Millionaire's Woman

by Helen Brooks

  Hundreds of them.

  Pointy, sagging and siliconed breasts. Brown, pink and one pair of blue breasts. Lopsided, tattooed and hairy breasts. Breasts with nipples that, through some trick of perspective, always seemed to be pointing directly at the viewer no matter where he or she stood—or sat.

  Mrs. Branwell’s fork clattered onto her plate. Her husband leaned forward and craned his neck to get a better look. Amber folded her arms over her chest. Doreen emitted an odd, muffled noise.

  Garek burst out laughing.

  “I’m glad you found the evening so amusing,” Ellie said several hours later as Garek was driving her home. “I don’t think your sister did. But that was your intention, wasn’t it?”

  “At first, perhaps,” he admitted. “What about you? Did you enjoy yourself?”

  “It could have been worse,” she said, not very graciously. But she didn’t want to admit that she had had a good time. After Garek burst into laughter, everyone had seemed to loosen up. The silent auction had gone well, with George Palermo and Sam Kroner getting into a bidding war over Caspar’s painting. Through it all, Ellie had chatted with the guests. Amber had left early, but everyone else had appeared to enjoy themselves—everyone except Doreen.

  Looking stiff and mortified, Doreen Tarrington had barely spoken a word to anyone the remainder of the evening. Unfortunately, the one person she did speak to was Ellie. The older woman pulled her aside at one point to “warn” her about Garek. He had committed numerous sins, according to his sister, including neglecting his duty to his family and his position in the community, as well as cheating her out of her fair share of their father’s company.

  Garek turned the car onto Ellie’s street and parked under a streetlight. It provided dim illumination through the sleet-filled night, but enough that she could see Garek’s serious expression as he turned to her.

  “I apologize for Doreen,” he said quietly.

  His words surprised her. “You don’t have to. She didn’t bother me.”

  He shot a skeptical glance at her. “Oh? You didn’t mind being interrogated about your family, having your manners attacked and being cold-shouldered by your hostess?”

  “Not really. I feel sorry for your sister.”

  “Sorry for her? What on earth for?”

  “I see a sad and lonely woman who is trying very hard to buy her place in life. She doesn’t seem to understand that money can’t make her happy.”

  He stared at her. “You honestly think someone with no money can be as happy as someone with a large bank account?”

  Ellie thought about some of the hardships she’d experienced since coming to Chicago—working twelveand fourteen-hour days; eating nothing but rice and beans in order to make her rent payment; and the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach at the end of every month when she balanced the gallery’s books and saw the steadily increasing red ink. “I suppose money can smooth the way,” she admitted. “But haven’t you ever noticed that no matter how much people have, they always want more? If they make ten thousand dollars, they want thirty thousand dollars. If they make a hundred thousand dollars, they want a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. They’re never satisfied with what they have.”

  He stared at her with an odd expression she couldn’t quite define. She expected him to argue with her, to ridicule her for being naive and simplistic.

  “It’s kind of you to say Doreen didn’t bother you,” he said, directing his gaze toward the sleet-battered windshield. “But I know that’s not true. I saw how nervous you were.”

  She glanced at him in surprise. What was he talking about? She hadn’t been nervous. Angry, maybe, but not nervous. “Did I seem nervous?”

  “Yes, you did.” He turned his gaze back to her, watching her closely. “I could tell, because in all the time I’ve known you, as many restaurants as I’ve taken you to, I’ve never seen you use the wrong fork before.”

  “Oh!” Her eyes skittered away, then returned to his. She smiled a little ruefully. “Well, maybe I did egg your sister on a bit. I really shouldn’t have.”

  He didn’t say anything else. He got out of the car into the raging sleet and wind. He opened her door for her and ran with her up to her apartment. Sheltered somewhat by the roof, he took her hand. “Will you go to dinner with me tomorrow night?”

