friend of Jesse’s? That couldn’t, couldn’t be. What unfair quirk of coincidence was this?
Despite her initial misgiving about Sam, she’d found she liked his smile, his easy repartee. She’d found herself looking forward to seeing him around the hotel. No way was she looking for romance—not with the Jesse humiliation so fresh. But she could admire how good-looking Sam was, even let herself flirt ever so lightly, knowing he’d be gone in a week. But the fact he was Jesse’s friend complicated things.
What if Jesse had told Sam about the kiss disaster? She’d thought she’d fulfilled her cringe quotient for the day. But, at the thought of Sam hearing about the kiss calamity, she cringed a little more.
She should quickly back away from Sam’s table. The last thing she wanted was to encounter Jesse not only in front of this gorgeous guy, but also the restaurant packed with too-interested observers, their gossip antennae finely tuned.
But she simply could not resist a few more moments in Sam Lancaster’s company before she beat a retreat—maybe to the kitchen, at least to the other side of the room—so she could avoid a confrontation with Jesse when he eventually arrived.
‘Where do you know Jesse from?’ she asked, trying to sound chirpy rather than churning with anxiety.
‘Jesse’s a mate of mine from university days in Sydney,’ Sam said in his deep, resonant voice. ‘We were both studying engineering. Jesse was two years behind me, but we played on the same uni football team. We used to go skiing together, too.’
So that made Sam around aged thirty to her twenty-eight.
‘And you’ve stayed friends ever since?’ she said.
She’d so much prefer it if he and Jesse were casual acquaintances.
‘We lost touch for a while but met up again two years ago on a building site in India, rebuilding the villages damaged in those devastating floods.’
She hadn’t put darkly handsome Sam down as the type who would do active charity work in a far-flung part of the world. It was a surprise of the best kind.
‘So you work for the same international aid organisation as Jesse?’ she asked.
‘No. I worked as a volunteer during my vacation. We volunteers provided the grunt work. In my case, as a carpenter.’
That figured. His hand had felt callused when she’d shaken it earlier.
‘I’m seriously impressed. That’s so...noble.’ This hot, hunky man, who would have female hearts fluttering wherever he went, spent his hard-earned vacation working without pay in a developing country in what no doubt were dirty and dangerous conditions.
‘Noble? That’s a very nice thing to say, but I’d hardly call it that. It was hot and sweaty and damn hard work,’ he said. ‘I was just glad to be of help in what was a desperate situation for so many people.’
‘I bet it wasn’t much fun, but you were actually helping people in trouble. In my book, that’s noble—and you won’t make me think otherwise.’
He shrugged those impressively broad shoulders. ‘It was an eye-opener. Sure made me appreciate the life I have at home.’
‘I’ve thought about volunteering, but I’ve never actually done it. What made you sign up?’
His face tightened and shutters seemed to come down over his deep, brown eyes. ‘It just seemed a good thing to do. A way to give back.’ The tone of his voice made her wonder if he was telling her everything. But then, why should he?
Sam Lancaster was a guest—his personal life was none of her concern. In fact, she had to be careful not to overstep the mark of what was expected of a deputy manager on front-of-house duty on a busy Sunday.
It was as well to be brought back to reality.
She returned her voice to hospitality impartial. ‘I’m so glad it worked out for you.’ She glanced down at his menu. ‘Do you want to order while you’re waiting for Jesse?’ It was an effort to say Jesse’s name with such disinterest.
‘I’ll wait for him. Though I’m looking forward to exploring the menu; it looks very good.’ Sam glanced around him and nodded approvingly. ‘I like the way Ben built this hotel. No wonder it won architectural awards.’
‘Ben, as in Jesse’s brother? My boss? Owner of Hotel Harbourside?’ She couldn’t keep the incredulity from her voice.
‘I’m friends with Ben as well as Jesse,’ he said.
‘Of course you would be,’ she replied.
If she’d entertained for one moment the idea of following up her attraction to Sam Lancaster, she squashed it right now. She’d grown up with Ben too. The Morgans had been like family. The thought of conducting any kind of relationship with Sam under the watchful, teasing eyes of the Morgan brothers was inconceivable—especially if Jesse had told him about the kiss.
‘Do you go way back with Ben, too?’
‘He joined Jesse and me on a couple of ski trips to Thredbo,’ said Sam. ‘We all skied together.’
‘More partying and drinking than actual skiing, I’ll bet,’ she said.
‘What happens on ski trip, stays on ski trip,’ said Sam with that devastating smile.
Individually, his irregular features didn’t make for handsome. But together: the olive skin; the eyes as dark as bitter chocolate; the crooked nose; his sensual mouth; the dark, thick eyebrows, intersected by that intriguing small scar, added up to a face that went a degree more than handsome.
Jesse or Ben had not been hit with the ugly stick, either. She could only imagine what that trio of good-looking guys would have got up to in the party atmosphere of the New South Wales ski slopes. She knew only too well how wild it could be.
She’d gone skiing with her university ski-club during her third year in Sydney for her business degree. The snowfields were only a day’s drive away from Sydney, but they might as well have been a world away.
Social life had outweighed skiing. That winter break they’d all gone crazy with the freedom from study, from families, from rules. If she’d met Sam then she would have gone for him, that was for sure. Instead she’d met someone else. Someone who in subsequent months had hurt her so badly she’d slipped right back into that teenage dream of kind, trustworthy Jesse. Someone who had bred the unease she felt at the thought of dating men with untamed good looks like Sam.
‘So you’re friends with Ben, too; I didn’t know. We all went our separate ways during the time you guys must have met each other.’ A thought struck her. ‘Ah, now I get it. You’re in Dolphin Bay for Ben and Sandy’s wedding on Saturday.’
‘Correct,’ he said. ‘Though I’m not one for weddings and all the waste-of-time fuss that surrounds them.’
Kate drew herself up to her full five-foot-five and put her hands on her hips in mock rebuke. ‘Waste-of-time fuss? I don’t know if I can forgive you for that comment as I happen to be the wedding planner for these particular nuptials.’
‘Deputy manager of
