French doors flanked by dove-gray velvet drapes let in a blaring light that made her feel exposed, and the glint in Meredith’s eyes made her stomach tighten.
“It’s lovely,” she managed, reaching out to finger the lace.
“We’ll need three yards of it,” Meredith said flatly. She uncurled her fingers from the cloth and tucked her ivory satin skirt under her as she took her seat.
Kate remained standing, scrutinizing the lace with narrowed concentration. “It looks antique,” she observed.
Meredith shuffled some papers on her desk, saying distractedly, “I’m sure it is.”
Kate blinked at the fabric as she considered Meredith’s request. “How do we know that amount of yardage is even available?”
Meredith’s smile was cool as she looked up at Kate. “We don’t.”
Now she understood. It was a setup. An impossible task. And one with consequences, no doubt. Kate stared at Meredith, remembering the time that she had fallen off the top of the pyramid during the homecoming game and only laughed good-naturedly. When had Meredith gone from a good-time party girl to an uptight bitch?
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask. And she might. Someday. When she gave her notice.
“I’ll do my best,” she said, knowing better than to make a promise she might not be able to keep.
Meredith’s laugh was thin. “Do better than that. And don’t bother coming in tomorrow unless you’ve found it. Three full yards.”
So here it was. It wasn’t all in her head at all. Meredith wanted her out. And this was her final test. “Tomorrow?” Something like this could take days, if not weeks, and she still had a dozen things to do for Elizabeth’s wedding—including a very inconvenient trip to get the best man fitted for his suit.
“Yes, tomorrow.” Meredith patted her tight chignon before lowering her eyes to the stack of mail on her desk. After a long pause, she lazily dragged her eyes back to Kate, feigning surprise at seeing her there. “Still here? You should really run along before the men’s shop closes, Kate. I wouldn’t want Saturday’s best man missing a suit, after all.”
Turning before she showed any emotion, Kate walked out of the office, past all the ogling assistants, whom she was sure to say hello to through a gritted smile, and out onto the cobblestone street. Sensing their stares through the window, she contemplated popping into the coffee shop across the corner for a latte to underscore just how breezy she felt but instead plucked her sunglasses f
rom her tote and pretend-dialed Elizabeth. She was laughing gaily into the dead phone as she slid into the driver’s seat, but by the time she’d started the ignition and rolled to a stop at the corner, out of sight and safely away from the office, she was struggling to hold back tears.
This was it. She was sure of it. Meredith was determined to punish her, and she’d finally found a way. There was no way that Kate could find that lace and focus on this Saturday’s wedding and all its festivities, much less the other clients she was busy with at various stages of their wedding planning.
She’d just have to accept the fact that this was the end of the road. She’d still follow through with overseeing Elizabeth’s wedding, even if she was unemployed before the big day. She might not see the big check she’d worked hard for, as that technically went to the company, but Elizabeth would want her to finish the job as much as Kate would want to see it through.
And unlike her other clients, a true friend wouldn’t care about her fallout with Bride by Design or question her capabilities.
With a heavy heart, she parked the car at the Beacon Inn and followed the path to the front porch, no longer so consumed with getting this suit fitted. It would get done, and then what? She could go back to the office and work for the rest of the night, or she could accept the inevitable.
Bypassing the front desk, where a man with dark hair was tapping at a computer, his brass name pin obviously displaying RAYMOND, even from a slight distance, Kate walked straight to the elevator bank and pressed the button for Alec’s floor.
Ignoring the DO NOT DISTURB sign, Kate knocked firmly on the door three times and held her breath. From far into the room she heard a curse, followed by a shuffling of papers.
She waited. No response. Hesitating to wonder if he was staring at her through the peephole, she bit her lip and tapped again. Three sharp raps. She had come this far.
The locks turned so fast that she wasn’t prepared for the sight of him—tall, a little weary looking, and not entirely pleased to see her. She had the distinct awareness of her stomach starting to flutter. Oh, stop that!
“Well, isn’t this a surprise,” he remarked, his mouth lifting a bit at the corners.
Kate narrowed her gaze, searching for a hint of sarcasm or disdain, and came up blank. Could he genuinely be so at ease with her showing up like this?
“I’m sorry to show up unannounced.” She fought to keep her eyes from lingering on his square jaw, on his deep, warm eyes, and the T-shirt that hugged his chest. “I tried calling, but they wouldn’t put me through.”
“Oh. Sorry about that,” Alec said, opening the door wider. Kate raked her eyes over his strong, muscled frame as he padded barefoot into the suite. She assumed this was an invitation to follow and closed the door behind her. “I had them do that in case my father tried to call.”
He bent over the coffee table and gathered the papers that were strewn over the polished surface. Stuffing them into a large file folder, he straightened to face her, scratching absentmindedly at his taut stomach, where her eyes were now determined to linger. “We have an appointment today, don’t we? What time is it now?”
“It’s after four,” she said.
He blinked and shot her a look of guilt that made it impossible to stay mad at him for long. “Damn. I lost track of time.”
She should be annoyed. She should be furious, really. But maybe it was the knowledge that she was losing her job, or maybe it was the way he looked in those jeans and T-shirt, but she realized she’d lost the will to fight.
