Page 81 of Bad Luck Bride

Kay reached for a sheet of paper and a pencil. “Shall I cross that hotel off the list?” she asked, scribbling notes. “Or do you want to approach Mr. Pierce anyway?”

“It’s worth a try, I suppose. Find out if he’ll see me and if so, make an appointment.”

He looked down again at the list of names, pretending vast interest in it as he considered what his best move should be.

He knew he could not push Kay too hard or too fast. He’d done both fourteen years ago, and it had been the biggest mistake of his life. This time, he decided, slow and steady was his best bet.

“I see that nine of the other hotels on this list are represented by house agents,” he said, after a moment. “Contact them and secure orders to view.” He leaned forward, putting the list back in front of her on the desk. “We’ll tour each property and assess their potential.”

“We?” she echoed. “You want me to come with you?”

“Of course. I’ll need you to take notes. So bring a clipboard. And a measuring tape.”

She nodded. “Anything else?”

Best not to push his luck, he decided, and stood up. “I don’t believe so. Let me know when you’ve got those orders to view.”

With that, he departed, but before he’d even reached the lobby, he was grinning like a schoolboy.

“Thank you, Delia,” he murmured with heartfelt appreciation as he crossed to the front desk to reserve himself a room. She’d given him this chance, and now it was up to him to make the most of it.

16

She could still feel the warmth of his fingers against her cheek, and her insides still felt as if she’d swallowed a jar of butterflies.

So long, she thought, since she’d felt this way. So, so long. She’d forgotten what romance felt like. She gave a dreamy sigh and lifted her hand again to touch her face, then realized what she was doing. With a groan, she folded her arms and buried her hot face in the crook of her elbow. She didn’t want to feel this way. Not again. It was too hard. Too painful. And too risky, she added, lifting her head to look at the open doorway to her office.

What if anyone had walked in and had seen him touch her like that? Word of it would spread through the hotel, and would probably get back to Delilah Dawlish or some other reporter. More gossip was the last thing her family needed. And she certainly couldn’t afford to be distracted.

With that reminder, she worked to put any idiotic notions of romance out of her mind and tried to forget how Devlin’s touch had made her feel. She’d already turned him down, for heaven’s sake. And besides, she had a job now, a job she badly needed, and lettingherself be distracted by thoughts of him and what had once been between them was not going to help her keep it.

She concentrated instead on the task he’d given her, and by the next afternoon, she had obtained orders to view for the first four hotels on their list, and sent him a note to that effect, inquiring if the following day would be a convenient time for them to begin touring those properties. His reply was affirmative, and by the time he arrived at her office at ten o’clock the following morning, Kay had picked up the hotel keys and was ready. She had also put her priorities firmly back in order, for she did not want to be as much a sensation to the scandal rags in the future as she’d been in the past.

Devlin’s first words to her, however, demonstrated that she didn’t have to be caught doing anything untoward to be the subject of gossip, and also proved Delia had been right to caution her that even working with Devlin would be cause for curiosity.

“Best if we go out the back way,” he advised as she put on her hat. “When I came down a few minutes ago, I happened to look out the front windows as I crossed the lobby, and I saw Delilah Dawlish skulking on the opposite side of the street.”

Kay gave a groan of exasperation. “Oh, that woman! She is the absolute end!”

“She is tiresome,” he agreed as they left the office, walked out the back door of the hotel and into the alley behind it.

“‘Tiresome’ is a kind way of putting it. She’s tried to catch me out several times since Pam and Wilson eloped, hurling questions in my face. ‘How do you feel, Lady Kay, about being jilted again? What’s it like to be such a bad-luck bride?’ Rubbish like that. She’s done it to my mother and sister, too, and several of our friends.”

“Yes, she’s done it to me as well. I have perfected the art of the reply: ‘I have nothing to say.’”

“Me, too. But my mother, sadly, always has something to say. And it only gives that odious woman more meat to feed on.”

“I know this isn’t much comfort, but it will all die down again eventually.”

“In all honesty, I’ve stopped caring what the scandal sheets say about me,” she assured him. “I just don’t want it to hurt Josephine. This is her first season.”

“Is it hurting her?”

“It doesn’t seem to be, not yet. I mean, I’m rather a laughingstock at present, but she’s found a group of friends, including Lord Calderon’s sister, and there are several young men hanging about her as well, so I think she’ll do well enough, in spite of my troubles. Of course, it helps that she’s beautiful.”

“Is she?” He stopped just before they reached the sidewalk, compelling her to stop as well, and when she looked at him, he was smiling a little. “I hadn’t noticed.”

Kay’s heart twisted in her chest, a pang of pleasure so sweet it was almost like pain, and it was so much like how she’d felt in those heady days so long ago, that she couldn’t seem to breathe.Say something, she thought desperately, but when she opened her mouth, no words came out.

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