‘Great. Shall we go back to the office for coffee?’
Shaking off her memories for the second time that morning, Lottie walked with Shayla down the stairs into the vestibule. Voices reached them and the front door opened.
A tall woman, about Lottie’s own age, walked through, followed by one of the admin assistants, Thorsten, a Norwegian student on a gap year.
‘Hello, Shayla, Lottie … This is Ms Sinclair.’
‘Hi there. Please call me Keegan,’ the woman said, her voice, with its Aussie twang, echoed around the hallway.
‘Ms Sinclair and her partner are looking at wedding venues and dropped by on the off chance. I explained that you’d have preferred to have met them yourself …’ Thorsten said, his eyes flicking nervously from Lottie to Shayla.
‘I made him bring us straight up!’ Keegan declared. ‘I couldn’t wait! I’m with my fiancé actually but I’ve no idea where he’s disappeared to.’
‘I think he was looking at the view,’ said Thorsten.
‘He’s always going AWOL.’ Laughing, Keegan flicked her jet-black hair over her shoulder. She was wearing a camel maxi coat with a faux fur collar, and would have given Kim Kardashian a run for her money in the glamour stakes, Lottie thought. ‘I’d better round him up.’
Neither Lottie nor Shayla had yet had a chance to get a word in before the door opened and a man walked in.
In an instant, Lottie found herself physically unable to speak.
It couldn’t be him … and yet here he was, in a smart reefer coat and scarf, his hair styled in a trendy cut and every bit as good-looking as she remembered. No, scrub that. He was far better-looking than she remembered.
At the sound of his footsteps, Keegan swung round. ‘Oh, there you are, baby!’ She seized his arm and beamed. ‘This is my fiancé, Connor. We’re absolutely desperate to get married at Firholme and the sooner the better!’
Chapter Five
Lottie stared at Connor, and he gawped back. She must have held her breath because when she finally came to her senses, it rushed out in a whoosh.
Shock and anger bubbled up. How could Connor, of all people, have turned up at Firholme with his fiancée? How could he do that to her?
All of this, however, seemed to have been missed by everyone else in the room, as Keegan sang the praises of the house.
‘Wow. This place is even more amazing than you said it was, Connor. Your website really doesn’t do it justice, you know!’ She directed this at Shayla.
Lottie had had a big input into the redesign of the new site, but that was the least of her worries.
‘It’s incredible.’ Keegan planted a smacker on Connor’s cheek that reverberated around the room. ‘No wonder your mum always wanted you to get married here.’
Avoiding Lottie’s eye, Connor found his tongue. ‘Hold on. They might not have a vacancy, Keegan,’ he said. ‘Not at short notice. You know we’re in a hurry.’
‘Oh, don’t be so defeatist! If you don’t ask, you don’t get.’
‘Yes but … Firholme must be booked up years in advance,’ he said.
Shayla exchanged a puzzled glance with Lottie before jumping in. ‘If you want to hold your wedding here at Firholme, you’ve found the right person.’ She practically thrust Lottie to the fore with one look. ‘Lottie Hargreaves is our events and wedding coordinator. I’m sure she can help you sort out a date.’ Shayla beamed at Lottie, obviously willing her to speak to their new potential customers.
‘Well. Um. I think we do have some weekends in early March,’ Lottie said.
‘March!’ Keegan exclaimed. ‘Oh no. That’s way too late. We want to get married as soon as possible. Next week wouldn’t be too early!’
‘Next week!’ Despite her best efforts, Lottie’s squeak of horror escaped.
‘Keegan’s joking,’ Connor said, with the weakest of smiles. ‘We were thinking more like next month. If possible, but I know it’s a tall order.’
‘It has to be before Christmas,’ Keegan said firmly. ‘That’s what you said, baby.’ She turned to Lottie. ‘It’s a surprise for Connor’s mum. She’s been very poorly and we want to give her the best Christmas present ever,’ she said to Lottie and Shayla.
‘Your mum?’ Lottie was unable to keep the shock from her voice. ‘How poorly? Is she OK now?’
‘She had a stroke a few months ago but she’s recovering,’ Connor