Page 20 of Unexpected Entanglement

“I’m not here on behalf of The Sullens. I don’t work for my family’s hotels,” Chris replied.

“No,” the blue-haired woman pointed out excitedly. “You just build even better resorts!”

Chris studied the other woman with a curious smile. He offered her his hand. “I haven’t had the pleasure.”

The woman glanced at Rowan with a play of eyebrow before shaking his hand. “Alex Freeman, and this is Oliver An. We’re chefs. I’ve read an article about your three resorts inBonVoyagemagazine. They look spectacular. I mean, the views!”

Chris took pride in spotting the perfect locations for the resorts. “Thank you,” he said, then waved his hand to the view surrounding them. “This view isn’t something to sneeze about, either.”

“Don’t even think about it. This view isn’t for sale. You may enjoy it when you’re a guest at the Bright Head,” Rowan quipped. “So you may find your way back to the city now, Mr. Sullens. We have a lot of work to do.”

“I’m not here to make an offer on your land.” Chris looked Rowan in the eye. “I came on behalf of—”

“Rowan, I need a word in private,” Kieran cut in. “Excuse us.”

“You what?” Rowan stared at her brother as if he’d grown a pair of horns.

“He’s the help we need, Ro,” Kieran said. “I mean, here we are scrambling to open an inn and host a wedding, and this experienced world-class hotelier suddenly offers his assistance. We’d be stupid to say no.”

Rowan had barely wrapped her mind around the news that Chris Sullens was there on behalf of their father’s secret daughter—their half-sister. Then Kieran dropped another bomb thathe’d accepted the Sullens guy’s offer to help with the wedding without talking with her first.

“Why would he help us?” Rowan stole a suspicious glance at the guy chatting with Alex and Oliver like they’d been friends for years. In jeans, a navy-blue T-shirt, and a light jacket, with his dark blond hair disheveled from his helmet, he didn’t look like an heir to a hotel empire. Though one could easily see money in Chris Sullens. And she didn’t mean by the fancy motorcycle he rode. It was how he stood and presented himself—relaxed and confident in his own skin.

If I were someone else, I would’ve believed he knew Kieran and me,Rowan thought about earlier today.

“Don’t get me wrong. He’s not doing it for us. He’s doing it for his friend. In his own words, she owns a third of this property now. If we do well, it benefits her, too. That’s logical to me. And after watching him this afternoon, doing everything I told him to do at the farm without complaint, I would’ve hired him on the spot if I didn’t know who he was.”

“You would?” Rowan whipped back at her brother, shocked. He sounded impressed. It wasn’t easy to impress Kieran.

“He’s strong. He learns fast. He knew most of the staff by name at the end of the day,” Kieran said. “Hell, I forget some of my staff’s names sometimes. That’s why I took up his offer when he said he could help with the wedding.”

“You should’ve talked to me first.” Rowan glared at him, still unhappy with what was happening.

“Sorry. I made an executive decision. He was planning to leave tomorrow afternoon, so I had to think fast.”

Still unhappy, Rowan relented to her brother. “Fine.”

“Great!” Kieran slapped her on her upper arm. “Hope you have a room ready.”

“Why?”

Kieran grinned, which was a strange, rare look on him. “Because you’re about to have your first guest.”

seven

“That was an excellent lasagna.” Alex saluted Rowan with her beer bottle.

“It was tasty,” Oliver agreed.

After talking to Rowan, Kieran had bolted and left Chris with his fuming sister, an excited Alex, the Zen-like Oliver, and a passing, “Good luck!”

The elf of a woman had grudgingly herded them all inside for dinner since the timer on her phone started beeping. Ten minutes later, and they’d sat down to a big pan of lasagna, salad, and wine.

The conversation wasn’t half-bad, either. Alex and Chris carried most of it, while Oliver, who preferred to listen, chimed in occasionally. Rowan finally joined in when Alex asked again what had brought Chris to Bright Head in the first place. She’d deflected the question with a non-answer and changed the subject by turning the attention to Alex and Oliver.

And now they were at the end of the meal, and as polite customs go, the guests complimented the chef. But Rowan looked at her friends with narrowed eyes as if she didn’t believe the words coming out of their mouths.

“You’re professional cooks. I won’t be insulted if you tell me it sucked,” Rowan said.

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