In A Heartbeat (10 page)

Elizabeth flipped her long hair in what he knew was a practiced gesture, arching to expose the pink tips of her barely swollen breasts. Her tongue glided over her lips in an overt attempt at seduction. “You like?”

His stomach roiled. He could see each of her ribs rising with each breath. Had she looked that gaunt two weeks ago?

“I think you’re taking too long to kiss me hello.” She tipped her lips in a seductive smile, a pose he recognized from the perfume advertisements. He crossed to her side of the bed. He leaned over for a light kiss, but she had other plans.

Capturing his necktie, she pulled his head down and met his lips with hers. Her sharp tongue pushed past his lips, filling his mouth with a vile nicotine taste. He reached for her shoulders to steady himself while he pulled back. His necktie tightened, mirroring the clenching of his gut.

“Isn’t this why you asked me here?” Her lower lip extended in a photogenic pout.

“I asked you here because we have something to discuss.” He quickly removed his necktie, no need to provide her with a torture device. Not so long ago, he would have gladly reciprocated her advance, but that was before she starved herself in pursuit of a modeling career. She’d looked healthy then. Now she had a woman’s face, but lacked the soft fullness and curves of a woman’s body.

“Do you mind putting a robe on?” He forced his mouth to smile. “It’s distracting to have a serious conversation with you so…casual.”

“I need a drink.” She scampered over the blankets and dashed from the room.

He picked up a flimsy garment that had been tossed over a chair and followed after her. He found her in the great room, tugging on the handles on a cabinet over the wet bar.

“Locked.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I don’t suppose you’ll give me the key?”

“I have no idea where the key is. Not my place. Look Liz, why don’t you and I sit—”

“It doesn’t matter, I know where Daddy hides it.” She crossed to the fireplace and upended a vase.

“Elizabeth, I don’t think alcohol is a good idea right now.” She ignored him and crossed back to the bar, inserting the key with a practiced twist.

“Your father has made a proposition that affects both of us,” he said, trying to grab her attention. “I think we should–”

“Looky here.” A plastic bag full of a white powder slipped from the unlocked cabinet. “Now we can party!”

He stood stunned by the couch. Drugs! There were drugs in the house and Elizabeth was obviously well-acquainted with them. This manic woman wasn’t the Elizabeth he remembered. Had so much changed in a week, or had he just not been paying attention? Angela had warned him and he had stupidly defended his childhood friend.
Well, I’m not a fool any longer
, he thought with a vengeance.

He took the bag from her and emptied the contents into the bar sink, then flipped on the faucet.

“Fuck!” she screamed, pummeling his back with her fists. “How dare you? I wanted that. I needed that.”

“No, you didn’t,” he said calmly. He captured her wrists with his hands. “You may have thought you needed that but—”

“What do you know?” She pulled herself free, screaming like a crazed lunatic. “You have no idea about my needs. Damn you. You don’t know me at all.” She backed up, her face twisted in a sneer. “Look at you. Mister Goody Two Shoes. Everyone does drugs. Everyone. You deserve to be stuck in this backwater town. You have no right--”

“I have every right, or at least I will soon.”

“What are you talking about?” She glared.

“I’m talking about marriage. Our marriage.”

She stopped her ranting, then stared dumbfounded. “You want to marry me?”

“Your father thinks it would be a good idea,” he offered.

“You asked my father if you could marry me?” Her face softened.

He didn’t bother to explain that her father had insisted on the marriage as part of the payment package. When Owens had first proposed the union, Hank had thought marriage to Elizabeth would be only a small sacrifice, a convenient arrangement for their mutual benefit, but now…now he wasn’t so sure.

She stepped closer then rubbed her scrawny body up against him like a cat begging for cream. “I had no idea you wanted to propose. Before you said we were just friends.” She slipped her hand inside his waistband. “I’m going to be so good to you, baby. Wait till you meet my friends.” She pulled back. “We need a drink to celebrate.” She hurried back to the liquor cabinet.

“Liz, about the drugs…”

She removed one of the crystal goblets from the rack beneath the cabinet, then selected a bottle of scotch. “We’ll live in New York,” she said enthusiastically. Amber liquid sloshed in the glass, over the rim and onto the carpet. “You’ll see. There’s so many parties.” She frowned at him quickly. “You’ll have to loosen up. Now that you know about the drugs, I won’t have to hide them anymore.” She took a gulp from her glass and her face brightened. “I’m sure you can find a job easily in New York.”

