Married by Monday (Weekday Brides) (27 page)

They both sat for a moment and said nothing. Again, Blake stared and Harry felt his heart kick higher.

“
Do you think of your daughters?”

He thought of the only items in his cell he might consider isolation time to keep safe. “Every day.”

“
How come you’ve never tried to call Samantha?”

Harry looked away. “I don’t deserve her. I’ve only brought her pain.” His throat tightened and he swallowed hard.

Blake shook his head, clearly struggling with what he wanted to say. “I need you to do something for me, Mr. Elliot.”

“
What can I possibly do for you?”

Their eyes met. “I need you to destroy every picture, every article, every anything in your possession about us.”

His palm ached with the death grip he had on the phone. “Why?”

“
There is someone inside who doesn’t need to know about us or our friends.”

Harry considered his son-in-law with narrowed eyes. “Are you going to tell me who this man is?”

“
I’m not at liberty. But for the sake of your daughters, and the people they love, you need to do this.”

“
One more minute, Harry,” the guard informed him.

He contemplated Blake’s request and affirmed it with a nod. “Take care of them.”

“
I will.”

Harry replaced the phone on the hook and took one last look at Blake before he walked away.

****

“
The press wants to see both of you, on stage in full color.” Jay tapped his pen against the legal pad sitting on his lap and stared at both of them. “If you don’t hold a press conference about your marriage, you’ll be hounded until you forgot what it was like to go into a public bathroom without a camera in the next stall.”

Carter closed his eyes and shook his head. When had life become so damn complicated? Eliza ran a finger along his forearm and he tried to smile.

Now that he knew the truth behind why she hid, he understood the need to keep her beyond reach and out of the spotlight. Dean had been right. Eliza should have run. Carter felt selfish knowing she stayed because he asked her to marry him. The image of innocent women murdered at the hands of Sanchez threatened to surface, but he pushed them back.

“
Carter?”

He blinked a couple of times until Eliza’s chocolate eyes met his. “Yeah?”

“
I think we need to let Jay in on what’s going on.”

“
Let Jay know what?” Jay asked. The smaller man kept tapping his pen and switching his gaze from one of them to the other.

Carter ran a hand through his already tousled hair. To tell Jay anything was risky. But then marrying Eliza and showing her off to the world had been ludicrous. He knew that now.

Eliza fingers rolled in small circles over his as if coxing him into submission. If anything ever happened to her, it would be his fault. Had he listened to Dean and pushed, maybe she would be safe. Secluded from her friends, but safe.

“
Let Jay know what?” Jay bit out.

There was already speculation on the news about Eliza’s background. It appeared his rival in the gubernatorial race wanted a full background check and immigration status of Eliza Havens Billings. With illegal immigration at the top of California’s hot topics, having a possible illegal as the first lady of the state was Carter’s ticket to second place.

He couldn’t bring himself to care.

Yet being the governor, or running for office, afforded him some insight and protection that Carter Billings the judge or lawyer didn’t have.

No. He needed to see this through.

And he needed to call in a few favors.

He turned his palm over and laced his fingers with hers. “Eliza has been part of the witness protection program. Her name was changed to protect her.”

Jay’s pen stopped tapping, and his gaze swiveled to Eliza. “Really?”

She lifted her eyebrows and nodded. “Yeah.”

Jay stood and started to pace like a man who had drunk six cups of coffee before his first union break. “So that’s why the extra security? Someone is after you?”

“
It’s possible.”

“
Who else knows this?”

“
Close friends, close family… Why?”

Jay rubbed his chin in thought. “Now that you’re married this is going to come out. You know that, right?”

Eliza’s slow nod let him know she wasn’t completely prepared for what would come next.

“
What about your uncle?”

“
Max?”

“
Yeah, him.”

“
We’re not close.”

“
But he’s family. The voting public is aware of that. I’ve said all along you needed to tap into his connections, and now it seems you have no choice.”

“
Max can’t be relied upon.”

“
He’s up for election in two years. He’ll obtain votes however he can.”

“
What are you suggesting, Jay?” Carter leaned forward and listened.

“
That we blow the lid off this before anyone else. And we do it with your uncle at your side. Hell, he doesn’t even need to know why he’s there. We can tell him the media wants photos of you both.”

“
Max is vain, but not so much that he’d fly out for a photo op.”

“
What about the fund raising dinner scheduled for Saturday?” Eliza suggested.

Carter wasn’t convinced. Making a deal with the devil might prove a better risk than his uncle. “What exactly do you think my uncle can do for us?”

“
Like it or not, Carter, Max is respected and probably feared by his peers. As you already know, politicians might sit on opposing sides of the fence on how to pass bills and run this country, but all of you have one common bond. Protect your families. What you do will reflect on Max and him on you. It would be in his best interest to stand united with you and Eliza as you move forward with this information. Max didn’t earn a senate seat being stupid.”

Max was anything but stupid. Max was dangerous. The thought of owing him a favor rankled in Carter’s stomach like acid.

“
What’s going through your mind?” Eliza asked quietly.

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “I don’t know if we can trust him. In fact, I know I can’t.”

“
Could he make things harder for us?”

“
In the short term, probably not.” But the devil always manages to get paid in the long run.

Jay stood to the side and fiddled with the pen he held between his fingers.

“
Why don’t we ask your mother? She knows Max better than all of us.”

Carter forced a smile he didn’t feel. “Yeah… Okay.”

Eliza squeezed his hand and turned to Jay. “Make sure we have extra space at our table at the dinner. We’ll let you know what names need to be added to the guest list.”