  She stared at the large hand enveloping hers. Did he really think she could ignore everything that he’d done? Did he really think they could go on as though none of it had happened?

  “No,” she said, then braced herself, expecting him to argue or try to kiss her.

  Instead, he gazed down at her for a long moment, a slight frown between his brows. Suddenly, he raised her hand to his lips and lightly kissed the back of her glove.

  Then, without a word, he left, leaving her feeling angry, upset…and strangely confused.

  Garek returned to his sister’s house to find her pacing the marble tile of the entry hall.

  “There you are!” she greeted him accusingly.“ I’m surprised you didn’t stay all night with your little girlfriend.”

  “Perhaps I should have.”

  Doreen gave him a sharp look. “What’s going on with you and that girl?”

  “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

  “You would like there to be, though, wouldn’t you?”

  “Is this why you asked me to come back here tonight? So you could interrogate me about my relationship with Ellie?”

  “Yes…no! I asked you to come here so I could tell you what I think of you, you bastard! I never should have let you talk me into going forward with this—if I hadn’t needed that money so desperately…oh! What my friends must have thought!”

  “Your friends appeared to enjoy themselves,” Garek said coolly.

  “No, thanks to your girlfriend and that horrible artist person. When he unveiled that obscene painting…and you! You were no help, laughing the way you did. I was mortified, absolutely mortified. You knew how much this evening meant to me—and yet you couldn’t even be bothered to wear a decent tie!”

  He glanced down at the scrap of fabric in question. “I’m beginning to like it,” he said. “Ellie gave it to me.”

  “I’m not at all surprised. You cannot be serious about that girl—oh, don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. I saw the way you were looking at her all evening. I admit, she’s attractive in a lowclass sort of way, but she would never fit in. Just look at her family—her mother a house cleaner, her father a usedcar salesman, her uncle a taco maker. Who knows what other distasteful details we’ll discover about her background?”

  At least one more, if his suspicions were correct, Garek thought, remembering the picture of Ellie’s parents in her bedroom.

  He looked at his sister. If they’d had this conversation yesterday, he would have been furious. But now, after his conversation with Ellie, he could only think of what she’d said. Doreen’s face had the smooth, blank look of someone who’d had a face-lift; there were no smile lines by her eyes, only tiny vertical grooves above her upper lip that made her look bitter and dissatisfied. What had made her that way? he wondered. Out loud, he said, “Ellie fit in perfectly tonight.”

  “She was tolerated, nothing more. And only because my friends are too polite to say anything. You must watch out for this girl. You know she’s only interested in your money. Did you see the way she was eyeing the furniture, as if she was assessing its value?”

  “You don’t know her,” Garek said.

  “I know her, all right. Her type is obvious. She’s the type to get pregnant and trap a man into marriage.”

  “No, she’s the type to have a cousin who forces her to marry a man at gunpoint.”

  Doreen’s mouth dropped open. “What are you talking about?”

  A glimmer of a smile curved Garek’s mouth at the sight of Doreen’s aghast look. “I’m saying, sister, dear, your warning is too late. Ellie and I are already married.”

  Chapter Twelve

/>   Ellie looked at the giraffe, wishing she could wring Garek’s neck until he looked like a twin of the penned animal in front of her. “Why haven’t you signed the annulment papers?” she asked, turning her gaze back to the aggravating creature next to her.

  He shrugged and led her to the next enclosure, not responding to her question—another bad habit of his, she thought darkly. When she’d called his office this morning and demanded to speak to him, his assistant had put her on hold, then come back on the line saying Garek was too busy to talk right now, but he’d be glad to meet her at lunchtime at any spot she chose.

  “He can talk to me now,” Ellie had said sweetly, “or meet me at the zoo.”

  She hadn’t thought the big ape would actually agree to her suggestion. She’d been tempted to stand him up—and she probably would have if the matter hadn’t been so urgent.

  “Why haven’t you signed the papers?” she asked again.

  “There’s been a glitch.” He threw a peanut to one of the baboons.

