Free Trouble on Her Doorstep by Nina Harrington Page A

It’s an ideal opportunity.’
    Then she looked up at him with a sly glance.
    ‘Ah. So this is not just about the tea. Now I understand; you are taking a chance. That’s quite something. Brave.’
    ‘Daft more like,’ she replied and flashed him a light, quizzical glance though her eyelashes. ‘As a matter of interest... Were you...planning to make a move? Just curious.’
    ‘Might be. Miss Curious.’
    ‘Not Miss Anything. The name is Dee, but my friends call me Dee.’
    Then she bumped her head against his side. ‘Dee.’
    Sean slid his hand down his side and clasped hold of her fingers. ‘My friends call me Sean. Conventional, but I like it.’
    ‘Sean,’ she whispered and the sound was carried away in the breeze like the sound of the wind in the trees. ‘I like it too.’
    He grinned and took a tighter hold of her fingers. ‘Let me show you my hotel. Somehow, I think it might be a perfect match. Ready to find out?’
    * * *
    ‘Prakash! What on earth are you doing here?’
    A slim, elegantly dressed man with a Beresford hotel name-pin on his lapel and a lively open smile turned towards them in the foyer of the stunning hotel. But he did not have a chance to reply because Dee squealed and practically pounced on him, pressing her chest against his suit before pecking his cheek.
    Then she stood back and covered her mouth with her hand.
    ‘Oh no, you’re working here. Sorry, Prakash. Especially since your boss is right here with me. Do you know Sean?’
    Sean stepped forward and in an instant scanned the employee name-badge and mentally made the connections.
    ‘Prakash.’ He nodded. ‘Of course.’ They exchanged a hearty handshake. ‘Haven’t you just graduated from the management academy? I know my father was very impressed with the whole team.’
    ‘Thank you, Mr Beresford. It was tough but I learnt a huge amount.’
    ‘But what are you doing here?’ Dee pressed, looking into her friend’s startled face as she grabbed his arm. ‘Last time I saw you was when we graduated from catering college and you were all set to run your parents’ chain of family restaurants.’
    Ah. So they’d been at catering college together. That would explain why Prakash Mohna was looking shell-shocked. He was probably terrified that Dee was going to start sharing some scandalous student prank that they had got up to.
    As though a hidden sensor in the back of Dee’s head had detected that Sean was thinking of her, when she turned his way her face twisted into an expression that screamed out: go on, say something snarky about students .
    ‘Actually, I am the new conference manager. Started yesterday,’ Prakash blustered.
    ‘Conference manager.’ Dee laughed and thumped him on the shoulder. ‘That’s brilliant news. Because I, Miss Dee Flynn of Flynn’s Phantasmagorian Tea Emporium, need a conference room. In a hurry. Sean here—’ she flicked her head over her shoulder in his direction ‘—found out that I had been double-booked at another Beresford hotel. And several hundred tea lovers are going to descend on London looking for a tea festival a week on Saturday. Do you think that you can help me out? Because otherwise we’ll be setting up the stall in this gorgeous foyer.’
    Her college friend flashed Sean a look of sheer panic before licking his lips and waving down a hallway. ‘Why don’t we check the booking system and find out?’
    ‘Is it computerized?’ Dee winced.
    ‘Well, yes, but we also have the printed booking sheet as back-up,’ Prakash replied, obviously confused, then he nodded. ‘Don’t tell me that you are still a complete technophobe? Dee!’
    She held up both hands in protest. ‘Not a bit. I have a laptop. Lottie has set it up for me and I run my world-class tea empire from the comforts of my own home. Progress has been made.’
    Then she turned and opened her mouth to say something with that glint in her eye which told Sean that she couldn’t resist giving him a sly dig, but Sean