When Teresa came back after confirming with Carlos, Laura thanked her and turned to go, but Teresa stopped her. "It's Mr. Stone you're going with, isn't it?"
Laura glared at her in exasperation. The girl was like a bloodhound when it came to gossip, a trait inherited from her mother; although since Daniel was the only single guest in the place, it was hardly a difficult conclusion to come to.
"Yes, that's who I'm going with," she admitted.
Maria looked at her in surprise. Laura desperately wished she could tell them the real reason she'd agreed to go with Daniel, but she decided it was best not to say anything about what she'd discovered. After all, she had no proof he had any interest in the hotel in a business capacity.
"You're so lucky," Teresa enthused. "He's gorgeous!" Ignoring her mother's tut of disapproval, she added, "I wish my English was better, then maybe I could practise on him."
Laura saw the gleam in the teenager's eyes and smiled. Teresa, nervous of practising her English on anyone other than Laura, usually limited her contact with the guests to polite greetings and simple exchanges. Laura could recognise a teenage crush when she saw one. It must be dull for a seventeen-year-old helping out at the hotel all summer, and she could see how the arrival of a handsome foreigner might capture the girl's imagination.
"Teresa, your English is excellent. I'm sure you could manage a conversation with him if you tried," she said, beating a hasty retreat before Teresa could continue to wax lyrical about Daniel Stone.
As she walked back to her room, she wondered too late whether she should be encouraging Teresa to approach him. She might be shy, but she was also pretty, naïve, and looked older than she was. Feeling foolish for even thinking it, Laura instantly dismissed the idea. Just because Daniel had asked a grown woman to dinner didn't mean he was out to seduce every young girl in the neighbourhood.
She changed into her swimsuit, wrapped a towel around herself, then scribbled a note to Daniel asking him to confirm whether tomorrow would suit him. So much for trying to avoid him—now she was consigned to spending several hours with him, all for some potential business that wasn't hers and might not exist anyway. Resigned to her fate, she slipped the note under his door and headed for the pool where she dived straight in, slicing through the water in an attempt to improve her frame of mind.
The more she thought about being with Daniel the following day, the less she liked the idea. She didn't appreciate the way her pulse raced when she saw him, or the fact that he made her so jumpy and behave so out of character. Yet he'd been charming and good company last night—or so she'd thought. Hmm.
Looking back on their evening now, disappointment began to seep through her. She'd assumed he was being sociable, showing such an interest in the hotel and the local area, but what she'd read about him this morning took her thoughts in another direction. Could he have asked her out solely for business purposes? Did he see her merely as a source of information, someone with inside knowledge about how the hotel was run? If so, it was hardly complimentary. And yet the way he'd reached out to touch her hair last night suggested he wasn't only interested in her in a business capacity.
With her head full of possibilities—and none of them palatable—she climbed out of the pool and brushed hair from her eyes, only to see Daniel standing in the shade by the hedge. How long he'd been there she had no idea. Acutely aware of her wet swimsuit clinging to her curves, she snatched up her towel as he moved with cat-like strides towards her.
"I came to tell you that tomorrow's fine for the trip."
His tone and stance were so supremely confident, something in her snapped. She was mistress of her own destiny, surely? This was her holiday. She shouldn't have to do anything she didn't want to. During her swim, she'd worked herself into quite a frenzy. The notion that Daniel was only interested in a quick fling or an inside track for his business dealings—or both—was still in the forefront of her mind.
"I'm sorry, but I won't be able to come with you after all," she said, desperately searching her panicked mind for a plausible excuse.
"That's not what your note said." Surprise wiped the smile from his face, much to her satisfaction. "Your note said you'd booked two places and . . ."
"I know what it said, but I've changed my mind. There's too much to do here. I'm sorry. I'm sure you'll enjoy the trip anyway." She made a move to get past him, but he stepped across the path to stop her.
"What's going on, Laura?" There was a slight edge in his voice as he spoke, and she couldn't fail to notice the temper in his eyes.
"I need to go change. Excuse me," she mumbled, knowing she sounded no better than a sulky schoolchild.
"Not until you tell me why you're being so uncooperative all of a sudden."
"If it's cooperation you want, then I'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere!" she snapped.
"What on earth are you talking about?" he asked, bewilderment clear in his voice and his eyes.
Might as well come out and say it. "I'm not some flighty tourist looking for a good time, Daniel."
His eyes were unreadable. "I never suggested you were. Last night . . ."
"It was just dinner, for goodness' sake!" Laura wasn't sure whether she was trying to convince herself or Daniel of that fact, adding, "It should hardly be taken as an open invitation!"
His eyes narrowed. "You know as well as I do that I never took it as an open invitation to anything. I let you go when you wanted to, didn't I?" When she made
