A Wedding at Leopard Tree Lodge / Three Times A Bridesmaid…. Nicola Marsh

low-tech, but it’s low maintenance too. It’s just a question of renewing the cords when some creature decides to chew through them. And it works even when it rains.’

      ‘It doesn’t reach to the Celebrity offices, though.’

      He grinned, presumably thinking she was joking.

      ‘David, I’m serious. I understand you have a satellite link for the telephone and Internet?’

      ‘Sorry. I was just imagining how much cord…’ He shook his head. ‘You’re quite right. We have excellent communication links which are reliable for almost one hundred per cent of the time.’

      Almost? She didn’t ask. She had enough to worry about without going to meet trouble halfway.

      ‘They are, of course, yours to command.’

      Of course they were. She wasn’t a guest. She was a collaborator on a wedding that was going to make this the most talked about place in the world by next week. Gideon must have realised that, even if she was too slow-witted to work it out for herself. She’d have to take it slowly today so that her brain could keep up, or she was going to do something really stupid.

      ‘I’ve had a desk brought in here for you,’ he said, indicating the small table in the corner. ‘I’m out and about a lot so you’ll have the office to yourself most of the time but just say if you need some privacy.’ He produced a key. ‘The office is locked when I’m not here, so you’ll need this.’

      She’d have willingly sat on his lap if it gave her access to the Net, but it was clear that this wedding was a very big deal for Leopard Tree Lodge.

      It might be a venue for the seriously rich—who might, like Gideon, disapprove of their retreat being contaminated by mere celebrities—but everyone was feeling the pinch right now.

      ‘Thank you, David. We’ll be working together on this so it makes perfect sense to share an office.’ With that sorted, she moved on. ‘Next problem. Can you tell with what the situation is with Mr McGrath?’

      ‘You’ve met Gideon?’ He seemed surprised.

      ‘Briefly,’ she admitted.

      ‘Well, that’s excellent. I’m sure the company did him good.’

      ‘I sincerely hope so. Since he’s occupying the bridal suite?’ she added.

      ‘Ah. Yes. I was going to—’

      ‘As you know, the photographer will be arriving first thing tomorrow in order to set everything up for a photo shoot and then cover Crystal and Tal’s arrival,’ she continued, firmly cutting off what she suspected would be an attempt to persuade her to switch rooms. Gideon might be a valued guest but, while she was sympathetic, her responsibility was to her client. ‘Presumably you have some way of evacuating casualties?’

      ‘There is a helicopter ambulance,’ he admitted, ‘and Gideon has been offered a bed in the local hospital.’ She let out the metaphorical breath she’d been holding ever since she’d realised she had a problem. ‘However, as his condition requires rest and relaxation rather than medical intervention, he chose to remain where he is.’

      ‘Who wouldn’t? But—’

      ‘Our own doctor consulted with his doctor in London and they both agreed that would be much the best thing.’

      ‘But not essential?’ she pressed.

      ‘Not essential,’ he admitted. ‘But, since Gideon owns Leopard Tree Lodge—’ He raised his hands in a gesture that suggested there wasn’t a thing he could do.

      Josie stared at him.

      He owned Leopard Tree Lodge?

      ‘I didn’t know,’ she said faintly. ‘He didn’t mention it.’

      ‘He probably thought you knew. He owns many hotels and resorts these days, but this was his first and he oversaw every phase of the building.’

      Oh…sugar. Proprietorial was right. But surely…

      ‘If he owns this place,’ she persisted, grasping at the positive in that, ‘he must know that the room is taken. That every room is taken. Why it’s absolutely essential that he moves.’

      Except that he hadn’t.

      On the contrary, he had maintained that a noisy celebrity wedding was utterly out of place in this setting, which suggested that not only didn’t he understand, he didn’t approve.

      ‘He didn’t know about the wedding, did he?’ she demanded.

      ‘I couldn’t say, but obviously Gideon doesn’t have anything to do with the day-to-day running of the business. Hotel bookings are handled by a separate agency. Gideon’s primary role is looking for new sites, developing new resorts, new experiences.’

      ‘So why is he here?’ she asked. A reasonable question. This was an established resort.

      ‘His spirit needs healing. Where else would he go?’

      His spirit?

      Obviously he meant the man was stressed…

      ‘Would you like to get in touch with your office now?’ he asked, making it clear that he had nothing more to say on the matter.

      She considered challenging him, but what would be the point? David wasn’t going to load his boss onto a helicopter and ship him out.

      She’d have to talk to Gideon herself over lunch, make him see reason.

      He might not like the idea of a celebrity wedding disturbing the wildlife, but as a successful businessman he had to realise how much he had to gain from the publicity.

      So that would be chilli…

      ‘I’m sure you would like to let them know you’ve arrived safely,’ David urged, doing his best to make up for his lack of help over the cuckoo sitting in her bridal nest. ‘My computer is at your disposal.’

      ‘Yes. Thank you.’

      ‘If I could just ask you not to mention the facility to any of the wedding guests? If word gets out, neither of us will be able to move for people wanting to “just check their email”. People think they want to get away from it all, but…’ He shrugged.

      ‘Point taken,’ she said. ‘And I’ll try not to get under your feet more than I have to. In fact, if you could point me in the direction of a socket where I could recharge my net book I’ll be able to do some work in my room.’ Then, as he took it from her, ‘What do you do when the sun isn’t shining? You do have some kind of backup?’ she asked, suddenly envisaging a whole new crop of problems. ‘For fridges, freezers?’

      ‘We use gas for those.’

      ‘Sorry?’

      ‘It’s old technology. Gideon considered using paraffin but gas meets all our needs.’

      ‘So do you use gas for cooking too?’

      ‘In the kitchen. We also have traditional wood-fired stoves in the compound which we use for bread and roasts.’

      ‘Fascinating. Well, I’ll try not to be too much of a burden on your system, but I would like to check my email for any updates from Celebrity. The guest list seems to change on the hour.’ She might get lucky and discover someone had cancelled. ‘And I need to telephone my office to warn them that I don’t have a signal here.’

      ‘Please, help yourself,’ David replied, leaving her to it. ‘I’ll be outside when you’re ready to be shown around.’