Digging through my luggage, I found clean lingerie and slipped into them, heading back to the bathroom. When I opened the door, I was enveloped in a cloud of steam. Leaving the door open, I turned off the hot water and rescued the dress. In the steam-free air of the bedroom, I held up the dress. The wrinkles were gone, the dress nice and smooth. I had no illusions it would stay that way, but at least I was starting the evening wrinkle free.
The dress was definitely Lisa’s style, and size. It fit me, but it hugged me and my curves pretty tightly. I tugged up the side zipper and smoothed the dress over my hips and then slipped on the heels. There was a full-length mirror on the bathroom door and I stood in front of it.
There was a great deal more of me exposed than I was used to. The sleeveless dress had a square neckline and I frowned, trying to tug the dress higher, but it refused to cover any more of my cleavage. There wasn’t a really chance I’d fall out of the dress...it was far too tight. But when I took a deep breath, things rose and swelled, parts of me that had been covered by sweatshirts or my waitress uniform, parts of me I hadn’t thought about in years.
There was a hibiscus growing outside my door. I stepped out and picked a flower, marveling at the color, hot pink at the center shaking to orange at the edges. I tucked the bloom into my hair behind my ear, took one last look in the mirror and pronounced myself as good as it would get.
I unplugged the cart and slid carefully onto the seat, trying hard not to wrinkle the dress, and drove at a sedate pace to the main villa, carefully avoiding puddles as if they contained acid. There was no way I was getting this dress, or the shoes, wet.
Vienna was on the steps of the villa, all but tapping her foot in anticipation. I parked the cart along the side, out of sight more or less, and came up the side steps of the villa.
“It certainly took you long enough.” Her eyes swept me up and down, brow furrowed, lips pursed, taking in the dress and shoes, coming back to scrutinize the neckline of my dress. Her frown deepened.
“I supposed this will do.” Vienna turned on her heel, marching into the villa. I glanced at her dress; black, conservative, less wedding planner than librarian. I’d have to revamp my entire closet for future events. That is, if Vienna deemed me worthy to keep around for future weddings.
“The seating is a mess. Mrs. Latham was here early and demanded it be changed.” Vienna handed me a seating chart. I’d remembered seeing this in my folder of plans. My copy carried neatly labeled tables. This paper looked like the playbook for a football team, with arrows, marks and crosses peppering the page.
“Each guest has a name tag and they need to be moved.”
I glanced up as we entered the main dining room. I’d never been here before and I stopped. The room was huge, with what seemed like dozens of small round tables scattered across the polished teak floor. Each table held small crystal bowls with flowers floating in them and groupings of small candles in crystal holders. The candles weren’t lit yet; the dinner was still a few hours away. Everyone was still at the rehearsal, in the building where the ceremony would be held.
I glanced at Vienna and had the sinking feeling I’d be the one lighting hundreds of candles after I’d untangled the seating chart.
“I’m going to find Claire at the rehearsal, check how things are going.” Vienna was consulting a sheet of paper, which she promptly shoved toward me.
“I’m trusting you to follow up with the kitchen staff as well. See they’re ready to start serving promptly at quarter past seven.”
I nodded, glancing at the menu. It all sounded wonderful, lots of fresh fish and other types of seafood, vegetables, and then the desserts. All the desserts. Someone had a sweet tooth. I smiled, thinking it would be Ben. Somehow I couldn’t imagine Claire indulging in all that refined sugar and carbohydrates.
Vienna was gone, the sound of her cart fading into the background. I set the menu aside and looked at the seating arrangement, trying to decide where to start. I turned in a circle, glancing down at my list, trying to get my bearings.
“You’ll make yourself dizzy doing that.”
I spun around toward the voice behind me. Ben was at the villa doors, leaning against the door frame. He looked relaxed and at ease, hands in his pockets, smiling at me.
“I thought you were at the rehearsal. How long have you been standing there?”