  Probably a close relative of his, Ellie thought. “What kind of glitch?”

  “Some legal technicality. It should take only a week or two to correct.”

  “A week or two?” she repeated blankly. For the last couple of days, ever since Doreen Tarrington’s dinner party, Ellie had been feeling like she’d fallen down the rabbit hole. First there’d been the influx of customers to the gallery—virtually all of the dinner guests and a multitude of their friends had descended upon Vogel’s and purchased at least one art piece. Tom, Carlo and Bertrice were ecstatic.

  Ellie should have been delighted too. And she was. Only…she wished Garek wasn’t the one largely responsible for the gallery’s sudden success. She didn’t want to have to begrateful to him. She didn’t want to have to even think about him. But it was amazingly difficult not to. Especially after the visitor she’d had at the gallery yesterday.

  Ellie had just opened, when the bell on the door jingled and a teenager walked in. The tall girl with hostile gray eyes looked vaguely familiar, but it took Ellie a moment to place where she’d seen that thin face and straight brown hair before.

  “You’re Karen Tarrington, aren’t you?” Ellie said.

  The girl looked shocked, then suspicious. “How’d you know that?”

  “Your uncle showed me a picture of you once.”

  “He did?” Some emotion flickered in the girl’s eyes—but only for a moment. “I didn’t know he had one. Mom must have given him my stupid school picture. I’m surprised he didn’t throw it away.” She glanced disdainfully around the gallery. “What a bunch of junk!”

  The girl was as charming as her mother, Ellie thought wryly. “Your family appears to be completely unanimous in that opinion.”

  Karen stared at a chair covered with beads and bits of glass. “Yeah, Mom’s pretty upset. This is going to kill her chance of getting in the Social Register for sure. Are you supposed to sit on this chair?”

  Ellie blinked. “No, not really. It’s more for decoration. What does Vogel’s have to do with your mother and the Social Register?”

  “That’s why Mom wanted Uncle Garek to start an art foundation. So she could get her name in the Social Register. Uncle Garek thought it was a stupid idea.”

  For once Ellie had to agree with him. “I’m surprised he didn’t refuse her request, then.”

  “He couldn’t. Mom threatened to screw up some business deal he was working on. Uncle Garek was pretty hot under the collar about it.”

  Appalled, Ellie stared at Karen. “How do you know all this?”

  “They were arguing about it on Christmas Eve. They argue a lot. Uncle Garek hates my mom.”

  “I doubt that’s true,” Ellie said automatically, then paused. “I think he’s just very angry at her for trying to hurt his business,” she said more slowly.

  Karen shrugged. “Same difference. He hardly ever comes over to our house anymore.”

  “Did he use to?”

  “Yeah, when I was a little kid. He took me to the park and baseball games and stuff like that. Once he took me to the symphony.”

  “The symphony?”

  “Yeah. For my birthday. I was thirteen years old and he bought me a white lace dress with a blue satin bow.” Once more, the cynical expression slipped, revealing pure, naked emotion. For a moment, the girl’s face was full of such wistfulness, such yearning, that Ellie’s breath caught. Then the mask descended once more and Karen sneered. “It was a little kid’s dress. I didn’t want to wear it, but Mom insisted. I hated it and I hated the stupid symphony. All that lame classical music. Uncle Garek stopped coming by after that. He said he had to work.”

  Ellie said gently, “That was probably true.”

  Karen shrugged again. “Yeah, right. At least he buys good presents. He got me a computer for Christmas, and he bought my mom an emerald and ruby necklace. Actually, I thought the necklace was kind of ugly, but Mom didn’t care. She always returns everything he gives her for the cash.”

  Ellie remembered the gaudy necklace with shock. She’d imagined his sister treasuring the ugly jewelry as a sign of his affection—instead, it appeared the woman only cared about the monetary value. Did Garek know? Probably. His anger at his sister obviously went back a long way. But oddly enough, in spite of all the anger and bitterness, she sensed that he really did care about Doreen—

  “So what’s the deal here?” Karen asked, bending over to look more closely at a fishbone hung in a frame. “Are you my aunt now, or what?”

