Married by Monday (Weekday Brides) (26 page)

Eliza glanced around the living room, her home for the past couple of years and sighed. Deep in her heart, she knew she wouldn’t be returning to this small Tarzana home. Even if the day came when she and Carter separated, the chances of her living there would be slim.

The three of them filed into her bedroom and moved in separate directions to pack her personal things. “This shouldn’t take long,” she told the women. “Carter’s home is filled with furniture. Besides, most of this is yours anyway, Sam.”

Sam pushed at her unruly red curls until they were tucked into a band and out of her face. “It seems like yesterday that Blake and I were here packing my clothes. Maybe the bed is blessed and those who sleep in it are marriage bound.”

Gwen tilted her head and considered the mattress with renewed interest. “If that’s the case, perhaps I should move in here.” She placed both palms on the covers and gave it a tiny shove.

“
You want to get married?”

“
I’ve wanted to marry for years, but the men I’ve dated simply didn’t suit me for the long term.”

Eliza laughed. “You might have to give them more than a week of your time.” During several of their late night conversations Eliza had discovered a lot about Gwen’s dating life. As a daughter of a wealthy duke, her family expected her to have a very discreet private life. That translated into boring dates and forgetful sex. Many of the royals who’d lost their money, but not their titles, didn’t fall into the public eye. The Harrisons were different. Their faces were splattered among the British tabloids, as often as any starlet in Hollywood would be in the States.

“
It’s not my fault the men I’ve met bore me to tears. There needs to be interest inside the bedroom and out, wouldn’t you agree?”

“
You’re talking to two women who married their husbands before they slept with them. I don’t think you have the right audience for that argument.”

Gwen’s eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped. “I can’t imagine. What if Carter made love like a wet fish?”

“
I think you’re selling yourself short, Gwen. If a man warms your blood before your first kiss, the chances of that kiss being cold are slim. Carter can make me blush from across the room. And don’t you dare tell him I said that.” Eliza didn’t want all her secrets revealed to her husband. Not yet anyway.

“
I knew Blake would be a fantastic lover the first time he touched my hand.” Samantha licked her lips as she spoke.

“
Truly?”

“
Call it chemistry, energy, desire… I knew. If you had told me a year before we married that I wouldn’t sleep with my husband before the wedding day I would have reacted like you.”

Gwen leaned on one arm as she listened. “You met my brother only days before you married.”

Sam rolled her eyes. “Details, details.”

“
You can’t say that about me and Carter.”

“
No, I guess not. Surly there was some contact before the wedding… Wasn’t there?”

The memory of their encounter in the kitchen surfaced in Eliza’s mind. Her face grew hot and Gwen and Samantha started laughing.

“
Busted.”

“
We didn’t have sex. Heavy petting and hot, sultry kissing.”

Gwen tossed a pillow in Eliza’s direction.

They all laughed until their sides hurt.

“
I’ll miss this terribly. I’ve never had girlfriends as close as the two of you,” Gwen said.

“
I’m moving out, not away,” Eliza reminded her.

“
We should initiate a “girl’s night out” once a month…maybe twice.”

“
That sounds delightful.” Gwen scurried off the bed and picked up a box from the floor.

“
No talk of work. Just girl talk.”

“
Sex talk.”

“
You’ll have to find a boyfriend if you’re going to entertain us,” Eliza chided.

“
I might just do that.”

Sam turned toward her sister-in-law. “Have anyone in mind?”

Gwen hesitated and then shook her head. “No.”

“
Liar.”

Gwen’s jaw dropped. “I’m not lying.”

Eliza folded her arms over her chest. “Are you telling me there isn’t anyone who makes your insides boil…that makes you spark just thinking about him?”

Again, she hesitated. “No.”

Sam shook her head. “Liar.”

Gwen let a tiny smile cover her face as she turned away. “Believe what you must.”

Sam glanced up at Eliza with a questioning stare.

They both watched as Gwen looked into the lens of the camera mounted in the doorway.

Gwen was keeping secrets from those who monitored the house.

Probably Neil.

It took every effort of control for Eliza not to call Gwen out.

The doorbell rang and distracted them away from the conversation. Eliza moved from the room waving a finger in Gwen’s direction. “This isn’t over with, Miss Prim-and-Proper.”

Zod stood by the front door while Eliza opened it. Russell, one of the bodyguards, waited on the other side. “Sorry to disturb you Mrs. Billings, but your husband has asked that we keep you in sight or hearing range at all times.”

Reality slammed into her chest. All the girl talk and ease of the day shot away faster than the bullet leaving the chamber of a 357. “Why? Has something happened?”

“
Not that I know of, ma’am. He directed me to step into the house.”

A shiver fluttered up her spine. She opened the door wider and let him in.

Samantha walked up beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, Eliza. You’ll hardly notice him after a while.”

I won’t bet money on that.

Packing went quickly and Eliza was taking another trip to the car when Mrs. Sweeny, the neighbor from next door, walked around the hedge with a pot in her arms. “Eliza? Eliza dear?”

Zod snarled at the older woman wearing an apron who smelled like fish.

Eliza called him down. Her bodyguard watched from inside the house.

“
There you are. I never knew you were dating our future governor and here I saw a picture of you in a wedding dress standing next to that handsome husband of yours.” Mrs. Sweeny liked to talk, and she never put on airs.

“
We didn’t announce it to the world until after the ceremony. You’re not the only one surprised by our union.”

Mrs. Sweeny bobbed her head until her grey hair started to tumble into her eyes. “I should be grateful you didn’t attract many of those men with cameras like Samantha did.”

“
I tried.”

