The Beach Wedding Read online

  Liz couldn’t help but smile at the fact that with a half-dozen different places at the venue where he could have started taking pictures, he’d chosen to begin in the kitchen with Jenn. Was Liz the only one who saw the sparks between the two of them?

  She’d never considered the possibility of a workplace romance—especially when she was managing the staff members who were falling for each other. But it actually didn’t bother her in the least. Not when Daniel and Jenn were both such good people, and she wanted nothing but the best for both of them.

  A visit to Margaret had been last on Liz’s agenda. Tucked away in an office that had once been one of the hotel’s guest rooms, Margaret had covered most of the walls in pictures and luxurious scraps of fabric—an inspiration board taken to glorious extremes.

  “How are you doing?” Liz had asked her.

  “I’m fine,” Margaret had quickly replied, as though worried about saying the wrong thing.

  “You know you can come to me if you need anything, don’t you?” When Margaret simply nodded but didn’t say anything more, Liz continued, “I know how hard you’re working to spread the word about Married in Malibu, Margaret.”

  “I’ve been telling my friends, and they’ve been telling their friends.” Margaret shook her head, looking worried again. “I know that doesn’t sound like much. I wish I had more to report.”

  “It sounds great,” Liz assured her. Given how wealthy and well connected Margaret’s family and social circle were, the names in her address book were exactly the kinds of clients the new business needed.

  All in all, Liz thought as she finished typing up her notes for Rose, it had been a very good first week. Now she just needed to make sure they made the most of that start.

  After sending the email to Rose, she was pleased to see that a few inquiries about the business were already starting to filter into her inbox. Liz didn’t know whether it was the association with the Rose Chalet, Margaret’s word-of-mouth connections to LA’s upper crust, or her own efforts at advertising the business, but people were definitely beginning to take note of their presence.

  Still, what they really needed was an incredible wedding to launch Married in Malibu. If they could book a wedding for a Hollywood star who was willing to take a chance on a new business and entrust their big day to them, it would make all the difference in the world.

  Liz spent a few minutes replying to the email inquiries, hoping that at least one of the possibilities would turn into an actual booking. In addition to sending out feelers, she had also been doing her best to keep up with all the latest celebrity news, noting the big-name engagements in the hopes that at least one would be the perfect fit for Married in Malibu.

  “Who would have thought my job would ever include reading the celebrity gossip pages?” Liz murmured with a small laugh as she picked up exactly the kind of paparazzi-fueled magazine they would be trying to keep their clients’ weddings out of.

  Amber and Robert Plan Big French Château Wedding proclaimed the biggest headline, accompanied by a photo of starlet Amber Blakely and her fiancé, Robert Wakefield, standing together on a red carpet. The story suggested that the two had settled on a wedding in the south of France at a privately owned château.

  If only Married in Malibu had been open a few months ago when Amber and Robert got engaged. Not only would theirs have been the perfect first wedding for Married in Malibu, but they might actually have had a chance of booking it, given that Liz and Amber had once been close.

  More accurately, Liz had been close with Amber’s uncle. As close as two people could be. Liz wasn’t surprised to see a picture of Jason Lomax in the story about his niece’s upcoming wedding. He was famous in his own right as a number one bestselling thriller writer, but she suspected the inclusion of the photo also had plenty to do with the fact that he was square-jawed, ruggedly good-looking, and in great shape despite a job that involved many hours sitting at a keyboard. People had joked more than once that his novels would sell even better if his photograph was on the cover.

  “All of which means it’s probably a good thing that Married in Malibu wasn’t open when Amber and Robert got engaged,” Liz said to herself. Because if there was one thing that made Liz’s heart want to leap out of her chest, it was the thought of seeing Jason again. Especially after all this time.

  A knock on her office door snapped Liz out of her reverie. “I’m coming,” Liz said, getting up to let Nate in, figuring he must have his hands full of coffee cups for the whole team. “Hold on a second.”

  But when Liz made it to the door and pulled it open, she came face to face with a ghost.

  There was no other way to put it. No other way to describe how it felt when Jason Lomax said, “Hello, Liz,” as casually as if it had been ten hours since she’d last seen him rather than ten years.

  Chapter Two

  Jason knew he was taking a risk coming to Married in Malibu today. A big risk with his own happiness and potentially his niece’s, too. Yet Married in Malibu was also the best chance he could see of making sure that Amber did end up happy.

  And he’d do anything to ensure that.

  He’d taken Amber in when his sister had lost her battle with the bottle eight years ago. Jason had done his best to love his sister through all her problems, but it still destroyed him that Maxine hadn’t been there for a daughter as wonderful as Amber. He’d been determined to give his niece everything she could ever want, even while he was still struggling to get his own dreams of writing thrillers off the ground. He’d had to learn as he went along, doing his best to be there for her through sometimes difficult high school and college years. Amber had turned out amazingly well, thank God. She was only twenty-three, but she already had a string of successful movie roles and was a rising star. Rising so fast, in fact, that her engagement to Robert was all over the press.

