Summer Nights at the Moonlight Hotel Read Online Free PDF

moment. I had my phone stolen
yesterday.’
    ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Robby,’ Cate says, and he seems to leap on her sympathy and grasp it with both hands.
    ‘I miss you,’ he whispers.
    Emily looks at her watch. ‘Ooohh . . . is it really nearly three o’clock?’
    Cate throws us a glance that screams,
Do not go or I will never speak to you again.
Emily and I sit tight.
    ‘Cate,’ he repeats. ‘I’d just like to talk about a few things. That’s all. I – I know I’m not everything you want . . .’
    ‘It’s not that,’ she squirms. ‘You’re lovely, Robby.’
    ‘Then why aren’t we together?’ he fires back. ‘Because I think
you’re
lovely too. I’ve said it enough, haven’t I?’
    Cate’s face grows red. ‘There’s no point in going through it all again,’ she says weakly. ‘I think you’re a wonderful man. But you and I . . . I’m
sorry, we’re just not meant to be.’
    His handsome jaw tenses. ‘Okay,’ he says flatly. ‘I’m sorry I bothered you. See you around, ladies. Or . . . not.’
    And at that he gets up and walks away.
    Cate draws a long breath. ‘God, I feel awful. I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. Most women would kill to have a man like that chasing after them.’
    Emily shrugs. ‘If you don’t fancy him, you don’t fancy him.’
    Cate’s eyes widen. ‘You’ve seen him – he’s gorgeous – but sometimes way too intense. You know how it is when you fall for someone: you either feel it or you
don’t. Think about how you feel about Edwin, Lauren. There’s absolutely no shadow of a doubt in your mind about how madly in love you are with him. It’s indefinable – the
chemistry, the alchemy. And what you feel for Edwin, I certainly don’t for Robby. Do you know what I mean?’
    I take a sip of my drink. Because I know exactly what she means. My feelings for Edwin are rock solid. If only the same could be said of his for me.

Chapter 5
    Our second salsa night is a revelation. It isn’t just the sheer liberation of moving without the hateful shoes, which I abandoned in favour of my Converse, after Marion
agreed they were acceptable.
    It’s that a decent number of participants turn up. We’re still some way from forty or fifty but, following a piece in the local paper last week and Will and Joe asking a couple of
friends, we’re now up to sixteen.
    This rush sends Marion into a quivering panic, which is abated slightly when the cavalry arrives in the form of her friend, who introduces herself rather formally as Lulu Mitford. Lulu is
younger than Marion; she’s in her late thirties, with a slim, fine-boned face and long eyelashes. Although she works for English Heritage, she’s been dancing ballroom and Latin since
she was a teenager, hence the fact that Marion has roped her along so she can split us into two groups: absolute beginners and those able to undertake more than the basic steps without risking a
trip to A&E.
    ‘How did you persuade your friends to come?’ I ask Joe, as he takes my hand. His face breaks into a warm, easy smile and his eyes no longer seem as brooding tonight. Although perhaps
all the hype from Emily about how lovely he was with her last week has simply made him seem a bit more approachable.
    ‘They’re mainly Will’s mates from Mountain Rescue,’ he explains. ‘He says nobody was keen at first, then he told them the place was full of single women. After
that, it was surprisingly simple.’
    Lulu starts the music and asks us to begin with the same basic steps we learned last week. Joe, I’m relieved to see, is at about the same ability level as me: passable. Our footwork is a
long way from fancy, particularly when Lulu introduces a new move – a turn outwards one way, then the other. There’s the usual clashing of knees, for which we’re both
responsible.
    ‘I might be wrong, but you don’t sound as if you were born and bred in Cumbria,’ I tell him.
    ‘I’m a Londoner originally. I spent my childhood in