Paradise Nights. Kelly Hunter
I don’t?’
‘I think women come easily to you and always have. I think you don’t know the difference between courtship and seduction.’ She handed him the key. Not room seventeen. ‘And I think it’s time you learned.’
Pete made it to the out-of-the-way room at the back of the hotel, set his bag by the bed, took a fast shower and changed into fresh trousers and a collared white shirt. He could use a haircut, he decided after checking his appearance in the mirror. His hair was getting more and more like Tris’s mop, less and less like Luke’s regulation crew cut, but then, he didn’t need a crew cut these days anyway. He wasn’t Navy any more.
He didn’t know what he was.
Hungry, he was that, and Chloe had suggested he head for the hotel taverna. Hopefully he’d find Nico there already. There were worse chaperons. Then again, Nico might not be there at all. He might end up sitting there alone, which wouldn’t bode well for him when it came to resisting bridge invitations. He needed something to do while he waited, figured it might as well be the mail and paperwork he was supposed to have waded through a week ago.
Make that two weeks ago, he decided, eyeing the bulging black folder in his carryall with trepidation. He could run the flying component of Tomas’s business with his eyes closed. The paperwork and scheduling side, however, was a nightmare.
Tomas was out of hospital and starting to get up and around. Maybe if Pete got the paperwork up to date Tomas could take the running of that part of the business back. Pete picked up the folder and headed for the door, no further incentive required. He’d do it while he waited.
Except that Nico was already at the taverna when he got there, looking tired and not altogether sociable. Still, he nodded when he saw him and Pete figured it for an invitation of sorts.
‘So how’d they get you down here midway through a working week?’ he said by way of greeting.
‘Chloe rang and said she needed me,’ said Nico offering up a wry grin. ‘A statement guaranteed to get me down here any time of night, or day, for that matter. Then she mentioned you, Serena, room service, Theo, and Marianne Papadopoulos in her next breath and that was the end of that fantasy.’
‘I know the feeling,’ said Pete with heartfelt sincerity. ‘What do you know about courtship?’
‘Do you see Chloe standing here, breathless to be in my company?’
‘No.’
‘Exactly,’ said Nico darkly. ‘I’ve been here almost six months and I still can’t get her to notice me. I know nothing about courtship.’
‘But I do see her and Sam over in the doorway waving at you.’
Nico turned sharply, his face splitting into a grin, and then he was heading towards them. Maybe he knew more about courting than he thought. The middle-aged barman behind the counter removed Nico’s empty beer glass. ‘I’ll have one of those,’ Pete told the barman.
‘No beer for you,’ said the barman. ‘You can have coffee.’
‘In that case, I’ll have it at a table.’ He took himself and his paperwork towards a corner table, only to be stopped by the majestically built Mrs Papadopoulos greeting him and wanting to know how Tomas was. ‘He’s out of hospital and up walking around,’ said Pete. ‘The cast comes off in another few weeks.’
‘So you will leave us, once he mends, eh?’ she countered.
‘That’s the plan.’
‘Plans change,’ said the lady. ‘Isn’t that right, Theo?’
Theo scowled.
‘Tell me, Peter,’ she continued, thoroughly undaunted by Theo’s surly demeanour. ‘Do you play bridge?’
‘Never did get the hang of it, Mrs Papadopoulos. Besides, I have some paperwork to see to.’
‘And friends to greet,’ she said, eyeing the doorway behind him. ‘The taverna’s a busy place, this evening.’
He turned, following her gaze, and there stood Serena, looking exceedingly demure in an ankle length yellow sundress that, if he had to hazard a guess, he’d say belonged to Chloe. And then she smiled and he wouldn’t have been able to describe what she was wearing. ‘Excuse me.’
He made it to the door without falling over his feet, made it through small talk with Chloe and saying hello to Sam, who had homework and then bed to look forward to rather than socialising in the taverna, according to Chloe.
‘I could stay here for a while,’ said Sam. ‘With Nico and Pete and Serena. I’m not tired.’
‘Not on a school night,’ said Chloe and Sam’s frown turned mutinous.
‘I’ll do my homework in the morning.’
‘You’ve had all afternoon to do it. You’ll do it tonight.’
‘Homework being part of the renegotiated deal involving Sam fishing with Nico on Saturday and Sunday mornings,’ murmured Serena.
‘Ah.’
‘Do what your aunt says,’ said Nico. ‘She gives you more freedom than I ever had as a boy, and receives more than her share of criticism because of it. Cut her a break, Sam, and honour your bargain.’
Sam’s face grew even more thunderous, but he turned on his heel and stalked through the hotel without another word. Nico watched him go with a frown. ‘A boy needs limits,’ he said finally.
‘When I want your help, Nicholas Comino,’ said Chloe icily, ‘I’ll ask for it!’ And then she too was gone and silence reigned supreme.
‘I’m pretty sure she’ll be back,’ said Pete finally.
Serena nodded. ‘Me too.’
Nico glared at them both. ‘And if she doesn’t come back?’
‘Beer?’ said Pete.
‘Bridge?’ said Serena, looking towards Theo and Mrs Papadopoulos.
‘I like his suggestion better,’ said Nico. ‘You play bridge.’
Serena shook her head emphatically. ‘I like his suggestion better too. I was just giving you options.’
‘The man doesn’t need options, Serena. He needs hope,’ said Pete. He thought of seduction and of courtship and wondered where a compliment might fit in the grand scheme of things. ‘And may I say you’re looking divine this evening, as usual. Care to join me and my melancholy friend here for a drink?’
‘You can have ten minutes,’ she told him with a toss of her head. ‘Then I’m off to check on Chloe. She’s a little sensitive right now to the influence Nico has over Sam.’
‘And you couldn’t have mentioned this earlier?’ demanded Nico, shooting her a dark glare.
Serena shot him a halfway apologetic glance. ‘I thought you knew.’
‘I’m curious,’ said Pete, steering them both towards a table. ‘Does Nico supporting Chloe’s authority over Sam count as courtship or seduction?’
‘Pardon?’ said Serena.
‘I’m saved,’ he told Nico. ‘She doesn’t know either.’
‘Huh?’ said Nico.
‘Never mind. Coffee?’ he asked Serena. ‘Have you eaten?’
‘No, and no. But I’d rather have wine with my meal than coffee.’
‘Good luck with that,’ he murmured, and turned to browse the blackboard menu. ‘What’s good here?’
‘The fish,’ said Nico dryly. ‘I caught it this morning. And I’ll order the wine.’
They