she needed to do, she reminded herself as she waited for the lift, was to make it to January the first. Then her lovely, normal, sensible and stable life would return and she could forget all about Melissa Sommers until her inevitable divorce and remarriage. No, even then, surely Melissa wouldn’t return to the scene of the crime, so to speak. It had to be bad form to hold a second wedding at the same venue as the first.
If this wedding went well, it could be the last time she had to see Melissa Sommers—ever. If that wasn’t motivation to not mess it up, nothing was.
Downstairs in the lobby, Melissa was still berating Laurel about something or other. Eloise got close enough to hear the words ‘wedding favours’ and ‘an embarrassment’ and backed off to loiter at the reception desk until they were finished. Anything wedding-related that wasn’t actually part of the venue was, unfortunately for Laurel, Laurel’s problem. And, as much as she liked Melissa’s half-sister, Eloise had enough problems of her own at Morwen Hall without borrowing other people’s.
After a few minutes where Eloise pretended to check the reservations system on the computer, Laurel approached, her smile fixed and tight. ‘I’m afraid I’m going to have to abandon you for a few hours. Melissa needs me to pop up to London.’
‘Wedding favours?’
Laurel nodded. ‘Apparently the ones we decided on three months ago are now passé and embarrassing.’
‘Of course.’ Eloise sighed. There was no way to tell whether Melissa was seriously unhappy with the favours or just trying to make Laurel’s life difficult. Either way, Laurel would need to fix it. ‘So, what’s the plan?’
‘Apparently she’s made some calls and there are now one hundred and fifty alternative favours—something to do with artisan chocolates and mini personalised perfumes, I think—waiting at some boutique in central London. So I’m off to pick them up.’
‘A wedding planner’s work is never done.’
‘Especially not with this wedding.’ Laurel gave her a tired smile. ‘Anyway, I’m going to hitch a lift with the next car arriving from the airport and get it to drop me off on its way to pick up the next set of guests—there should just about be time, as long as the traffic’s not too awful.’
‘How will you get back?’ Eloise asked because she probably shouldn’t grab hold of Laurel’s leg and beg her not to leave her alone with these awful people.
‘The last car heading back from the airport will have to swing past and pick me up.’ Laurel sighed. ‘And I’ll just have to pray that the guest inside isn’t some absurdly high maintenance celeb that objects to travelling with the help—or taking a significant detour.’
Eloise laughed. ‘I cannot imagine where you might have got the idea that Melissa would be friends with that sort of person.’
‘I know, right?’ Laurel smiled again, a real grin this time. Then her expression turned more serious. ‘Will you be okay here without me? Really? I know there’s still masses to do...’
Eloise waved away her concerns with a flap of her hand. Laurel panicking all over London wouldn’t help either of them, or get this wedding going. ‘I’ll be fine. Everything’s set up for the welcome drinks, and Chef’s already in the kitchen working on the canapés and such, so I’m free to supervise the check-ins. Once I’ve shown Melissa and Riley to the Bridal Suite, anyway. I hope they like it.’
‘How could they not? It’s gorgeous.’ Laurel tugged the strap of her messenger bag higher up on her shoulder. ‘Right, I’d better go. Good luck!’
‘You too. May all your favours be cutting edge and perfect.’
‘That’s the hope!’ Laurel waved as she shoved the heavy front door open with her shoulder, and then Eloise was alone with Melissa and Riley. Exactly the scenario she’d been hoping to avoid.
With a bright smile, Eloise turned to walk towards the bride and groom, who were indulging in a nauseating public display of affection in her lobby. Because this week wasn’t awkward enough already.
‘If you two are ready, I’d love to show you both to our Bridal Suite. I think you’ll agree it’s something a bit special.’
Melissa pulled away from Riley, who kept his hand low on her hip. ‘I can’t wait to see it! You’ve converted the old gatehouse, Laurel said?’
She sounded enthusiastic enough, which gave Eloise hope. Maybe Melissa had grown up at last and all the tensions of the last six months were just the usual stresses of being a bride, plus the added stress of doing it all in the limelight. It seemed unlikely but Eloise lived in hope.
‘That’s right,’ she said, leading them out of the hotel’s front door and down the steps to the driveway. ‘It’s just a short walk from the Hall proper, but we find that our happy couples enjoy the privacy.’
Riley’s mouth twitched into a grin at that. ‘I bet they do. I know I plan to!’
Melissa dodged his hands as he grabbed for her waist again. For a moment she looked so girlish and young that they could all have been sixteen again. Except, Eloise reminded herself, if they were, she definitely wouldn’t have been invited to hang out with them.
‘Not until after the wedding, you don’t!’ Melissa squealed as she danced across the driveway in her ridiculously expensive leather boots and impractical bright white coat. Her blonde hair shone in the winter sunlight, her pale skin flawless as she smiled.
It was, Eloise decided, a good job she wasn’t the jealous type.
‘Can you believe it?’ Riley asked, falling into step with Eloise. ‘She’s making me wait until after the wedding. I have the most beautiful fiancée in the world and I’m not even allowed to touch her.’
‘Oh, like you haven’t touched me plenty before,’ Melissa said with a flirtatious laugh. ‘I seem to remember you could barely do anything else for the first month or two...’
Eloise picked up the pace just a bit, relieved when the Gatehouse came into view around the edge of the trees.
‘Not for the last forty-eight hours!’ Riley protested. ‘It’s cruel and unusual torture; that’s what it is. Eloise agrees, don’t you?’
Eloise pretty much thought it was none of her business, and she’d rather keep it that way, but the client was the client.
‘I think that seeing the Bridal Suite might tempt her resolve,’ she said diplomatically.
‘That’s why he won’t be staying in it until the wedding night.’ Melissa’s tone was triumphant, and the small smile on her face as she looked at Eloise made it clear that she knew exactly what she was doing. ‘Oh, didn’t Laurel tell you that Riley would need a separate room until Saturday?’
Eloise bit the inside of her cheek in a desperate attempt to keep a hold on her temper. Melissa knew perfectly well that she hadn’t—probably because she’d never mentioned it to Laurel in the first place. In fact, Eloise suspected that she’d just come up with it at that moment and was now using the idea to play Eloise and Laurel off each other. That would be just the sort of thing she would do.
Well. Eloise might have fallen for it when she was
