The Rock Star's Wedding

by Demelza Carlton

  But I do, Jason wanted to say. Xan was the one woman he'd do anything for. He'd done Gaia, and that whole reality TV thing, all the while realising that the woman he really wanted was right there. And he couldn't say anything because the first time they'd met, she'd threatened to take him to court for sexual harassment if he so much as breathed a word of his attraction to her. Did a marriage proposal count?

  "You're still coming to the wedding, aren't you?" Jason said instead.

  "Yes, as long as they let me out of hospital before then." Xan glared at the machine beeping behind her. "But there's no point in pretending there's something between us when there isn't. Because there isn't, right?"

  He stared at her for a long moment, and she didn't blink. Jason looked away first. "No, there isn't," he mumbled.

  Good thing he hadn't brought the ring. If friendship was all she had to offer him, he'd grab it with both hands, and try not to fuck it up any more than he already had.

  Too bad if he wanted more. Even rock stars couldn't have everything.

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  By the time Xan returned to Romance Island Resort, almost a week later, she already knew what the museum had said about the jellyfish that had nearly killed her: it was an irukandji species usually found in northern Queensland, which they'd never seen west of Darwin before. They'd sent an excited staff member up to drag a net through the lagoon, looking for more of them, but after two days of finding no jellyfish at all, the poor woman went back to Perth, complaining that the turtles had probably eaten them all.

  Armed with all the advice she could stomach about stinger suits and proper first aid for box jellyfish stings, Xan flew home, wishing she'd never heard about the bloody irukandji, let alone been groped by one.

  Shou helped her out of the helicopter like he thought she was an invalid, and Jason waited on the helipad to keep an eye on her, too, Xan assumed with a sigh. She wasn't ill. Both Angel and the hospital doctors had given her a clean bill of health, yet here she was, being coddled.

  It didn't stop there, either. She wasn't allowed to work for a week, even if she was living on the island. Jason had arranged for Catering to provide her with room service to her unit for her first week back, so an apprentice chef appeared on her doorstep as soon as she'd managed to get rid of Jason, asking her for her menu choices for that night's dinner and the following day.

  Xan protested that she was perfectly capable of showing up in the staff dining room for meals, but after a lot of "Mr Felix says" from the apprentice and the chef she called in Catering, Xan gave in. Sadly, that blue cheese gnocchi wasn't on the menu. No one could remember who'd made the batch they'd eaten, and none of the resort chefs said they'd ever made gnocchi with blue cheese before.

  At lunchtime, just as Xan was about to head to the staff dining room, Jason showed up with a picnic basket from Catering, insisting on sharing it with her. She suggested they sit on the Penguin jetty with it, but Jason tried to talk her out of exerting herself by walking so far. It was enough to make her scream.

  In the end, Xan rummaged through the basket, found something that looked like a sandwich, and marched off with it.

  It only took Jason a moment to catch up, with the basket bumping along at his side. "You're supposed to rest!" he hissed.

  "I've spent a week lying in bed, doing nothing, while I feel fine," Xan snapped. "I'm sick of rest and sick of staying inside. I have work piling up that no one's doing. If I rest this week, there'll be twice as much waiting for me next week!"

  "There shouldn't be," Jason said slowly. "I mean, there'll be some stuff, but I told everyone to direct all your communications to me, like you did when Gaia was here and you were in Perth. I couldn't handle everything, but it's been pretty quiet. Most of it's wedding stuff. Angel still wants that decking and I think it's a good idea. If we had a platform that went from the path to the Jungle out into the dredged part of the lagoon, it's all sand under there. I talked to the environment officer, who found some old aerial photos of the island before the resort was built. That bit was actually dug out to make a beach that wasn't there before."

  "I've changed my mind. I don't want to go back to work yet," Xan grumbled.

  Jason laughed. "Think about it, though. On clear nights, we could open it up as a sort of beer garden extension to the pub. If we angle it right, the guests could even watch the moon rise over the lagoon. And I kind of like her idea about dancing under the stars. They're so clear out here."

