Clearly she wouldn't get anywhere with this manager. She crossed her arms and stepped backwards. "I don't want to go meet strange men. I'd like to just check in, please."
The man's expression fell, but Alice stood tall. The manager typed into the computer and said, "Your room won't be available for another hour. I'm very sorry, miss."
How convenient. She wasn't fooled. "How much did this man pay you to get me to talk to him?"
The clerk averted his face and stared at his computer as his manager said, "I don't know what you mean."
Lies didn't invoke trust. She pressed her lips together. "Of course you don't. It was only perfect timing."
He stayed silent.
There was no other choice. She was in no danger except being annoyed with whoever delayed her. "If I go, will my room be ready sooner?"
"I will see to it that your room is ready upon your return."
She narrowed her stare until he flushed. "Sure, okay. If anything happens to me, I'll sue and own this place."
The man smiled like she'd just saved his life or the life of someone he loved. "Of course, miss, you will most assuredly be fine."
She snapped her fingers at her sides. Of course. She let out a breath she hadn't known she held and followed him outside to the Cascade Patio near the pool. Metallic chairs were filled with people lounging by the blue waters, but she didn't recognize anyone. If it was a stranger, she'd run the other direction.
Without warning, her escort stopped near the bar. She scanned the area for someone she knew. Then her heart contracted as she stared into the blue eyes of John Morgan.
Her spirit lifted. He had asked for her. She had no idea why. Their last conversation made it seem like he'd never speak to her again. He'd been rude an hour ago, but it was hard to remember what happened as he gave her that gorgeous smile.
John stood up as she walked toward him, and her heart skipped a beat. His broad shoulders and open smile invited her to throw herself into his arms. He wore the pants he'd had on for the wake, and a white shirt that was now unbuttoned a few notches. The shirt melded to every hard muscle of his body. Along his travels to the hotel, he'd lost the jacket and tie, amplifying pure masculinity.
She opened her mouth and tried to speak, but no words formed. Refusing to act like an idiot, she inhaled and forced herself to sound normal. "I didn't expect to see you."
He kept his hands to his sides and offered a small smile without the dimples. "I am sorry, Alice. I was rude and I wanted to tell you that in person."
With a lift of her chin, she focused on her questions and not on how her mind went blank near him. "How did you know I was here?"
"After you left, I talked with Mr. Soliz and he told me."
He was so tight in the shoulders. Her gaze honed in on the slight bump from a break of his nose during a football game. "Mr. Soliz? You mean Rafe? We went to school with him."
"I thought he looked familiar, but didn't remember from where."
Figured. She stood on her tiptoes to get him to look her in the eye. It was time he stopped forgetting about the past. "What do you remember?"
"That I was angry at my brother, and myself, for being at the wake. I was rude to you, and I came to apologize."
With words like that, she'd fall to his feet in worship. He didn't have to say them. Her body melted a little that he did though, and she smiled. "Your dad just died. You're easily forgiven."
With a nod he said, "It's not your fault that my family bought you off."
Alice winced but then relaxed. How misguided his opinions were—misguided and wrong. She kept her voice even. "When someone signs a business contract to sell in the market, it makes them partners. It's called the free market, not the slave market."
Outside the bar someone splashed at the pool beyond the window. John's shoulders slumped. "And my family takes advantage to control the free part."
She tilted her head. He apologized for the entirely wrong things, but now wasn't the time to sound like a harpy. "Now that is true, but I don't blame you for that. No one forced my family into any contracts to make money. What offended me at the funeral parlor was how you acted as if you couldn't be bothered with someone who did business with your family. We were friends, John. Never think I'd betray anything you'd ever say or do."
"I didn't. Not really." His gaze remained full of judgment, but then she might be reading him wrong. She swallowed as he said, "I tend to jump to the worst conclusions when it comes to my family's business policies. I apologize. Would you like a drink?"
"No, thanks. I want to know you're okay."
"Why do you care?"
"You're Vicki's brother." Her chest tightened and she rubbed the back of her neck. Why not tell him the truth? Neither of them were children and she'd never see him again once the funeral was over and he went back to wherever he was from. "I went to your football games because I had the biggest crush on you then."
"A crush? You? Alice, I didn't know." His face softened and the outlines of his dimples puckered his cheeks.
Sexiness was no reason to fall apart. She straightened the hem of her dress, wishing she'd worn something sexier—though he'd told her earlier that she filled out her dress just fine. "Now you do. It was a long time ago."
He appeared caught off guard by her declaration. She looked into his deep blue eyes and he took a step backwards. "Because of my family money?"
"No. Don't be rude again." Her heartbeat was so rapid that she feared losing her ability to speak but she fought through because she needed to finish what she'd started. She held the back of her bar stool. "Because you never treated me like a peasant that your sister brought home from the streets."
His smile faltered as he studied her. She felt like an ice cube that had been out in the sun too long. For relief, she stepped into the shadows as he then said, "Alice, you went to school with us. Your family is far from the peasant class in any century."
The oranges up north ensured that her family stayed millionaires as long as the farm stayed productive. She blinked. "Not everyone in your family agrees."
He softened his voice. "Peter?"
Guessed right the first time. His brother had said that her contract depended on getting John to the funeral. She coughed and then stared back at him. "Yeah."
His shoulders relaxed as he stepped closer to her with a genuine smile on his face. "I'm glad I asked the concierge to bring you to me."
Unsure how she became so lightheaded so fast, she hung onto her chair. The air around her smelled like cedar and pine trees and John. She hoped she'd get the thump of her heart under control before she lost her precious control. "Is that what this was? I thought I was summoned."
"Summoned? I can't command anything from you. You can go if you wish." The last thing she wanted was to leave his side.