A Perfect Fit (27 page)

“This is lovely. You’ve done such an amazing job,” Trina
said, her voice completely sincere. “You must be so pleased.”

“Yes, and we’re completely booked, which is always nice.”

“If we wander around here for a while, I suppose we’ll see
all of your dad’s carbon copies,” Trent said, gesturing with his hands.

Cami fought to not grind her teeth. “I’m sure you’ll run
into one or two of my sisters during the weekend, but I wouldn’t say we look
much alike. It makes for a diverse and interesting group with lots to offer.”
She wished she dared shut him down for his bad behavior, and noticed the way
Trina’s brows furrowed in unhappiness at his comments. Cami imagined how
Rosemary would have responded. She would have to be content with that image,
however false because responding that way would be a mistake.

“I’m sure Cami has a lot to do today,” Trina said, giving
Trent’s arm a tug. “We’ll get a chance to talk to you later.”

Cami was happy to see them walk away.

Cami brought her formal dress for the gala with her to work
that morning, so after a quick double-check of her department that afternoon,
she took her dress upstairs to Lana’s office to change and fix her makeup in
the executive restroom.

“Has Joel had any more luck tracking the payments into Mrs.
Grady’s account?” she asked Lana as she touched up her mascara.

“No, he said the payments were made in cash. He has extra
guys working tonight to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. I doubt
anything’s going to happen, but with our luck lately, you never know.”

“No kidding.” Cami eyed her sister in the mirror. “How are
you holding up?”

“Fine. Shouldn’t I be? Everything’s going like clockwork.”
She didn’t meet Cami’s gaze.

“I wonder if Rosemary and Delphi would say it’s going like
clockwork. They’re the ones in the thick of the last-minute preparations for
tonight.”

“Better them than me, for sure.”

Cami pulled out her favorite lipstick and faced the mirror.
“So tell me what happened between you and Blake.”

Lana froze as she touched up her mascara. It only lasted a
second, but when she started moving and responded, her voice was a little
strained. “What do you mean?”

“I mean something’s up between you. It’s obvious. You act
like you used to be a couple, but you’re trying to pretend you barely know each
other.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re only
colleagues.”

Cami considered telling Lana that Blake admitted to loving
her, but decided to keep that to herself. If it was told in confidence, she’d
respect that. For now, anyway. “You have history of a romantic nature, don’t
you?” She pressed her lips together and checked to make sure her lipstick was
straight.

Lana stared at the counter as she put all of her cosmetics
back into a bag. “I don’t want to talk about Blake and me. It’s over and done
with. Maybe we can talk about it another day.”

Though Cami figured Lana was hoping to make ‘another day’
into never, she took the hint for now. The next few hours would be filled with
enough stress without forcing Lana to hash out her relationship history. 

Blake and Vince waited in the main office when the women
emerged. Cami had to bite her lip in appreciation when she saw them—both looked
completely fabulous, though of course, she only flashed her gaze over Blake
before zeroing in on Vince. “You both look great.”

“Not half as great as you two.” Vince handed her a bouquet
of calla lilies.

“Thanks, they’re perfect.” Cami gave him a kiss hello.

“I was considering a corsage, but Jonquil said no. Was she
right?” Vince slid an arm around her waist and led her toward the stairwell.

“Never doubt Jonquil when it comes to flowers.” She rubbed
the silky petals against her cheek and inhaled the weak floral scent.

After depositing the bouquet in her office, the four of them
continued into the ballroom for the gala. Cami noticed the way Lana kept her
hands to herself, but allowed Blake to guide her with a hand at her back.

Though Cami was busy talking to people and handling details
Delphi threw her way, Vince stayed with her, apparently content to just be by
her side. The same easy confidence he’d exhibited other times they had attended
parties shown through as the evening progressed.

The dinner and ribbon cutting went well and the dancing had
just begun when Vince pulled Cami into his arms and maneuvered her onto the
floor. “How are you doing?” he asked, his voice low in her ear.

