The evening’s efforts were rewarded late the next morning when the bride called to reschedule her wedding, apologizing and saying they just had cold feet—as if Delphi would forget their comments about finding a different venue. Cami listened in the living room as Delphi assured the client that she could get the event reinstated, though there would be a fee to reestablish the appointments, since the vendors may have been working to fill the slot.
Delphi ended the call and danced in a circle. “Whatever you did last night, it worked. She’s hooked.”
“I’m not sure that’s a blessing, considering what a pain she’s been to work with so far, but with everything else hitting the fan, we need all the bookings we can get,” Cami said.
“I don’t care how difficult she is, I’m going to make this the wedding of the century, so everyone she knows will have to book here too.”
“Don’t crow too long and loud,” Blake said as he entered through the front door, Jonquil trailing behind him. “The report about the prince cancelling his reservation hit the news this morning, and we’ve already had several more cancelations.”
Cami swore but stopped when he held up a hand. “There’s more. A story got out about your father calling to talk to each of you at least twice a week, and making clandestine visits to your homes every-other month. I don’t know how much is true—”
A cold prickle slid down her spine and Cami stood and hollered at the top of her lungs, “Emergency meeting now! Everyone get your butts in here.”
Women came upstairs and downstairs and with a little calling back and forth, everyone was in the room within a minute. Cami stood and faced the other women, studying each of their faces as they arrived in the room. “Did anyone discuss your visitation schedules and phone calls with Dad outside this room?” When everyone just stared at her, she explained, “There’s an article in the paper about it, so if any of you shared it with other people, we need to know who so we can figure out where our leak is.”
Everyone looked around them while murmurs of “not me” and “I didn’t” filled the room.
“You think we’ve been bugged?” Lana asked.
Cami looked at Blake. “We discussed the visits and phone calls in this room. If it got to the press, we need to get someone in here to sweep for bugs like yesterday.”
Blake pulled out his cell phone and dialed. After he finished a quick conversation, he turned back to them. “Joel will be here with the right equipment within the hour. Is there any other sensitive information you’ve discussed in here?” He looked around.
“Then again, maybe we should take this outside.”
Everyone agreed and they moved to the lawn, far from the porch railing.
Cami tried to think of everything they’d said in their conversation the previous week, her heart sinking. “We discussed my relationship with Vince. General plans for the hotels. Specifics about applicants. Way too much that shouldn’t become public knowledge. And if they have a bug in the great room, who’s to say there isn’t one in other rooms as well? Or cameras?”
“Oh no. What if someone recorded me trying to do Zumba?” Delphi looked horrified.
“Har, har. You think this is funny?” Lana asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Delphi glared at Lana. “No, I don’t think this is funny—an elephant is more graceful than I am.”
“Not true,” Rosemary piped up. “You’re somewhat more graceful than an elephant. At least equal to a rhino.”
“Thanks.” Delphi shot her a nasty glare. “Maybe you set up the bugs. You don’t seem to care who knows about your life. You’re so open with no secrets to hide.”
Rosemary’s jaw dropped, then she narrowed her eyes. “I can’t believe you would say that. I have as much to lose as you do.”
“Right. You, who claim you could get a job anywhere so you don’t need your inheritance.”
“I don’t. And I’m not the one who stormed out in the middle of the reading of the will.”
“Enough.” Blake raised his voice so it covered the two women. “Give it a rest. None of you have anything to gain by bringing the group down. It just comes out of your pocketbook if the hotel loses money and you’re all under the microscope.”
“There haven’t been any bad articles with her name headlining,” Rosemary pointed out.
“In some social circles, the fact that I’m known to be related to you is enough.” “Seriously, you two,” Lana said. “Drop it. Joel will find out what’s going on.”
Cami hoped Lana was right.
“For now, maybe we ought to assume someone is listening to everything you say, and take any sensitive conversations to the office,” Blake said.
“Right. We have new employees to train today and we need to get moving,” Lana said, standing up. They were already going to be late.
“I’ll stay and let Joel in, then meet you all at the hotel,” Sage offered.
“Good idea. I’ll send you all a text when he’s done here and we’ll coordinate a meeting in Lana’s office—if that’s okay with you?” Blake asked, though it was clear the question was mostly a matter of form.
Lana pressed her lips together and nodded, whether she felt he was overstepping, or she was upset by current events, it was impossible to tell. “I’m leaving in five minutes if any of you want to ride with me.” She headed back inside.
Cami followed, gathered her things and slid them into the attaché she’d been using. She needed at least ten minutes for makeup before she’d be ready. It was going to be a long day.
~*~
Staff meeting had to wait until 4:30 when everyone had sent home the new hires for the day. They met in Lana’s office, all crowded into the tight space, and waited for Joel. When he entered, his face was grim.
“If you want to give us your report, we’ll go from there,” Lana said as the door shut behind him.
“We found four cameras that aren’t part of the main system, and a dozen bugs. I believe we’ve cleaned everything out, and there are a few partial prints on the bugs. The sheriff is running them now against a list Sage gave me of everyone she could think of who had access to the house. In the meantime, I’ve had all the locks and codes changed. We found a recording device on site which was grabbing the signals for download. Then it would transmit the information to someone outside the house, probably in a car on the road.”
He glanced around the room, his normally serious face more severe than usual. “So the good news is the person responsible probably isn’t in the house often, but the perpetrator did have to gain access to put in the bugs and cameras. Is there any time you can think of when the house hasn’t been locked up tight?”