He straightened, walking toward me. “Long enough to see you need some help.”
“Is it that obvious?” I shrugged, looking down at the seating chart. “Yeah. I guess it is.”
“Here, let me see.” He was standing next to me, close enough to feel the warmth of his arm next to mine. I tried hard to concentrate on what he was saying, but I lost him after the first few sentences. I slide my arm over just a bit further, the fabric of his shirt touching my bare skin.
The thrill that ran through me was immediate and intense. And it scared me. I was tempting fate, playing with fire, all those euphemisms that meant I should pay attention to my job and not someone else’s fiancé. There was nothing that could come of this. We’d had a kiss, but that was it. That had been a mistake and it wasn’t likely to be repeated.
“Okay? Dana...does that make sense?” I looked up at Ben and found his blue eyes on mine.
“I’m sorry. I...was...” How could I tell him I was distracted by his cologne? Or his warmth? Or...him?
“Okay. Here...let’s make this simple. Pick up all these...” He started picking up the little name tags from the nearest table. “We’ll just start from scratch, okay?”
I nodded and we moved around the room, picking up the little engraved cards. There seemed to be no end to them. Ben stopped to grab a wicker bread basket from the buffet table.
“Here.” He held it toward me and I dumped my cards into it, adding them to his.
“Come on.” We went to the first table on the list, sorting through the tags in the basket until we found the name tags. I arranged them by each place setting, making sure they were in the same place they’d been before we picked them up, directly above each dinner plate. I knew Vienna would be all over me if they weren’t exactly the way she’d had them placed.
Ben waited and we moved to the next table. As we pulled out the names, Ben told me stories about them, about his family and friends. There seemed to be far more cards for Ben’s side, more family and friends than Claire. I asked Ben why.
“Claire’s an only child. Mrs. Latham never remarried and apparently she’s an only child, so no aunts or uncles, or cousins.” He shrugged. “As for friends, Claire’s shy. I don’t think she makes friends easily.”
Ben held one of the cards in his hand, running his fingers over the engraving. “Claire’s hasn’t had an easy life, I think I told you that. Her mother sent her to boarding schools when she was young, moving her every couple years. It was hard for her, always being in a new school.”
“But why did she move her so often?” We stood between two tables, Ben still holding the card, me holding the basket with the rest.
“At first, I think Gwen was looking for the best for Claire, a better school maybe, better teachers. But then, it got to be about money. I know the father didn’t leave them very much and Gwen had a hard time paying for the schools. So she enrolled Claire in less expensive schools.”
“That must have been hard for Claire, always having to make new friends. Girls can be brutal.”
Ben nodded, brow furrowed, looking down at the card in his hand. “I can’t really imagine what it was like. I went to the same school, with the same kids, from kindergarten until I graduated. There are names in this basket of my family, of cousins, aunts...friends.”
He looked up at me. “So, you know, when I say things weren’t easy for her, it’s been for a long time.”
“How did you two meet?” I’d heard the brief version from Sophie, but I was interested in hearing the story from Ben. We started moving between the tables again, setting out the name tags.
“Claire worked fo
r a short time as an organizer for a charity, one that I donated money to. She’d organized a dinner dance, very formal, for donors. I wasn’t dating anyone at the time and Claire...she wasn’t dating anyone either. We spent most of that evening together and when I called her the next day, she agreed to see me.”
He stopped again, looking at me with that intense blue gaze. “I fell in love with her.”
“And she with you?” I held his gaze and he dropped his eyes. The silence lasted only a moment, but it was a moment full of unspoken words.
“Dana!” I jumped, the basket jerking in my hands, some of the little name tags spilling onto the floor. Vienna was standing in the doorway to the villa, Claire just coming up the steps behind her.
“Vienna...we’re just...”
“I asked you set up the tables, not bother Ben.”
“It’s fine, Vienna. Really. I’m just helping Dana...” Ben glanced beyond Vienna. “Hi, sweet heart.”
