by Zara Chase
“But it already has plenty of accommodation in the vicinity.”
“True, but nothing like this.”
“But you weren’t upmarket when you lived here, were you, Josh? Is that why you came back? To prove a point?”
Josh scowled. “I knew this was a bad idea.”
Carla made a gesture to Bill, and the camera stopped. “Look,” she said softly, her gaze encompassing both Josh and Rex. “I think it’s a great thing you’re doing here.” She glanced around the bar. “Especially since you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty, but it’s not enough. To get people on your side, you have to spark their interest. You’ve obviously pulled yourself up by your bootstraps, Josh, and become successful. Viewers love all that American-dream stuff. You did it, so they could, too.”
“I didn’t tell Carla anything about your background, Josh,” Ellie said, “but she obviously found out easily enough.”
Josh nodded. “Okay, point taken” he said, sighing. “What do you want to know?”
Carla signaled to Bill, and the camera light went back on. Coaxed by Carla, Josh gave an abbreviated version of his upbringing in Spirit, playing down his crap family life. Carla didn’t push him on that aspect of things, but Ellie got the impression that she’d come back to it over the weeks that she filmed in Silver Lodge.
After half an hour of Josh, and sometimes Rex, talking about a friendship founded in their roots in Spirit, Carla glanced at her watch and called a halt.
“Thanks,” she said, signaling to Bill to cut the camera. “I have to run, I’m afraid, but we’ve made a pretty good start.”
“How do you plan to play the follow up?” Josh asked.
“Oh, we’ll let you know in advance what days we’re coming, and you’ll hardly know we’re there. What we need specifically is to see things go wrong and what you do to put them right.” She shrugged. “It wouldn’t be much of a program if everything when as smooth as clockwork.”
“I guess not, but there’s not much danger of that,” Rex said. “We seem to lurch from one crisis to the next.”
“That’s what we like to hear,” Carla said cheerfully, gathering up her bag and her notes in one rushed swoop. “Right, we’ll be back for the press conference.”
Ellie walked her to the door.
“What is it that they’re not telling me?” Carla asked.
“How much time have you got?”
“Point taken.” Carla smiled and offered Ellie her hand. “You get paid for looking after these two?”
“I earn every penny,” Ellie responded, deliberately misunderstanding.
“Nice work if you can get it.” Carla opened the street door and waved over her shoulder at Ellie. “See you later.”
Ellie took her time returning to the bar. The guys had gone back to work, but this time they’d kept their shirts on.
“Okay with Carla?” she asked.
Josh grunted something unintelligible.
Rex laughed. “I think that translates as ‘it was fine.’”
Ellie decided not to press the issue and was glad when her cell phone rang. She spent the rest of the morning fielding calls and making final preparations for the press conference that was to take place in the conference room. Rather than the predictable lines of chairs, Ellie had arranged circular tables with half a dozen chairs round each. Marcel’s talents would be called into play, and coffee and more of his exquisite nibbles would be there for the hungry hacks to devour.
Half an hour before the start, she went in search of the guys. She found them in the office. Both had obviously showered, and they now wore smart slacks and open-neck shirts. Ellie thought they looked good enough to eat.
“All set,” she asked cheerfully.
“We’re ready, but we’d very much like to know why you’ve been avoiding us all the morning,” Rex said, eyeing her with apparent concern.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Never more serious,” Josh answered. “What did we do?”
Well, if they don’t know. “Sorry if by not languishing in a morass of desire I’ve dented your collective masculine pride. In case it’s escaped your notice, I have a job to do and the entire future of the Lodge could hinge on how things go over the next hour or so.”
“What could possibly go wrong?” Josh asked. “It’s just a press conference, and you’ve got it all covered.”
“Let’s hope you’re right.”
“I usually am,” Josh said, slipping an arm round her shoulders. Ellie, pathetic individual that she was, melted at the mere contact and couldn’t bring herself to shake it off. “We’ll get today over with, and then the three of us will have our own time.”
