She expected to hear a groan from Dan, but instead he giggled, and cast a conspiratorial look at Xander.
“We’re not going home,” Dan told her. “We’re staying here. At the hotel. All night!”
Laurel looked at him and then at Xander. “You and Dan?” she asked, puzzled, and not happy at having this sprung on her without running it past her. And how was she going to get home? A taxi she supposed.
“All of us, Mum!” Dan said gleefully.
She frowned, confused.
“It’s your Easter treat, Mum!” Dan told her. “Dad’s fixed it!”
“Yes,” Xander corroborated. “This afternoon was Dan’s Easter treat, tonight is yours.”
Laurel stared. What on earth?
Dan was obviously bursting to tell her. “It’s like a party for you, Mum! A posh dinner for you here, you and Dad, and then there’s a show!”
“What?”
“Well, it’s a cabaret,” Xander said smoothly. Too smoothly.
Laurel eyed him. “Is it?” she said. Her voice was dry. Very dry.
“Yes,” Xander said. Still too smoothly. “Over dinner. It’s all booked.”
Dan’s face was alight with glee. “It’s been our secret, Dad’s and mine! He told me and told me not to tell you! It’s your treat! We’re all staying here, all night, and tomorrow morning after breakfast I can go swimming again with Dad and then have my Easter egg!”
“Well, you seem to have got it all sorted, haven’t you?” Laurel’s voice was tight.
“I think so,” Xander said blandly. “I’ve taken an extra room,” he went on, his voice blander still, “and booked one of the hotel’s baby sitters for Dan while we’re at dinner.” His voice changed. “Now, your mum said you could have an ice cream before we go in,” he said to Dan. “What flavour would you like?”
“Chocolate, please!” enthused Dan.
Laurel watched the two of them head off to the ice cream van parked near the barbecue station. Inside she was fuming. What the hell was Xander playing at? Springing this on her?
Plotting with Dan! Making him a party to it! Just so he can—
She stopped dead in her tracks.
Can what?
She didn’t know. Knew only that she’d been stitched up. But for what purpose?
It was only when she and Dan, ice cream consumed, went into the room that Xander had, without even the courtesy to consult her, reserved for them, that she realised the full extent of Xander’s unholy scheming…
Chapter Eight
“DO YOU LIKE IT?”
Laurel’s head whipped round. Xander was standing in an open doorway at the side of the room. A linking door. He strolled in, nodding to what had caught her eye the moment she and Dan had walked in.
It was a dress hanging on the outside of the wardrobe. An evening dress. A beautiful vermilion silk evening dress.
Dan went running up to it. “Do you like it, Mum? Do you?” There was eagerness in his voice and glee. “I chose it! Dad showed me the pictures on his tablet and asked me which one you would like, and I said this one because it’s red, so he bought it!”
Dismay was coursing through Laurel. Dismay and a whole lot more.
“It’s your surprise Easter present!” Dan was still exclaiming gleefully, his face alight. “Dad and me planned it all! You’re going to wear it tonight, and you’re going to look like a princess in a fairy story! You can be Cinderella,” he went on happily, “but not with glass slippers because we got you red ones to go with your dress.”
