‘No, sorry, Mia, I shouldn’t be here.’
‘Who is it, Mia?’ She heard a male voice call from above, followed by the heavy thud of feet on the stairs. She stopped, rooted to the spot, unable to escape the inevitable. And then, to her surprise, an untidy blond head appeared behind Mia and Jordan rested his chin on her shoulder as he wrapped his armsaround her waist. ‘Hi, Cat,’ he said cheerfully. ‘What brings you here this morning?’
‘She’s come to see Luke.’ Mia leaned back into his shoulder and smiled up at him. ‘Luke suggested we slept here last night. It was easier than driving all the way back to Port Morwen,’ she explained, seeing Cat’s confused expression.
Cat could only stare in surprise. ‘Are you two really—?’
‘Together, yeah,’ Jordan grinned, ‘nine months and counting. I’m afraid you’ve missed Luke, he left about an hour ago.’
‘Luke’s gone?’ She couldn’t believe her bad luck.
‘Early this morning.’ Mia nodded. ‘Dad has a crew taking a new yacht to its owner. He had a call last night to say one of the guys whose wife is pregnant had gone into labour. So he contacted Luke and asked whether he could take his place. Like Jordan said, he left about an hour ago.’
‘Have I time to catch him?’
‘Not sure. I’ll just give Dad a call,’ she said, disappearing inside.
‘Come in,’ Jordan said, stepping back and showing Cat into the front room. ‘Mia won’t be a moment. I’m about to head off to do the shopping run.’
‘Shopping run?’ Cat’s eyebrows rose. ‘Heavens, Jordan, when did you become Mr Domestic?’
‘You will never believe how much I’ve changed, Cat,’ he said, settling himself on the edge of one of the chairs. ‘What happened with my mother was a wake-up call. My dad was so angry and I guess he had every right to be. I took a good look at myself and didn’t much like what I saw. He kicked me out and I went on a bit of a bender at The Smugglers. Luke took me in, looked after me. He had to be one hell of a guy to do that after the way I’d treated him. And now this thing with Étienne. I always thought my father had been the one bankrolling his universityand travelling. I was angry. I thought how unfair it was, Selina’s son getting preferential treatment. Again, big mistake.’
‘I guess you had a right to feel that way. None of us knew. We simply thought Gareth was looking after his family.’
‘Yeah, and now the best thing of all is that Luke and me are really good friends. It’s great to have him in my life,’ he said, shoving to his feet. ‘Well, I’d best get on, that shopping won’t do itself. Take care, Cat,’ he said, reaching out to give her shoulder an affectionate squeeze as he left.
‘You too, Jordan.’
As the front door closed, Mia reappeared. From her solemn expression it appeared the news wasn’t good.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, settling herself next to Cat. ‘I’ve been trying to get through but Dad’s not answering the phone. The yacht was due to leave at nine thirty, twenty minutes ago. Unless something has happened to delay it, which I doubt, I’m afraid you really have missed him.’
Cat hid her disappointment. It wasn’t what she wanted to hear. However, there was nothing she could do, she would simply have to leave it for today. ‘I’ll try and catch him tomorrow,’ she said.
‘Tomorrow? How long are you staying?’
‘I’ve an early evening flight back to Verona.’
‘Ah …’
‘Is there a problem?’
‘Yes, the client is based in Valencia. They’ll be gone for nearly a fortnight.’
‘A fortnight?’ Hearing the bad news, Cat cupped her head in her hands and groaned. It was impossible. She simply couldn’t stay here for another two weeks. The arrangements for the opening of Hotel Isabella Di Marco were on a tight timeline. It would be impossible for Raphael to complete the project all by himself.
‘Don’t worry. Dad is in regular radio contact with the yacht. I could get a message to Luke later,’ Mia said helpfully.
‘If you could, that would be great. He already has my mobile number but I’ll give you the hotel number too,’ she said pulling a pen and pad from her bag and scribbling down the details. ‘I just need him to call me.’ She tore off the slip of paper and handed it to Mia. ‘We really do need to talk.’
Late the following afternoon, Étienne, Cat and Raphael settled themselves in the Bentley and left for the airport amid a flurry of hugs and goodbyes. Aunt Em, along with Gerren and Jenna, had left just after breakfast, Jenna grumbling about the length of time it had taken to get Em to make a decision on the clothes she would be taking with her. By now they would be boarding at Southampton. Cat smiled as she watched the countryside passing by the window. Em hadn’t been away for years. It had been Ruan who had come up with the idea when he realised his parents were planning to book a Southampton to San Francisco cruise on theQueen Mary 2. It seemed an ideal two-in-one birthday present: a luxury cruise, plus the chance to spend time with her brother and sister-in-law, two people she had missed so much since their move to France.
Her thoughts turned to Luke, wondering how far his yacht had travelled. Two weeks seemed an eternity, but back in Italy there was enough going on at the hotel to keep her distracted. However, it wouldn’t stop her ticking those days off the calendar one by one, hoping time away had mellowed his anger and he would pick up the phone and make that call.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Cat stood looking out of her bedroom window. A cold wind blew across the lake and trailed chilly fingers through the trees at its edge, trying unsuccessfully to remove the last remaining golden leaves.
