Kate Hewitt - Weddings - the Brides - The Shy Bride / Bride in a Gilded Cage / The Bride's Awakening

“Actually, no.”

“No?” Disappointment filled her. “Does Mr. Stamos need to cancel his lesson for next week as well?” she asked.

Had he decided to stop them all together? She wouldn’t blame him after yesterday.

“No.”

“Oh.” Maybe she should just wait until the other woman came to the point. Guessing games got annoying when they didn’t bear immediate fruit. And she didn’t like the answers her own brain was supplying so far.

So, Cass waited in silence for the PA to do just that.

The other woman cleared her throat. “Mr. Stamos asked me to schedule a locksmith to come out and fix the handle on your front door and add an additional lock to a set of French doors on your upper floor. The locksmith is there, but apparently your doorbell is not working properly.”

“It’s working just fine.”

“The locksmith rang it. Twice.”

“I do not answer my door when I am not expecting company.” Cass did not make any further explanation. She’d learned a long time ago that trying to explain her idiosyncrasies only made matters worse.

Particularly with people like the cold-fish personal assistant employed by Neo Stamos.

“If you do not answer your door, the locksmith cannot fix the door handle problem.”

“What problem is that exactly?” She hadn’t noticed any trouble with her door handle sticking, though she was willing to entertain the possibility Neo had spotted something she missed when he had been there.

“Mr. Stamos left instructions for it to be replaced by a self-locking model.”

“Mr. Stamos left instructions with you about my door?” she asked, stunned. “Without informing me?”

She knew he didn’t like her practice of leaving the door on the latch when she was expecting company. It was part of her mental preparation for visitors—reminding herself she needed to be open to other people, at least in some limited capacity.

He complained about it every week, but did he really expect her to replace the handle because of it? Surely he realized she wasn’t going to leave the door unlocked right now. Not with the paparazzi entirely too interested in her and Neo’s association.

“I really can’t speak to whether or not he informed you. I only know my instructions.”

“You expect me to allow a perfect stranger into my home to replace my door handle, on your boss’s say-so. When I did not request, much less authorize this upgrade ?” She used the word for lack of something better, though Cass wasn’t convinced it was any such thing.

The personal assistant’s silence said that was exactly what she expected.

She’d thought Neo understood. At least a little. Apparently she’d been wrong. “No.”

“No? But Mr. Stamos—”

Cass felt no compunction in interrupting the officious woman. “Please call your locksmith and cancel the order. Right now.”

“I can’t possibly. Mr. Stamos—”

“Does not own this property. And, I, the owner ,” she added, her anxiety creeping through, “have no intention of replacing my perfectly functioning door handle.”

“Mr. Stamos will not be happy about this,” the PA warned ominously.

“I’m sure Mr. Stamos has many other things of much more importance for him to concern himself with.”

“No doubt, but he left instructions.”

One thing that could be said for Neo, he engendered loyalty and commitment to follow through from his employees.

“He should have run those instructions by me,” Cass said with little sympathy. She wasn’t one of Neo’s employees. And if he had done so, she could have assured him she wouldn’t be leaving the door unlocked for the foreseeable future.

“Mr. Stamos is not in the habit of asking the opinions of others.”

“Really? I never would have guessed,” Cass replied just a tad sarcastically. Then she winced at her own behavior. She knew Neo was just trying to make things better. He’d simply gone about it the wrong way. Because no matter how she might wish otherwise, he did not understand. “Cancel the locksmith.”

An unmistakable huff of annoyance sounded over the line. “I will inform the locksmith his services are not required at present. Mr. Stamos will be made aware the delay is at your demand.” The frigid tones of the personal assistant should have frozen the phone lines.

“You do that. You can further inform your boss that if my practice session is interrupted by the locksmith, or any of his other employees, he will spend his next lesson listening to me prepare my own music rather than teaching him his.”

The silence that met her words actually brought half a smile to Cass’s face. It was an empty threat, but it had felt good saying it. Would Neo see the humor in it, or would he lack understanding of that, too?

“I shall pass on your message verbatim,” the other woman finally said.

“Thank you.”

Neo was furious with himself. He should have called Cassandra and warned her about the locksmith, even gotten that annoying manager of hers to be there to supervise the changing of the locks. Instead, he’d left instructions with his PA as he always did and this was the result.

He had to smile at Cassandra’s threat however. Getting a private concert from the superbly talented pianist would hardly be a hardship. Regardless, he felt badly. Which was a completely uncommon reaction for him. So was the acknowledgement that he had messed up. Both of which were the reasons he was calling Cassandra on his personal cell phone, in the middle of a corporate conference call with the project team in Hong Kong.

He muted his headset and listened with one ear while dialing Cassandra’s number and then listening to the line ring.

“Hello?” she answered on the third ring, sounding downright cranky.

And why he should find that charming rather than annoying he could not have said.

“You sent my locksmith away.”

“Actually, your personal assistant sent him away. I did not answer the door.”

“Why?”

“I thought he was another reporter.”

Neo had to stifle a groan at his own idiocy. He should have expected that. “I meant why did you send him away?”

“Why didn’t you ask me if I wanted my door lock changed?”

“It needs to be done. You can’t remember to keep your door locked.”

“I don’t forget; I just choose to leave it unlocked when I know someone is coming.”

“That’s not much of an improvement.”

“I don’t plan on leaving it unlocked anytime soon, if that makes you feel any better. I don’t want reporters walking in on me unannounced.”

“Some would, regardless of trespassing laws.”

“Yes, the person who climbed onto my deck certainly wasn’t worried about trespassing.”

“For all your unwillingness to entertain strangers, you are much too lax when it comes to your personal safety. The locksmith was only a stopgap measure anyway. You need a full spectrum security consult.”

“Not going to happen.” There was not the slightest uncertainty in her voice.

Neo had gone against tougher negotiators than the renowned pianist. “Consider it a gift for opening your home to me.”

“Are you saying this is for your safety?”

“Would it help you accept it if I did?”

“For an honest man, you’re awfully adept at manipulation.”

“Thank you.”

“I am not letting a stranger into my home.”

“I was a stranger when you allowed me inside for my lesson.” But he could see now that he’d made a grave miscalculation in sending over an unknown locksmith.

Zee warned Neo that his impatience could cause problems and this wasn’t the first time his friend had been right.

“Not entirely. One, I had prepared myself for taking on a new student. Two, I did my research, learning all I could about you before you came. And three, my manager told me if I didn’t do the lessons he would quit.”