LITMIR.BIZ

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I gathered.” He waggled his jaw from side to side. “That’s one hell of a right hook you have, by the way.”

      She buried her head against his shoulder and fought for control. Everything had happened so fast, she couldn’t make sense of it all. “I don’t understand any of this, Gabe. The fire…Dear God, the tent went up so fast. If anyone had been nearby—”

      He wrapped her in a tight embrace. “Easy, honey. Everyone’s safe. And everyone made it out of the water without injury. Best of all, the marine unit has the boaters corralled.”

      She could feel her emotions slipping and struggled to hang on. Hysterics wouldn’t help. Not here. Not now. She needed to keep a level head until she could get home and crawl into some dark hole. “Who were they?” She forced herself to pull free of Gabe’s protective hold even though it would have been so much easier to cling. She fought her way to her knees. “And how did the sprinklers turn on? I checked them myself. They’re not scheduled to start up until morning.”

      “I don’t know.” He soothed with both voice and touch. “Let’s take everything one step at a time, sweetheart. I know it looks bad, but we’ll figure out what happened and why.”

      She knelt there, soaked and shivering, as she scanned the area. Tables were overturned, chairs upended. Shards of shattered crystal and china glittered under the outdoor lights. The other tents had also been knocked askew by fleeing guests, though miracle of miracles, they hadn’t caught fire as this one had. But the buffet tables had all tipped. Food littered the grass in soggy heaps. Along the outskirts of the property, people were milling, looking shell-shocked.

      Dear heaven. Catherine bowed her head, defeat weighing heavy. “I guess I won’t need your help saving my business, considering that my career is now officially over.”

      “Not necessarily.” Compassion rippled through his voice. “I’ve turned around companies in worse predicaments.”

      For a split second she felt a resurgence of hope. She lifted her head to look at him. “Do you really think Elegant Events can recover from this?”

      “We’ll never know until we try.”

      Catherine took a deep breath. “In that case…” It would seem she only had one remaining option. “I don’t suppose your offer from this morning is still on the table?”

      Not a scrap of triumph showed in his voice or expression. “It was never off.”

      Early morning sunshine flooded Dina’s kitchen and turned the glass insets of her cabinets into polished mirrors. “You don’t have to do this, Catherine,” Dina protested. “You don’t have to acquiesce to whatever terms Gabriel foisted on you during a critical moment. Considering the circumstances—”

      “Considering the circumstances, yes, I do,” Catherine insisted. “I’ve always been a woman of my word, and that’s not going to change just because I was under pressure last night. If anyone can salvage something from the Marconi disaster, it’s Gabe. Trust me, we need someone of his caliber if we’re going to keep Elegant Events from becoming known as Deadly Disasters.”

      Catherine leaned a hip against the countertop and tried not to think about the previous evening. It was bad enough that she’d spent the entire night with various highlights rampaging through her head. It was time to focus on solutions for the future, instead of dwelling on unalterable past events. But she couldn’t seem to help herself. In the wee hours of the morning she’d reached a few unpleasant conclusions. Though she refused to accept blame for the boaters—that she could lay firmly at Roxanne’s doorstep—the other incidents were the ones that troubled her the most.

      It had been her initials on the checklist beside the detail that read “change the time on the automated sprinklers.” She distinctly remembered doing so. In fact, she’d checked the digital read-out a second time before the party started, just to be certain. She tapped her fingers on the countertop. Maybe she’d made a mistake. Maybe she’d pushed p.m. instead of a.m., even though at the time she’d been very careful to avoid just such a mistake.

      And then there’d been the tent peg. She couldn’t blame that one on Roxanne, either. She’d seen Natalie’s daughter trip over the anchor rope and uproot the peg. Granted, the wet ground might have loosened it. But it was her responsibility to make certain such incidents didn’t happen. Period. That was the entire premise behind her business.

      “I know what you’re doing, and you have to stop it, Catherine.” Dina crossed to her side and gave her a swift hug. “You’re going to drive yourself into exhaustion over something that wasn’t your fault, and that’s not going to help. Let’s deal with one issue at a time, starting with…” She pulled back. “What, exactly, did you promise Gabriel, if you don’t mind my asking?”

      “That I’d move in with him.” Just saying the words was hard enough. She had no idea how she’d be able to handle the reality of living with him again. “I promised I’d stay with him until he figured a way to turn Elegant Events around. Though after last night—”

      “As you said yourself, if anyone can do it, it’s Gabriel.”

      “I don’t doubt he’ll be able to figure out why the business is losing money.”

      “It is his specialty,” his mother admitted. “When he took over Piretti’s he nailed the financial end of our problems and plugged the leaks within a month. He’s only gotten better since. He can take apart a company and put it together again better than anyone I’ve ever seen. He’s even better at it than his father.”

      “That’s what I’m counting on. It’s our other problems that he’s going to find a bit more difficult. If we can’t figure out why we’re unable to nail certain key contracts, how can he? And now, after the Marconi incident, that may not even matter. Somehow we’re going to have to come up with a dynamite scheme to rebuild our reputation.” She eyed Dina grimly. “I’m expecting a slew of cancelations the minute word gets out. And I doubt our contract is sufficiently bulletproof to keep them from walking.”

      “Gabriel might be able to talk them around.”

      “Someone better be able to.”

      “So what’s the next step?” Dina asked. “Where do we go from here.”

      Catherine rubbed at the headache pounding against her temples. “I have a meeting with Gabe in just under an hour. We’re supposed to discuss strategy. I’d like you to continue to man the office, if you don’t mind. You’ve always been incredible at sweet-talking the customers when they call.”

      Dina’s smile flashed. “I give great phone.”

      For the first time in what seemed like forever, Catherine laughed. It felt wonderful, almost a purging. “Yes, you do,” she agreed. “If you would do your best to give unbelievable phone today, I’d be grateful.”

      “Anything I can do to help. You know that.”

      “Yes, I do.” She caught Dina’s hand in hers. “How can I thank you for all you’ve done? Not just for today, but for every day over these past two years.”

      The older woman shook her head. “There’s nothing to thank me for.”

      “Please. Let me say this.” Tears filled Catherine’s eyes, as unexpected as they were unwanted, no doubt the result of exhaustion. “You took me in at a time I desperately needed someone. And you took me in despite the fact that I was leaving your son. You let me live here and took care of me during those first couple of months until I felt well enough to find my own place. Not only have you been a friend, but you’ve been the mother I never had.”

      “Oh, sweetheart, now you’re going to make me cry. No one should lose their mother, especially not at such a young, impressionable age. If I’ve been able to fill in for her, even in the smallest capacity, I’m more than happy to do it. I just wish…” She caught her lip between her teeth, her expression one of intense guilt. “I have a confession

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