Logical.
Even when the man asking to be her husband was as captivating as any rock star and as intelligent as any Supreme Court judge was, he didn’t say he was the perfect man for her. No, he spoke of bodyguards and safety.
Logical.
Even when the thought of being Mrs. Carter Billings left her breathless…
Not Logical…sexual maybe…
“Earth to Eliza…come in Eliza.” Sam waved her hands in front of Eliza’s face to capture her attention.
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I know you’re under a lot of stress. So, what do you think?”
Eliza glanced down at the flowers and pointed to the first bouquet that appealed to her. Orchids and lilies. Just like the ones Carter had sent her a little over a week ago.
“Perfect…and the cake?”
Eliza pointed to a simple and elegant design. “I’m not sure of the flavors. I don’t know what Carter likes.”
Gwen sat to the right of Eliza and scoffed. “He doesn’t prefer chocolate. I found that strange when so many men gravitate toward the flavor. Perhaps you should pick vanilla or some such combination.”
It was upsetting that Gwen knew Carter’s taste better than Eliza did. Then again, Blake and Carter had been best friends for years, and Eliza had only known him for a few. It could be worse she realized. Samantha and Blake had been married within a week of their introduction.
Eliza checked off a couple of vanilla combinations…one with strawberry filling, another with cream.
Done!
“What’s next?”
They had talked with a caterer the day before and also picked out classic evening gowns for both Samantha and Gwen.
Because of the last minute celebration, the wedding would take place on Samantha and Blake’s property, which wasn’t a hardship with the Pacific Ocean in the background and majestic views on every corner of their home.
“I spoke with the photographer we used in Texas, and they’re making arrangements to come here. Apparently, it’s even hotter in Texas now than it was two months ago and the photographer is free.”
“I would think he’d be booked.” Eliza knew Sam must have offered a huge bonus and maybe a private jet to manage a photographer on such short notice. Calling Sam on it would only bring an argument. Besides, Eliza endured the color yellow for Sam’s last wedding for God’s sake.
“I guess not,” Gwen added with a coy smile.
Yeah, someone got a kickback.
Samantha picked up her notebook and checked off tasks. “We only have a few days and a wedding dress might be difficult to find. I say we get started on that this afternoon.”
“I want simple.” Eliza had never been the kind of girl to fantasize about her wedding. Maybe that came with not having parents or family in her life. She always assumed she’d be married by a Justice of the Peace or some cheesy Elvis impersonator in Vegas.
She was surprised by her own action when she suggested that she and Carter have a ceremony. Maybe standing beside Samantha at all her weddings was wearing off on Eliza.
Half an hour later, the three of them were on their way to a boutique in search of the perfect last minute wedding dress.
****
Carter scrolled through his smart phone in search of wedding rings while Jay ran down a list of tasks and meetings scheduled for the coming week.
“Governor Montgomery has invited you to a State dinner in two weeks. It will take some rearranging, but it would probably be best for you to attend. His endorsement will put votes in your pocket.”
Solitaire or a rock set with other stones? “When is this dinner?” Carter asked.
“Two weeks from this Friday.”
A week after the wedding. A perfect time to show off his bride. “I’ll need two invitations.”
“Oh?”
Solitaire was Carter’s first choice, but Eliza liked more bling than she let on. Underneath all her rough exterior, she had the heart of a girly girl.
“Yeah. And I need to clear my schedule from Saturday through Wednesday of this week.”
Remembering Eliza in the awful yellow dress at Samantha and Blake’s last ceremony, Carter clicked over to a rare yellow diamond collection on the site. He expected to see something ugly but what he found was anything but.
In fact, it was perfect.
Carter saved the picture to his phone and checked his watch. He would have to call the store manager to open up after hours, but that shouldn’t be a problem.
Jay cleared his throat.
“Sorry.” Carter tucked his phone inside his jacket. “You can clear my schedule, right?”
The scowl on Jay’s face expressed his irritation. “Of course,” he said through pursed lips. “Can I give an excuse?”
Carter stood and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Eliza and I are getting married this Saturday at the Harrison estate. I have you down for you plus one. We plan on taking a few days for a honeymoon, and then we’re back on track.”
Jay’s jaw dropped.
“While we’re gone, I need you to touch base with those two detectives you met last month who intercepted Eliza after the press conference, and then you’ll need to work on a security detail for her and our home.”
Jay closed his mouth and threw his hands up in the air. “Hold on. You’re getting married?”
“Saturday.”
Jay extended his hand. “Congratulations. Smart move. This is going to go a long way to fix last month’s fuck up.”
Carter didn’t deny or confirm his reason for marriage. “Try and give an excuse about a private affair that I’m attending. I’ll have you release an announcement after Saturday. I’d like to avoid a circus.”
“Sure. No problem. Now what about the cops?”
Carter shook his head. “It’s complicated. They’ll give you what you need to present to the FBI to obtain the necessary security.”
“The feds?”
