He hung his head and finished the tale.
“When we got to her hotel, she could barely walk. She handed me her key to the room and pointed to the bedroom. Then she wouldn’t move, saying she couldn’t get to the bedroom herself and didn’t want to wrinkle my jacket. I took off my jacket. We got to the door, and then she tripped me over her foot. I fell into the bedroom, and she locked the door.”
Liam looked up, and Travers had his arms wrapped around his middle, doing his best not to laugh.
“She had prepped the room. The windows were blocked. I yelled and stamped my feet. I heard someone come to the door, and it seemed like she had told them I was emotionally disturbed, and this could happen, and the person at the door said they understood and came to check on her!”
Liam looked up, and Travers was bent at the waist shaking. When Liam stopped talking, Travers looked up with tears in his eyes and told him to continue.
“I asked her to let me out. She said she would if I undressed and put on a towel. I would have said yes to anything to get out. After I undressed, she let me out of the room and then locked the room with a key. So, I’m in the living room, and she starts what she thinks is a good conversation.”
Travers sat on the rim of the tub. “What kind of conversation does a kidnapper have that’s good?”
“She told me everyone at the symposium had been expecting me. She said Gran had told them I’d make an appearance. She also said that Gran said I was looking.”
“Ahh.”
“Then she asked if I was a real billionaire or just a stocks-and-investment billionaire. I assured her I was a real billionaire with the cash and properties to match. By that time, I was fed up, and I told her that I would leave in the towel, and she said I wouldn’t dare. So I walked out of the hotel and wound up in the alleyway.”[DD1]
Liam was finally able to put on jeans and a blue top when the doorman showed up at his door, per his request, and Liam thanked him and gave him a hefty check. When the door was closed, Travers continued his laughing.
“I want you to know, I think this experience was awful, and it’s horrible right now, but I have it on my phone, and later on, we will be able to laugh about this,” Travers assured him. “Okay, okay, I can see you’re not there yet, so let’s deal with the problem at hand. Why does Gran send these women, and why do you deal with it?”
Liam took a seat on the pearl-colored couch in the living room section of the suite.
“Grandad left me 49% of Butler Hotels. He left the rest to Gran. Gran wants to give me the rest of it, but she wants to make sure work doesn’t eat me up. She believes I need a woman, girlfriend, or preferably a wife.”
Travers waved the problem away. “Hire yourself an actress and then dump her.”
Liam looked at Travers and let out a breath before he spoke. “Been there and tried that several times. Gran always winds up separating us and then asking some odd questions that make it so obvious we are not a couple. The last actress I had, I thought for sure would be a go. Gran was alone with her for twenty minutes, and the woman came out crying, saying I was pond scum to try and trick Gran.”
Travers sat back on the pearl-colored love seat opposite the couch. “I didn’t know your gran had those kinds of skills.”
“Anyway, that’s why I’m here now.”
“She’s one woman. Let’s put our heads together and figure something out. We better get this done quickly because we also need to pick a caterer for the opening of your new hotel,” Travers said.
The door to the other suite opened, and with it, the smell that Liam would always associate with Jane. In her arms was Mr. Butterscotch looking fluffy and white. Jane gave Travers a look and then shook her head.
“If you need to figure something out, maybe you need another partner,” Jane said. “The last time he thought he knew something, he wound up in an alley with Mr. Butterscotch and me.”
Liam closed his eyes as Travers laughed.
Chapter Two
Elissa Dane let out a low moan at the red numbers that decorated her spreadsheet, making it look more like a cherry blossom painting than her catering business balance sheet.
“Are you looking up some brand new recipes?” Aunt Becky asked. “You’ve been looking at the little screen all day.”
“I’m working on my financials.”
“Well, that should be short,” Aunt Becky muttered.
Elissa wanted to let her head fall down on the keyboard with the weight of that truth. Her catering business, Green Magic, was failing. She’d taken a risk opening up a farm-to-table catering service in the nearby town of Chusada, Florida. The town had other up-and-coming stores; Chusada had Moccasins, an organic shoe store that did well in town. Chusada also had Nature’s Nectar, a juice bar that always had a line. But Elissa’s healthy, organic catering service had never taken off.
Aunt Becky tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a smile.
“You know, I have just the thing to make you happy, some banana pudding. I made the cream this morning. I can give you a bit before the Hendorsens come by to pick up the rest.”
Elissa just didn’t get it. She couldn’t even give her meals away for people to try. She’d tried. For Aunt Becky’s pudding, the Hendrosen’s were making a two-hour trip both ways to get some.
“No, thank you, Auntie. Food doesn’t fix everything for me,” she said with a smile.
“Well, that’s part of your problem right there. You have to enjoy life and have a fallback when things go south.”
This wasn’t an argument Elissa could win. Aunt Becky was a rotund woman who stood an impressive five foot two, could out-bake and out-cook anyone in the county, and she was a self-proclaimed real woman. Aunt Becky had real hips and enough cushion to make it through a bad winter.
Elissa, on the other hand, often wondered if she had been left on the doorstep. Elissa Dane was five foot nine. She had a runner’s body and a child’s metabolism. Whatever Elissa ate, she just burned it away. Elissa had long ago given up on waiting for hips like Aunt Becky.
Aunt Becky pulled out the bowl of banana pudding and put a small bowl next to it and a serving spoon for Elissa.
“I know you may only take a taste, but at least I tried.”
Closing her laptop, she dipped half a spoon of banana pudding into her bowl.
“I’m trying to figure all this out. You know it takes up to three years to get a business going . . . ” Elissa trailed off.
“Getting it going is one thing, but if this were a horse, we’d be waving the flies away from the body.”
Elissa looked at her aunt Becky and snorted.
“Really, Auntie?”
Becky smiled. “You know I’m here for you no matter what. I just don’t know why you need to make all that city stuff.”
“It’s healthy, Auntie. I’ve made it before, and you liked it,” Elissa reminded her.
“I did. I love that green kale—with some butter and salt and next to a steak.”
Elissa laughed. “I have to find a way to make this work. When I do, I’ll give you the money back that you put into this. That’s why I’m interviewing in hotels and big cities. Maybe all I need to do is build up a little reputation first, and then doors will start to open. I mean, the first thing people ask me is ‘Where have you catered?’”