  Jason couldn’t have hoped for his niece to fall in love with a better guy. Robert was five years older than Amber and as steady as they came, working as a financial analyst rather than in the entertainment industry. Unfortunately, Amber had become so famous that organizing a wedding was no simple thing. Though they were still six months away from the wedding they were planning at the French château, news was plastered on the gossip sites every day. There was speculation over every little detail, from who was and wasn’t going to be invited, to what designer Amber would be wearing, to the flavor and style of cake they would serve to their guests.

  “It’s all getting to be too much,” Amber had told him when she’d checked in via Skype a couple of nights ago from the set of her latest movie in Prague. “If I’m not being asked a zillion questions by the château’s wedding planners, then I’m being bombarded with questions about the wedding from the media. It’s starting to feel like it’s getting in the way of everything. My work and my relationship with Robert.” Amber had sounded like she wanted to burst into tears. “I’m pretty sure a couple of the other actors on the set think that I’m nothing but a vacuous wannabe who’s only interested in fame, but I swear I’m not trying to push my wedding into everyone’s face. And neither is Robert, though even his financial clients are asking about it now. If I could just marry Robert tomorrow, I would. Even if it means going to Vegas and getting married by some guy dressed like Elvis. I just don’t want to lose Robert because everything has gotten so crazy.”

  Jason knew far too well how much it hurt when love went wrong. He also knew that it didn’t matter how successfully things went in the rest of your life if it all felt empty when the person you loved was gone. In that moment that he’d heard Amber say, “I just don’t want to lose Robert,” he had vowed to do anything he needed to in order to help his niece with her wedding.

  Absolutely anything.

  “Don’t get married by Elvis,” Jason had said. “I’m going to work out something far better for you and Robert that will take all the stress off your shoulders.”

  “But you’ve got your writing. Your next novel—”
r />   “Is not nearly as important as seeing you happy.”

  As soon as he’d signed off, Jason had put the draft of his current thriller aside to find a wedding venue that would be able to accommodate them as soon as Amber finished filming in the next few weeks—and that could also put on the wedding in total secrecy from the press.

  The catch was that despite those constraints, Jason still wanted Amber to have the perfect wedding. She’d chosen the château because she wanted a magical day for her and Robert. The problem was that it had ceased to be about the two of them declaring their love for each other and had become a big media circus instead.

  As Jason had made discreet—and anonymous—inquiries into boutique wedding venues with great reputations, the Rose Chalet in San Francisco had come up again and again. Unfortunately, the Northern California venue was too far away from Los Angeles for it to truly feel like home for Amber, and the logistics of setting everything up an eight-hour drive away would surely give the game away to the media. So when he’d heard that the Rose Chalet’s owners were opening another wedding venue in Malibu, it had seemed almost too good to be true.

  Especially when he found out that Liz Wilkinson was running it.

  Ten years ago, Jason and Liz had been heading toward marriage and a life together. Until she’d broken up with him from out of the blue…then disappeared from his life entirely. For days, weeks, months afterward, he’d hoped that she’d change her mind and come back to him—or that she’d at least tell him why. But she didn’t change her mind. And she didn’t come back.

  Jason had taken his heartbreak and channeled it into his writing. The heroes in his books all had strong undercurrents of darkness that never seemed to leave them even after they had conquered the worst the world had to offer. Critics and readers alike couldn’t get enough of his dark protagonists, yet none of them had a clue where that bitterness had come from.

  Losing Liz. That’s where.

  Now, standing face to face for the first time in ten years with the woman he’d once loved, it took absolutely every single ounce of self-control not to stare. His heart clenched at how incredibly beautiful she was. Even more beautiful than she’d been ten years ago.

  But it was even harder to believe that she was in the business of making couples’ dreams come true when she had shattered his so abruptly. She hadn’t answered any of his phone calls all those years ago, and later, when he’d found some early notoriety with his books, she hadn’t reached out to him then, either. If it weren’t for his niece, he would never have put himself in the position of needing to ask for Liz’s help. But he would do absolutely anything to make his niece happy.

  Even face down his old demons…and pretend to make nice with his ex.

  Before Liz could slam the door in his face, he stepped into her office at the exact moment she said, “What are you doing here?”

  He’d figured seeing Liz again would bring up anger. Pain, too. But he hadn’t been prepared for the powerful urge to drag her into his arms and hold her. He slid his hands into his pockets to make sure he didn’t accidentally do just that as he said, in as easy a voice as he could muster, “I’m here to book a wedding.”

  The Married in Malibu buildings clearly weren’t yet open for business, but that fit with the information he’d already gathered. The moment he’d arrived, his gut told him that the beachfront location with its sheltered sandy cove, the lush gardens, and a classic building that looked out over the ocean would be the perfect place for Amber’s wedding.

  Liz had paled slightly at his request to book a wedding, but recovered so quickly that Jason might not have noticed it if he hadn’t known her so well. At least, he’d thought he’d known her until the night she’d walked out of his life.

  “Congratulations,” she said as she gestured for him to take a seat on the sofa across from her desk. Her tone was all business, but he could hear just the faintest tremor of emotion behind it. “When are you and your fiancée hoping to set the date?”

