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“I think I’m going to lie down,” she said with a sniff. “My head feels like it’s going to explode.”
“Of course. I’ll make sure housekeeping doesn’t bother you,” he said, moving toward the door. “Again, I am sorry for the miscommunication.”
“Thirty percent sorry, anyway,” she replied.
A small smile tugged at his mouth, but was quickly reined in. “I hope you feel better.”
“Me, too,” she told him, turning back to the view. Paradise had suddenly become very expensive.
* * *
So help him, if Maria del Olma or her boyfriend ever stepped foot on resort property again, he would strangle both of them with his bare hands. Teeth clenched, Carlos let out a low growl, and wished he was farther away from Larissa’s front door so he could growl louder. He knew his predecessor and the coordinator left the resort in chaos, but he’d thought they’d caught the worst of the errors weeks ago. Apparently he thought wrong.
At least housekeeping did its job and spirited away both the waste bucket and room service cart while he was having his awkward discussion with Señorita Boyd. Guests might want to overindulge in Mexican paradise, but they didn’t want to see the morning-after evidence. Señorita Boyd’s—Larissa’s—villa wouldn’t be housekeeping’s only stop. There would be a number of guests looking for dry toast and aspirin this morning.
But only one had the aspirin delivered personally by the general manager. Then again, none of the other guests invaded his thoughts all night long, either. He couldn’t shake the image of her alone in her suite, drinking away a broken heart, to the point that when he woke up this morning, the first question in his head was how she fared.
The answer was about as he expected. The results of an alcohol-fueled pity party were never pretty. She looked like death warmed over, yesterday’s sex appeal all but obliterated. To her credit, she tried, pretending her skin wasn’t turning green while he talked about coffee. She lasted longer than he thought she would. Then, to work up the energy to negotiate her bill, as well. Admirable.
Too admirable seeing how he agreed to absorb thirty percent of her expenses. What came over him, making such an agreement? There were concessions and then there were concessions.
You know exactly what came over you. You looked into those big blue eyes and wanted nothing more than to make them sparkle.
Nonsense. He felt sorry for the woman, that was all. He knew all too well the pain of waking up and realizing you’d been living a delusion. And to have the covers ripped from your eyes so quickly... His own disenchantment unfolded slowly, and that pain was bad enough.
What would have happened if he’d realized the truth about Mirabelle from the beginning? Would he have still spent so much energy trying to make her happy? Probably. He’d been such a stubborn, romantic fool back then. Quick to fall, slow to let go.
Thank goodness he’d learned his lesson since then.
“Hola,primo! I’ve been looking all over for you.”
His cousin, Jorge, jogged toward him. Like Carlos, he wore a black suit, although in Jorge’s case, the jacket fit snugly around his barrel chest, a fact his cousin, an American football player at UCLA, took great pride in. “You do realize the resort has a perfectly good boat launch that allows you to cover the ground in half the time,” he said, wiping the dampness from his upper lip.
“The boat launch doesn’t allow me to see the beach side of the resort. You might want to consider walking this route yourself. You’re out of breath.”
“Because I’ve been walking all over the property looking for you. Where have you been? You missed morning coffee.”
“I was meeting with a guest.”
“At this hour of the morning? Don’t tell me you’re picking up Rodrigo’s bad habits.”
Upon hearing his predecessor’s name, Carlos’s muscles tensed. “I was meeting with La—Señorita Boyd—regarding her wedding plans.”
“Boyd. Isn’t she the woman who checked in by herself yesterday?”
“She is. Maria forgot to cancel her wedding ceremony.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I wish I was,” Carlos replied with a sigh. “It appears she was too busy sneaking around with Rodrigo to let catering know. I had to break the bad news to Señorita Boyd this morning.”
“You’re not charging her, are you?”
“What choice do I have? Everything was ordered, and you know as well as I do the resort isn’t in a position to eat those kinds of costs right now. I gave her as much of a discount as I could.”
That he even had to conduct such a negotiation made him want to rip his hair from his head. “Sometimes I don’t know who I want to strangle more. Maria for being so careless or Rodrigo for mismanaging the resort into financial crisis.”
“I thought that’s why I came aboard. To give you an extra set of hands so you could strangle both simultaneously.”
This was one of those rare days when Carlos wanted to take his cousin’s joke seriously. “I need you to have someone go through every event Maria booked. Call the people and update their contracts. I do not want a repeat problem.”
“I’ll take care of it soon as we get back to the office.”
“Thank you. Meanwhile, let’s hope the wedding coordinator candidate I’m interviewing this afternoon is more levelheaded.”