“Great.” She’d spoken to dozens of people, smiled like it
was pasted on, and wanted nothing more than to go for a quiet walk in the cool
evening air where she and Vince could be alone for a while. She wondered if
they could slip out for a while. Her phone started to vibrate and she pulled it
out to find the number from the front desk. “Sorry. Just a minute.”

“This is Cami,” she said.

“Hi, this is Kristi. I have a problem with one of the check-ins
and neither of us can figure it out. I’m really sorry. I know you’re busy.”

Though she wanted to sigh, Cami just smiled in resignation. “Sure,
I’ll be right there.” She ended the call and turned to Vince in apology. “I
just have a little check-in problem. It should only take a few minutes. I’m
sorry.”

He lifted his hand and brushed his thumb along her jaw. “No
problem. How about if I get us some food? You probably haven’t eaten in hours.”

Her stomach
was
feeling pretty empty and despite the
fact that she was in a major social engagement—which usually zapped her
appetite—she thought she could eat something. “That sounds great.”

Getting back through the crowd quickly was a test in social
grace, but in only a couple of minutes Cami made it out of the ballroom and
headed to the foyer. The sound of the band fell behind her and she appreciated
the cooler air now she was away from all the people. Her heels clicked on the
marble floor tiles and she smiled as though she hadn’t a care in the world,
though her feet were already throbbing. A glance at the shoes she’d bought
while she and Vince had been in Chicago reminded her that the pain was well
worth it. They looked fabulous!

 “Hi,” she greeted the older couple when she reached the
registration desk. “I’m Cami DiCarlo. Let’s see if we can figure out what’s
going on here.” She came around the counter and let Kristi fill her in on the
problem.

After a few minutes she corrected the issue and sent the
guests on their way, then ran through the problem with both of the service
experts so they would know how to fix it next time. She was nearly finished
when she glanced up and saw Trent going up the staircase to the second floor.

She finished reviewing procedures with the girls, but kept sneaking
peeks at the staircase. There wasn’t anything up there except convention space
and the executive offices. Trent would probably follow the windy hall and end
up at the other staircase.

Vince walked over to her, a plate of food in his hand, and smiling.
“I wondered if you were about done here.”

“All finished.” She said goodnight to the girls and took
Vince’s elbow. “Can we take a quick detour on our way back to the ballroom?”

“Sure.” He lifted a stuffed mushroom cap to her mouth and
fed it to her.

The flavors burst on her tongue and she sighed with
appreciation. “Wow. Remind me to tell Rosemary how amazing she is.”

“There’s more where that came from.” His voice was barely
more than a low rumble, but it made her shiver. Or maybe that was due to the
light brush of his hand along her spine through the thin fabric of her dress.

 “I can’t wait to try them all.”

His gaze practically sizzled in the air as he looked at her.
“If there are extras, we might have to take some back to my place to celebrate
privately.”

“I think I could get behind that.” She was grateful for his
steadying presence as they ascended the stairs.

He turned her around and backed her against the wall once
they were out of sight of guests. She melted into him. “I’ve never been so glad
to get away from a crowd before.” She lifted her mouth to his and savored the
kiss for a long moment.

“Mmmm. I should have brought you up here a while ago. Maybe
we could duck into your office for a few minutes.” His mouth glided along her
jaw to her ear. “I’ve wanted to get you alone since I saw you in this dress.”

“Now’s not the time.” She shivered as his breath fluttered
against her neck and his lips teased the sensitive skin beneath her earlobe. “I
have people downstairs I’m supposed to mingle with.”

“Duty never ends.”

“Isn’t that the truth?” Her eyes flashed over the glass
doors into the executive offices and she thought she saw movement. She stopped
and stared as a shadow crossed in front of the door to Lana’s office. “What’s
going on?”

“What?” Vince asked, glancing behind him.

“Hold on.” Cami moved to the glass doors that led into the
offices and pushed one open. It wasn’t locked as she thought they had left it
earlier.

“It’s probably just Lana, come back to pick up something,”
Vince said, but he kept his voice pitched low.

“Yeah.” Still, Cami wasn’t sure she believed it.

