Listen to Your Heart (4 page)

“I don’t understand, Sir.” She tried to
remain calm.

He picked up a pen and tapped it against
the papers in her file. Mesmerized, she watched the up and down movement as the
tapping grew louder in her head.

“I don’t know what Mr. Blenkinsop told
you, Miss Dempsey, but one of the criteria we use to choose from the many
applications we receive is length of service with Zimco. This year Mr. Drescher
will be training someone who’s been with the chain for many years now.”

Morgan’s heart fell. “You mean...”

The manager ignored her. “Mr. Drescher
will be training Adrian...”

“Adrian?” She couldn’t believe what he
was saying.

“Yes.” He smiled, but it was not a
pleasant sight; he was enjoying himself far too much. “So you’ve met the young
man?”

“Yes, Sir. He checked me in on
Saturday.” She thought back to Adrian’s odd behaviour. “But he didn’t mention
anything.” The last was said quietly, almost as an afterthought.

“Yes. Well, he’s a very discreet young
man.” He examined his fingernails. “We got word from Zimco headquarters two
weeks ago that he’d been chosen.” He closed the file and set it firmly aside. If
he had any idea that he’d just crushed her dreams, he didn’t show it. “And now
if you’d like to report to the Front Desk, Miss Anderson is prepared to review
our systems with you.” He picked up another file; she’d been dismissed.

She gave the secretary a weak smile on
the way out. “Thank you,” she said, walking stiffly from the room. Her father
had trained her to say thank you. “Always be polite,” he’d said. “It takes no
extra effort.” This time he’d been wrong. It had taken every ounce of strength
she possessed to smile and speak in a pleasant tone, but she’d managed. A small
victory to be sure, but she refused to appear beaten on her first day.

“He told you, huh?” Karen’s sympathetic
smile almost brought her to tears. She glanced around and lowered her voice.
“I’ll bet he loved that.”

Morgan nodded and sucked in a deep
breath. “You knew?”

“I’m sorry, but yes. To tell you the
truth, I didn’t even know you were interested in the programme until you
mentioned it. I thought maybe I was mistaken about Adrian, so I decided not to
say anything.” She looked away and her voice trailed off. “I just got here a
couple of weeks ago myself.”

Morgan blinked back tears of
frustration. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you
should have said anything. I just need a couple of minutes to let this all sink
in.” She looked toward the concierge alcove and was surprised to see the light
on. A dark-haired man sat at the desk, engrossed in a computer screen. “Is that
Mr. Drescher?”

Karen nodded. “Yes. He’s really nice. He
and his wife are here for a year and from what I hear he plans to train several
people in that time.”

There might be hope for her yet, but
right now that was little comfort. “Where’s he from?”

“They’re from Zurich, but I understand that
he worked for Zimco in Italy, at their flagship hotel.”

“I was hoping for a career like that
some day.” Morgan spoke quietly but passionately. “Maybe I just wanted it too
much.”

“Maybe.” Karen didn’t look convinced.
“But I hear you about needing some time to absorb the disappointment.” She
looked closely at Morgan. “Go check your makeup for a minute, and then I’ll
show you our computer system.”

Morgan studied her reflection in the
small mirror someone had tacked onto the wall. Her brothers had loved to tease
her when they were growing up together and she’d learned to hide her weaknesses
from them. She would do the same now, only she’d be hiding her disappointment.

She wished that she hadn’t been so quick
to tell everyone here that she’d been accepted into the training programme, but
she’d been so excited, so enthusiastic. “And why not?” she said aloud, daring
the woman in the mirror to contradict her. “It was something to be proud of.”

She considered her immediate future at
Zimmerli. The hotel chain she and Dale had worked for was large and impersonal.
A great training ground, but completely opposite from the boutique hotel concept.
Zimmerli Whistler may have only a fraction of the rooms, but those rooms were
costly, exclusive and occupied by guests who expected superior, discreet
service. The opportunity to work in a hotel of this calibre was one of the
reasons she’d applied to Zimco...that and the possibility of an international
posting sometime in the future. She’d observed a large commercial hotel in operation;
it was time to add to her experience.

* * *

“Welcome back.” Karen gave her a brisk
nod and Morgan realized she’d passed some sort of test. “Now, let’s get you
familiar with our CRS.”

The morning passed quickly as she
absorbed the intricacies of the hotel’s reservation system. It soon became
obvious that guests who’d stayed at Zimmerli hotels were loyal customers and often
visited several other hotels as well. Their personal preferences were saved in
the central data bank and Morgan was impressed with the level of service the
chain offered as a matter of course.

By noon, she and Karen had reviewed all
of the day’s arrivals, assigned suites, and she had observed several checkouts.

“You should be able to do a couple of
check-ins this afternoon,” Karen observed. “It looks as though you’ve worked
with this system before.”

Morgan nodded. “One very similar. In
Banff we...”

Karen held up a finger and reached for a
phone that was tucked discreetly below the desk. “Outside line,” she mouthed,
then glanced at the clock. “Good morning, Zimmerli Whistler. How may I help
you?”

She shot a quick look at Morgan. “Yes,
she’s here.” She passed the phone to Morgan. “It’s for you.”

“Hello?” Morgan frowned. She’d
completely forgotten about Dale.

“Hey.” The familiar voice was music to
her ears. “I’m at the Vancouver bus depot and I’m about to get on the express
bus. Have you taken your stuff to our place yet?”

Morgan smiled. Dale wasn’t one to waste
words. “Yes. I moved over there yesterday.”

“Good.” An announcement blared in the
background and her friend waited for the noise to subside before continuing. “I
think I’ll pass on the free hotel accommodation. I’ll get to know the rooms
soon enough. Where do I go to find this Lodge place?”