“It’s open until five if we hurry,” she said hopefully. “Any later and they can’t promise they’ll have it ready in time for the wedding.”
“So you’re leaving me no other option, then?” Alec raised an eyebrow.
“Not really, no,” she admitted, holding her breath and saying a silent prayer that he wouldn’t put up another fight. Without that suit…Oh, she couldn’t even think about it. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t this important.” Instead she’d be home, enjoying a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream with extra chocolate chips while watching one of those house-flipping shows that so easily passed the time, with sweet little Henry at her side.
“In that case, let’s hurry,” Alec said, and Kate let out a sigh of relief. “But I have one condition,” he added, his deep brown eyes turning dark with mystery.
Kate bit back a sigh. She should have known he wouldn’t make it so easy. That he would find a way to keep things on his terms. “What’s that?”
“Have me back before six. I have work to do.”
Kate let out a pent-up breath. For one fleeting, exhilarating second she had thought the request was going to be a little more…personal.
She should have known a man like Alec had a one-track mind.
Chapter Twelve
It was a routine part of Kate’s job to oversee dress alterations or veil fittings, and there was that time she had to convince a most bewildered groom that he really didn’t want to go with the kilt, especially since he wasn’t even of Scottish heritage. But overseeing the best man’s fitting? This was a first.
“Still questioning my decision to go with seersucker?” she asked, standing to give him the once-over in the most professional capacity possible, even though her gaze kept pulling to the waist of his pants and back to the gleam in that deep-set gaze. And she didn’t know which was worse to look at, really.
When the salesman had first pulled out the blue pinstripe seersucker suits that Elizabeth and Kate had decided on for the groomsmen, Alec had visibly scoffed. When the accompanying pink tie was revealed, his groan had been heard throughout the store.
“I’ve learned that everything around here is a little more casual than I’m used to.” He turned obligingly as the tailor pinned the shoulders of the suit jacket.
“And that’s precisely why you should roll with it. If William wanted a big, posh, evening wedding, he would have gotten married in the city.” Which was precisely what Jake had wanted. Or his parents did, at least.
She silently chastised herself. That should have been her first warning. You can’t change a person. You had to just accept them for who they are. Or in the case of her ex-fiancé, see them for who they are.
“Turn around and let me have a look at it,” she said once the tailor had finished pinning the pants. Standing behind him, Kate eyed the span of his shoulders.
She pulled on the hems of the sleeve, her thumb inadvertently grazing his wrist. She snatched her hand back so quickly that he turned around to give her a puzzled look.
So he was well built. So were mannequins.
She pressed her lips together, deciding not to even bother looking at the pants properly—they’d do, they would just have to—and said quickly, “Turn around.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She tried to ignore the twinkle in his eye. “The bow tie’s all crooked,” she said.
“I’m more of a square knot type of guy,” Alec said.
“Bow ties are underrated.” Too often her grooms didn’t even want to wear them.
“Ah, so you’re into nerdy, professor types then?” He cocked an eyebrow, his eyes deep and dark and a little too intense for her comfort.
She locked on to his gaze, willing herself to stay strong even though that broad grin made her knees go a little weak. “I don’t have a type.”
“Ah, but I think you do,” he challenged. “Go on. Tell me your type.”
You, she thought to herself. Someone like you. And that was exactly why she needed to keep a cool head.
She shrugged, taking a step back to survey his reflection in the mirror. “I guess you could say I’d be drawn to someone with traditional values. If I had a type.”
“So someone who wants to get married, then?”
More like someone who means it when they say they do, she thought.
“You’re all done,” she said, backing away.
“If you’d told me that getting frisked would be part of th
e experience, I wouldn’t have canceled our appointment yesterday.” He winked and, before Kate could recover from her shock, disappeared back into the dressing room.
Catching her reflection in the mirror, she realized her mouth was slightly open. She closed it firmly, rolling her eyes at what a boyish flirt he could be and reminded herself not to be pulled into it. Men like that got through life on their money and charm, and she would serve herself greatly to remember that.
Kate plucked her red pen from her handbag and scratched the fitting off her eleven-page list, but her heart felt heavy again as she quickly ran her eyes down the sheet, leafing through the stapled papers to calculate what else needed to be accomplished before the end of the day. This time tomorrow, none of it would matter, technically speaking, not if she didn’t find that lace.
Except it would matter to Elizabeth. And it still mattered to her.
“We should probably get going,” she said when Alec emerged from the dressing room. “You said you needed to be back to the hotel by six, and Henry will be waiting for me.”
Alec’s brow momentarily furrowed. “Henry.” He seemed to mull the word.
Kate tipped her head toward the door. “Ready?”
She fumbled to find her keys in the bottom of her handbag. She kept her eyes lowered in her search, but all the same she sensed his gaze on her. The man made her nervous.
Keys in hand, she walked briskly to the car.
She watched as he crossed around to the passenger side, noting the contours of his broad back and biceps. The way his dark hair glinted in the sun. She knew Henry would be eagerly waiting for her to get home—it was almost dinnertime after all—but she had irrational longing to prolong the afternoon. Perhaps take the long way back into town. Perhaps manage a flat tire…
