Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
Rachel yelped as a large takeout coffee materialized in front of her laptop. A grinning Matthew set the cup and a paper bag on the table. “It’s a carrot and white chocolate muffin,” he said, dropping into the chair next to hers. “Along with a strong flat white, no sweetener. And an apology.”
He’d been gone for less than an hour and had already come back with gifts. Rachel bit down on her bottom lip. She wasn’t used to men making peace offerings so quickly. Or apologizing.
“I’m sorry, Rachel. I lost my temper when you were trying to explain something to me. It won’t happen again.”
Relieved, Rachel puffed out her cheeks and let her shoulders sag. “I’m sorry too. I made a mess of what I was saying and ended up insulting you and your family. That wasn’t fair, or right. I’m also sorry for not telling you about Dan dirtying up the floor. I shouldn’t have kept that from you.”
His warm kiss found its way to her still reddened face. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
Ever since she’d got here, Rachel had been on the verge of tears. It was like she had been holding back a reservoir of them, and now that the dam wall had finally cracked and burst, she couldn’t hold the waters back. Being resolute and strong had come at a cost.
“You’re not the only reason I was crying. I’m tired and I can’t see a way to make this project work. I’m so worried that we are going to fail, and the council will make us knock this place down.”
“I promise we are not going to lose this beautiful lady.” He tugged the lid off her coffee and handed it to her. “I drove up to Woody Creek a couple of miles from here. The general store there reminds me of the lodge. It’s got a log cabin facade on it and a great country feel. It made me finally realize what you’ve been saying all along. No one in their right mind should be trying to build a glass and steel hotel in the middle of the Colorado mountains. In fact, just standing in the store had me realizing a lot of things I’ve been doing wrong.”
His words were surprisingly positive, but she didn’t like the sound of that last part. Was he rethinking them?
Does he think being with me is wrong?
“Do you have a passport?”
Her head whipped around. Where had that come from? “What?”
“I have a private family wedding the week after next, and I want you to come with me, as my date. I can’t reveal any more details at present other than it’s in the Caribbean at the Royal family island. And you have to keep it a secret.”
Rachel snorted. Of course his family had their own private island. They had their own satellite so an island in the tropics wouldn’t be that much of a stretch for them.
I can’t get my head around that sort of wealth.
“You want me to come with you to a wedding? As your date. Are you sure?”
“Yes, I think it will do us both good to get away from here. We were asked to work together to find a solution for this site. No one said we couldn’t leave town.”
He moved closer, and the warmth of his breath sent heat flushing over her body. The Matthew who had stormed out the door a little while ago wasn’t the same Matthew who now wrapped his arm around her and all but purred in her ear. “Come with me to Turks and Caicos. Let’s dig our toes in the sand and allow our minds to move into creative flow.”
Sunshine and beaches. How could a girl resist such an offer?
But he wants me to go to a family wedding, I’m not sure how I feel about that. What will his family say?
“Can I have a little time to think about it before I give you, my answer?”
“Of course.”
She sipped her hot coffee and ate her delicious freshly baked muffin. All the while pondering how she could manage a trip to the Caribbean. If she was going to leave Aspen, by all counts it should be with the express purpose of going to see her mother, not flitting off to a fancy wedding.
Guilt had Rachel calling her mother as soon as Matthew had hit the shower later that evening.
“Hi, Mama. It’s Rachel.”
“Rachel honey, it’s lovely to hear your voice. I was fixin’ to call and ask how the snow resort was going. And the bears! Kellie said you had to be rescued by Dan in the helicopter. Are you alright?”
From the way her mother spoke it was obvious that from her short time in Florida she had found some of her old self. Rachel had long forgotten that spark in her voice.
“I’m fine, Mama. The bear incident was pretty scary but I’m all in one piece. The project is moving along slowly, but Matthew and I are working together and that’s what’s important. ”
Patricia gave an easy sigh. “Oh yes, Mister Matthew Royal. I do like the sound of his name. I went to finishing school in Switzerland with his mother, Alice. She was a lovely girl. Met the grandson of an English duke at a ball in New York and they got engaged the very next day. So romantic.”
Matthew’s father is English, and the grandson of a duke. That explains a lot about the way he behaves and talks.
“Right. He did mention his family lives in New York City.”
“You do know they are absolutely loaded. Filthy rich. Pardon my vulgarity. Billionaires.” Rachel instantly tensed.
And here it comes.
“Tell me, does Matthew Royal have a girlfriend, or is he single and available? Y’all probably have lots of things in common. And you don’t have a fiancé any more, sweetheart. No doubt Matthew will have access to a sizeable trust fund with which he could spoil a young lady, if he was so inclined.”
Bingo. Thanks, Mama.
Her mother came from a particular social set in Atlanta where men were rated on a scale of marriageability that gave extra points for wealth and connections. Good looks and decent behavior came next. Honesty and fidelity barely made it onto the bottom of the list.
“I believe he is currently unattached.”
There was no point in lying to her mother. Patricia would have already done her homework and compiled a social dossier on Mister Matthew Royal.
“I’m not pushing you, but it would make things easier for me to join the Florida social set if at least one of my daughters was involved with a family of international standing.”
International standing = stinking rich.
“Dan’s family are good people.”
The Brocks were not exactly poor.
But they aren’t billionaires .
In her mother’s eye, their bank balances were pleasant enough.
But they aren’t billionaires .