“He’s male, so at least we won’t have to worry about the two of you running off together.”
Carlos ignored the remark. Wouldn’t make a difference if the candidate was male or female. His days of losing his head were long gone and they both knew it. “Have you checked on the Campanella arrangements yet this morning?” he asked instead.
His cousin nodded. “Everything’s running on schedule.”
“Bueno.”
“The señor and the señora did ask if you’d be willing to make a toast. Apparently someone they know was toasted by the captain of a cruise ship.”
“And they would like something similar.” Carlos thought of Larissa asking about her cake. “So many silly details. As if any will matter six months or even six hours later.”
“It would mean a lot to them.”
“Then I’ll be there.” Whatever a guest wanted. Especially guests like the Campanellas who seemed the type to leave online critiques. He wondered if Larissa Boyd left critiques? What would she say? The general manager efficiently provided aspirin?
“What’s so amusing?”
He didn’t realize he’d chuckled aloud. “Nothing.
“Uh-huh. Is everything all right, primo? You seem distracted this morning.”
“Of course I’m distracted. I thought we were finished mopping up Rodrigo’s and Maria’s messes. Instead I had to bill a jilted customer on her wedding day.”
“Better you than me. I would have caved completely out of sympathy.”
Carlos didn’t say how close he came to doing that very thing. The two of them fell into step back to the office. Although only midmorning, the sun already hung hot in the cloudless sky. Sunbathers, eager to turn their skin to Aztec gold, crowded both sides of the walkway. A mosaic of body shapes sprawled towels and chaise longues. Some of the more cautious tourists staked their claims on the popular cabana beds scattered strategically around the resort. He wondered, would Larissa Boyd find her way to one of them to sleep off her hangover or would she prefer the privacy of her terrace? Pale skin like hers would definitely burn if exposed too long.
“I have to admit,” Jorge continued, “now that you tell me the wedding was canceled weeks ago, I’m surprised she’s here. She must have had nonrefundable airline tickets.”
“Or perhaps she simply needed to get away.” He understood. After a while, all the well-meaning comments and sympathetic looks started to eat at your soul. It was either scream at people to go away or lose yourself in a place full of distractions. “Whatever her reason, ours is not the place to judge.”
“The staff is fascinated by her. She made quite a memorable impression yesterday.”
Blue smudged eyes and rat nest hair came to mind. Memorable indeed. Wonder what Jorge would say if he saw her this morning.
Interestingly, he was beginning to think this morning’s version might be more memorable.
Mirabelle used to worry incessantly about her appearance, obsess over every hair, every ounce on her frame. As much as he reassured her that she would be the most beautiful woman in the world to him, his reassurances fell on deaf ears. Fell, and fell, and fell.
Something in him wanted to hope Larissa Boyd was different. Stronger.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a guest stay solo before.” Jorge’s voice saved his thoughts from traveling down a dark road.
“Of course we’ve had single guests,” he replied.
“Single, yes, but always as part of a group. I can’t remember ever having someone attend completely alone before. Certainly not a woman on her honeymoon.”
“There’s a first time for everything. Perhaps Señorita Boyd will spark a trend.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice?” Jorge grinned, his smile white and even. “We could become the new singles hot spot on the Riviera.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? A hotel full of heartbroken women.”
“What is it the Americans say about getting back in the saddle? Perhaps our señorita could use a stirrup.”
The idea of his muscular cousin touching pale American skin stuck hard in his chest, giving him heartburn. “The señorita came to nurse a broken heart. I doubt she’s interested in riding lessons.”
“You never know. Not everyone—”
“Not everyone what?” Carlos whipped around.
“Nothing.”
As if Carlos didn’t know what he was going to say. Not everyone grieves forever. Of anyone in the family, he expected Jorge to understand.
“It’s just...” His cousin’s voice softened. “It’s been five years. Don’t you think Mirabelle would want you to move on?”
“My days of giving Mirabelle everything she wanted died with her,” he replied. Fitting, really. Given all the times he failed her in life, why should his grief be any different?
Besides, he thought, looking out to the Atlantic, if she’d wanted him to move on, she should have left his heart intact. “The only people I care about making happy these days are our guests. In Señorita Boyd’s case, that means protecting her privacy.”
“Were you worrying about her privacy when you had security checking on her last night?”
Carlos stopped short. He should have known Jorge would hear of his orders. The hotel staff was a small community, and nothing escaped notice. “She’d been drinking. I thought it a good idea to watch out for her.”
