“Some rules are made to be broken. And in case you didn’t notice, I excel at trouble.” Her dark eyes sparkled. “Don’t you agree?”
“That you excel at trouble?” He inclined his head. “Absolutely. Unfortunately, my rules are written in concrete. I never break them, no matter how tempting the offer.”
It was a gently administered rebuff and maybe if they’d been alone, Roxanne would have taken it better. Unfortunately, Catherine’s presence heaped humiliation on top of embarrassment. Deciding it was time to make a tactful retreat, Catherine offered the two her most professional smile.
“If you’ll excuse me,” she murmured, “I’ll leave you to enjoy the party while I get back to work. If there’s anything I can do to make your evening more pleasant, please don’t hesitate to let me know.”
With that, she made a beeline for the kitchen. Damn it. Roxanne would not appreciate her witnessing that little scene with Gabe. She could only hope that by making a swift departure, she dodged any sort of bullet fired off as retribution. She couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong tonight. If Gabe’s precious assistant decided to even the score a little, it could cause serious trouble for Elegant Events. Catherine managed a full dozen steps before she was caught by the arm and swung around.
“You don’t want to leave now,” Roxanne insisted in an undertone, anchoring her in place. “The party’s just about to get interesting.”
Catherine’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?” she demanded.
Roxanne simply smiled. “Wait for it…Ah, right on cue.”
The roar of multiple engines echoed from across the lake and a pair of bullet-shaped motorboats bore down on the area reserved for the gondolas.
Catherine stared in horror. “Oh, no. No, no, no.”
“Now, that doesn’t look good,” Roxanne observed with a well satisfied smile. “Maybe this part of the lake wasn’t the best place to put your little boats.”
At the last possible instant, the invading crafts cut their engines, sending huge swells careening among the gondolas, overturning three of them and swamping most of the others. Shrieks of panic echoed across the lake as guests, dressed in their party finery, tumbled into water that still clung to its springtime chill.
While Roxanne sauntered back toward the house, Catherine yanked her walkie-talkie from a holster clipped to the belt at her waist and depressed the mike. “I need everyone out to the lake. Now.” She ran toward the shoreline, even as she barked orders. Off to her left, she saw Gabe flying across the lawn toward the water, as well as several of the other men present. “There’s been an accident with the gondolas. There are guests in the water. Everyone drop what you’re doing and help. Davis…call marine patrol and have them dispatch emergency vehicles immediately.”
Within minutes, guests and staff alike were pulling people from the water. “I want the gondoliers locating those guests who were in their individual boat,” Catherine called out. Comprehension was instantaneous and the gondoliers immediately started rounding up and organizing their passengers to confirm that everyone who went into the lake had come safely out of it. “Make sure every guest is accounted for. Report to me as soon as you’ve counted heads.”
Natalie appeared at her side. A combination of tears and fury burned in her eyes. “How could you let this happen?” she demanded. “My father-in-law is out there. My grandchildren are out there.”
“Try and stay calm, Natalie. I’ll have everyone accounted for in just a few minutes,” Catherine attempted to reassure her.
“Calm! Don’t tell me to be calm.” She hovered along the edge of the grass, desperately scanning the crowd of soaked guests for family members. Tears fell as she spotted them. “If anything happens to my family or friends as a result of this, I will sue you six ways to Sunday!”
“I’m sorry, Natalie. Truly, I am. We’ve called the King County Marine Unit. They’re on their way. The area is posted. I had boats anchored just outside the warning buoys to help direct lake traffic away from this section, but they simply drove straight through.” She gestured toward the motorboats responsible. “If the marine unit catches these guys before they disappear, they’ll take the appropriate action. In the meantime, all my staff is down there helping people ashore. We’re going to need towels, if you have them.”
“Of course I have towels,” she snapped. “But that doesn’t change what’s happened. This is an unmitigated disaster. I was warned not to hire you, Catherine. But I liked you. You told me you could do the job and do it perfectly. You knew how important this was to me—”
Catherine never heard the rest of Natalie’s comment, perhaps because it ended in a shriek as water seemed to explode around them. Sprinkler heads popped up across the lawn and shot drenching sprays over the guests, the tables and the food. Within seconds, those who hadn’t been thrown in the lake were as thoroughly soaked as those who had been.
People fled in all directions. Natalie’s daughter tripped over a peg anchoring one of the tents and knocked a billowing section into the hot dishes. The flame from the fuel canisters leapt onto the material and raced hungrily across the silk and tulle. If it hadn’t been for the sprinklers, the entire area would have turned into an inferno.
Catherine ran to the tent, yanking at the burning section in an attempt to pull it to the grass and extinguish what flames the sprinklers weren’t reaching. She felt the scorching heat lick at her hands. She’d barely managed to knock the awning to the ground, where the flames subsided with a smoky hiss, when an arm locked around her waist and swept her clear of the area. The next thing she knew she was tumbled to the grass and rolled repeatedly. She struggled against her attacker, even managing to connect with a fist to an iron-hard jaw before his hold loosened. Shoving her sopping hair from her face, she found herself pinned to the ground, nose-to-nose with Gabe.
Catherine fought for air while tears of outrage welled up in her eyes. “What the hell are you doing? Why did you tackle me?” She couldn’t seem to make sense of what was happening. “I was trying to put out the flames.”
“So was I. You were on fire, Catherine.” He snagged the sleeve of her dress and showed her the scorch marks. Then he ripped the seam of her sleeve from wrist to shoulder and checked her skin for burns. He didn’t find any, and an expression of undisguised relief flashed across his face. “Looks like I caught it in time. Another minute and you’d have been on your way to the hospital.”
“I…I thought I was being attacked.”
“So I gathered.” He waggled his jaw from side to side. “That’s one hell of a right hook you have, by the way.”
She buried her head against his shoulder and fought for control. Everything had happened so fast, she couldn’t make sense of it all. “I don’t understand any of this, Gabe. The fire…Dear God, the tent went up so fast. If anyone had been nearby—”
He wrapped her in a tight embrace. “Easy, honey. Everyone’s safe. And everyone made it out of the water without injury. Best of all, the marine unit has the boaters corralled.”
She could feel her emotions slipping and struggled to hang on. Hysterics wouldn’t help. Not here. Not now. She needed to keep a level head until she could get home and crawl into some dark hole. “Who were they?” She forced herself to pull free of Gabe’s protective hold even though it would have been so much easier to cling. She fought her way to her knees. “And how did the sprinklers turn on? I checked them myself. They’re not scheduled to start up until morning.”
“I don’t know.” He soothed with both voice and touch. “Let’s take everything one step at a time, sweetheart. I know it looks bad, but we’ll