‘One minute, Gabriel,’ Mrs Vines said, as he held the door open for Daisy to leave. Daisy gave him a surreptitious grin and raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t certain but he could have sworn he heard her giggling to herself as she limped down the corridor towards the staff quarters. He closed the door and turned to face the woman who had been his parents’ housekeeper at the Encore since the hotel opened when he was in his early teens.
‘Take a seat for a moment, will you?’
He did as she requested, wondering what she could wish to speak to him about.
‘Gabriel,’ she said, sitting opposite him at her desk. ‘You may not think it my place to speak to you about this, but as housekeeper here at the hotel, I take great interest in the well-being of all the staff, especially the young ladies.’
Ah, he mused, so this was about Daisy. ‘It’s not—’ he began, but immediately stopped talking when she held up her hand.
She smiled at him. ‘Gabriel, we both know you are a lovely young man, but I don’t think you realise quite how you come across to the girls we have working here, not to mention the guests.’
He didn’t like the way this conversation was going, but waited for her tofinish.
‘You’re very good looking and your job, by the very nature of it, might be perceived as, shall we say, rather intriguing. So, I think you need to be aware that where you might think you’re being kind to someone like young Daisy, she might take it that you’re more interested her in a—’ she hesitated ‘—romantic way. Do you see what I’m trying to say?’
He nodded sagely. ‘I understand what you’re saying, Mrs Vines.’ Although he thought she was wrong. In his experience, women were more interested in the likes of Sebastian or Luke, men with solid jobs, with homes and a solid lifestyle. Not like him with his nomadic way of life. ‘But I can’t see that anyone would think my job heroic in any way.’
‘Daisy certainly seemed to perk up when you entered the room,’ she said, looking unimpressed at his disagreement.
‘Daisy and I know each other from our travels in Vietnam, so she’s an old friend.’
She studied him, her pale blue eyes boring into him. Could Mrs Vines see how he felt about Daisy? She had known him a long time, but he hoped he was able to hide his true feelings for Daisy well enough to stop her from worrying. Daisy had made it perfectly clear that she wasn’t going to consider being with him until he was divorced from Bella. If only there was a way round this divorce nonsense of having to wait for another two years. ‘Seriously,’ he said, hoping he was giving the housekeeper his most sincere look. ‘I have no intention of hurting Daisy in any way.’
‘Good, you keep it that way. Because, as much as I like you, Gabriel, I won’t hesitate to bring this to your mother’s attention, or even your father’s if I have to.’
He doubted his father would have much to say and all his mother would be worried about was losing Daisy as a member of staff. No, he mused, the one person she shouldspeak to if she was so worried about his behaviour towards Daisy was his grandmother. He could see how fond of Daisy she was. The mere fact that she’d invited Daisy to the house to dinner and then gave her an open invitation to use her garden in which to paint spoke volumes to him. He supposed Daisy assumed that his grandmother was this welcoming at her home to everyone. He wondered how Daisy would feel if she discovered that she was the first member of staff to have been invited to his grandmother’s home, as far as he was aware.
‘I promise you have nothing to worry about,’ he said, standing up and giving her a smile.
She relaxed, her severe expression softening now that the awkward business of his private life was over with. ‘Good. Off you go then,’ she said, as if he was still a teenager.
Gabriel walked to the door and pulled it open.
‘Oh, and Gabriel?’ she said.
‘Yes?’
‘You’re a good boy really, I do know that.’
He smiled; no one had called him a boy for about fifteen years. ‘Thanks.’ He turned and left, closing the door gently.
There was a gasp behind him. Gabriel looked over his shoulder to see Fi, her mouth open in horror.
‘What’s the matter, Fi?’ he asked.
‘Someone’s been a naughty boy?’
‘She doesn’t just call people into her office to tell them off you know,’ he teased.
Fi glanced at the closed door and then walked up to him and lowered her voice. ‘No, but…’ She hesitated. ‘I know you said I shouldn’t gossip but it’s not gossiping if I’m talking to you about you, is it?’
‘No,’ he agreed, eager to see what she had to say.
‘I think she must have been telling you off aboutDaisy. Wasn’t she?’
He turned to face her. ‘Why? What’s being said?’ He knew how the other staff loved to talk. They were like a large, sometimes dysfunctional family, some bickering, but all working towards the same goal to make the hotel run as smoothly as possible. He loved being a part of this place, but sometimes, when you tried to keep your private life to yourself, it could be a little irritating to know there were others trying to second-guess everything you were doing.
She raised a shoulder in a cocky shrug. ‘Nothing much, but we all know Bella’s been here and that you and Daisy were at your grandmother’s the other night for dinner, so there’s a tote running on who you’ll end up with.’ She giggled.