“Yes, I know, and Dan is a sweet man. But he does jump out of helicopters for a living. It’s not exactly the sort of thing a mother can go telling her friends when they ask about the men their daughters are married to, but if you …”
Yes, Mama I am aware that the Royal family is worth billions.
“I’ll try to come and visit as soon as I can. Is Uncle Jonathan taking good care of you?”
Changing the subject was the only way she was going to steer her mother away from pre-emptively announcing Rachel’s engagement to Matthew Royal.
“Yes of course he is. We are off to the Hamptons in the summer. You should come and join us. I’m sure there are some agreeable and eligible men in that part of the country.”
Rachel gritted her teeth. What her mother really meant was that there might be some bachelors who hadn’t heard about her family’s shocking scandal. She didn’t have the heart to explain that there was a thing called the internet and that these days most people in search of love made use of it.
I wonder if Matthew has ever looked me up online.
“Listen, I’ve got to go, Mama. I have a meeting. I’ll talk to you soon.”
She hung up the call. The thought of what Matthew or the Royal family might find if they did google her was a worry, she was doing her best to ignore. But she couldn’t completely erase the past. Her change of name was a legal document, lodged with the courts in Georgia.
At least my name is no longer Davilla on my passport.
If anything did come of this time with Matthew, she would eventually have to tell him who she was and share her family history. She hadn’t done anything wrong. The courts had agreed that her father had been the one to wear all the blame, but his false accusations against her had destroyed much of Rachel’s reputation.
She couldn’t imagine what Matthew would say when he found out. It certainly wouldn’t be anything like, hey, it’s all good, we Royals love mingling with the families of convicted felons.
And who was to say that Matthew didn’t just view their relationship as being a pleasant distraction from the work around the lodge. That when this project was done and dusted, he’d get on his company jet and fly back to New York City, leaving her in his past as just a happy memory.
Rachel raked her fingers through her pale blond hair. She’d long known that getting emotionally attached to Matthew would be a mistake, if not outright dangerous. But since that horse had already bolted, there was no point in trying to close any sort of barn doors.
“This is nuts. What am I doing?” she whispered, opening the door of their now shared bedroom. Her third suitcase, the one which contained her vacation and special event clothes was stacked in the corner. Dragging the case out, Rachel unzipped the top and began to rummage through it.
She picked out a couple of sparkly dresses. The remnants of her old high society life silently mocking her as she draped them over the end of the bed. The last time she’d worn the cute lime–green number she’d been at one of her ex’s friend’s holiday homes in Hawaii. No. That one wouldn’t do.
I’m still not sure if I rocked that dress, or if I looked like a throwback to the 90’s.
A burgundy backless gown her mother had forced on her for a fundraiser had bile rising in Rachel’s throat. She’d still been wearing it when the feds took her father into custody early the following morning.
There wasn’t much else in her suitcase that was remotely suitable for a wedding. This event was being hosted by a family of billionaires, it would be beyond fancy. She’d stand out like a Thanksgiving paper plate in a sea of fine bone china, in anything she owned.
Chill. You’ll probably be at the back of the service, and no one will even give you a second look.
A tap on the bedroom door had her hastily dropping the burgundy gown back into her suitcase. Heat burned on her cheeks as Matthew wandered into the room. “I wanted to know if you have made a decision about coming to the wedding.”
“Um. Just how formal is it going to be?”
His brows furrowed in manly confusion. “I have no idea. It’s on an island in the sun.” He came toward her and when he reached her suitcase, he glanced down at it. “You’re worried that everyone else will be dressed in haute couture and you’ll feel out of place?”
Rachel shyly nodded. “I don’t have anything to wear to a wedding. It was really nice of you to invite me Matt, but I think maybe I should say no. Or yes. I don’t know.”
It had been a long time since she’d had the money or inclination to go and buy new clothes. She was torn between saying yes and retreating to her safe space, and saying no.
I really want to go to the wedding with him. I want to be with him.
“Is that your only reason for leaving me hanging for an answer?” he asked.
There were a thousand reasons why she should say no. This project wasn’t finished. Her heart and mind were still at odds over falling more in love with him. His family. Her family.
She just couldn’t find a way to say any of them. He had a strange power over her, whenever he was this close, the only thing she wanted to do with her mouth was kiss him. The best she could manage right now was a feeble, “Um, yeah.”
In one clever move he stepped forward, tipped the lid of the suitcase closed with his foot, and pulled her into his embrace. As he lowered his lips, Matthew murmured, “Before we leave, we can send the Brocks and the planning committee a preliminary report. You are coming to the wedding and that’s final. End of discussion.”
The first kiss had her forgetting her worries about any sort of dress code. The second, had her knees going weak. By the time Matthew had kissed her a third time, Rachel’s resolve had melted away. She was fully prepared to go to a billionaire wedding in shorts and a T-shirt. As long as she was with him.
He drew back but kept her in his arms. “Before we fly to the island, we are going to spend a couple of days in New York. My brother’s fiancée will take you out shopping for wedding clothes. And since you are my guest for the trip, anything you choose, will be going on my credit card.” Rachel’s protest was kissed from her lips. “I want you to look and feel fabulous for the entire weekend. No ifs, no buts. Okay?”
What was a girl to say when a man offered to take her to a wedding on a Caribbean island and buy her a whole new outfit to wear?
“Yes. I will come to the wedding. Thank you, Matthew.”
“Good girl. I’m glad to see you are finally coming around to my way of thinking.”
His fingers slipped beneath the hem of her T-shirt and Rachel showed him just how good a girl she could be when she wanted.