“
Great.” Jay started to leave the room to carry out their requests. “Remember what they say, Carter. Keep your enemies close and all that...”

****

Once again, Eliza used Gwen’s fashion expertise to dress her as a political wife. Carter opened his accounts for Eliza to use. As an independent woman the thought of spending someone else’s money felt wrong. Wrong or not, Eliza’s personal bank account wouldn’t hold up long under the strain of Gwen’s taste.

It wasn’t until Carter asked her opinion on the size of a private jet that the magnitude of his wealth sunk in.

“
You’re serious?” she asked him.

“
Like I said, I can’t keep using Blake’s. He has his own business to run.” Carter pointed to the sleeping quarters within the plane. “It sleeps two. Even the chairs fully recline.”

“
It’s a plane. A jet plane.”

“
Yeah, so?”

“
Can you fly it?”

“
That’s what pilots are for.”

“
You’re seriously considering buying an airplane?”

He leaned forward in his chair to peer deeper into the monitor that covered one-third the size of his desk. “I’m not sure about the interior,” he mused aloud. “I think darker colors would feel more modern.”

Eliza closed her eyes and shook her head. “Have you seen the amount of zeros behind the first two numbers? How big is that coffee can buried in your backyard?”

“
I’ve been saving.” He clicked onto another page and grinned. “Oh, I like that better. What do you think? It seats twelve.”

“
You’re crazy.”

“
I like the dark wood.”

“
You’re talking millions, Carter. You can’t be serious.”

He clicked another page and his eyes lit up. “Now we’re talking. This has a range of over five thousand miles and it seats eighteen. Perfect.”

Eliza grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look in her direction. “What are you doing?”

“
I’m buying a plane. What does it look like I’m doing?”

“
Why?”

“
Because we need it. I fly damn near every week, and I’m sure as hell not going to put you on a domestic flight. Blake encouraged me to invest in this years ago, but I didn’t see the need. Now, I do.”

“
Blake’s a duke. He can wipe his ass with hundred dollar bills if he wants. You don’t have to keep up with your best friend.”

Carter cocked his head to the side and offered her a coy smile. “I’m not keeping up with the Joneses, Eliza. I’ve considered this for a while.”

“
Why now?”

He pulled her down into his lap and perched her on his knee. His arms circled her waist and the pure masculine scent of him surrounded her in a familiar warmth.

“
It’s time,” he said. “Time to stop pretending I don’t have the means to afford this…to take care of you.”

Eliza lifted her hands to his broad shoulders and kneaded the muscles behind his dress shirt. “I don’t need a plane.”

He leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose. “I disagree.”

“
You’re crazy,” she told him again.

He laughed and swiveled in the chair with her in his lap until they were both facing the monitor filled with luxury jets. “Which one do you like?”

“
Crazy.”

“
Dark wood or a light pine?”

Eliza’s gaze found the monitor. “The light looks dated.”

Carter’s fingers squeezed her side. “So dark it is…and we want to make it across the country without refueling, so we need one of these larger models.”

It was hard not getting caught up in the shopping experience. But good Lord, they were looking at jet planes. “If we’re going all out, it has to have a bedroom.” Her thoughts returned to the short time they had on the return trip from Hawaii. Her cheeks grew warm.

Carter snuggled closer and clicked the mouse on the two most expensive models on the screen. The lush interior of the jet sparkled through recessed lighting and leather reclining chairs. A bar area with a small kitchenette took up a small corner. The full bathroom contained everything a traveler could need.

“
The bed isn’t that big.”

Carter kissed her shoulder and nuzzled her neck. “We don’t need a lot of room.”

Eliza turned her head and found his lips. Thoughts of airplanes and bedrooms disappeared as Carter reminded her of how very little room the two of them took up on a bed.

****

Abigail agreed with Jay. Though she didn’t completely trust her brother, she knew he would avoid family scandal to preserve the family name.

Jay altered the guest list for the fundraiser by adding members of Carter’s family and members of the press. Neil’s team would handle security and the government issued bodyguards.

The formal dinner meant wearing a floor length gown that hugged Eliza’s waist and enhanced her cleavage. Eliza scoffed at the gown at first, and then Gwen reminded her that the fashions she wore would be mimicked. Suddenly her wardrobe needed an overhaul. Assuming the role of Carter’s wife held more responsibility than she ever thought possible.

Even in a room full of gun toting security, Eliza felt naked without her firearm close by. The dress she wore didn’t allow it.

The two of them sat in the back of a limousine en route to the hotel where the fund raising event was being held. The opulence inside the luxury car matched that of the private jet. Neither of which she thought she’d get used to, ever. Carter sat beside her texting Jay and confirming everything was ready for their arrival. The city lights of Los Angeles whizzed past as the driver cut through traffic. Outside the shaded glass, other drivers craned their necks to see if they could catch a glimpse at who was inside the oversized car. In the deep recesses of her memories, Eliza fantasized about living the life of someone who used a limo. That childhood dream always came equipped with a handsome prince who took care of her every whim. Now, here she was, sitting next to arguably the most handsome man she’d ever met, wearing his ring—the one he refused to reveal its cost—and calling herself his wife.

A fluttering spark of happiness took hold inside her heart and spread through her soul. Carter had managed to wiggle deep into her system, so deep it scared her. Maybe their marriage could last. Discussing how long their marriage would last was off subject. At night, when they made love and murmured sexy things to each other, they didn’t utter a word about love. Eliza couldn’t help wondering if there was something else other than the election fueling Carter’s insistence for marrying her. Then again, according to the polls, he needed a wife. Outside of a divorce, while a man held the governor’s office, there hadn’t been a bachelor voted into the seat.