  The first night he'd met Jason, he'd shown her the stars. Then, she'd found him strange but compelling, the odd drunk man who wanted to share so much beauty, but asked for nothing from her in return. There'd been so many shooting stars, she'd run out of wishes while he babbled about fairy tales that didn't come true.

  She'd wished for a fairy tale then. The same thing Phuong had wished for Jason, who said they were nothing but bullshit. Who knew? She couldn't have predicted her life would lead her here.

  "I still don't know any of the Southern Hemisphere constellations," Xan admitted. "Maybe we should see if we can get someone to run astronomy tours here once a week in the dry season."

  "I know just the guy. I'll call him later and see what he thinks." Jason turned to her. "So, we're on for Angel's dancing deck?"

  Xan sighed. "As long as it doesn't damage the rest of the lagoon, yes. We should try and get the same guy who did the new pool deck at the pearl farm."

  Jason cheered. "Then you'll dance with me under the stars. I'm looking forward to it, Xanthe."

  Xan wasn't sure what to say to that, so she said nothing.

  "Philly gave me the list of confirmed guests, too. I didn't know what to do with it," Jason admitted.

  "Give it to me. I need to arrange their accommodation. Angel's booked the whole island, but she left the arrangements up to the resort. I'll go through it later to see if there's enough rooms for everybody." For a moment, Xan considered changing her mind and agreeing to rest for another week. But all the work would still be there waiting when she got back. Best to deal with it now.

  "After we have a picnic on the Penguin jetty," she finished.

  "It's a date," he responded.

  "No, it isn't."

  THIRTY-NINE

  When Jason wasn't looking, Xan sneaked into her office and turned on her computer. As she'd suspected, the list of emails was into the hundreds, and growing as she watched. One popped up with a red flag marking it as urgent, so Xan clicked on it.

  She read it once, then a second time, just to make sure she'd understood it properly. It purported to be from a major international hotel chain, offering her a job managing a new boutique hotel on the east coast. The salary they offered was almost double what she was earning at the moment. It had to be a joke, she decided, ready to delete it.

  As if right on cue, Jason sauntered in. "Caught you! I'm going to ask the IT guys to revoke your access to this office until next week. A week off means no working, Xan!"

  She shut down her computer before he saw the email. It wasn't as if she was even considering the offer, but it still didn't feel right to tell Jason someone had tried to headhunt her. Through her work email, no less. It left a sour taste in her mouth.

  Xan rose. "You're right." She wanted to laugh at his wide-eyed surprise, but instead, she turned to grab a few sheets off the printer. "All I'll work on today will be the accommodation arrangements for Angel's wedding. Nothing else."

  "I'll help you," he offered. "Come over to my place. I have a bigger dining table than you do. We can lay it out there, and if we're still working on it come dinner time, Catering can bring our meals to mine."

  Xan was happy to agree. Better to receive room service at the villas than at her unit in the staff compound. She'd never allocated herself special privileges like Meier had, because she truly believed she was no better than the staff she worked with. She didn't share every meal with them in the staff dining room, but that's because she had her own kitchen, where she could prepare her own. That was differe
nt to room service, though.

  She followed him back to the villa and spread the pages across the table. Right, match the guests to rooms, she thought. Go.

  She ran out of people before the hotel was even half full. That couldn't be right – Angel had booked the whole island. Yet the empty lines in her spreadsheet told her there weren't any more names on the list.

  "Can you check if I'm missing a page?" she asked Jason. "This can't be all of them."

  "What do you mean?" he asked, claiming the chair beside her. "You've got...all her family, me and Jo, plus his family and friends. It was never going to be a big wedding."

  "But...surely this can't be all of them. She said she's paying to fly everyone here, and she's already paid for the island, so it's not like people aren't coming because of the cost. The new decking, all the extras she's asking for...for less than forty people?" How could anyone have that few friends?

  Jason shrugged. "She's lived in witness protection for years, and rock star life doesn't really let you make many friends, either. She's not like you. If you got married, most of Broome would want to be there to cheer you on. You know everybody."

