‘I’ve been calling you for ages,’ Sasha said, instead of hello. Whatever had upset her was clearly now going to become his problem as well.
‘Sorry. Work’s been hectic,’ he said, tapping out a reply to an email he needed to answer before he left for the day.
‘She’s cancelled.’
‘Who’s cancelled?’ he asked absently, wondering if he’d just spelledacquisitionright. Autocorrect hadn’t highlighted it, so it must be okay, but it really didn’t look right.
‘Our event manager!’
That caught his attention.Kenzie. He’d been finding himself thinking about her a lot. Instantly, he felt guilty. ‘What do you mean she’s cancelled?’
‘She just sent an email saying due to unforeseen circumstances, her company could no longer take on the number of clients they’d hoped to for the rest of this year, and she was referring us on to someone else,’ Sasha informed him, and he could picture the pout on her face. ‘It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand what happened. She’s doing Mercedes Lorenzo’s wedding, and I’ve already toldeveryonewe have her doing ours! I’m going to look like an idiot.’
He had a suspicion what theunforeseen circumstancesmight be. ‘Well, I’m sure there’s plenty of other high-profile event managers out there we can get.’
‘I don’twantanyone else. We’ve already decided on the theme and picked the place settings … Kenziegotme,’ she protested. ‘Pleasedo something,’ she begged.
He could never resist when she did that, but still. ‘I don’t know how much clout I have, babe. Why don’t you get your dad to call her?’
‘Daddy’s away on business.’
Naturally, which is why she’d been so impatient to get hold ofhim, because Daddy wasn’t here. ‘I’ll call her and see what we can do,’ he said, finally giving in. ‘But I can’t promise it’ll do any good.’
‘Ewan, you need to be more assertive,’ she said, reeling off one of her father’s lines. ‘Youhaveto tell her what we want. Don’t be soft.’
He bit back the annoyance at her condescending tone and briefly closed his eyes. ‘Send me the details,’ he said wearily, before saying goodbye and disconnecting the call before she could add any more advice on how he could pep up his manhood. Ever since this wedding business, he’d felt like a damn errand boy. ‘Be here at this time to meet such and such’, ‘Dress in this suit’, ‘I’ve made you an appointment at this hair salon’, ‘I’ve booked you in for a wax and skin treatment’—he’d drawn the line at that. There was only so much of his testosterone he was willing to sacrifice for the sake of peace.
Now he had to try to sort out this mess.Great.
He dialled the number Sasha had sent through, fighting off a strange bout of nerves as he waited for the call to connect.
‘Events by Kenzie, how can I help you?’ a woman asked, but it wasn’t Kenzie and he leaned back in his chair, able to relax slightly.
‘This is Ewan Campbell. Can you put me through to Kenzie, please?’
‘I’m sorry, Mr Campbell, but Kenzie isn’t in the office. Can I take a message?’
‘I’d like to speak to her personally. Can you tell me when she’ll be back?’
‘I’m afraid it won’t be until next week.’
Ewan swore silently. There was no way he was going to be able to convince Sasha everything would be okay for another week.
‘This is a very important matter, it can’t wait a week. Could you give me a direct number to speak with her?’
‘I’m sorry, I can’t give out that information, but I can pass on your details to Kenzie and get her to call you as soon as she can.’
It wasn’t ideal but it was the only option he had. ‘Fine. But can you make sure you tell her it’s urgent.’
‘Absolutely, I’ll pass that on.’
He hung up and stared out his office window at the buildings in the distance. If he hadn’t offended Kenzie, everything would be fine, and he wouldn’t be stuck in the middle of a wedding disaster. This was all his fault.
The next day, after an evening of Sasha’s pouting, and not hearing back from Kenzie—no surprise there—Ewan took matters into his own hands.
He looked up the number of the reception venue where they’d met, and called. ‘Hi, yes, I’m wondering if you could help me out. My fiancée is going to kill me, but we’re supposed tobe meeting our event planner, Kenzie from Events by Kenzie, and I’ve forgotten when.’
This was clearly not an unusual request, as the receptionist on the other end made an understanding noise before consulting her computer. ‘Was your appointment supposed to be today?’