Cami shook her head and noticed the others doing so. “Sage is completely paranoid about setting the alarm and double checking every door and window lock at night and before we leave the place empty—even when we’re there most of the time.”
“As she should be. As you all should be. Your safety isn’t a joke.” He sent Sage an approving nod. Joel produced a bunch of keys and passed them around. “These fit the new locks.” He told them the new pass code for the garage and the house. “I’ll be over tonight and we’ll reset the garage door openers as well for each of your cars. Until then, make sure to keep the door between the garage and the house locked at all times. Actually, that’s not a bad precaution to take in any case. I’ll be hanging around a lot for the next few days, monitoring the system to see if we can catch the person downloading the data.”
Cami felt her stomach twist. She’d thought their current security efforts had been pretty strict, but this was going to make her crazy. “Do you think we’re in physical danger?”
His eyes strayed to Sage. “It’s impossible to know. So far they’ve been focused on discrediting you, but it’s always best to be careful. I also don’t want any of you walking out to your cars here or at the hotel unless there’s someone with you, either one of your sisters or one of my security team. Not until we straighten this out.”
Cami reminded herself these were precautions designed to prevent problems, not because of an immediate threat. But because of what Joel found at the house, it felt like a threat. She hated thinking she couldn’t trust anyone around her.
When she walked out of the meeting a while later, Vince waited in the hallway.
She felt a rush of pleasure at seeing him. “What are you doing here?”
“Blake called. He said I should be here when your meeting ended.” He pulled her under his shoulder and kissed her softly. “What’s going on?”
Cami caught Blake’s eye and mouthed a thank you to him. He smiled and turned his attention back to Lana. Cami sighed and met Vince’s brown eyes. “Can I come over to your place?”
A smile spread. “Of course. Let’s swing by the house and grab some of your stuff. You can stay the night.”
It sounded wonderful.
Since Cami had ridden to the hotel with Sage, she let Vince drive her home, and explained what was going on as they went. At her place she packed a quick bag and left her car keys with Jonquil so the garage door opener could be reset. “I’m going.” She held up the bag in explanation, not wanting to say too much aloud, though Joel said the bugs were all gone.
“See you tomorrow?” It would be Saturday, so they were pretty much taking a break for the weekend, though she had work to deal with on her laptop.
Vince slid an arm around Cami’s back, leading her to the door. “Monday morning.” Jonquil winked before they headed out.
~*~
When they’d left her house, Cami hadn’t been certain about staying at Vince’s through Monday morning—it seemed like a huge step. They had a great time together though, sitting out on the patio, taking a long ramble in the woods with the dogs, and making more meals than had been prepared in the kitchen in a month’s time before. And when they made love, she was amazed the magic hadn’t been her imagination or a one-time thing.
Monday morning Vince dropped her back at her home instead of work because she hadn’t brought an appropriate work suit.
He kissed her just inside the doorway, taking his time with it. “Maybe you should move in with me,” he suggested.
“Can’t. Contract says I have to live in this house.” She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed about that stipulation with his tempting alternative. The weekend had been an idyll of sorts, not real life, and she knew moving in would change everything.
He groaned as she pulled away. “Don’t tell me I have to wait until next September.” “Unless you want to marry her, that’s the deal.” Jonquil headed up the nearby stairs. Cami could have sworn they had been talking too low for anyone to hear them, but apparently the baby of the group had ears like a dog.
“Oh, is that all?” Vince grabbed Cami’s chin and turned her face back, kissing her again.
“All?” Cami asked when she was allowed to talk again. “Isn’t it more than enough?” “Plenty. I’m more than happy to get married. What do you say?” he asked between pressing kisses to her mouth and cheeks and chin.
“Whoa.” She pushed him away, ran those words back through her head to make sure she’d heard right. “You’re out of your mind. We’ve only been dating a few weeks.”
“Six, but who’s counting? And sometimes six years isn’t long enough to decide if someone is the right one for you, but this time, I’d say six weeks is plenty.” He leaned in for another kiss.
Though she wanted to slide back under his spell, she moved out of his reach. “You’re crazy.”
“About you.” His slid his hands onto her waist and pulled her close. “And unoriginal.”
“But you love me anyway.”
She laughed, unable to help herself as she tucked her face into his neck, loving the smell of his aftershave, though there was still a rich field of stubble he hadn’t bothered to shave that morning. As for loving him, she wasn’t sure if what she felt was strong enough to marry on—it was too early to make that kind of commitment. Besides, she had more pressing things on her mind. Though she’d been putting it off, she decided to address one of those issues now. “So I have this favor to ask, and you can feel free to say no if you need more notice.”
“What’s that?” He brushed the hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear, teasing the sensitive lobe as his finger followed the curve.
She shivered. She’d spent a long time the previous night lying awake, considering whether or not to ask, and now her heart raced as she wondered if it was a mistake. “I have a party in Chicago Thursday night. I wondered if you’d like to go with me. I kept my condo available. I know you might have to juggle your work and getting a plane ticket can be a pain, and it’s bound to cause more speculation, but—”
She stopped talking when he pressed his mouth to hers. “I’d love to go with you, Cami. Email me the flight information and I’ll make a reservation.”
“Okay. That’s great.” She nudged him away, feeling awkward though he’d made it easy—maybe because he’d made it easy. “Go to work. I can’t think when you’re kissing me.”
“Good.” But he pressed a quick peck to her forehead and turned away. Before he shut the door behind him, he glanced back. “I promise more finesse when I officially propose.”
Cami didn’t have a chance to respond before he was gone. She sucked in a breath, not sure how she felt about the fact that he was already thinking marriage.