Carter patted Jay’s shoulder. “It’s complicated.” He gave Jay Dean’s card. “You’ll see these guys again at the wedding.” Carter checked his watch again. “I’ve gotta go.” I have a wedding ring to buy.
Chapter Sixteen
The wedding was in three days, and Carter hadn’t had a moment alone with his fiancée since she said yes.
“I thought you said we were going out to dinner,” Eliza peered through the windshield of the car with a frown.
“We are.” Carter pulled up to the valet and unfolded from the car. He offered Eliza a hand and told the driver that they would be back by midnight.
Blake’s pilot met them by the stairs of the private jet and welcomed them aboard.
Carter knew Eliza had flown on the plane for several occasions over the past couple of years, but the light in her eyes didn’t fade when it came to the luxury.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Eliza asked as she fastened her seatbelt.
His hands grew moist. “As soon as we’re airborne.”
“Afraid I’ll bolt?”
He laughed. “Maybe.” Exactly.
The pilot taxied the plane onto the runway and announced their departure.
The cabin pressurized and the engines effortlessly pulled them in the sky. Once the plane leveled off, Eliza asked said. “You might have guessed, but surprises and I don’t get along. I don’t mind a big bow on a present, but…”
“I’m taking you to Tucson. To meet my parents.”
“Oh.” Her jaw went slack.
“I told them I was bringing you to dinner.”
“Do they know we’re getting married?”
“Yes.”
Eliza started to nibble on the end of one fingernail and he found it cute. “Your dad is a retired police officer, right?”
“New York P.D. for thirty years.”
“Is he the reason you became a lawyer?”
Eliza must have realized that she was chewing on her nails and quickly removed her hand from her mouth.
Eliza chuckled.
“I’d stage a crime scene, and my friend Roger would collect the evidence.”
“Sounds like a nerd version of cops and robbers.”
“It was. My father worked his entire life for a system that’s broken in many ways. I always wanted to be someone who helped fix the system for men like my dad.”
She shifted in the large leather chair and kicked off her heels. “I’ve always wondered how you can afford to run for office. Seems most men like you come from family money. I can’t imagine your dad becoming rich on a cop’s salary.”
“No. I had my eye on law school, but I knew the cost would prohibit my efforts. I was searching for an investment with a quick return when I met Blake. He was starting up a shipping company and wanted investors. I took a half a year off school and gave Blake my tuition money.”
“That had to be hard.”
“It was. But Blake was…Blake. He didn’t try to sell me on the idea, just said that he would triple my money. He was determined to screw his father by being successful, and I believed he could do it.”
They both knew how that turned out. Blake’s shipping business bloomed and turned into millions.
“So, are you partners with Blake?”
“Silent. I took what I needed to finish college and gave him full run of the rest of my investment.”
“Wow. I had no idea. I thought you guys were only friends.”
“Friends first, business associates second. I’ve never questioned what he does with the money, how he invests it, or anything.”
“Makes me wish I had money to invest.”
Carter shook his head. “His company isn’t public, but I’m sure Sam will put a good word in for you.”
“What about my fiancée? Shouldn’t the wife of a silent partner count for something?” she teased.
He liked the sound of that. His wife. “I might be able to arrange something.”
They laughed and when the pilot said they could walk about the cabin, Carter stepped over to the mini bar and opened a bottle of wine.
“What about your mother? What’s she like?”
“My mom’s great. Funny. Doesn’t take herself too seriously. She gave up a lot to marry my dad but has never looked back.”
“Gave up a lot? What do you mean?”
Carter handed her a glass of Pinot Grigio and sat back down.
For anyone who bothered to look, Carter’s family was public record. However, he didn’t go out of his way to announce what he told Eliza next.
“My mother is a Hammond. As in Senator Hammond.”
A brief blank expression on Eliza’s face faded as she realized who Carter meant.
“Maxwell Hammond?”
“Right.”
Eliza blew a whistle through her lips. “That’s some big money and influence.”
Carter took a drink of the wine and let the crisp flavor float over his tongue. “They used all of it to try and break up my mom and dad. It didn’t work.”
“That’s sweet. I mean…it sucks that your extended family would go through those efforts, but cool that it didn’t work.”
“It was ugly from what I’m told. She never really mended her relationship with her brother, and he’s been anything but loving every time I’ve ever seen him. Outside of big family functions, weddings, funerals, we don’t see him or my mom’s side of the family.” In a way, Carter running for office was exactly what his mother’s family would have wanted. But he wasn’t doing it for them. He was doing it for his father. The joke was on the Hammonds.
Eliza asked a few things about his family and his years in New York.
He told her about Roger and Beverly. He suggested they visit them and the baby girl who’d been born the week prior, once things settled.
“Mr. Billings, Miss Havens, we are on approach, please fasten your seatbelts.”
Carter moved to the seat beside Eliza and belted in. She glanced out the window and started to bite her nails. He grasped her hand and held it between them. “They’re going to love you.”
“I’m not nervous,” she said, defensively.
Yeah, right.