  "Good thing I'm never getting married, then. It'd cost a fortune," Xan muttered.

  Jason said something that Xan didn't hear, but two names on the bottom of the list had drawn her attention more than anything Jason might have to say.

  "Why are there ASIO agents on this guest list?" She pointed at the names of the two anti-terrorist agents who'd interrogated her last year, when Jason had made that stupid comment about being happy to host terrorists at his hotel.

  Jason shrugged. "That's where he used to work. I guess they're his friends, being old workmates and all."

  Xan allocated them hotel rooms at the opposite end of the hotel from her unit. She wanted to see as little of the agents as possible.

  "I gave the couple the honeymoon suite, but there's a note next to these names, asking for our best accommodation." Xan peered at the paper. "Mohsen...I can't even pronounce the rest of it. Sounds Arabic." ASIO agents and Arabs. Now that sounded like trouble before they'd even arrived.

  "Probably is. Her mother's family is from the Middle East. Angel was born there." Another shrug. "So give them Villa Maxima. And don't put Angel in a hotel room. Give her the villa next to mine. And give Jo the one on the other side."

  "Why? You don't want to be next door to them on their wedding night, do you?" Xan couldn't imagine anything worse than hearing honeymooners on their first night together, when you'd been in love with one of them. Torture, surely.

  "Not really, but...that's the way it's always been. Whenever we were touring. Me on one side, Jo on the other. Just do it," Jason said shortly.

  "So who gets the other villas? We still have Pinctada and Albina."

  "Her family and his. Stick her father in one and his family in the other one. Albina's the one with the extra bedrooms, right? Give that one to his family, seeing as Angel's dad will be by himself. Allocate one of the extra bedrooms in Albina to the groom, so his parents can keep an eye on him the night before the wedding. Don't want the bachelor party getting too out of hand." Jason smirked.

  Xan stared. "They haven't mentioned anything about parties the night before the wedding."

  "Well, she wouldn't, would she? Most brides don't like bachelor parties, though they're no worse than hen's nights. Jo will take care of the hen's party, though, so she'll let you know if she needs anything. Us blokes are easy – as long as there's food and drink, we'll be fine." A wicked grin. "Don't worry, I'll take care of the bachelor party."

  Of course Xan worried, but she had so much to worry about, one more thing on the list didn't make much difference. At least she had the room allocations sorted.

  "I got the quotes back on the deck, by the way," Jason said, swiping his finger across his tablet screen.

  "Oh?"

  "Looks like we'll be dancing under the stars sooner than we thought," he replied. "Baz's carpenter says he's free next week, and the lumber yard in town had everything he needs."

  "Let's take a look, then," Xan said, taking Jason's tablet.

  The sooner they got that decking done, the better.

  FORTY

  "Hi, and welcome to Romance Island Resort. I'm Xan Lane, the hotel manager here. And you are?" Xan repeated for what felt like the hundredth time. She handed the helicopter load of guests to Philly and Rita, who escorted them to Reception, where they'd receive their wristbands and directions to their assigned rooms.

  Dennis was doing duty on the jetty, mostly dealing with the contractors delivering things for the wedding. Both Baz and Shou checked their IDs against the list of people allowed on the island, before they were allowed to board a boat or an aircraft, but Angel's strict security measures called for everyone to be double checked, so Xan did as she was told.

  As Xan sent this group of guests on their way, Dennis came running up with a huge grin on his face. "We've solved the drone problem!" he cried.

  Now that was good news. Dealing with uninvited guests was easy when you controlled access to the island, and everyone in town had spread the word that the island was off-limits to charter pilots and boats for the weekend, but Xan hadn't considered anyone would send flying drones equipped with cameras to spy on the island until she'd seen one hovering over the lagoon a week earlier.

  Reporters used remote-control helicopters to take their pictures now?

  Apparently they did, Trevor the security specialist had told her. Somehow word had leaked to the media that the rock star wedding of the year was at Romance Island this weekend, and everyone wanted a glimpse of Jay with his bride. No one had bothered to correct them that it was Angel's wedding, not Jason's, so more reporters arrived every day, filling up the hotels in town.