“Dana is capable of doing her work without making you help.”
There was an awkward pause, Vienna trying to stare me down while being obsequious toward Ben. The tug of war on her face was almost comical, but I knew better than to smile. Claire came to stand beside Ben, winding her arm through his. He leaned down, and she turned her cheek up to him for his kiss.
I reached out to put my hand on Ben’s arm, but thought better of it. I reached for the little card in his hand instead. “I think I can take this from here.”
Our fingers brushed briefly, a little tingle shooting through me, and I smiled. And then I caught Claire’s gaze, eyes narrowed, watching me. I thought a strategic retreat was in order.
“Thanks for your help, Ben.” I dropped the card in the basket, gave everyone my best professional smile and backed away as gracefully as I could.
I started placing name cards at the next table. Vienna had gone back to the kitchen, presumably to check on the progress with dinner. Ben and Claire were still standing where I’d left them.
Claire was looking up at Ben, her eyes wide, a smile on her face. She looked for all the world like the happy bride she should be. Then she glanced over at me and that happy look disappeared in an angry glare and a look of disgust. She wound her arm through his and turned him away, his back to me.
I moved on to the next table, rummaging through the bread basket for the right card. The sound of wind and rain had gotten louder since I’d been at the villa and I hoped the storm wasn’t growing stronger. It occurred to me that I might be ferrying guests back and forth if the weather deteriorated any further. The night before, the weather had been beautiful and the guests at the family dinner had walked from their nearby villas.
The sound of raised voices caught my attention. I looked up. Claire and Ben were at the other end of the room now, and even though I couldn’t hear the words, I could tell they were having an argument. Claire’s hands were clenched at her sides, her face turned up to Ben, her chin thrust out. She was clearly angry. But was she angry at Ben? It was hard to tell.
Ben ran his hand through his hair and his reply to Claire was so quiet I couldn’t hear him. But Claire’s words reached me clearly.
“I won’t tolerate that woman’s outbursts again, not the way she acted at dinner last night. Especially the way she talked to my mother, the other night and now, at the rehearsal.”
Claire turned on her heel and disappeared into the back of the villa. Ben stood, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
He turned and I looked down, fumbling with the cards, but I wasn’t quick enough. He caught my eye and walked over.
“She’s tired. And a bit stressed by all this...” He waved his hand around the villa. “She’s said she’ll be...that things will be better after we’re married, after we’re back in New York and settled.”
I nodded. I had my doubts, but I didn’t think I could really explain to Ben what I thought about Claire. I’d seen my friends get married and they might have been stressed at times, or downright bitchy, but they still seemed happy on some level. Claire just seemed miserable, from any angle.
“I’m sure that’s what will happen.” I smiled, but even I could tell the smile on my face was false and the words rang hollow. Ben smiled, but his smile looked as false as mine. And his eyes didn’t register anything other than sadness.
“Dana, I know you’re trying to make me feel better, and I appreciate that. But you don’t really think that, do you?” He’d taken the wicker basket and pulled out one of the little cards. But he didn’t put it on the table, he just held it in his hand, looking at the name.
The smile on my face faded. I took a deep breath. I really didn’t want to tell the groom that I thought his bride was in this just for his money, like Sophie thought. Or that Alex and his friends thought this was all wrong. He knew all that, I was sure.
“You can tell me what you think. I’ve probably heard it before.”
I shook my head, setting out a couple of cards, walking around the table toward Ben.
“It’s not really my place...”
“Dana...” He stepped in front of me stopping my progress around the table. “You’re the only one here who seems interested in how I feel about all this. At least you can tell me the truth now.
I looked up into those blue eyes and I wanted to tell him the truth.
“I think maybe...”
And for once, Vienna’s interruption came at a very opportune moment. Her voice preceded her down the hall from the kitchen.
“Dana! Aren’t you finished yet?”
I spun around, managing not to drop the basket of cards. “I’m almost done...just a few more tables to go.”