“What do you—”
“The first journalists are here, Ellie,” said the receptionist over the voice link direct from the front desk.
Using it as an excuse to escape Josh’s searing gaze, Ellie straightened her jacket and fled.
Annabel was the first person she saw when she made it to reception. She hoped her face wasn’t as flushed from the incident with Josh as she feared was the case. If so, Annabel knew her well enough to suspect the reason for her agitation. Fortunately, a whole heap of hacks also arrived at that moment and Ellie had no opportunity for more than a passing word or two with Annabel. She gave the group a short welcoming speech and then conducted a tour of the facilities, including the spa and one of the best suites. She answered all their questions with flair and humor before concluding at the conference room, where Marcel’s offerings were fallen upon with relish.
Josh and Rex strolled in, seemingly relaxed and confident. Ellie’s glance roved toward Annabel, looking for her reaction. She glanced at Josh, and a burning hunger that concerned Ellie flashed through her eyes. She waited until Josh acknowledged her presence with a curt nod and then looked away. Several of the other journalists were keen to chat with Annabel. True to form, she played up to them for all she was worth, almost as though trying to prove some obscure point to herself. Ellie felt saddened that her father was so taken with her former friend. Annabel would chew him up and spit him out when she’d gotten what she wanted from him. Surely her father was intelligent enough to know when he was being used.
Carla and Bill dashed in at the last minute, waving an apology to Ellie.
“Sorry,” Carla breathed. “Damned traffic was a nightmare.”
“No worries. We haven’t started yet, and you’ve already had the grand tour.”
“True.”
Bill snaffled the last of the nibbles and then gave his attention to his equipment. Ellie joined Josh and Rex at the front of the room, called for quiet, and then introduced her guys.
“As you already know, Josh and Rex, as successful businessmen, have returned to their hometown to completely refurbish a hotel that’s been derelict for many years. If that means attending to the leaky plumbing themselves—”
“What leaky plumbing?” Rex asked in a tone of mild censure that made everyone laugh.
“My point is,” Ellie said, laughing along with everyone else, “that they’re not afraid to get their hands dirty in pursuit of their dream. They are very much hands-on kind of guys.” Ellie blushed when she thought of the precise locations of their hands on her body last night. “Okay, fire away. Who has a question?”
The questions came thick and fast, most of them predictable, and the guys handled them with charm and wit. A lot of interest was focused on the opening gala, when Josh and Rex would be auctioned off.
“What makes you think anyone would want your services?” asked one of the male reporters. Several of his female colleagues gaped at the unfortunate questioner like he was some sort of moron.
“We don’t,” Josh said easily. “But try telling Ellie that.”
More laughter and lighthearted questions. Ellie, acting as question master, kept control of the proceedings and half an eye on Annabel, astonished that she had yet to open her mouth. She sat toward the rear of the room, surrounded by male reporters,
but her gaze didn’t waver from Josh. Ellie couldn’t shake the feeling that she was up to something and would have given a lot to know what was going through that damned head of hers.
The conference was coming to an end. People started shuffling about on their seats and gathering up the handouts Ellie had provided. She started to feel she’d been wrong about Annabel, who still hadn’t spoken a word.
“Okay,” she said. “If there’s nothing else—”
“Just one thing.”
Annabel stood up, and Ellie’s heart sank. She would have ignored her, but unfortunately the entire room had gone quiet and all eyes turned toward Annabel in her figure-hugging pantsuit.
“Yes, Annabel,” Ellie said, injecting as much enthusiasm into her tone as she could manufacture. “What do you need to know?”
“I have a question for Josh.” He nodded his willingness to hear it but didn’t actually speak. “You’ve told us a touching story about your humble upbringing in this town. How your father was an underachiever.”
Actually, he hadn’t, but Ellie didn’t want to make things worse by pointing that out.
