French Kiss (Silver Cove Series Book 2) (11 page)

Then something else dawned on him as he walked towards the door. Turning back towards her, he asked. “Is that man staying on?” Her eyebrows shot up in question. “The one that was in here?”

“Tristen Robinson?” she supplied. He nodded quickly, his temper flaring. “Yes, but I told him I was seeing someone.” Her face paled slightly. “There is no way he left the note.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“You’ve talked to him?” he asked, fisting his hands.

“He’s a guest, and he apologized for yesterday.” She sat down behind the desk. “He did not leave those notes,” she said again.

“Even if he didn’t, he didn’t have the right to paw you—”

“Adam,” she broke into his rant. “He was drunk and he apologized. Besides, like I said, I told him we were involved.”

That stopped his temper cold. “You did?”

She nodded and smiled. “I thought that was our plan.”

He stormed over and leaned across her desk and planted another kiss on her lips. “Later.” He wasn’t sure if it was a promise or a threat. Without another word, he walked out of the office, his shoulders back, his head a little higher.

He was in love. There was no question about it. Not anymore. Now all he had to do was tell Lilly. Just that thought had his stomach rolling and his palms sweating.

L
ilith watched Adam leave the room and couldn’t stop smiling for the next few hours while she made some calls and rearranged schedules. The note she’d discovered was all but forgotten.

She added three more people to the cleaning staff’s schedule. She knew Adam would take care of the wait staff and kitchen personnel.

Rodney, the groundskeeper, informed her that there was still plenty to do during the rain and he would keep his staff busy enough. They had been in the process of cleaning all the gutters and power washing all the buildings before the rain started, but it would have to be put on hold until the rains stopped.

She had always loved the old gardener. He’d been working at East Haven since long before Sarah had even been born. Long before Sarah’s father had even purchased the island resort. Rodney always joked that he was born to work there and would be there until the day he died.

Which, from the looks of him, should have been years ago. But even though he looked frail and old, Lilith knew that wasn’t the case. She’d had a hard time keeping up with the man when she’d worked under him. Even Rodney’s grandson complained about how hard his grandfather worked him. The kid did like to complain. But so did a lot of her staff.

She glanced down when her stomach growled. Picking up the phone, she decided to call down to the kitchen and order up an early dinner, but then hung up instead when she remembered that Adam was going to bring something up later.

She needed to get up and stretch her legs anyway. As she walked down the hallway, she thought of all the things that still had to be done that evening before she could spend time with Adam.

She was almost to the stairs when she noticed the door to the attic cracked open. The workers weren’t supposed to be in there until the next morning. Stepping into the darkness, she called out.

“Hello?” Since the sky had turned dark already, there was no light shining through the window like it had at lunch. Searching for a light switch, she stubbed her toe on a box and cursed under her breath. “Is someone in here?” she called again after flipping on the dim light.

Nothing. Turning back to the door, she flipped the light off and shut the door behind her. Maybe a guest had wandered in by accident and had forgotten to shut the door all the way.

Her stomach growled again, causing her to rush down the stairs. She tripped at the bottom stair and would have landed face first if a strong hand hadn’t caught her.

“Seems like I’m always catching you,” Adam joked.

“Very funny.” She stood up and straightened her dress. “Did we leave the attic door open?” she asked, glancing back up the stairs.

“No, I remember closing it behind you.” He frowned down at her.

“Is that for me?” she asked, seeing the tray of food in his hands.

“For us.” He smiled. “I pulled some strings to get a few minutes with you before the dinner rush.” He glanced up the stairs. “Want to head back up?”

She sighed. “No, let’s go out on the back porch and watch the rain.” She followed him down the back hallway and held the door open for him.

Gone was the soft rain of earlier. Now it was falling in buckets. The lightning and wind kicked up too, causing them to have to sit near the back wall so they wouldn’t get wet.

“I guess it’s a good thing the Robinsons stuck around. Can you imagine being stuck out in a boat in this stuff?” she said, shoveling a piece of chicken and spicy noodles into her mouth.

