touch stern.
‘Oh!’
She turned and for the first time since that morning she saw him.
He was wearing a dark navy suit and looked stunning as usual; she had never felt more drab, standing barefoot in an ill-fitting suit.
He was with a man she recognised as Raul Di Savo.
Gabi pushed out a smile and tried to be polite but her heart was hammering.
‘Yes, everything is fine. I was just trying to work out the table plan for Saturday.’
‘We have a large wedding coming up,’ Alim explained to Raul.
‘And both sets of parents are twice divorced.’ Gabi gave a slight eye-roll, and then chatted away as she bent to put on her shoes, trying to keep things about work. ‘Trying to work out where everyone should be seated is proving—’
‘Gabi!’ Alim scolded, and then turned to Raul. ‘Gabi is not on my staff. They tend to be rather more discreet.’ He waved his hand in dismissal. ‘Excuse us, please.’
Just like that he dismissed her.
He knew that he had hurt her, for that morning she had left there had been so much promise between them and now she looked at him with funeral eyes. Alim could see the pain and bewildered confusion there.
He wanted to wave his hand to Raul and tell him to get the hell out of the ballroom. He wanted to take her to bed.
She did not leave quietly.
Gabi slammed the door on her way out and Alim and Raul stood in the ballroom with the lights dancing in the late afternoon sun.
‘What is the real reason you are selling?’ Raul asked him.
Raul knew the business was thriving and he wanted to know why Alim was letting it go. And Raul knew too that Alim could so easily outsource the management of the hotel as he moved his portfolio back to the Middle East.
Alim had brought him here to give the true answer, and now he tried to drag his mind back to the sale, yet Gabi’s fragrance hung in the air, along with the memory of their dance.
‘When I bought the hotel those had not been cleaned in years,’ Alim said, gesturing to the magnificent lights and remembering when the moon had lit them. ‘Now they are taken down regularly and cared for properly. It is a huge undertaking. The room has to be closed so no functions can be held, and it is all too easy to put it off.’
‘I leave all that to my managers to organise,’ Raul said.
Alim nodded. ‘Usually I do too, but when I took over the Grande Lucia there had been many cost-cutting measures. It was slowly turning into just another hotel. It is not just the lighting in the ballroom, of course. What I am trying to explain is that this hotel has become more than an investment to me. Once I return to my homeland I shall not be able to give it the attention it deserves.’
‘The next owner might not either,’ Raul pointed out.
‘That is his business. But while the hotel is mine I want no part in her demise.’
‘Now you have given me pause for thought,’ Raul admitted.
‘Good.’ Alim smiled. ‘The Grande Lucia deserves the best caretaker. Please,’ Alim said, indicating that their long day of meetings had come to an end, for he needed badly to be alone, ‘take all the time you need to look around and to enjoy the rest of your stay.’
Alim walked out of the ballroom and he was conflicted.
So badly he wanted to seek her out. More worryingly, though, he wanted to work out a chance for them. The only place they could speak was the desert.
He could just imagine Gabi’s reaction if he suggested that!
He was informed that Bastiano Conti, who had flown in from Sicily, had just arrived at the hotel. They were, in fact, friends, and would often hit the casinos and clubs together. Those carefree days were gone now, yet they were not the ones Alim craved.
It was one woman, and the hope for one more night with her that could be his undoing.
Alim went and greeted Bastiano and was grateful to hear that he had plans for tonight and would be entertaining guests.
‘We will meet tomorrow?’ Bastiano checked, and Alim was about to agree.
The hotel had to be sold after all and Raul seemed set to decline.
Yet Alim’s problems were greater than real estate, and he watched his friend and potential buyer raise a surprised eyebrow as Alim, usually the consummate host, rearranged their plans.
‘Bastiano, I deeply apologise, but I am going to have to reschedule the viewing. I have to return to my country tonight.’
There was not a hope of being in the same country, let alone the same building, as Gabi, and abiding by the rules.
His rapid departure from the Grande Lucia was unnecessary, though, because Gabi was no longer in the building.
By the time his private jet lifted into the sky, she was in the infirmary.
She had closed the ballroom door loudly on Alim, and at first had thought it was the shock of seeing him and being treated so coldly that had her doubling over.
It was then that her waters had broken.
The staff at the Grande Lucia were more than used to slight dramas unfolding and to handling them discreetly, though Anya was clearly shocked.
‘You’re pregnant?’ she asked in surprise.
‘Is there anyone I can call for you?’ she continued as she ushered Gabi into a small room behind Reception.
‘Not yet.’
Oh, she would have to let Bernadetta know but Gabi could not even think of her now.
And, yes, she would have to tell her mother, but Carmel’s anger and resentment had hurt Gabi so much already.
She just wanted to be alone now.
They waited for the ambulance to arrive and as they did, need spoke for her as inadvertently she said his name.
‘Alim...’ Gabi gasped.
‘Don’t worry,’ Anya reassured her, assuming that Gabi was upset that she might have created a problem for the smooth running of the hotel, especially when he was showing potential buyers around. ‘No one saw what happened. Anyway, he has already left.’
‘Left?’
‘He flew back to his country a little while ago. Do you want me to call Marianna and let her know what is going on?’
Gabi didn’t answer.
She was just trying to take in the news that Alim had gone.
A part
