Pierre turned back to Liam. “Where is he? Gab – Emmet, I mean.” She corrected herself impatiently. In all the drama, she’d forgotten that they were supposed to speak today.
“I’m going to tell him you called him gorgus… gorgeous Geo…” Millie struggled to get her tongue around the words.
“He knows,” Joanie said. “I told him many times.”
“So, you took Laura out to dinner?” Liam was still sitting at the table nursing a half-empty mug of something.
“Picnic dinner,” Millie told him. “Cook sent it over in a huge basket.”
“With lots of cupcakes,” Joanie agreed.
“And lots of wine,” Millie continued. “Why are you sitting alone in the kitchen?”
He grimaced. “Problems.”
“Girl trouble?” The words were out of Pierre’s mouth before she knew it.
“In a way.” He indicated the open letter in front of him. “My brother.”
“I didn’t know you had a brother.” Joanie sat next to him and draped an arm over his shoulder. They must have known each other quite well when Joanie worked here long ago. “You never talked about your family.”
He didn’t want to talk about them now, either. “Is Laura okay?” he asked instead.
“Well…She’s drunk,” Joanie said. “So, I’d say she’s feeling no pain just now.”
“And I think she and Adam will work things out,” Millie added. “In my experience, true love always finds a way.”
Pierre hoped this was true. “I thought true love never ran smooth,” she pointed out. “Shakespeare said so.”
“Yes, but that’s theatre and poetry.” Millie laughed. “Real life is less poetic and less apocalyptic. You’ll see.” Then, sobering up slightly, she turned to Liam. “Speaking of true love, any sign of Nicole?”
“Oh yes,” he said. “She’s upstairs.”
Pierre left them talking and slipped out of the kitchen. Out in the hall, she went to sit on the silk-covered chaise longue and closed her eyes. She didn’t feel strong enough to hear about Nicole and true love in the same sentence. Not on a stomach full of wine. Not after everything that had happened today. The wedding had very nearly been cancelled, Laura and Adam breaking up, Nicole…all of it.
How had she forgotten that Gabriel wanted to talk to her, and why had she left her phone behind? She, who never went anywhere without it. She could kick herself. If only she hadn’t had so much to drink, she would have remembered.
She felt the chaise longue sag as someone sat beside her. She opened her eyes.
It was Liam.
“You forgot the milk carton for your tea on the balcony.” He held it up in his hand. When she didn’t take it from him, he placed it on the small carved table by his side.
“I wanted to tell you about Nicole.”
No, not tonight.
“She had a long meeting with George. In his office. They were there for a long time.”
George. It took a moment for the words to make sense. Of course, he was the Seigneur, he was officially Nicole’s boss. Everyone’s boss really.
“What happened?”
“She came out looking like she’d been hung upside down. Went straight to her rooms and hasn’t come out since. Then George called me in.”
He paused, waiting for her to focus on him. Her mind had wandered to Nicole’s rooms and if Gabriel was there with her. Was this before or after he’d come looking for her in the kitchen?
Liam touched her arm, bringing her attention back to him. “You okay?”
