to admit, it would give a person pause. If the idea of waking up with you didn’t do it already.”
“She lost her brother in that Hartford fire a couple of years back. What I do gives her bad vibes, I guess.”
“It’s not as simple as what you do. It’s what you are.”
Nick let out a long breath. “That’s the problem, isn’t it?”
Gabe had never heard Nick sound quite so miserable. “Did she ask you to quit?”
“She says that she knows I couldn’t.”
“At least she gets it.”
“That doesn’t really help,” Nick said with a little edge.
“I know.” Gabe paused. “Do you love this woman?”
“Yes.” Nick’s answer was calm, immediate, without question.
“Then go after her.” Relationships had always seemed simple to Gabe. You were interested in a woman, you asked her out. If it worked, you kept at it until it no longer did. Eventually, you found a keeper.
Unless the one you were interested in was completely off-limits. Gabe shook his head. “Talk to her, change her mind.”
“It’s not that easy, charm boy. I can’t push her into living with a firefighter any more than she would push me into quitting. She’s got to come to it on her own. If she ever does.”
“While you just sit and wait?”
“While I just sit and wait.”
“You’re not exactly a waiting type.”
“You’ve noticed?”
Because he knew arguments would be futile, Gabe didn’t bother. “That sucks, man.”
Nick sighed. “Yeah, it does. What about you—are you stuck with this situation?”
“Unless I want to get another job.”
“Do you want another job?”
“I don’t know. I love this place. If I left, I’d feel like I’d let down the old owner and the staff. And the hotel itself.”
“You ever going to stop trying to take care of everyone?”
“You ever going to stop risking your neck trying to save people?” Gabe asked by way of answer.
“At least I get paid for it.”
“I do, too, most of the time.”
“So what are you going to do about your goddess?”
“I don’t know. Try to do my job. Try to keep her from doing too much damage.” Try to erase Saturday from his memory.
“Show her what matters to you about the hotel. Maybe it’ll become important to her, too.”
What he loved about the hotel was the romance, the history of it. The way he’d felt on the dance floor with Hadley in his arms. The hotel belonged to lovers. If he could make her feel that, really feel it all the way through, maybe they had a chance. “I’ll give it a try,” he said thoughtfully. “Hey, Nick?”
“Yeah?”
“Why don’t you come up and ski next time you’re off? Beat the hell out of yourself on the mountain. It might not make things better, but it’ll sure as hell be a distraction.”
“Maybe I will,” Nick said. “Maybe I will.”
Chapter Five
He’d had plenty of relationships in his time. Some had gone fast and furious, starting with a crackle and flaming out within weeks. Others had been slower burns that built and radiated heat long after the fire had begun to go out. He’d orchestrated seductions before, taken pains to give someone he cared about a special experience, a special evening.
He’d never worked to make a woman fall in love with an idea before.
It could work, he told himself. The woman he’d met on the back deck, the one with the fey faerie eyes, would fall for the romance of the Mount Jefferson. The question was whether he could make the businesswoman fall with her.
Gabe glanced at his computer clock. It was after eight, their planned meeting time, and she still hadn’t shown. Interesting. He’d have picked her as the sort to be relentlessly punctual. Thoughtfully, he rose to walk across the hall.
And saw her striding toward him over the twining vines of the burgundy carpet, wholly focused on the cell phone clamped to her ear. “Well, if you’re not getting a straight answer, I’d suggest flying to Johannesburg,” she told whoever was on the line. Today, her hair was swept up, her suit a cool ice-blue.
Her manner, however, belied the calm. Tension tightened her shoulders; her eyes narrowed in irritation. “Eliot, you’re head of Becheron now, not me. I got moved to another project, remember? If you’ve got problems, you’ll have to work them out yourself.”
Gabe raised a brow as she disconnected.
Hadley stared at the ceiling for a moment and took a deep breath. “Sorry I’m late.” Her voice was brisk, but frustration still lingered as she walked into his office.
“Not a crisis.” I got moved to another project, remember? He’d done his homework the night before. Becheron was the fifth largest division at Stone. How did a corporate hotshot go from heading up a marquee division to running a hotel that represented—how had she put it? A fraction of a percent of their holdings? She was on another project, all right, which might have explained some of the wistfulness. He felt a quick tug of sympathy. But only a small one. “Coffee?”
“Please.”
He turned to the coffeemaker that sat on a little table behind his desk, and poured her a cup. “Everybody’s got their weakness,” he said. “I’m a coffee snob. Cream or sugar?”
She took the mug from him. “Black will do, thank you.” She shot him a suspicious look as she sat. “You’re all sweetness and light this morning.”
“Sounds like you could use it after that phone call.”
“It’s nothing.” But she couldn’t quite shrug it off, Gabe saw. No swingy earrings today, but discreet diamond studs to go with the stylishly discreet suit.
“So we’ve got a problem to solve. Where do we start?”
Hadley opened her portfolio. “I printed out a list of the target numbers for the next four quarters.”
Gabe took the sheet and scanned it, resisting the urge to whistle. “You realize, of course, that a healthy business plan lasts longer than four quarters.”
“Of course, but the Hotel Mount Jefferson is no longer private. It’s part of Stone Enterprises,