****
Eliza wasn’t sure what she expected, but the people responsible for Carter’s existence weren’t it.
Abigail Billings was a young sixty with only minimal lines on her face to give away her age. Her strawberry blonde hair looked as if she spent time every month in a stylist’s chair.
Carter’s father went by the name of Cash, and Eliza could see the humor behind the man’s gaze when he sized her up at the door.
“So you’re the woman tying my son down,” he said with a cocky grin after their brief introduction.
Abigail swatted her husband in a playful manner, and Eliza took the opportunity to see just how much like Carter the Billings were. “I think we should wait until after we’re married before I break out the restraints.”
Cash burst out in laughter, and Carter’s face grew red.
“Oh, I like her, Carter,” Cash said as he placed a hand behind Eliza’s back and led her into their modest living room. Their Arizona home sat beside one of the many golf courses peppering the landscape. It wasn’t a mansion, but it wasn’t typical suburbia either.
“We’ve been so excited to meet you, Eliza. We didn’t know Carter was seeing anyone seriously.” Abigail offered refreshments and Carter sat beside Eliza on the sofa.
“Eliza and I have known each other for years.”
“So you said on the phone,” Cash said.
“It’s only recently that we started dating.” Eliza could see that Carter’s parents were going to drive this question so she did her best to keep things as honest as possible. Although their faces were filled with excitement, there was a small measure of apprehension there, too. Carter was their only child. Eliza didn’t think it would be normal for any parents not to question a child’s swiftness to the altar.
“Eliza is a close friend of Samantha,” Carter explained. “I think we both avoided dating because of our mutual friends.”
She caught Carter smiling her way and grinned back. What he said was certainly true for her. Of course, he left out the part where they argued most of the time when they were in the same room.
“It appears you overcame those concerns.”
Carter lifted his chin. “You can see why,” he told his father.
Eliza felt her cheeks grow warm with Carter’s praise. He sounded convincing, even to her ears.
“So why the rush wedding?”
The need to nibble on her nails grew strong, but Eliza squelched it and tried to relax and let Carter answer his father’s direct question.
“A couple of reasons, really. First is because I want to claim Eliza as my wife to the world.”
“How very caveman of you,” Eliza teased. Claiming her meant protecting her. She did her best not to read any deeper meaning into his words.
Carter grasped her hand and held it.
“And the second reason?” Abigail asked.
Carter’s face softened as his eyes searched Eliza’s. “I would think that is obvious.”
Wow. Eliza’s heart flipped in her chest. Carter really had missed his call to Hollywood. If she wasn’t aware of his real reasons for marrying her, she’d believe he was a man desperately in love.
Abigail released a long sigh.
Cash stood and moved to his son’s side.
Carter pulled Eliza to her feet before accepting his father’s handshake and bear hug. “Congratulations, son.”
Eliza felt a small pang of guilt when Cash hugged her and welcomed her to their family.
They ate dinner in comfortable conversation. Abigail asked about Eliza’s family and she told her they’d died when she was young. There was only a mom
ent of sadness that passed over the other woman’s face, but then Carter turned the conversation to other things.
Eliza couldn’t help thinking about her parents while seated alongside Carter’s. They would have loved Carter and applauded his desire to protect her. Then again, if it wasn’t for their death, Eliza wouldn’t be marrying the man at her side.
Abigail addressed Eliza and pulled her out of her thoughts. “Has Carter warned you about my brother?”
“He’s said a few things.”
“He’s a typical politician. Believe none of what he says.”
“Hey!” Carter scolded his father.
“Present company excluded.”
“He’s right, Eliza. Max believes he is the authority on everything and everyone. If you show him a weakness he’ll exploit it.” Abigail was serving coffee in the living room while she delivered her warning about her brother. “He’s managed to overshadow my father after years of trying.”
“Is he really that bad?”
“Worse. The only thing I can praise him for is my sister-in-law, Sally. Truth be told, I don’t know why she stays with the man. She’s undeniably sweet and an utter pushover. Perfect for Max.”
“That’s sad.” Eliza couldn’t imagine not having a backbone and allowing a man to rule over her.
“If given the opportunity, you’d get along fine with her. Chances are Max won’t allow a friendship to develop, so please don’t think it’s you.”
“Are they all coming to the wedding?” Cash asked.
Eliza knew that Carter had invited his grandparents, and Max and Sally. After learning more about his uncle, she couldn’t help but hope the last minute invitation wouldn’t be accepted.
“Max and Sally are coming. I haven’t heard from John and Carol.” John and Carol were Carter’s grandparents. She found it odd that he addressed them by their first names.
“I’ll pin my mother down for an answer tomorrow and phone you with the information.”
By the end of the evening, Eliza felt as if she’d known Carter’s parents for a long time. She looked forward to seeing them at the wedding and knew they would be the anchor of sanity while navigating Carter’s family.
“Your parents were surprisingly real,” Eliza told Carter once they were alone in the car on the way back to the airport.
Married by Monday (Weekday Brides) Page 14
