Chapter 313

He stood with everyone else and walked over to the long buffet table. There were eight adults and four children in attendance, but the food presented to them was more like an offering at an upscale restaurant than just the back patio of his childhood home. It was more impressive than the continental breakfast he served at his Melbourne hotel, and that was saying something. He filled his plate and went back to his seat, concentrating on his food in the hopes of avoiding conversation with Chantelle. No such luck. She was a determined one. “Your mother tells me you are in the hotel business,” she said as she delicately ate a single grape from the end of a polished silver fork. “I am,” he replied and then shoveled a forkful of smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce into his mouth… indelicately. “The Mayfield?” He nodded and grunted an affirmative with his mouth still full of food. “It's a beautiful hotel,” she said as she sipped her mimosa. “Thank you,” he said after swallowing and then gulpi