  Ellie froze. “What are you talking about?”

  “You and Uncle Garek are married, right? He told Mom last night. She’s absolutely livid.”

  Karen’s warning should have prepared Ellie for the phone call she’d received shortly after the girl left—but it hadn’t. Remembering the unpleasant conversation, she glared at the South American rodent in the enclosure in front of her, then turned her gaze to its North American counterpart standing next to her. “Did you have to tell your sister?” she asked.

  Garek slanted a glance at her. “She gave you a hard time, I take it.”

  “Did she ever!” Indignation rose in Ellie at the memory. Karen had given her a blatantly skeptical look when Ellie denied the marriage and had left the gallery a few minutes later; Doreen hadn’t been nearly so restrained. “The names she called me! And when I finally got her calmed down enough to explain that the ceremony was invalid, that we weren’t really married, she called me a liar!”

  “Sorry about that,” he murmured.

  She looked at him suspiciously. “But why did you tell her?”

  “It just slipped out.”

  Ellie gripped the iron railing. “You’ve never struck me as the type to let things slip.”

  “Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think.”

  “I know as much as I want to know.”

  “Are you so sure, Ellie? Why won’t you give me a second chance?”

  “Why should I?”

  “I don’t know.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I just know that I don’t want you to disappear from my life until we’ve had a chance to explore this attraction between us.”

  She glared at him. “Is that what this is all about? Are you still hoping to get me into bed? Well, you won’t. I wouldn’t go to bed with you if the world was about to end. I wouldn’t go to bed with you if the survival of the human species depended on it. I wouldn’t go to bed with you if—”

  “Okay, okay,” he said. “I get the idea.”

  “I don’t think you know how to be friends with a woman.”

  “You could teach me.”

  “I don’t want to teach you anything.” She headed for the door that led out of the Large Mammal House. Freez-ing-cold wind bit at her face as she started up a winding path. “I’ve had a revelation. I’ve realized that sex before marriage is a big mistake. My new philosophy in life is no sex without a wedding ring. What do you think of that?”

  “I still want to go out wit
h you.”

  He must not have heard her. “There would be no sex. And no spending lots of money, either. Could you live with that?”

  “Yes,” he said meekly.

  She didn’t believe him. He would get tired of a relationship based on nothing more than friendship. She doubted he would last more than a month, if that.

  She glanced up at him as they approached an outdoor animal enclosure. “There’s a foreign film playing at the college on Saturday and the Azalea Flower Show at Garfield Park the week after that. You can come with me to those,” she informed him.

  He winced a little, but nodded.

  “You understand, no sex,” she reiterated.

  He nodded again.

  Satisfied, she turned to look at the animals in the enclosure.

  Two huge polar bears were vigorously mating.

  Ellie’s eyes widened. She froze. The bears continued their business with the utmost nonchalance.

  She sneaked a glance at Garek.

  “Unless, of course,” he said, completely straightfaced except for a gleam in his eye, “you can’t bear to go without.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “So what do you think?” she asked him one month later during the intermission of the free concert being held at a local college.

  Garek eyed the stale doughnuts and cold coffee being sold by some student group in the dingy hallway. He decided against refreshments.

  “To be perfectly truthful,” he said, turning his gaze back to Ellie, “it’s incredibly boring.”

  He saw the shock register. She stared at him, her lips pursing in an expression of disapproval. But then, her mouth softened, and she laughed. “At least you’re honest. But you’re spoiled. You’re used to easy entertainment. Sometimes you have to make an effort.”

  “An effort how?”

  “You learn about the music, to appreciate it. You imagine a story as it’s playing. Or what the music makes you feel. What did you feel with the music we just heard?”

  “Sleepy.”