  “I’m not the one getting married,” Jason explained. “It’s for Amber. You remember my niece?”

  “Yes,” she said in a far more relieved tone than she’d likely intended. “Of course I remember her.”

  Why, Jason suddenly found himself wondering, would Liz sound relieved that he wasn’t getting married when she’d been the one to walk away from him ten years ago?

  * * *

  “That’s lovely that you’ve come to Married in Malibu for Amber,” Liz said, working to school her expression into a completely professional one. A nearly impossible task when her heart was racing faster than it ever had…and she was filled with such powerful longing for the man who had once been hers. “But I thought she already had plans to get married at a French château?”

  Jason raised an eyebrow. “You read the gossip pages now?”

  Just a few minutes ago, Liz had been wishing for a wedding as big as Amber and Robert’s. It was true what they said: Be careful what you wish for.

  If Jason had been just as surprised to see her as she’d been to see him, it might have been okay. No, that was a lie. It wouldn’t have been okay, but it would still have been better than being the only one standing there in shock while he walked in like there was nothing wrong. That combination could mean only one thing: He’d known that she worked here before he showed up. Whereas she’d had no warning whatsoever.

  Then again, she hadn’t exactly given him any warning when she’d broken up with him, had she? If only there had been another way…

  Forcing the painful memories away as best she could, she sat on the other end of the sofa, just one empty cushion serving as a buffer zone between them. “I’m in the wedding business,” she replied in what she hoped was a steady-sounding voice. “Of course I’m going to hear about one of the biggest weddings of the year.” Still working hard to get her brain to stop spinning from the shocking fact that Jason was right in front of her, she asked, “Is there a problem with the château? Because from what I’ve read, it sounds like a lovely spot for a wedding.”

  “That is precisely the problem—the whole world has been reading about her wedding.” As his expression turned instantly protective, the deep way he obviously cared for his niece tugged at Liz’s heartstrings. “Speculating about it. Making up stories that aren’t true about Amber and her fiancé, Robert. Creating false guest lists, then saying she’s snubbing other actors she’s never even spoken to.” Jason shook his head. “It’s not what Amber wants anymore. Not now that it has become so big and important to the press. It’s as if every new rumor is gold dust, and they’re all prospectors fighting over who gets to lay claim to it first.”

  Jason clearly hated the paparazzi’s intrusion into his niece’s life. But then, why wouldn’t he when Amber had always been as precious to him as if she were his own daughter? The last time Liz had seen her, she was a sweet girl barely in her teens. Slightly sad, too, given the problems Liz remembered with Amber’s mother. Even so, Liz had been rocked to the core when she’d read in a magazine interview that Amber’s mother had passed away eight years ago—and that Jason had taken her in. He had always been a good man. So good, and deserving of so much, that even though it had nearly killed Liz to break up with him, she’d truly believed setting him free had been the only way to make sure he fulfilled his dreams.

  Again, it took a great deal of self-control to pull herself away from the painful memories as she said, “I’m sorry to hear that Amber and her fiancé have run into so many problems with their wedding. And I’m sorry about your sister’s passing, too.” Liz had been so close to contacting Jason when she’d read about the tragedy. Finally, she could tell him how sorry she was for his loss.

  Pain flashed through Jason’s eyes. “It was a hard time, but we got through it.” Liz tried to convince herself that the silent echo of without you was just in her own head.

  “So if Amber no longer wants a big wedding in France, what does she want?”

  Jason didn’t answer righ
t away, as though he wanted to get it all clear in his head first. She remembered how he’d always wanted to plot things in advance, as though he were writing the world around him before it happened. Sometimes it seemed like he’d had a full conversation in his head before he said a word. The problem with that, however, was when the story veered away from the outline…and nothing turned out the way you thought it would.

  “There are three things she’s looking for,” Jason finally said. “First, with regard to the style of the wedding, Amber told me all they care about now is simply getting married and that it no longer matters where or how. But I know that’s just her frustration talking. She deserves a special wedding day.”

  “Everyone does,” Liz agreed. Although the truth was that there were plenty of people who wouldn’t go to this much trouble for a niece—or even a daughter. Yet again, she felt that tug at the center of her chest at his sweetness. “Tell me your definition of special. I want to make sure I’m envisioning the wedding the same way you are.”

  Jason made a gesture as though he were trying to grasp the shape of something. Liz remembered that, too, the way he would move his hands in the air when he was trying to put words to an idea.

  “If I had to guess,” she ventured, “based on what I remember about Amber, I’d say simple but elegant. Beautiful, but not fussy.”

  “Exactly. Classic, but not tied down by too many old traditions.”

  He almost smiled at her then, and it hurt to watch him deliberately bank the urge. Because he obviously thought she’d wanted to break up with him ten years ago. It was what she’d needed him to think at the time, but nothing could have been further from the truth.

  “One of the biggest problems with the current wedding plan is how complex everything has become. Not only with the pressure from the media, but also because the château has a thousand little details that they want to run by Amber and Robert, and it’s gotten in the way of the work she’s doing on her current film. Ideally, I’d want your staff to put the bulk of the details together without calling or texting her every thirty seconds with questions.”