“Old habits die hard, do they?”
Some did anyway. He thought about arguing the point, and blaming liability for his behavior, but Jorge would see right through the excuse. After all, his cousin knew all about Mirabelle. More, he’d been there the day they found her.
“I didn’t want to take any chances. There were too many similarities.” More than he wanted to admit.
Before he could say anything, the two-way radio on his cousin’s waist began to crackle. The first sentence was all Carlos needed to hear. “Housekeeping emergency, Presidential Villa.”
CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_c9705cc3-1660-55ed-9d46-470474ef51ff)
“I’M NORMALLY NOT this squeamish. I mean, I live in New York City. I’ve seen things.” But this wasn’t some scrambling little roach or scurrying sewer rat.
The maintenance man grinned. “Tarantula,” he said.
No kidding, it was a tarantula. One the size of her fist and it was clinging to the bathroom wall next to the bathtub. Larissa shivered, thinking how she’d been sitting on the floor while it had been crawling around. For all she knew, it could have crawled right by her foot. Or her hair. Heebie-jeebies ran across her skin.
All she wanted to do was take a nice long bath, thinking a whirlpool and a jungle view would be exactly what she needed to shake off her pity party and start fresh. Nowhere did her plans include sharing her tub with a man-eating creature.
She looked over from her place atop the double vanity. “Can you get rid of it?”
“Si.” Taking a hand towel, the man brushed the offending creature to the floor. Larissa squeaked and tucked her legs beneath her. How was that getting rid of anything?
Suddenly commotion sounded outside. “What happened?” Señor Chavez burst into the bathroom.
Oh, great, he was back. Was the general manager going to witness every embarrassing moment she had this trip? This time he brought a friend along, as well. A second dark-suited man pulled up behind him.
“The radio said there was an emergency.” He looked Larissa up and down with a scrutiny that made her wish she was wearing more than the complimentary robe. She tugged at the gap, making sure the cloth covered her legs.
“There was an emergency. I had an unwelcome guest,” she replied, pointing toward the floor. The maintenance man had laid the towel on the ground, and the tarantula was crawling onto the cotton surface toward the middle. “I called to have someone get rid of him.”
“I’m afraid tarantulas are an unfortunate byproduct of sleeping so close to the jungle,” the other man replied with a smile. In comparison to Señor Chavez’s scowl, it was positively blinding. “Our staff does its best to sweep them off the property, but every once in a while one makes its way into a room. I’m Jorge Chavez, the assistant manager, by the way.”
“Pleasure to meet you.” Larissa watched as the maintenance man scooped up the towel and spider. “What’s he going to do with him?”
“Pedro will release him away from the property. Don’t worry, he won’t be back.”
“I’m more worried about whether he has friends.”
“I doubt there are others, but we’ll sweep the villa to make sure. Of course, if you’re truly uncomfortable, I can arrange for you to move to a different suite.”
“No, that won’t be necessary.” With the spider gone, she was feeling a little braver. Not brave enough to move off the vanity, but braver. “As long as there are no others.”
“I’ll check the property myself.”
“Thank you.” She looked to the general manager, who hadn’t said a word since bursting on the scene. At first, she blamed the silence on annoyance, but now that she looked closer, she saw that he’d gotten lost in thought. Distance allowed her to see past the shutters, revealing the haunted sadness she remembered from last night. A sympathetic ache curled through her stomach. He didn’t seem the kind of man who would look so lost, and yet at the moment, lost was exactly the word she’d use.
“I didn’t mean to cause a big scene,” she said, raising her voice. Partly to let Jorge hear her and partly to shake Chavez from his thoughts. “When I called housekeeping, I didn’t expect an entire army to show up.”
“We were in the area.”
“They said it was an emergency.”
Both men spoke at the same time. Because it was the first Señor Chavez spoke since entering, Larissa turned her focus to him. He’d shaken off whatever ghost captured his attention and returned to scrutinizing with such ferocity you’d think she’d committed a crime, rather than been a victim. “It was an emergency to me,” she said, defensiveness rising. “You all might be accustomed to finding poisonous spiders in your bathrooms, but I’m not.”
“Contrary to popular belief, tarantulas aren’t deadly. At best, you’d get a slight fever.”
“Good to know. I’ll sleep much better knowing if one does decide to bite me, I won’t die.” His blunt tone surprised her. What happened to the exceedingly polite, do-anything-to-please-the-guest manager she met this morning? This man seemed far more intent in glaring at her. She didn’t understand the change, since she swore when he first burst into the room she saw real live fear on his face.