  "How?" Xan demanded.

  "Baz enlisted the local shooting club."

  Great. Solving a problem with guns. That could go wrong in so many ways.

  "No weapons on the island," Xan said flatly. "We've made that pretty clear."

  Dennis waved away her concern. "And they won't be. He invited the local shooting club to the pearl farm for the weekend, and offered to sponsor a competition. Shooting aerial targets." His grin widened as Xan caught on. "And a special bonus prize for anyone who can take down an aerial drone he's bought specially for the competition. They're now fully booked with shooters from Perth to Darwin, from farmers with rifles to professionals who've been to the Olympics and Baz is talking about making it an annual thing."

  Xan couldn't help laughing. Only in the Kimberley could you do something like that. "I hope he does well out of it. Angel should be pleased. Has she arrived on your end yet?" The girl definitely hadn't been in any of the helicopters, and the wedding was tomorrow.

  Dennis shook his head, hurrying to take shelter with Xan as Shou took off.

  Five minutes later, another helicopter took its place.

  Finally, Xan thought, recognising Angel, though she didn't know the pilot or the man beside her.

  One of the porters helped load their bags onto a trolley while Angel and the man headed for Xan.

  "Hi. At Jason's request, I've given you Villa Akoya, over the other side of the lagoon," she told Angel. "As you probably saw as you flew in, the decking you asked for is complete and the dance floor is in one of the function rooms, ready to be laid out for tomorrow night."

  Angel nodded, then glanced at the man at her side.

  Xan introduced herself, holding out her hand to shake his.

  "Nathan Miller, otherwise known as the groom." His handshake was a quick press, before he released her. Dark circles under his eyes said he hadn't slept much lately. He didn't seem like the sort of brute Jason had described, but that didn't mean Jason was wrong. After all, she'd only just met the man.

  Xan said, "I've set you up with a suite in the hotel, but if you'd prefer to share with your family, they're in Villa Albina, which is – "

  "He's staying with me," Angel interrupted. She s
napped her fingers at the porter. "Take all our gear to Villa Akoya."

  Xan was lost for words. "But...the bride usually...I mean, the morning of the wedding...it's bad luck to..."

  Angel's mouth smiled, but her eyes turned cold. "Oh, there'll be much worse luck if anyone tries to separate us. We'll take the villa." She tugged Nathan's arm, and he followed her obediently away from the helipad.

  Xan stared after them, but not for long. The helicopter was soon ready for takeoff, with another buzzing beast waiting to take its place.

  FORTY-ONE

  It was nearly dark by the time the final flight arrived. Xan recognised the sound of Shou's helicopter, and switched on the landing lights to help him find his way down.

  Shou must be tired, Xan decided, as she watched him land the aircraft at a ninety degree angle to his usual position, with his tail pointed away from the gate. Very tired, she amended as a small, dark shape slid out of the pilot's seat and onto the ground. Shou didn't let anyone pilot his aircraft. Ever.

  Xan stepped forward to challenge the figure with her standard greeting. "Hi, I'm Xan Lane..."

  The girl unwrapped the scarf covering her head. "Yes, I know." Even in the dim lights, Xan could see the similarity between her and Angel. Family, she supposed.

  A man landed heavily on the helipad, then crossed the concrete to stand beside the girl. "You are the hotel manager, yes?"

  Xan gave a curt nod.

  "I am Mohsen Rezaei," he said grandly.

  The Middle-Eastern man, Xan thought, glad to tick the final name off her list. "And this is your wife...?" Xan wasn't sure she could pronounce the woman's name.

  "My niece, Parisa," Mohsen said smoothly. "My wife is in Rome, looking after some business interests."

  Alarm bells rang in Xan's head. "Ah, I'll have to check. You see, her name isn't on the guest list and only approved guests are allowed on the island. Shou should have told you this before you..." Stole his helicopter, Xan realised, as her heart sank. This was exactly the sort of thing the resort's extra security measures were supposed to prevent.