Sophie looked determined to think of it as anything but sexy. She crinkled her nose. ‘Think of the smell.’
‘Think of the muscles.’
‘We’re not talking about food, are we?’
Zoey shook her head and the curls she’d spun into her hair earlier that morning went flying. ‘We’re talking about adventure.’
‘So how many days?’ asked Sophie with grim resignation.
‘Five. I leave next Friday afternoon and I’ll be back the following Wednesday. I was thinking that if you need an extra set of hands for Tuesday lunchtime you could give Gidget Carney a call. She’s looking for casual work. I think she’d be good.’
‘Gidget with the dreadlocks?’
Zoey nodded enthusiastically. ‘She’s had them cut. She has shoulder-length dreadlocks now. They look great.’
‘We’ll see.’ Sophie wasn’t committing. ‘So about this computer game convention and the fact that you’re sharing a room with a complete stranger—’
‘Eli.’
‘You’ll call every day to let me know you’re okay?’
‘Like clockwork.’
‘And where are you staying?’
‘At the big casino hotel on the Gold Coast. That’s where they’re holding the convention.’
‘Can I talk you out of this?’
‘No. It’ll be fun, Soph. You’ve got to recognize the good in life and grab it while it’s on offer. This is the good.’
‘I know. I know.’ Sophie always melted when Zoey played this particular card. ‘I just—’
‘I’ll send pictures,’ Zoey coaxed.
‘You’d better. Especially if your fisherman’s hot.’
‘He sounds hot.’
Sophie gave her the
don’t say I didn’t warn you
look and Zoey grinned and kept right on stacking little red coffee cups and saucers. ‘No, really, he does. He’s got a great voice. Nice and deep, a little bit gravelly on occasion and downright delicious when it goes all soft. Why do you think I make an effort to hear it every Friday?’
And Sophie, her too solemn, workaholic big sister laughed.
E
li strode through
the hotel doors and slowed abruptly at the sheer number of people in the foyer. He’d never been to a gaming convention before and didn’t know what to expect, but he hadn’t counted on quite so many people. Friday afternoon and a lot of people arriving? Yeah… maybe. Or maybe a casino hotel was always this packed.
He hadn’t counted on the garish red and gold hotel interior either but maybe he should have. A casino on Australia’s glitzy Gold Coast was always going to have a better than average chance of channeling Vegas.
Red carpet, gold fittings, neon lights and noise. And in between filtering through all that, he needed to be on the lookout for a woman wearing a purple steampunk gown with silver trim, because that’s what Zoey had said she’d been wearing.
Cutter had almost dropped his end of the planking he’d been laughing so hard when Eli had mentioned that.
Caleb had grinned and told him to think of his wedding night.
Eli looked over the crowd more slowly the second time. Purple gown, silver trim.
Nope.
Maybe she wouldn’t show.
And then there was a commotion at the entrance doors, a parting of the crowd, and he saw a black bowler hat and swathes of dark purple material gathered into an impossibly small waist. From the waist up the picture was dominated by more purple, many buttons and a mass of ebony ringlets caught up in an intricate style that left the woman’s neck bare and her face perfectly framed.
So.
Not a shy girl, Zoey, formerly Fuzzy. Possibly a little bit… quirky.
He’d told her he’d be wearing jeans and a T-shirt. So was practically everyone else in the room, which meant that it was up to him to approach her.
In a strange way the costume helped. It made her seem less real and it got him across the floor and within a few meters of her before he had to admit that she was indeed a real girl.
And that she was beautiful.
She had big eyes the color of copper gone green, even down to the little flecks of brown throughout. She had a mouth made for smiling.
And then she looked his way and went very, very still as she took him in. The delighted smile that followed punched the breath straight from his lungs. ‘Eli?’
He could do this. ‘Yeah. Hi.’
‘Hi, I’m Zoey. Fuzzy. Zoey Daniels.’ She whipped off one of her white gloves, held out her hand, so small and delicate, and he responded automatically, engulfing it with his own, only to find more strength there than he expected, and a hardness to the pads of her fingers that he definitely hadn’t expected.
‘Seamstress hands,’ she said without a shred of self-consciousness. ‘Yours are hard too.’
‘Mainly from carpentry. Cabinetmaking.’ He had a habit of ditching his work gloves in favor of being able to feel the material in his hands. ‘We outfit a lot of boat interiors.’