Morgan wasn’t sure if she should mention
Chance’s offer. What if he couldn’t make it? She gave Dale the address. “What
time does the bus get in?”

“Two thirty.” Another announcement in
the background. “Listen, I have to go.”

“Okay, but why don’t you come here after
you drop off your bags? I don’t have any food in yet and there’s a place
connected to the hotel where people hang out...”

“I’ll think about it. See you later.”

Morgan lowered the phone and stared at
it for a moment before hanging it up with a smile. “I have no idea why we’ve
managed to stay friends for so long. She can be impossible sometimes.”

Karen grinned. “Those are the best
friends, aren’t they?”

Morgan nodded her agreement. “Yeah.”

Karen stiffened and looked toward the
concierge desk. Morgan turned, fairly sure she knew why the other woman had
reacted. Adrian stood beside the desk, in earnest conversation with Klaus.

“Would you like to take a break for
lunch?” Karen motioned toward the restaurant. “We usually grab something in
there.” She glanced at the wall clock. “If you go in now, you’ll beat the
hungry hordes coming down from the mountain. I’ll go later.”

She wasn’t quite ready to deal with
Adrian yet and agreed. “Sounds like a great idea.” She grabbed her purse and
headed into the restaurant. It was already busy, and she recognized some of the
lift personnel from yesterday at the regular staff table. She joined them and
listened with an amused smile as they exchanged stories on what had happened
this morning.

Morgan was stirring sugar into her
coffee when the table went silent. She looked up to see Adrian standing
hesitantly by the receptionist’s podium, scanning the restaurant. He spotted
her and came directly to the table.

“Could we eat together?” he asked,
nodding politely to the others at the table. “At another table?”

“What’s the matter with right here?” She
wasn’t going to make this easy for him. The “liftys” were suddenly engrossed in
conversation, their heads together.

He sat beside her at the end of the
table, effectively isolating them from the others. He seemed nervous but
determined, and as he opened his mouth to speak their server came by.

“Have you ordered?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Just coffee please, Janine.” He shot a
quick look at Morgan. “Something tells me I won’t be staying long.” She tried
unsuccessfully to hide a smile.

“Listen, Adrian...”

“I’m sorry, Morgan...”

Their words hung there and she forced
herself to look at him. Why did he have to have such remarkable eyes? There was
no superiority there, no sense that he’d edged her out for the coveted job. As
a matter of fact, he looked miserable.

She sighed and sat back; waited for him
to speak first.

He looked at her for a long moment and
his gaze softened. “I should have told you,” he said, keeping his tone low. “I
just didn’t know what to say.”

She released the air from her lungs,
surprised to find that she’d been holding it. “It’s not your fault,” she said.
“But when I spoke to the manager at the Zimmerli in Banff I really thought I’d
been chosen.” She shrugged. “There must have been some mix-up. Mr. Wynn-Jones
said they always choose the person with the most experience working for Zimco
and that’s obviously you.” She gave him what she hoped was a confident smile.
“That’s all there was to it.”

He frowned. “Not really. You see...”

“Hi guys. Can I join you?”

Chance was already pulling up a chair.
He looked back and forth between them, but if he noticed anything out of the
ordinary, he didn’t let on.

“Oh, my goodness.” Morgan smacked
herself on the forehead. “I was supposed to phone you.”

Adrian raised an eyebrow. For a moment
he looked jealous, but Morgan told herself she was imagining it.

“Dale is arriving this afternoon. She
said she’d find her way to the Lodge, but if the offer is still open...”

A smile lit up Chance’s face. “Is she
coming on the two thirty?” He didn’t wait for her to reply. “This is ideal. We’ve
been training a new employee, so it will be a perfect opportunity to slip out
and leave the two of them to fend for themselves.” His grin was infectious. “Although
I don’t know. She’s young and pretty and Ken, my assistant manager, is all over
her like a bad rash.”

Morgan smiled back at him. “She can
probably take care of herself.”

“You’re right.” He sat back while the
server brought Morgan’s soup, and coffee for everyone. “I don’t know what I’ll
do if I ever have a daughter of my own. Probably lock her in the house until
she’s thirty.” He looked up at Janine. “Hamburger, please.”

Adrian watched the exchange with
interest. “Your friend arrives today? The one with the masculine name?”

“Yeah.” She turned back to him, her
earlier tension forgotten. “Dale. Chance offered to pick her up.”

“Be careful of your ears.” Adrian smiled
at his own joke but Chance looked confused.

Morgan jumped in to save him. “I was
telling Adrian how Dale reacts when people comment on her name.”

He reared back, miming fear. “Am I in
danger of losing my ears?”

Morgan laughed. “No. Just don’t mention
that Dale is a man’s name and you’ll be fine.”

“What about your name?” Chance took a
sip of coffee. “That’s about as masculine as you can get.”

“Ya.” Adrian cupped his mug and Morgan
stared at his hands. They were large and competent-looking; she had the sudden
feeling that she would be safe in those hands. She shook off the thought as he
continued speaking. “You said you’d tell me about it.”

She looked at him, then back at Chance.
“It’s not much of a story, really. It’s something we argue about in our house
every year when my birthday comes around.”

“Say no more. Say no more.” Chance
seemed pleased with himself. “Her father has a car dealership,” he said to
Adrian. “I’ll bet the argument is whether he named you after the Morgan.”

Adrian looked confused.

“It’s a classic old car. A sports car.”
He grinned at her. “Am I right? You’re convinced that your Dad named you after
the classic Morgan and he denies it.”

“Something like that.”

“Why do you care? It’s a wonderful
name.”

“Okay, I admit. I don’t mind it now, but
when I was young it wasn’t so funny.”

He sobered. “I can imagine. Hey,
thanks,” he said as his hamburger arrived. He took a big bite. “So what does
she look like? How will I recognize her?”