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At least Caitey wasn’t doing the actual catering, prepping the food or decorating the cake. During their planning sessions over the phone the last few months, Jenna had decided it was easier to hire those jobs out.Caiteywas merely the wedding planner, the decorator, and the one keeping the schedule—making sure everything happened on time and solvingany problems.
Or meltdowns, as the case may be.
At least this wedding was smaller and more intimate than most.
Just last week, Jenna had breathed a happy sigh on the phone: “I’m so glad you’re doing my wedding. I won’t have to worry about a thing because I know you will make it allperfect!”
At the time, Caitey could only smile wanly. She hoped she could pull it off, but none of the weddings she had done over the past seven years had lived up to that tall order. Something always went wrong, even if it was something small. A wedding planner could count on it!
Weddings had too many details and variables and personalities to make happy. But she prided herself on coming pretty darn close. So far, since she’d started her own bridal business, Caitey’s online reviews averaged 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Caitey rolled to a stop in the gravel parking lot behind the mansion, her eyes flitting in every direction. The back of the estate was just as quiet as the front, and it appeared there was official parking on the far side of the gardens.
But hers was the only vehicle.
Where was everybody?
When she turned off the engine and slid out of her seatbelt, Caitey lifted a hand against the sun’s glare. The property extended as far as she could see.
Deeper into the private woods, she spied a narrow lane that led to a garage that looked as if it could hold ten vehicles.
Another sign of the Hearst wealth.
About two hundred miles northof Los Angeles she’d toured the infamous Hearst Castle during her college years for a weekend getaway with roommates to drool over the rich and famous from the 1920s. The house—more like a castle with multiple swimming pools, gorgeous architecture and gardens oozed money from every corner.
Caitey had concluded that William Randolph Hearst was richer than the queen of England.
When she stepped out of the car, Caitey’s high heels crunched on the fine gravel and her ankles wobbled a tiny bit. Maybe she should have worn sneakers, but she didn’t want to arrive in jeans if she met Jenna’s fiancé and his family in the first five minutes.
Furtively, she glanced about to ensure she was alone, and then Caitey laughed at her silliness. The dude in the woods had spooked her, but he was probably just an early-arriving family member taking a walk through the trees.
Even so, who wore a suit to go walking in the woods? The wedding wasn’t for two days. And why wouldn’t the strange man at least raise a hand in greeting to acknowledge her?
The perimeter of the mansion was empty of any people or activity. Quiet, undisturbed, as if the estate’s residents no longer existed.
She had sent a quick text to Jenna while driving through the village at the foot of the mountains before starting up the winding road that led to this neighborhood of mansions and sprawling estates nestled within the mountain forest.
That was at least thirty minutes ago, and she still hadn’t received a response back.
She had expected to see Jenna throw open the back doors and run full speed toward her as soon as she parked.
But all was silent as a tomb.
How about a gardener? A housekeeper? A chauffeur waxing the Rolls Royce?
Caitey gave a small laugh. None in sight.
“Guess I’ll let myself in,” she murmured, striding up the stone path that wound past an English country garden of hollyhocks, daisies, lavender, peonies, irises, and golden California poppies.
A balance of traditional elegance and romantic whimsy.
A tickle of awe and envy rose up her chest even as she smiled at the exquisite beauty. “I could live out here forever.”
All she needed was a book, a chair under the shade of one of those massive oak trees, and a cold lemonade. A life of perfect leisure.
At each turn of the paths stood tall Roman goddess statues wearing alabaster dresses, guarding magnificent water fountains and manicured hedges. Caitey spotted her reflection in the shallow water.
The scent of flowers was like a perfume factory. Sweet and heady.