‘You are going to be fascinating,’ she declared with another warm smile.
Doubtful.
‘Have you checked in?’ she asked next.
‘Just about to.’
‘I’ll come too.’
There were half a dozen people waiting in line at the welcome desk and at least half a dozen receptionists behind it. Eli joined the line and Zoey stood beside him, seemingly oblivious to the stares being directed her way. ‘Did you have far to come?’ he asked her, by way of fascinating conversation.
‘It was a three-hour drive. I live with my sister on the coast in a little place called Three Rivers. Do you know it?’
Eli nodded. ‘We built a trawler for one of the fishermen there a couple of years back. Benny Crow.’
‘I know Benny. Old guy with skin like leather and really blue eyes. He comes into the café sometimes for the breakfast special. My sister owns a café – she’s manager, waitress and chef. Occasionally I help out. It’s called The Hungry Bear.’
‘Is there a bear?’
‘There is a stuffed grizzly bear. I found him at a theater costume auction. I have no idea how he got to Australia but these fine days he sits just outside the café door.’
‘Bet the locals love that.’
‘They
do
.’ She had lively eyes. Kind of backlit with a smile. ‘Benny started bringing him fish. Sophie nearly skinned him.’
Eli grinned.
And Zoey’s gaze got kind of caught up on his mouth.
He felt his smile fading under her intense scrutiny. ‘What?’
‘You are
gorgeous
. Put you on a poster gorgeous. Don’t you have a girlfriend or three?’
‘No.’
‘Boyfriend?’
‘Er, no. I kind of stick to women. I used to have a girlfriend, just not lately.’ They were edging ever closer to the desk. ‘So what are you looking forward to seeing at the convention?’
‘The costumes.’
‘There are costumes?’
‘I hope there are costumes, and if there aren’t there should be. Maybe I’ll start a trend. Mostly I want to see what the game characters are wearing. A lot of my clients base costumes around game characters. Or movie characters. Sometimes book characters.’
‘So are you a movie character at the moment?’
‘I’m aiming for a female Sherlock Holmes vibe. Failing that, I’m a late nineteenth century Londoner with a penchant for mechanical devices.’
‘Aren’t you hot in that gown?’
‘It’s a cross I’m willing to bear. I love this gown. I never get to wear this gown. I figured this was the time and place.’
They were at the counter. The receptionist offered up a cautious smile. ‘May I help you?’
‘Reservation for Jackson,’ he offered.
The receptionist nodded and took to her keyboard with vigor. ‘You’ve no idea how crazy it is here today. There was a glitch in the reservation system – apparently we had two convention reservation pages up and running. How we managed
that
no one knows, but the hotel is completely double booked. I just want double pay for dealing with six hundred irate customers. Oh! You’re the newlyweds.’ The receptionist looked up from her screen and eyed them with fresh understanding and a faintly pleading expression as she began to talk faster. ‘So what we’ve done is book you into the honeymoon suite at one of our sister hotels.’ She leaned forward. ‘Your new hotel room costs substantially more than the one you had booked but we’ve taken care of that. It’s the least we can do given the inconvenience. You’re here for the convention as well?’
Eli figured he understood most of what she’d said – just not all of it. ‘About the honeymoon suite… We’re not—It’s not—’
‘Yes.’ Zoey booted him in the ankle, even as she gave the receptionist a glowing smile. ‘We’re here for the convention as well. You know how it is. Two birds, one stone.’
More nodding and keyboard clattering ensued as the woman stared intently at her screen and Eli turned to stare intently at Zoey.
‘Do you have a vehicle?’ the receptionist asked them.
‘Two, actually.’ Zoey offered sweetly. ‘I brought a lot of clothes.’
‘Because I can also arrange for our hotel chauffeurs to be at your disposal for the duration of your stay, to take you between hotels. Means you won’t have to bother with driving or parking. How about I arrange that for you now?’ The receptionist glanced up and smiled at Zoey. ‘I love your gown. So non-traditional.’ The woman glanced at Eli in his T-shirt next. Eli shot Zoey a speaking glance. Heaven knows what either of them thought he should be wearing, but he wasn’t buying in.
‘Eli ditched his suit and top coat. He got hot—ter,’ said Zoey blithely. ‘So let me get this straight. Instead of having the honeymoon suite here, we’re getting another honeymoon suite in one of your sister hotels?’