“You’ll need to light the candles next, and there’s not much time before guests will start arriving. And you still need to get Mr. and Mrs. Carter...the grandparents.”
Vienna finally stopped for a breath and came to the realization Ben was standing there.
“Oh, Ben. I’m sorry if Dana is keeping you.”
“Actually, I was just asking Dana a favor.”
My face went numb and I knew I’d gone fifty shades of pale. Was he going to tell Vienna what we’d been talking about? I held my breath, torn between bolting from the room and clapping my hand over Ben’s mouth.
“I wanted to borrow her cart and go get my grandparents. I think I’d like to get them myself.”
“But Ben, Dana can...”
“Really, Vienna. I’ll get them. Grandpa would just try to walk if Dana showed up. I think I can convince him to ride, just this once.”
There wasn’t much Vienna could say but I still saw the conflict in her face. Ben was the groom and the one paying her. She really couldn’t turn down a direct request.
“Fine.” She turned to me. “I assume the cart is charged and it won’t leave Ben and his grandparents stranded in the rain?”
“It’s charged, Vienna. Fully.”
Ben touched my arm briefly. “Thanks. I’ll bring it back in one piece.”
We watched him walk out of the villa. Vienna turned to me.
“Dana. Candles. I’m taking Claire with me to get her mother.” She disappeared back into the kitchen after Claire.
The wait staff was starting to set up the dinner buffet and I saw them lighting the little burners beneath the chafing dishes with those little butane lighters, with the trigger and the extension. I made a dash for one of the staff and borrowed the lighter. It made quick work of the candles. I looked back at my work and decided it looked pretty good. The soft light of the candles caught the facets in the glasses and made the china plates glow. It was romantic and cozy, even though the room was large and there were lots of tables.
The doors to the villa had been closed by the staff, the wind and rain much stronger now than it had been. I heard a noise and turned. Ben and Sophie were coming through the door, arm and arm, Sophie laughing up at Ben. She caught my eye and let go of Ben, walking over to me. I was promptly smooched on both cheeks.
“Dana, dear. Lo
vely to see you.”
“Where’s Nate?” I glanced at the door, anticipating I’d be told he had decided to walk after all.
“Parking the cart. He insisted on driving. It’s a miracle we made it here in one piece.”
I laughed. “He discovered the cart’s top speed?”
Ben was still laughing. “If you think I took you for a ride, you should ride along with Grandpa. I think he took the corners on two wheels.”
“Your grandfather does enjoy driving fast. Has he ever told you about the time he and Nigel...”
The crash behind us interrupted Sophie. Vienna came through the doors, ushering Claire and Mrs. Latham in front of her. They were all disheveled and wet, Claire’s thin silk dress clinging to her, accentuating her angles. Vienna and Mrs. Latham, only because they were both wearing dresses made of something heavier than gossamer silk, looked a little less waterlogged. But all of them had wet hair, Claire’s hanging in damp tendrils around her face.
“Claire. What happened?” Ben took several steps toward Claire, who took a faltering step in his direction and then practically collapsed in his arms. Her makeup was smudged, either from tears or the rain.
“The cart is what happened.” Mrs. Latham, despite being wet, stood ramrod straight, her steely gaze sweeping over us. Her eyes landed on me and then narrowed.
“I suspect it was your responsibility to see the cart was in working order.”
It wasn’t a question, and more of an accusation. I gasped and started to stutter out a reply, but Vienna cut me off.
“She was.” Vienna turned to me. “Come with me.”
For a moment I thought she was going to grab me by the ear and drag me away, but she settled for my elbow.
“Vienna, what happened?”
“The cart died, on the path, in the rain. Between you and James, you’re both responsible.” Vienna let go of me and I rubbed my arm, barely resisting the urge to look down for finger marks.
Seduction in the Sun: Adult Romance Box Set (9 Sizzling Tales with BBW, Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males) Page 25