She glanced at Josh just as the muscles in his jaw flexed and hardened. Ellie was filled with the desire to protect him—to bundle him from the room and face Annabel’s ire in his stead. But she could do nothing to help and knew he wouldn’t thank her if she tried.
“My links to the place are no secret,” he said when Annabel paused and it was obvious that he needed to say something. There was a brittleness to the atmosphere now, as though the experienced journalists sensed something interesting was about to be said.
“In that case,” Annabel said sweetly, “why didn’t you also mention that when your father was found dead, you were suspected of his murder?”
Chapter Eleven
Pandemonium broke out in the conference room. Josh gaped at Annabel, hating her for dragging him back to a time and place he’d hoped never to visit again. Annabel met his gaze and flashed a brief, malicious smile, but Josh barely noticed. Instead, he wondered how she’d gotten hold of that ancient rumor. Damn it, he’d been uneasy about her being in Spirit all along and should have anticipated that she’d pull a stunt like this!
“Do you have any comment to make, Mr. Cooper?” one hack shouted.
“Tell us what happened,” coaxed another.
“Did you off him?” asked a third.
Ellie looked as stunned as Josh felt. She shot him an incredulous glance but then, ever the professional, took control. She raised a hand, and a hush instantly fell over the crowded room.
“Let the man speak,” she said, smiling encouragement at Josh. “I think it’s safe to say no one on this side of the room murdered anyone. Not sure about you guys, though.”
Her attempt at levity produced a few halfhearted chuckles, but all eyes remained focused squarely on Josh. He knew that the longer he put off speaking, the worse it would look. He glanced at Rex, who appeared as shell-shocked as Ellie but was standing tall beside him, outwardly relaxed as he slapped his shoulder in encouragement.
“No one killed my father,” Josh said shortly, “except my father.”
A whole barrage of questions was fired at Josh. Only Annabel, he noticed, remained aloof from it all. Having started this witch hunt, she stood at the back of the room, a satisfied half smile playing about her lips. At that moment Josh seriously could have committed murder. The vindictive bitch must know that he hadn’t killed anyone, but since when had a hungry journalist allowed the truth to get in the way of a good story?
Josh felt like a deer caught in a car’s headlights and wanted to yell at the whole damned throng to get the fuck out of his hotel and stop raking over his private life. He ran a hand through his hair and considered doing just that. It was all Ellie’s fault that he was in this jam. He hadn’t wanted to make this personal, and she’d assured him she wouldn’t allow that to happen. He glowered at her, aware that it was unfair to blame her but unable to help himself.
“That’s it for now, ladies and gentlemen,” Ellie said, somehow managing to make herself heard above the raucous demands for details. “If anyone still has murderous inclinations, you might want to take them out on our French chef’s pastries, which are being laid out in the dining room as I speak.”
There was a stampede for the door. Josh, reeling from the turn events had taken, still wondered how Ellie had managed to set up a diversion—the only sort of diversion short of free booze guaranteed to distract a load of news-hungry hacks—at such short notice. If he was feeling kindly disposed toward her, which he wasn’t, he’d have acknowledged her ability to think on her feet. The room was now empty, except for Carla, whom Ellie was having a quiet word with.
“Let’s get out of here,” Rex said, clapping Josh’s shoulder for a second time.
Wordlessly Josh stomped off to his office, slamming the door behind him and Rex with considerable force and swearing volubly. He reached for a bottle of bourbon and poured himself a healthy measure that he downed in one. Then he refilled his glass and repeated the process.
“Of all the spiteful, vindictive females on this planet…” Josh shook his head repeatedly. “I sure know how to pick ’em.”
“What was she talking about?” Rex asked.
“Well, that’s put paid to our dreams here, buddy,” Josh said, not bothering to answer the question. “You can kiss good-bye to your investment in the Lodge. No one will want to come and stay here now.”
“Aw, it’s not so bad. It’ll blow over. Besides, there’s nothing like notoriety to keep you in the public eye.”
Josh scowled. “Not in time to save us.”
“It’s not like you to be so negative.”