‘Yes, ma’am. In the Palace Venexiana.’ The receptionist slid a map towards them over the counter. ‘The route is already marked. It’s a ten-minute drive.’ She held up her hand as if to stave off complaint. ‘I know. I know. It’s inconvenient, but I’ve done my absolute best to make amends. I’ve put you in the Queen Suite.’ Her voice lowered to a confidential whisper. ‘Trust me, do not ask for another room back here until you’ve seen it.’ She handed a bunch of paperwork to Eli. ‘Hand this to Aliane at the desk when you get there and she’ll take care of you. Congratulations and enjoy.’
And then the receptionist’s smile moved on to the next person as Eli and Zoey moved away.
Eli waited until they were out of earshot before he spoke. ‘What was that?’
‘If I were a betting woman, I’d say that that was your brothers, the juvenile delinquents, upgrading us to the honeymoon suite as a joke. You had a normal room booked for us, right?’
A superior twin room, according to Caleb. Two rooms, two beds. ‘We can change the booking,’ Eli offered. ‘At the other hotel. We can probably ask for two rooms there.’
‘And miss out on the Queen Suite? Eli, wash your mouth out.’
He really didn’t understand women. ‘What if it only has one bed?’
‘Maybe it’ll have a couch. At the very least it’s going to have two rooms and we can ask the hotel to bring another bed in if we have to. I’m thinking of this as an upgrade.’
He watched in silence as she looked down at the map and frowned.
‘We should have asked for two maps,’ she said.
‘I know where it is.’
‘You’ve stayed there before?’
‘I’ve picked up cruisers from the hotel’s marina before.’
‘So I’ll see you there? You’re not going to bail on me?’
‘Have I ever?’
‘No.’ She sounded faintly wistful. ‘But there’s a first time for everything, right? And you kind of look as if you might. It’s the dress, isn’t it? It’s too much. Or maybe it’s just me.’
‘I’m not going to bail.’ For all his faults, when Eli said he was going to do something he did it.
She looked up at him, and the transparent happiness in her eyes made his gut churn. She wanted this. To room with him, spend time with him.
A prickly awareness sliding through his skin, familiar and unwanted. He didn’t want to be attracted to quirky Zoey Daniels with her ebony ringlets and funny green eyes. There was a difference between getting out more and
that
.
Don’t look at me with pleasure, don’t pick me out of a crowd. Don’t hope for that with me. I can’t.
‘Zoey—’ She smiled again and the warning on his tongue shriveled up and slid back down his throat.
‘It’s okay, Eli. Whatever space you need, just take it. We’re here for the convention, not a honeymoon proper. I do know the difference between fantasy and reality, even if I don’t
look
as if I do. Let’s just go have some fun.’
‘Right.’
Fun.
‘You are a dead man,’ said Eli when Cutter picked up the phone.
‘Hey, what’s she like? Is she pretty?’
‘You set us up
in the honeymoon suite
.’
‘What’s
it
like?’
Eli hung up on Cutter’s laughter. Question answered.
Fifteen minutes later, Zoey peeled out of her car and handed her car keys to a waiting porter. Another uniform clad young man lifted the suitcases from the back seat of her car and onto a trolley. Zoey smiled her delight and took a closer look around. Huge marble columns gave the soaring portico roof something to rest on. Immaculately trimmed box hedges lined the horseshoe-shaped drive. The gardener knew how to grow gardenias too, and the scent teased at her senses even as she turned to survey the hotel itself. No ordinary water fountain feature for this hotel – a wide swathe of hotel wall consisted of an unbroken sheet of running water that disappeared into a discreet granite slit when it reached the ground. The rippling silhouettes of people moving behind the waterfall turned daily motion into art.
From the inside, that glorious fall of water probably even made her battered little red mini look good.
Everybody won.
‘Name?’ the patient porter enquired.
‘Zoey Daniels… Jackson,’ she added as an afterthought and the old doorman standing nearby smiled as he opened a rippled and frosted glass door and bade her enter.
Zoey straightened, because making an entrance demanded composure, not to mention good posture, and then she swept inside and promptly caught her breath at the sheer luxury of the hotel’s interior. The Italian marble floor gleamed white, with black strips radiating out from a center point like a giant wheel. Above that central focus hung a huge crystal chandelier and above
that
was a glass dome that bathed everything below it in light. Tall floral displays dotted side tables and the reception desk – native Australian waratah flowers in brilliant red and purest white.