Jennifer Snow - Tempting Kate

“If you don’t think you can do this...” Liz started.

Oh, she was doing this wedding. Somehow, some way. Kate waved a hand and smiled as warmly as she could muster. “I can totally do this,” she said. “I was just confirming that you were sure. After all, we want the day to be what you’ve always dreamed of.”

“I’m sure.” Liz nodded emphatically, then hesitated. “You’re sure you can pull this off?”

“Without a doubt.” Actually with about a dozen different doubts, but she would make it happen and it would be amazing.

“Thank you so much, Kate.” The woman’s look of relief was brief before she was all business, as she pulled out the Belle Affairs contract and signed it.

That was fine with her. She had six weeks to pull off the impossible. Getting started right away on a new plan was absolutely necessary. She dropped all pretense of having somewhere else to be as she opened the couple’s file. “Okay, so venues in Big Bear...” That could pose a challenge. Log cabins and tackle and bait shops. She hid a shudder.

Liz stopped her, rummaging around in her purse. “Wait, we have a venue in mind, actually.”

Kate cringed. Big Bear was a dream for winter enthusiasts but hardly the place for an elegant, Hollywood-style wedding. If this venue had wood paneling on its walls, she might be forced to walk from the whole thing. She needed this wedding to prove she was still the best in the business, not put the final nail in the coffin.

“Here is Scott’s business card,” she said, her voice tight. “He owns West Mountain Resort.”

Kate couldn’t decide whether Liz hated the lodge or Scott, but her tone suggested this venue might not be her idea. She’d get to the bottom of that later. First, she needed to get a visual. Turning to her computer, she typed the name of the place into Google.

“Oh, don’t waste your time. The resort doesn’t have a website.”

“I don’t understand,” she said as the search failed to provide any matches. “How does a company not have a website?”

“The place just reopened in the fall...”

“My company’s website was up before I even had my certification in wedding planning.” She turned the no-doubt homemade business card with the perforated edges around in her hand. “Scott Dillon—owner/operator,” and a phone number. Not even an email address? Come on, Scott! She’d give his business a year, tops.

“Scott is fairly old-school, and he does things his way.” It sounded as if the words were said through clenched teeth. “My company is actually designing a site for him, but it’s complicated.”

Okay, so it was definitely Scott Liz had an issue with. “Liz, have you even seen the place?”

The bride-to-be shook her head.

Great. They were supposed to choose a wedding venue, sight unseen? No freaking way. “So why have you settled on this place?” She tossed the card aside. “Just because he’s family?” she guessed.

“He’s Derek’s brother, and Derek really wants to support Scott’s new venture.” She rolled her eyes.

Clearly Liz did not. Kate hesitated. She had two options. She could launch into her spiel about how the wedding day was really about the bride anyway, so Liz shouldn’t settle...or she could take this small gift from the wedding planning gods and run with it, hoping that the place could be turned into the perfect setting...at least in photos. She really didn’t have time to book another venue, especially during the long weekend. “Okay, then we can certainly make this work.” She would just call this Scott guy and see if he could send her some details and photos of the lodge. If she had to hire a decorating crew to transform even one room of this resort into the backdrop Liz would be happy with, she would. She was in the business of fairy tales and miracles, after all.

“I know it’s a far cry from the original plans...” Liz said, looking nervous again.

You think?

“But I just really want to marry Derek...as soon as possible.”

Yeah, Kate had caught the urgency. She forced a smile as she reached across the desk and touched Liz’s hand. Reassurance was her first responsibility as a wedding planner. “Don’t worry, everything will be perfect.”

They had a willing groom, at least.

2

SCOTT DILLON SCANNED the reservations system for the month. They were still sitting around the 40 percent capacity, and the upcoming summer months didn’t look any better. He didn’t understand it—the five-star, multimillion-dollar establishment he’d renovated and reopened the year before was located just west of Big Bear’s major ski resort. Guests gushed about his resort’s amenities, and his review in Traveler’s Weekly had named West Mountain Resort the best place to stay in the area.

So why weren’t they full? The other lodges were turning people away, which thankfully had helped him fill some rooms that winter. With the ski season winding down, he feared things were going to get worse, not better.

He could barely afford to keep the place running in their current state. The phone rang, and the reservation light lit up.

Where was Cameron? She must be covering another station. In recent weeks, he’d been forced to let go two front-desk staff and a bunch of housekeeping. Work just wasn’t there, and neither were the funds to pay salaries...but now he had the remaining staff pulling double duty on their shifts. It would only be a matter of time before they flipped him off and found jobs elsewhere.

The phone rang again.

Cameron, his hotel manager, had forbidden him from answering the phone, because he struggled with customer service skills. But he couldn’t just let a potential paying guest go. Sighing, he answered. “Hello—I mean, thank you for calling West Mountain Resort, how can I help you?”

“You need a website,” a female voice said.

Great. A sales call. This was exactly why he hadn’t put his direct line on the business cards Cameron had insisted on making for him. “That’s an odd way to start your sales pitch, and I’m not interested,” he said. He was about to replace the receiver when the woman’s laughter made him pause.

“I’m not a website designer or trying to sell you anything, I’m just annoyed that your resort provides nothing online to people considering staying there.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d heard the complaint. The website was in the works...sort of. He’d unfortunately had to lay off the only employee tech savvy enough to deal with the unending design questions from the staff at HighRes Media, and he certainly wasn’t going to deal with them directly. Getting Liz Sheffield’s company to design the site had been his brother’s doing, not his. Another one of Derek’s futile attempts to “bring the two of them together.” But Scott had no interest in being friendly with Liz.

“It’s coming soon,” he said, not in a position to piss off a potential guest.

“Not soon enough,” she mumbled.

“Can I help you?” He rested his elbows on his desk, his mood worsening as he noticed the stack of invoices piling up in his inbox. Second and third notices from the power and water companies that he still couldn’t afford to pay. Guests were going to be a little more than upset if the water got shut off.

“Yes. I’m Kate Hartley from Belle Affairs. I was looking to speak with Mr. Scott Dillon, the owner.”

“That’s me,” he said distractedly, opening one of the envelopes and frowning at the amount owing.

“Oh, I thought this number was the reservation line.”

“It is.” How could the bill be so high when they were only running at 40 percent capacity? Could he limit guests to one shower per day per room?

“You’re the owner and you run the front desk? God, how small is this resort?”