“I’ve done that once in my life.” He shivered. “No, thank you. I preferred to watch it from here.”

“What happened?” She turned slightly towards him.

“I was taking my gran out on a sunny day and things took a quick turn. Let’s just say we stick close to the shoreline now.”

“Was she okay?”

Adam chuckled. “Actually, she enjoyed it. Laughed the entire time. I was sure she’d gone insane, but then she told me a story of when her father took her out in his fishing boat. They lived in Sète, a small fishing community off the southern coast of France, near the Mediterranean Sea. One day, she’d begged her father to take her along for the day. She was in her early teens and told her father she was old enough to learn the ropes. He took her and later that afternoon there was a big
orage
.” He glanced at her. “Storm.” He smiled.

“I would have remembered the word.” She sighed and thought about brushing up on her French.

“Anyway, the fishing boat,
La Grande Dame
…” He glanced at her.

“The grand lady,” she supplied, feeling accomplished.

“That was an easy one,” he teased. “So,
La Grande Dame
was pulled out deep into the Balearic Sea, its dark waters taking them further and further away from home as the skies grew black.”

She noticed that his accent grew thicker as he got more into the story. Even the sounds of the rain and thunder helped her picture how a young teenage girl would feel, lost, being tossed around in the dark waters.

“Soon, just when they were about to lose hope, the sky opened up and a bright light pointed to the most beautiful thing my mémère had ever seen.”

“What?” She hadn’t realized she was almost leaning over the table and straightened up. “What did they see?”

“Home.” He leaned back. “Imagine seeing a hill, shown in light, covered with colorful buildings, surrounded by crystal teal waters, boats bobbing in the port. It must have looked like heaven.” He sighed.

“You’re a romantic.” She chuckled. “I supposed I should have known that about you already, but…” She shook her head. “You put on this show, this façade. Angry Frenchman.” He smiled.

“And? How is this harmful? My employees fear me enough to never question my judgment or slack off.” His accent grew thicker. “Besides, life would be boring on the island if I didn’t give them something to talk about behind closed doors.”

“Is that why you angered me so much?” she asked.

“No.” He glanced out at the rain. “I had other reasons.”

“And?” She moved closer to him until her shoulder touched his. “What would those be?”

His hand reached under the table and took hers, then he lifted it until he brushed a kiss across her knuckles. “It is how we act.”

“We?” she asked. “All French?”

“No.” He frowned slightly. “I mean…” He took a deep breath. “Can we…”

She waited. She could tell he was flustered, but she needed to understand. “Did you like me? I mean, is that how you showed it?”

He shrugged. “I’d better…” He started to get up, but she held him in place.

“You don’t have to irritate me so much to show me you like me.” She took his face into her hands and leaned over to place a soft kiss on his lips. “Just tell me.”

He dropped his forehead to hers and sighed. “Words are hard sometimes. Other times, they come out wrong.”

She smiled. “Then show me.” Her eyes met his. “But later. Right now, I have to go smooth over a few things.”

He nodded, then pulled her in for a slow kiss. “Later.” This time when he said it, she felt a shiver of excitement race through her.

He walked her back towards the stairs, then disappeared down the back way towards the kitchen. She took the next hour making sure everything was ready for the new guests. Instead of holding a birthday party outside by the pool house, the party would be moved into the dining room, which meant the Robinson family would have to eat lunch tomorrow somewhere else. Too bad the attic wasn’t ready.

After clearing the morning room and having the staff move a few things around, they made enough room for a dozen people, which meant the Robinson clan would have to eat lunch in shifts. She doubted that was going to be acceptable since the group liked to socialize with one another.

She made her way up to the second floor and knocked on Tristen’s door. His mother answered, dressed as if she was ready to visit the Queen herself.

Her long flowing evening dress made Lilith remember that she was still in her simple sundress.

“Evening. I understand you’re getting ready for dinner, but wondered if you had a moment to talk?” she asked.

“Sure, come in.” The woman moved aside. “You’re the manager, correct?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m Lilith Brown.”

“What can I do for you?” She motioned for her to take a seat. Lilith moved over and sat on the settee.

