But for the life of him, he didn’t have a clue how to solve this current one.
A soft breeze blew as the sun was going down in Napa. It was a beautiful time of day—very peaceful. Very tranquil. And nothing pleased him more than seeing the beauty around him. The blue oaks were in full foliage, the lawn was perfectly manicured, the hot-pink suitcase accented the…
Wait. What? The hot-pink suitcase? “What the hell?” Hugh muttered as he looked around to see if any guests were wandering around. “Who would leave a suitcase in the middle of the lawn?” Stepping closer to it, he continued to scan the area. Sometimes guests got caught up in the scenery and stopped to take pictures on the way to their room.
It was a hideous piece of luggage. Neon pink with white polka dots, hard-shelled…it was an eyesore. There were no tags on it and while he knew he should be suspicious, his first thought was getting rid of it so the grounds could go back to looking like they normally did.
Lush. Beautiful.
Free of blinding pink baggage.
There was no time to call a bellhop. He was on a schedule and there was still so much he had to do. With a huff, Hugh grabbed the suitcase and rolled it behind him to the main building, hoping whoever owned it would come looking for it.
Soon.
There were guests checking in at the front desk when he arrived, and rather than interrupt, he took the offensive luggage back to his office, making a note to call the concierge and let him handle it. Unfortunately, his phone started ringing as soon as he closed the door and for the next thirty minutes, he did his best to sort through the short list of assistants who might be able to fill in for Heather.
By the time he put the phone down, it was after six and Dorothy had gone for the day. He’d managed to decide on flying one of Heather’s assistants in from Montana. With any luck, Marnie would arrive in the morning and they could have an hour to go over what he was going to need from her in great detail.
He stared at the computer screen in front of him. The only special event going on tonight was a small wedding. Hugh frowned at the screen. Very small. Apparently it was a spur-of-the-moment thing and the concierge was handling all of the details. A bride, a groom, no guests.
“Weird,” he said with a shake of his head. Why did people elope? Wasn’t part of the getting-married process having a big, obnoxious wedding? Hell if he knew. It didn’t seem to be the direction Aidan and Zoe were going in, but most of the weddings Hugh had attended had bordered on the ridiculous.
Hugh knew—if given the chance—he’d opt for the low-key wedding himself. Not that he was looking to get married. At least not right now. Eventually he would. He’d find someone suitable—someone with common interests and morals—and settle down. He wanted kids—maybe three—and would maybe cut back on his traveling a bit. Deep down, he knew it sounded more like a business transaction than anything else, but it was basically what he wanted.
After witnessing his own father’s devastation after losing Hugh’s mother, there was no way he was going to allow himself to experience the same thing. Ever. Loving someone as completely as Ian Shaughnessy had loved Lillian was not something Hugh ever intended to do. Love made you weak, and if there was one thing Hugh prided himself on, it was being strong. All the ridiculous wedding hoopla and messy feelings might be fine for some—like Aidan and Zoe—but not for him.
This particular wedding happening tonight seemed to be under control—nothing about it should cause any issues. They’d have their ceremony in the garden, then they were having dinner delivered to their suite. Seemed like a no-brainer to him.
And yet…
“Dammit,” he muttered, knowing he’d want to walk by the gardens and make sure everything was up to his expectations. It was normally something Heather would do. Or Josie. Or Dorothy. But apparently tonight it was up to him to handle it personally. It was one more thing to add to his plate.
So much for relaxing tonight.
Besides checking on the garden, there was no way Hugh could possibly go to his suite and relax when there was so much to do to prepare for his meeting with Bellows and making sure Marnie came off as professional and knowledgeable. Luckily he’d been keeping detailed records and files and already had his own pitch ready. He just hoped Marnie would be able to come up with something on the fly to persuade Bellows to give them a chance.
Scanning his files, he quickly composed an email and sent it off to Marnie for her to read in preparation for tomorrow. He’d rather send her as much information as humanly possible—even if it overwhelmed her—rather than have her come off sounding ill-prepared. There was nothing more irritating to Hugh than feeling like he was wasting his time with a client or customer because one of them didn’t have all the necessary information.