than go on. “She seemed upset.”
In the atrium, two figures were silhouetted against the lights coming from outside the hotel. “Charlie?” Shep said.
By the time he’d caught his breath and limped down the rest of the steps after almost colliding with a door, he’d lost Charlie and feared she’d caught up with Lacey. Instead, it seemed Greg had caught up with Charlie.
At the sound of her name, she glanced over at him, then quickly moved toward him. Greg stepped out of the way to let her pass without turning around. As Charlie rushed into Shep’s arms, he saw Greg hang his head.
“Are you all right?” he asked quietly as he led her out of the atrium. People in the lobby were watching them with interest.
“I’ve been better,” she said as they headed for the elevator.
Back in their room, she told him everything that had happened. “It wasn’t Lacey. If you could have seen the look on that woman’s face.” She began to laugh, then cry.
He pulled her close. “Hey, it was an honest mistake. That woman had no idea what you’ve been going through.”
“I definitely acted as imbalanced as I have been,” she said between sobs.
“You’re fine. I would have done the same thing. What am I saying? I ran after you.”
She met his gaze. “You did the same thing and you got hurt because of me.”
“It’s just a twisted ankle as I tried to avoid nailing the edge of the door face-first. It wasn’t one of my most graceful moments. But we both survived.”
She nodded. “You heard what Greg said?”
“He sounded sincere. You getting angry at him must have done the trick. Once he realized he’d lose you as an employee...”
“I still don’t know if I’ll be able to continue working for him,” she said.
“Well, you don’t have to make any decisions tonight, maid of honor.”
Charlie groaned. “Oh, the wedding. We still have that to look forward to.”
“Once it’s over, I say we go back to your apartment in Bozeman.”
Curling against him, she nodded.
“What a night, huh?” he said.
“What a week,” she said, sounding as if she would be asleep before her head hit the pillow. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“Hopefully, you’ll never have to find out,” he whispered into her hair and realized that she’d already dozed off.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“PINCH ME,” AMANDA said when a still half asleep Charlie opened the hotel room door to her. “Pinch me. I can’t believe this is really happening. I’m getting married today!”
Charlie wanted to do more than pinch her. “What time is it?”
“Get dressed. We have so much to do. You do remember that it’s a morning wedding, right?”
Charlie groaned, telling herself all she had to do was get through the wedding.
“I’ve had coffee and breakfast sent up,” Amanda went on. “Enjoy. But I expect to see you in an hour downstairs in the anteroom.”
“You got it,” Charlie said and closed the door on her. Before she could reach the bed though, there was another knock at the door. She grimaced at Shep, who had sat up in bed and was grinning. Why was he so cheerful in the mornings? She turned back to the door, anticipating not being so nice to Amanda this time, only to find it was a young man from the hotel with a cart full of food.
She had him leave it in the center of the room, found a tip for him and closed the door behind him.
“Come back to bed,” Shep said and patted the space next to him.
“You heard what Amanda said. You want her coming back here?”
He only grinned as she climbed back into bed.
Later, her skin glowing, she showered, grabbed some coffee and breakfast, and made her way down to the anteroom.
“Well, look at you,” Amanda said. “Breakfast definitely woke you up it seems. How was it?”
“Wonderful. Thank you.”
Amanda looked past her. “Is he planning to hang around?”
Charlie glanced over her shoulder to see Shep nearby. “He is. He worries about me.”
Amanda lifted a brow, but must have thought better of what she was clearly fighting against saying. “I saw Daniel,” she said as they moved deeper into the anteroom. “He didn’t seem to think you’d broken up with him.”
“He was confused. He isn’t anymore.”
She frowned. “I just don’t want him barging into the wedding.”
“He won’t. So let me see your dress.”
Amanda beamed. “It’s so beautiful. It’s like something a princess would wear. I won’t tell you how much it cost. It would floor you. Greg is so