“Well, it’s about lunch tomorrow. Our new guests will be occupying the dining room for their party, which had to be moved from the pool area to indoors due to the weather,” she started.

“And where do you expect our group will dine?” Mrs. Robinson broke in.

“We’ve arranged enough room in the morning room for a dozen to eat comfortably. We would have to take you in shifts, though.”

“Well, I suppose if it’s just for one day. I’ll speak to everyone.” The woman looked irritated, then stood up. “If that’s all…”

“Yes.” She stood to go.

“You know; I appreciate the way you handled my son the other day.” Her eyes bore into hers.

“Oh?” She stopped, her hand on the door handle.

“Tristen can be… a little wild. It’s one of the reasons we’re set on marrying him to Kaleen. Her family is well established.” The woman’s eyes roamed over her simple cotton dress. “They would make a good match.”

Lilith’s shoulders straightened. “I’m sure they would. Good evening.” She nodded, then stepped out into the hallway.

Once outside, she took a deep breath. Why would anyone want to be wound up so tight? She headed down to the main dining room to make sure everything was perfect for an oversized dinner group.

She stuck around until guests started arriving, then stepped into the hallway towards the back staircase, only to be stopped by the pretty brunette.

“I understand you’ve been talking to Tristen,” Kaleen said. The woman’s evening gown was even more exquisite than Tristen’s mother’s had been. Its emerald green material shined in the dim light of the hallway.

“I speak to all of my guests, it’s my job.” She waited patiently as the woman’s face went from kind to twisted.

“I don’t appreciate women trying to throw themselves on him. I understand a lot of…”—her eyes moved up and down her sundress— “women think that simply because he’s famous and a member of one of the richest families in the States, that they can throw themselves at him. I’m a very jealous woman. I won’t stand for it, nor will his family. I’ve already had a talk with his parents and they are quite aware of your… behavior.”

Lilith held in a smile. “I assure you, it won’t happen again.” She tried to step around the woman, only to have her arm grabbed in a surprisingly strong grip.

“See that it doesn’t, or I will have you fired.” She waited until Lilith nodded slightly, then dropped her arm and walked away.

Oh, there were times in her life where she desperately wished she could speak her mind. Either that or punch someone square in the nose. Taking several cleansing breaths, she moved on to completing her normal evening rounds before heading back upstairs to check on the rest of the staff. Then she swung back by the office and was relieved to see that the attic door was shut tight.

She spent the next hour pouring over new orders for the laundry service, setting schedules for staff members, and trying to create a plan for the new attic ballroom. She knew that, on occasions such as tomorrow’s lunch, the large room upstairs could double as a dining room. Then her mind turned to the practical side of having wait staff climb three flights of stairs with trays of food and drinks. She wanted to have a full bar built along one wall, but wondered how practical the rest would be.

Then she remembered the old dumbwaiter in the current dining room, the one that Tom Elliott, the last general manager of the resort, had updated.

She was so curious whether there was a dumbwaiter in the attic room that she logged out of the computer and headed into the ballroom to check.

She wished instantly that she had changed out of her cream dress, since she figured she’d have to move several piles of boxes just to check each wall.

First, she looked against the wall with the window. Doubting it would be there, she made a quick sweep. Then she moved to the wall on the left, the most likely location. If it wasn’t there, she wondered if Sarah had plans to the place somewhere so she could see about having one installed. Of course, that would cut heavily into the budget she’d already worked out.

She had talked to Sarah a few weeks back about the budget of the resort and knew there was an extra ten thousand dollars left over. She planned on using only a portion of it for the cleanup.

She had pushed most of the boxes away from the walls and was excited to see one wall completely covered with intricate wood paneling. She could just imagine a massive wood bar along the wall. It was a little too dark to see if there were any major repairs needed or if the paneling just needed a fresh coat of stain.

Moving on, she walked across the floor to the other wall and started pulling the heavy furniture aside. Glancing down at her watch, she figured she had about an hour before Adam would get off his shift. Just enough time to tackle clearing this wall.