Mrs. Sweeny struggled with the pot in her arms and shifted on her feet. “They’ve been here, but not many of them are hiding in the bushes. I’ve only had one broken rose bush this time.”

Samantha and Blake’s marriage brought on a circus of paparazzi attempting to capture the new duchess doing something naughty. Poor Mrs. Sweeny lost many buds that year.

“
I’ll pay for any damage, Mrs. Sweeny.”

“
I know, I know. I’m just so happy for you. Here.” She lifted the pot higher and Eliza reached for the smelly stew.

“
It’s my famous linguine and clam sauce. I know how much you like it. Being newly married and all, you probably won’t be in the kitchen very much.” The older woman winked, leaving Eliza a little baffled. Who knew Mrs. Sweeny carried such wicked thoughts.

“
Thank you.” Eliza took the pot from her neighbor and ignored the nauseous smell of the attempt at fishy pasta. Poor Mr. Sweeny must not have any taste buds left. None of the neighbors escaped a homecoming, welcome baby, happy bride pot of gritty clams in a sauce that might be white, but wasn’t creamy, covering cheap linguine. But the thought was always welcome and no one told Mrs. Sweeny that the contents made its way directly into the garbage disposal in the sink.

“
No problem at all and congratulations, dear. You let your husband know he has my vote.”

Mrs. Sweeny waved as she walked away.

Inside the house, Samantha and Gwen were already running the water in the sink.

Gwen held her nose and Sam turned away as the food went down the drain. “We saw her talking to you and smelled this from upstairs.”

“
How can she eat this stuff?”

“
Have you ever seen her eat it? Seems she is always giving it away.”

The noise from the compactor filled the kitchen until all of the odiferous food was gone. “You’re going to have to burn a scented candle to get the smell out of here,” Eliza told Gwen.

“
I’m ahead of you. One is burning in the living room already.”

“
Smart girl.”

Eliza washed her hands and prayed she didn’t smell like fish. “Well, I think that’s it.”

Eliza gave Gwen a hug and turned to Samantha. “Thanks for helping me pack. Carter and I are going to work out a schedule between his campaign and Alliance. I’ll be back to work next Monday.”

“
Take some time off, get settled.”

“
I’d go crazy doing nothing. I’ll be back on Monday.”

Samantha knew better than to argue and dropped her concerns. As they walked out the door, Mrs. Sweeny’s conversation about broken rose rang in her ears.

“
Gwen, have you seen any paparazzi outside the house?”

“
No, why?”

“
Mrs. Sweeny said something about her roses. Maybe it was Zod.”

“
I know how to handle the media. Don’t worry.”

“
Be careful. And call if you need anything.”

Gwen hugged her again. “I’m not a child.”

“
I know.”

“
I’ll walk you out. I need to get home myself,” Sam said.

Eliza took one last look at the house as she waved goodbye. “There goes a chapter of my life,” she whispered to herself.

“
What was that Mrs. Billings?”

Eliza turned to her bodyguard and called Zod to her side. “Nothing.”

Chapter Twenty-One

“
Hey, Harry! You have a visitor.”

Harry looked at the face of the guard and considered the man’s words.
A visitor?
Who?
He wanted to ask but kept his mouth shut. Visitors had been limited since his incarceration. Funny how when you swindle your friends and destroy your family people have no use for you. He’d made this bed and slept on the lumpy mattress every night of his pathetic life.

Harry pushed himself off the bench where he had been reading a paper and followed the guard to the visitor’s room.

The space was vacant. Only he and the guard stood on the inmate side of the protective glass. Halfway down the flank of chairs sat a man dressed in a tailored business suit Harry would have worn on the outside. He recognized the man, though they had never met. Harry’s heart sped in his chest and for the first time in years, his palms grew moist. He shoved down the drop of hope that threatened to take hold and spread into a lake of want. Wanting what he could never have would only breed discord and pain. Though he deserved it, he avoided emotional pain as much as possible.

Harry sat in the government issue chair and considered the man in front of him.

He picked up the phone and patiently waited for the other man’s move.

“
Mr. Elliot.”

Harry tilted his head to the side. “Mr. Harrison.”

“
You know who I am?”

“
You’re married to my daughter. Of course I know who you are.”

Blake Harrison, the Duke of Albany, stared at him through the glass.

“
You look nothing like your photos,” Blake told him.

“
Prison has a way of kicking the life out of you. Is Samantha okay? Jordan?” Hearing his daughters’ names roll off his tongue shocked even him. Regret choked him hard.

“
They’re fine.”

“
The baby?”

“
Fine.”

Reading about your child in the papers wasn’t the same as hearing the words said aloud by someone who had contact with them. Some weight of Harry’s concern lifted. “Does Samantha know you’re here?”

“
No. Not yet.”

“
Then why are you here?”

Blake assessed him with a deep, penetrating stare that ran through Harry’s body with a rush of power. There was a time in his life when he could make a man squirm with a look, but that wasn’t easy wearing jailhouse blues. He sat taller however, and did his best not to look away.

“
Why did you do it?” Blake asked. “You had to know you’d get caught sooner or later.”

Harry blinked. Blake wasn’t there to ask about his past crimes but something told him his answer would either gain Blake’s trust, or dispel it. Having the trust of your daughter’s husband might mean catching a glimpse of his grandchild or daughter outside of a newspaper article.

“
You’re a business man. You understand the power of money.”

“
Money-induced power can be a curse.”

Harry nodded. “Precisely.” Money was Harry’s addiction. It didn’t matter that he had more than he could ever spend. Each week his portfolio grow. He acquired everything a man could want and lost his family, his freedom, in return.