Page 20 of Homecoming Heartbreaker

“She’s done a piss-poor job of it,” Mack muttered.

Molly nodded her agreement. “The catering and events manager, Ross Barnes, is amazing. He’s been here for about five years, has a lot of experience and he’s very good at his job. He works closely with Autumn Kincaid. She’s our independent wedding planner.

“Milo Horton, our maintenance manager and groundskeeper, is a hard worker. Fern Matlock, our executive chef, is competent. She used to be Henri’s sous-chef—”

He remembered Henri, the resort’s expat chef and Travis’s mentor, with fondness.

“Harry Levin runs the front desk and guest relations. Other than Jameson, there’s no one better with guests than Harry.” Molly continued, “And I try to keep all of them from killing each other.”

“I skimmed over their ideas born out of our SWOT analysis meeting,” Mack said, resting his linked fingers on his stomach. “Some were interesting, some were pie in the sky.”

A knock pulled her attention off Mack. A young waiter opened the door and strode in, holding a tray laden with an expensive coffee jug and china cups and saucers. The tray he carried was silver and was part of the silver collection—along with the art and antiques collection—Jameson inherited from the previous owner, Tip O’Sullivan. Jameson had been his manager at the time and Tip, who’d never married and was childless, thought the world of Jameson.

The waiter placed the tray on Molly’s desk. “Thanks, Larry.”

Mack took the cup Molly handed him and rested his ankle on his opposite knee. “As I expected, yours was the most intricate, detailed and sensible plan.”

“It’s the proposal I’d already compiled, in preparation for my meeting with Jameson,” Molly told him, wrapping her hands around her china cup.

She was good at business and he felt a spurt of pride at her prowess. “If I gave you carte blanche to do three things, what would they be?” Mack asked.

Molly didn’t hesitate. “Update and renovate the rooms. Update the menu. Instigate a massive marketing drive to look for segments of the market we might’ve missed. We need younger, richer people to visit Moonlight Ridge, Mack. We can’t rely on our old guests to keep this place running.”

He agreed.

“But I’d also like to add that we need to attract upmarket weddings and conferences. Those are our best moneymakers,” Molly continued, passion in her eyes. He wished she was looking at him with the same passion, but her focus was solely on Moonlight Ridge and how to restore it to its former glory.

And if there was anyone who could do it, Molly could. She was knowledgeable and dedicated, committed and smart, and Jameson was damn lucky to have kept her for this long.

“As you saw in my proposal, I have detailed budgets for each suggestion. I have ten more ideas and ten more budgets,” Molly said, sounding deadly serious.

Of course she did. “Would you like to come work for me?” Mack asked, only half joking.

“We’d spend all our time arguing or—” Molly snapped her teeth together and blushed. Mack grinned, knowing what she was about to say.

“We’d either argue or get naked,” Mack told her. He smiled before speaking again. “I have little appetite for the first and a great deal for the second.”

He’d always told her the truth and had no intention of changing that now. “Full disclosure, M, I want to sleep with you again.”

Molly’s eyes, when they met his, were cool and her expression distant. “Not going to happen, Holloway.”

Mack sipped his coffee and eyed her over the rim. They’d just see about that. He had a feeling that the desire they felt for each other, the need to see each other naked, was too big, too intense, for either of them to resist.

Five

Full disclosure, M, I want to sleep with you again.

Disconcerted by Mack’s statement, Molly stomped through the back corridors and used the old servants’ staircase to step into the sunlight through a door adjacent to the bright and lush conservatory. She knew the mansion like the back of her hand, knew where to find her favorite paintings, when the silver needing cleaning, how to access the secret passageways and the cellars, what was stored in the attic. She loved running her hands over the walls that had sheltered so many people at different times over the past century.

Right now she wasn’t thinking about the history of the hotel. She was too busy trying to get some sense of her tumultuous feelings. Her dominant emotion was anger...

She was furious with Mack...

Or was she?Really?Maybe she was angry at herself for still wanting him so damn much, for allowing herself to feel anything other than cool disdain.

She was definitely angry with Beth. She was always mad at her family.

And she was a little upset with Jameson for being ill.

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