“No.” He set his glass aside. “We’ll both have to live here in Columbus.” It was another stipulation of her father’s plan, a stipulation Hank approved of.

She stopped mid-gulp. Her eyes widened. “My career! I can’t live here. You can just forget that.” She swirled the remaining liquid in her glass. “I’m not against the marriage idea, matter of fact I’ve always…” She shook her head briefly then raised her gaze. “But I’m not giving up my career. Nobody lives in Columbus, for Christ’s sake.”

Hank sighed. This wasn’t going at all as it should. “Your father wants –”

“My father?” She threw her glass at the liquor cabinet where it shattered into shards. “What do I care what my father wants? This is my life and neither you nor he are going to ruin it for me.” She ran past him and down the hallway. A door slammed and a lock clicked.

This was ridiculous. He retrieved a trash pail then carefully picked the larger glass pieces from the mess and tossed them into the trash. The whole idea of a marriage was ridiculous. He never seriously thought Elizabeth would agree to such a marriage, but Owens seemed sure that she would. And she did, didn’t she?

Funny that the word “love” never came up in their discussion. Then again, maybe not so funny. The concept of love had never affected his parents’ marriage. Marrying Elizabeth would be convenient. His father would approve of her place in society, and his mother would approve…of a reason to drink in public. He shook his head. Of course at the time, he thought he was agreeing to marry his childhood friend, not this drug-sniffing, foul-mouthed, anorexic stranger.

The clash of glass hitting broken glass in the pail reminded him of broken vows, broken promises, lost opportunities. His mind conjured up an image of Angela’s face, but he quickly pushed it aside. This was not the time to dwell on some elfin chauffeur/auditor, who managed to intrude upon his thoughts at the most inconvenient of times. How would Angela have reacted to a similar proposal?
Clink.
Probably about the same as Elizabeth, without the acceptance, of course. She hardly knew him and from what he observed of her work, she didn’t commit to anything without lots of research.
Clink.

Angela’s image appeared in his thoughts, naked, petite yet curved in all the right places, blonde hair streaming out behind her as she stormed down the hall. His groin tightened. Angela would never have made it to the bedroom without him. He would have chased after her, that’s for sure. He glanced toward the hallway. He hadn’t chased after Elizabeth.

He returned to the kitchen for a towel and mopped up the remains of Elizabeth’s drink. Surely, Owens knew his daughter wouldn’t want to give up her career, yet he was so adamant about the idea of their marriage. Something didn’t make sense. Hank knew why he had accepted Owens’ plan, but why did Elizabeth? There was only one way to find out.

Before he could knock on the locked door to ask her for an explanation, he heard her voice.

“Sean? It’s me… Yes, well, I’m leaving tomorrow. I’ve already booked a flight… Can you meet me at LaGuardia? Ten o’clock… Of course in the morning. I want out of here as soon as possible… No, he didn’t hurt me. Phillip wouldn’t… Sean. I told you. He didn’t hurt me… It’s my father… Yes… Of course I do… I know you do, too. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye.”

He waited a moment before he knocked.

“Liz, we have to talk.”

“I have nothing to say.”

“Come on Liz, It’s the one thing we could always do well. Even when we were little kids, we could always talk.”

After a moment, the lock clicked and Elizabeth opened the door a crack. “I don’t want you here tonight.”

He shook his head. “That’s okay. There’s plenty of bedrooms in this house. I’m sure I can find one to fit me.” Through the tiny crack in the door, he saw her smile.

“I’m leaving tomorrow first thing.”

“That’s why we need to talk tonight, before you go.” He could see her vacillating. “Have you eaten anything? Are you hungry?” Maybe he could coax her out with a meal.

“Do you still make those yummy rolls?” she asked, yearning in her voice. “No. Don’t tell me. I can’t eat anything that even looks like it contains calories.”

He laughed. This sounded more like his old Elizabeth. “Come on out. I promise I won’t tempt you with anything edible.”

“Give me a minute,” she said. “I want to put something on.”

A few minutes later, she breezed into the great room wrapped in a shimmering red silk robe. Her jet-black hair hung limp down her back. A cigarette dangled between two freshly painted lips. Flopping onto the nearest corner of the couch, she searched briefly for an ashtray, then decided the stone hearth of the fireplace would suit her purpose. “You wanted to talk?”

