Read Online Second Tomorrow by Anne Hampson - Free Book Online Page B

suite.’
    ‘A suite?’ echoed Clare shaking her head. ‘We don’t have suites here, I’m afraid.’
    ‘Mrs Wesley—Stella Wesley! You must have a suite for me! It was booked through an agent in New York.’ The fine nostrils quivered, accentuating the arrogance on the woman’s face. ‘Look, girl look! You haven’t even opened the book!’
    Clare paled with anger. ‘I’ve no need to look in the book for a suite,’ she replied. ‘We have luxury rooms with private baths, and if you’ve booked in here it will be one of those which has been allocated to you.’ She slid the book towardsher and opened it. She had no recollection of making a reservation for a Mrs Stella Wesley so she assumed it must have been made before she came to work at the hotel. Yes, the name was there, and it was a deluxe room facing the sea that had been reserved for her. She looked up at the woman and said, ‘We do have a room booked—’
    ‘I demand a suite!’ she interrupted rudely. ‘You’ll have to arrange one for me—put two or three rooms at my disposal! There are communicating doors, I presume?’
    ‘Yes, there are, but I’m afraid we can’t arrange a suite for you. There must have been some misunderstanding on the part of the travel agent—’
    ‘All right, there was some misunderstanding. We’ve already established that. The remedy is for you to shake yourself and see that a suite is made available!’
    Claire’s chin lifted; she had taken just about as much as she could, and her voice was icily frigid as she said, ‘It will be the room, Mrs Wesley, or nothing.’
    The other woman’s eyes opened wide. It was plain that she was not used to having her demands ignored.
    ‘Get me the manager—at once!’ she ordered, waving aside whatever Clare was going to say. ‘At once,’ she repeated when Clare had not moved.
    ‘Very well.’ She cast her a contemptuousglance, swiftly taking in the perfectly-tailored suit she wore, the pure silk blouse beneath the jacket. Ears and throat and wrists were adorned with diamonds, and on the third finger of her left hand she wore a gold wedding ring and a magnificent ring of sapphires and diamonds. ‘I’ll fetch my brother.’
    ‘Your brother?’ with an interrogating lift of her delicately-curved eyebrows. ‘Is he the manager?’
    Clare nodded and turned away without answering. Her blood boiled and she could easily have told the woman to clear off as the hotel had no room for people like her, but by some supreme effort she kept a firm rein on her temper, deciding it was Phil’s place to deal with this objectionable client, not hers.
    She found him in his office, and immediately he saw her pallor and he asked what was wrong.
    Clare explained, saw him grimace as he rose from the chair, swivelling it away from the desk as he did so.
    ‘She’s alone, yet she wants a suite?’
    ‘Some people do, and it’s their choice. I’ve nothing to say to that. What riled me was her attitude; anyone else, although disappointed, perhaps, at the mistake, would have been gracious about it and either taken the room or refused it. She hasn’t done either. She just stood there arrogantly demanding the suite she had expected to get.’
    Shrugging his shoulders, Phil went off andClare followed, not wanting to return to the desk but forced to do so in case she was needed by other guests. The woman glowered at her before giving her haughty attention to Phil. There was an argument, with heated words coming from Mrs Wesley and quiet, apologetic ones from Phil.
    ‘It isn’t any use your continuing to complain like this,’ he said at last, still in that calm unruffled tone. ‘We can’t supply what we haven’t got.’
    The woman’s mouth went tight, indicating the fury within her.
    ‘You just won’t go to any trouble!’ she rasped. ‘That’s what it amounts to! I shall make it my business to get in touch with the owner of this hotel and make a complaint—about you both!’ she said as her