Vince slid the plate of hors d’oeuvres onto the office
manager’s desk, and led the way to Lana’s door. He twisted the handle and
opened it quickly.

Trent stood on the other side, riffling through some papers.
He glanced up in surprise at the sound of the door opening.

“What are you doing here?” Cami asked.

Trent’s eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open for just a
second before he covered it with a smooth smile. “Hey, Lana asked me to drop
some papers up here.” He circled back around the desk. “You have a really nice
hotel, did I mention that earlier? You must be so pleased with how everything is
going tonight.”

“Yes, it’s been great.” Cami crossed her arms over her chest
and stared him down. “What are you really doing up here? The room was locked.”

A flicker of anger erupted on Trent’s face, yet it vanished
almost as quickly as it had appeared. A congenial smile flashed onto his face
and he moved toward them. “How about if we head back down to the party?”

Vince grabbed Trent by the arm as he tried to waltz by. “Not
so fast. The lady asked you a question and you need to answer it.”

“Hey, get your hands off, lawn boy. I’m not doing anything
wrong.” Trent tried to pull his arm out of Vince’s grip, but ended up with it
twisted high behind his back.

“Then how did you get in here?” Cami pulled her cell phone
out of her pocket and speed dialed Joel.

“The door was open.”

“I checked that lock myself. I know it was locked.” She
looked at him, disgusted. “You’re a terrible liar, Trent. I have no idea how I
never saw it before.”

His blue eyes flashed at her. “You saw what you wanted to
see.”

“Hey, Joel,” Cami said when he picked up. “We have an
intruder in Lana’s office. Could you come up here?” He stated he would and they
hung up.

“Who did you call?” Trent asked.

“Our head of security. He has a knack for getting to the
bottom of things.” Cami leaned back against the desk and looked at Trent, whose
face was turning red from anger. “Tell me, Trent, what else have you been up to
lately?”

His eyes darkened and his jaw hardened. “I don’t know what
you’re talking about.”

“Really?” Vince twisted Trent’s arm more, causing him to
suck in a pained breath.

“I think you know what I’m talking about,” Cami said. “The
news reports, the pictures and rumors. I know you’ve heard of them.”

“Of course. Everyone’s heard about them. That doesn’t mean I
had anything to do with it.” Trent winced as Vince gave his arm another yank. “Stop
that. I’m not doing anything wrong here.”

Cami called Lana and asked her to come up to the office. She
would need to take a look through her papers and make sure nothing was missing.
When she finished, she looked at Trent again. “How about if you come clean now
and save us all a lot of hassle?”

“Right. Because you’re one of the mighty DiCarlos, so I
should just kowtow and do whatever you want. Follow your rules, accept your
decisions. Your father did everything he could to ruin me. It’s only by luck
that I still have a business.”

“He’s hardly to blame if he chose to go with a different
company. He had to make the right decisions for the hotel chain—regardless of
personal relationships.” Of course, he’d never liked Trent, and actively tried
to convince her to break up. No use mentioning it, though.

He snorted. “Right, what’s best for the company, which is
why he put his six daughters all to work here—it had nothing to do with
personal relationships.”

She decided to ignore that as he was both right that the
decision had been a personal one, and wrong that it had been a bad move for the
business.

The hall door opened and Joel entered the front office with
another security guard. Lana and Blake entered in their wake and Alex wasn’t
far behind.

The second security guard took Trent into the next room
while Joel did a sweep for bugs—finding several that hadn’t been there last he’d
checked. Since the day he’d found the bugs and cameras at their home, Joel had
been doing a sweep of each of the sisters’ office areas every couple of days,
but until now they had been clean. “Looks like we found our problem,” he said
as he finished Lana’s office. “I’ll have to do a full sweep of everyone’s areas
again tonight, just to be sure he didn’t manage to sneak in any others. Also, I’ll
get Mrs. Grady to meet us at the police department for a lineup, see if she
recognizes him.”

Cami felt faintly ill at the thought that Trent might have
been behind everything. She knew he’d been unhappy about their breakup, but she
had no idea he could hate like that.