Page 24 of Christmas at Sturcombe Bay
It was tempting — she really liked him. And he was a real gentleman — she hadn’t met many of those. But it wouldn’t be wise to let her guard down, she reminded herself sharply. It would be all too easy to let herself like him too much. Hadn’t she learned, her whole life, that getting too close to someone only ended in disappointment?
She had to get away before she started to imagine that this could be something more than just a casual encounter, a friendly chat over a cup of tea.
“No. I’m sorry, I can’t.” She flashed him a quick smile. “Hotel policy.” She glanced at her watch. “Oh, excuse me. I have to get back — I’ll be late.” She scrambled to her feet. “I . . . Um . . . It’s been nice talking to you. Goodbye.”
Outside, she turned towards the hotel and almost collided with Mike, the manager. Mumbling some sort of apology, she stepped past him and hurried away along the Esplanade.
Dammit, how stupid was she? One smile from those deep brown eyes and she had been ready to throw caution to the wind, step over the line that she had so carefully drawn for herself. Let herself dream.
Impatiently she brushed a wayward tear from the corner of her eye. From now on she would be very careful to avoid him — she was far too attracted to him, and that could be dangerous.
Chapter Six
“Oh, sorry.” Mike stepped back sharply to avoid colliding with Shelley as she hurried out of the café, looking flustered. “Is everything okay?”
“Ah . . . Yes, Mike. Fine. Thank you. I just . . .” She paused to catch her breath. “I didn’t realise the time.”
“Well, there’s no need to rush.” He smiled down at her in gentle concern. “It’s your afternoon off, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but . . . I need to get back.” She shuffled aside, not meeting his eyes. “See you later.”
Bemused, he watched her hurry away. Whatever had upset her, she clearly didn’t want to talk about it.
He pushed open the door of the café. The big Canadian guy who was staying at the hotel was sitting at a table by the window, looking equally bemused, two empty plates and teacups in front of him.
It seemed reasonable to assume that he was the reason why Shelley had been looking so distressed. But wasn’t he the one who had rescued her from that unpleasant chap who’d tried to attack her?
So what was going on? Maybe he shouldn’t jump to conclusions. He’d mention it to Lisa — she’d be the best person to deal with it. Anyway, a moment later the guy got to his feet and left the café. He didn’t follow Shelley — he crossed the road and went down the steps to the beach.
Well, that was a relief. He hadn’t wanted to be forced to confront the guy — he wasn’t very good at that sort of thing.
Kate came through from the back room with a plate of her delicious home-baked scones. “Mike, hello.” She smiled warmly. “Your usual?”
“Yes, please. Especially if I can have a couple of those straight from the oven. They smell delicious.”
She laughed. Nothing pleased her as much as a compliment on her cooking. “Of course. Sit down and I’ll bring them over.”
The café was quiet, only a couple of tables being occupied. Mike sat down in a corner by the window, and Kate brought his coffee and scones.
“Is everything okay?” she asked gently. “You look a bit worried.”
“Mmm.” He smiled wryly. “You could say that.”
“Wait, I can take a moment to sit down. I’ll get myself a coffee.” She was back a moment later and sat down opposite him. “So, what’s wrong?”
“We’ve been taken over again.” He sighed heavily. “Another capital management group. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“But surely it won’t affect the hotel directly?” Her eyes were warm with sympathy. The afternoon sun was shining on her soft brown curls, bringing out highlights of red, and just catching a few threads of silver.
His mouth thinned. “It depends. If they decide its worth investing to spruce the place up a bit, attract a new clientele . . .”
“That would be good.”
He sighed, shaking his head. “More likely they’ll consider that to be throwing good money after bad, and just close us down.”
She looked shocked. “But why would they do that? They’ve just bought the place — why close it down? That doesn’t make sense.”
“They bought it as part of the package, with the rest of the Nordicote Group. But they’ll be wanting to get a good return for their money. And we’re down pretty badly on room occupancy year on year. We’re barely turning a profit.”
