“Only when I hear it. And sometimes,” she added irrepressibly, “not even then.”
“I can well believe it. But I hope your offer of help means that you’ve decided to stop standing in my way?”
“I haven’t stood in your way,” she protested. “I haven’t,” she repeated as he gave a laugh of disbelief. “I’ve merely… allowed you to see for yourself that changing things isn’t as simple as you may have thought it would be.”
“A neat distinction.” He gave her a wry smile. “You also, I notice, enjoy crowing over my discomfort when your lot tears me to bits.”
If he was hoping for apologetic regret, he didn’t get it. Instead, she grinned back at him. “If you’re talking about the duchess, I did offer my help.”
“Only after the woman had already left,” he grumbled. “But I’m not really worried about people like the duchess. I was prepared for the resentment of the clients who are no longer getting things for free, and I do think eventually it will pass. It’s the stonewalling by the staff that I find most frustrating at present.”
“You said yourself that change is upsetting. And surely you’ve done this sort of thing with other hotels. Haven’t you ever encountered this problem before?”
He shook his head. “With one exception, the other hotels I’ve acquired were already bankrupt and closed.”
“The exception being the Bainbridge, which you own in partnership with Richard Carte?”
“You’ve been making inquiries about me, I see. But,” he added when she merely smiled, “you’re quite right. Richard asked me to step in and take over that hotel a year ago when he first became ill.”
“Is he really so very ill? The man doesn’t look well, of course, and there have been rumors, but nothing definitive has been said.”
“Doctors never seem able to be definite about these things. But to return to the point,” he said, choosing his words with care, “the staff at the Bainbridge did not feel as if their loyalties were being divided when I took over. It’s different here. I understand the loyalty everyone feels toward Ritz and his way of doing things, but it hampers me at every turn.”
“And that surprises you? Ritz has earned their loyalty over a number of years. While you…”
She stopped, but he knew what she hadn’t said. “While I am a usurper who’s been here a mere five weeks,” he finished for her. “I do realize that, but I wish I could make everyone understand that if the hotel can’t be made to run at a profit, many more people will lose their jobs than those few I’ve already let go. Stonewalling me and what I’m trying to do will not serve them in the long run. As I said, I don’t want to fire anyone else, but I will do so if they refuse to follow those policies. If you truly want to help, perhaps you could impress that fact upon them.”
“I can do that, of course, but—” Breaking off, she leaned back for the footman to take her soup plate, then she went on. “But it would be better coming from Ritz than from me. He will be returning very soon, and when he does, I’m sure you can persuade him to work with you to gain everyone’s cooperation.”
Simon knew that wasn’t going to happen. Aside from the fact that Ritz was directly countermanding his orders, in light of what Helen had told him, it was now clear beyond doubt that the other man would have to be dismissed, and soon, though just how and when that wouldhappen were open to question. “Ritz has returned,” he said, sidestepping the issue of the other man’s fate. “I saw him in the lobby earlier.”
“He’s back from Rome?”
“He arrived this afternoon. But it hardly matters, since I have no intention of asking for his help.”
“You’d really let pride stand in your way?”
“It’s not pride. It’s—” He broke off, knowing he couldn’t tell her the truth, chagrined to realize he wished he could.
Thankfully, the footman appeared, taking his soup plate. Hardwicke followed, presenting a tray of sole Véronique, giving Simon time, and as he helped himself to the fish, he considered what explanation to offer that would satisfy her without requiring him to lie and without giving anything away.
“I have to do what I think is best for the future of the hotel, Delia,” he said at last. “Ritz will have to accept my way of doing things, and frankly, I’m not sure he can. When we saw each other earlier, he made his resentment of me quite clear.”
“You can’t blame him for that,” she replied as Hardwicke moved to her side of the table. “I felt the same.”
“Felt?” he echoed and frowned, wondering if he’d misheard. “You sound as if that’s in the past.”
To his surprise, she shrugged as she set a sole fillet on her plate and put the silver fish slice back on Hardwicke’s platter. “I’m a pragmatist, I suppose,” she said as the butler moved away. “I’ve never seen the point of beating dead horses. You’re here, the rest of the board wants you here, and as you said, changes have to be made if the hotel is to survive. That’s why I wanted to make peace with you. It wasn’t to gain my own ends, truly. Nor was it just for my friend Kay. For the good of everyone, I accepted that the only thing to be done was to help you as best I can. Ritz will come to the same conclusion, I’m sure.”
He’d never be given the chance, but of course, Simon couldn’t say so.
“He might,” he said instead.
She stopped eating, a forkful of fish halfway to her mouth. “What if he doesn’t? The board won’t fire Ritz, surely?”
He began to wish he’d never agreed to this dinner. Dodging her questions without lying was like dodging raindrops without getting wet. “I can’t discuss with you what the board may or may not do. That sort of information is confidential. In any case,” he rushed on before she could probe more deeply, “Ritz and I will have no opportunity to discuss anything involving the hotel for some time. I’m off to Berkshire for the weekend to see my sister, and he’s off for Paris on Monday.”
That, he was relieved to see, diverted her attention. “You have a sister?” she asked and resumed eating. “What’s her name?”