Hank selected a chair opposite her and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “Who’s Sean?” He continued quickly when her eyes widened. “I heard you mention his name through the door.”

She shrugged. “He’s a friend. A photographer.” She fidgeted with the belt of her robe. “We’ve worked together, know the same people, that sort of thing.”

“And he’s in New York.” Hank suspected there was more between Liz and Sean than a few photos, but that was a conversation for another time. “You asked before why I invited you here.”

“You’ve already explained. You wanted to propose.” Elizabeth drew on her cigarette.

“Yes, but maybe not for the right reason,” Hank said. “Your father wants me to marry you. Why is that, Liz?”

She shook her head and pulled the robe across her knees. “I don’t know. He’s always thought of you like a son. He’d probably marry you himself if he could.” She snickered. “Wouldn’t that be a hoot?”

“I’m serious, Liz,” Hank said. “At the time your father and I made the deal, I didn’t see anything wrong with us getting married. We’ve been friends for a long time. My parents didn’t even have that in common. My mother has mentioned on more than one occasion that you’d be a wonderful daughter-in-law.”

“Your mother wouldn’t even know she had a daughter-in-law.”

Hank winced. Elizabeth’s observation was true enough, but he tried not to think of his mother’s alcohol problems. He clasped his hands together. “You’re not the same girl I remember, and maybe —”

“You don’t want to marry me.” She interrupted. Her lower lip trembled and her fingers shook.

“I didn’t say that.” He didn’t want to hurt her. “Maybe now is not the right time for either of us to make such a serious commitment.”

She nodded, then dabbed the corners of her eyes. Damn. Nothing cut deeper than a woman’s tears. He moved to the couch and put his arm around her shoulder. “Don’t cry, Liz.”

She cuddled into his shoulder and sniffed. “Sean said this would happen. He told me not to come when you called.”

“I’m glad you came.” Who was this Sean person? Hank squeezed her shoulder. “We needed to have this talk, to keep everything open and honest between us. We’ve always been honest with each other, haven’t we?”

Well, maybe not. She hadn’t been honest about her drugs. He owed Angela an apology on that score. But Elizabeth nodded in agreement.

“Daddy really said he wants me to marry you?”

He nodded. She fingered the buttons on his shirt.

“And he wants me to live here?” She glanced up through her lashes.

He nodded again.

“Why?”

Fair question. “He said something about this being a better place to raise children,” Hank said.

“Children!” She drew sharply back. “I can’t model if I’m pregnant. I don’t even think I can have children.” She buried her head in her hands. “What am I going to do?” Turning her head, she glanced up at him. “What should I do?”

Responsibility for Elizabeth’s future piled unto the other burdens on his shoulders. What had first appeared to be a cut and dried proposition now felt to be a monumental undertaking. Why hadn’t Owens been upfront about Elizabeth’s drug problems and career objections?

His silence must have unnerved her. “Philip?” she asked.

He cringed. He hated that name. “I’m not sure what your father is up to,” he said. “But I need a little time. I may have an idea that will satisfy your father and you. Are you game?”

She stiffened.

“Don’t worry,” he reassured her. “You can still go back to New York tomorrow.”

“In that case, I’m in with one condition.” Her lips turned up in a coy smile. “I want an engagement ring.”

RAYMOND CHECKED THE address on a tiny piece of paper, Gekmon Hall. Yes, this looked to be the place. These large universities might attract the stalwart scholars and virtuous philosophers, but they inevitably attracted people from the opposite end of the spectrum as well. The egghead with no social skills best kept far from view, or better yet, a scholar with questionable ethics that came with a price tag. These were the people he sought when he’d first entered the hacker’s chat room. It had taken far more patience than he thought he could stand, and lots more time than he’d anticipated, but in the end he found his man, Larry Smith.

He pulled the handles on the heavy doors to the ancient building and stepped inside. As he had recently discovered, not much changed from one university building to another. Bulletin boards overflowing with meaningless papers hung on the same walls. Shabby students lounged in equally shabby orange vinyl seats near the same humming pop machines. Voices and steps echoed in identical intensity down near empty hallways. Raymond quickly located the building stairwell and started his descent to the basement.