The door opened and Ellie burst into the room, eyes blazing with anger. Well, if she thought she could escape his ire by feigning annoyance at him, he was more than ready to set her straight.
“Don’t say a fucking word,” he warned in an icy tone.
“What, pretend it didn’t happen?” She shot him a scorching gaze. “I’m so sorry, Josh. It’s all my fault.”
Her apology floored him. “You think you’re to blame?” Josh did, too, but he hadn’t expected her to agree with him. “Why?”
“I knew Annabel was going to cause trouble as soon as you explained about your relationship and I started to see her for what she really is. I shouldn’t have let her anywhere near you.”
“I told you that at the time,” Josh reminded her, not yet ready to let her off the hook. “You said her paper needed to be here for us to gain maximum exposure.”
“This isn’t the sort of exposure I had in mind. Besides, when I saw Dad the other day and explained my concerns, he offered to pull her from the story.”
Josh had been trying to avoid looking at her. When she showed her vulnerable side it was impossible to remain mad at her, and, right now, he needed to be mad at someone other than himself. He chanced a brief glance at her, trying to remain impervious to the imperceptible something that drew him to her, even at times such as this. As he’d known would be the case, he failed miserably.
“You told him not to,” he said.
“Yes, I did.” Ellie shook her head. “I’m so goddamned stubborn when it comes to my father that I tend to act out of character. I’ve always been so determined to make my own way and prove that I can make it without him that I never accept his offers of help.” She slumped into a chair, looking so dejected that Josh’s anger evaporated completely, replaced with a very different emotion. Five minutes ago he was ready to tear her a new one for getting him into this mess. Now all he wanted to do was comfort her. “Sometimes I’m my own worst enemy.”
“It’s not entirely your fault,” he said.
Ellie’s head shot up. “Don’t tell me there’s any truth in what she said. I wasn’t even going to ask you.”
“Come on, Josh,” Rex added. “We need to know what’s happening here.”
“Okay.” Josh perched one buttock on the edge of his desk
, toying with the idea of another shot of bourbon. He decided against it. “I guess you need to know. My old man did die under suspicious circumstances, and I was interviewed by the police as a result of that.”
“Tell us about it,” Ellie said. “I need something to work with if I’m to control the damage Annabel caused.”
“I was sixteen at the time, working on a weekend up on the slopes. I got a call from Mom. She sounded frantic, so I left work early and went straight home. Dad had beaten her pretty good.”
“Oh God!” Ellie cupped her face in her hand. “That must have been an awful situation to have to deal with.”
“He’d had a few but had run out of cash and came home demanding what she had. Trouble was, she didn’t have any. He knew I did, but by then I was bigger than him and he wouldn’t dare to touch it.” Josh paused, lost in past recollections that he thought he’d buried forever. “At least not when he was sober. But, he wasn’t sober on that occasion, far from it, and he tried to make Mom tell him where my stash was. She couldn’t, because she didn’t know, so he tried to beat it out of her. By the time I got there my room was trashed and he and my money were long gone.”
“How was your mom?”
“In need of medical attention. I took her to the hospital and stayed with her until they fixed her up. She had a broken wrist, cuts to her face that needed stitches, and a concussion. They kept her in overnight, which left me free to go and look for my old man.” Josh held up a hand to halt the interruption he could sense Ellie formulating. “You ought to know that right then, left to my own devices, I very likely would have killed him.”
“You and me both, buddy,” Rex said.
“I knew where to find him, of course. There was a dive on the outskirts of town where the booze was cheap and which the tourists avoided like the plague. He was half out of it when I got there, but I was so goddamned mad that I didn’t care. I took back what money of mine he still had. I needed it to pay Mom’s hospital bill. Then I hit him hard as I could. I told everyone in the place what he’d done to Mom and where she now was so no one pulled me off him for quite a while. If they hadn’t…Anyway, I also told him that if he ever raised a hand to Mom again or tried to steal from me, I’d kill him with my bare hands.”