The Billionaire's Runaway Bride (13 page)

Taking a deep breath, Sophie nodded her head. “Okay. I’ll take it,” she said. “Do I need anything else?”

Sasha just laughed. “Of course, but I think you are worn out for today. I’ll search for more outfits for you and I’ll see you…” she looked at her calendar, “next Wednesday?” she suggested.

Sophie thought quickly. “I suppose that would be okay. I’ll see what the reaction to this extravagance is.”

Sasha smiled confidently. “I guarantee that he will love every new outfit.”

The store staff stored her purchases in the trunk of the limousine. Michael drove her home and Sophie smoothed the sophisticated pair of slacks over her legs nervously. Would Jason approve of the color? They were a deep, midnight blue with a high waist and the silk blouse was white, in Sasha’s effort to keep the outfits as simple as possible. The shoes were simple blue pumps but were higher than what she normally wore, making her feel more confident and daring.

With a confident wink from Michael, she walked into the house. Her eyes immediately fell to Higgins for his reaction. It was instantaneously approving. “You look magnificent, ma’am,” he said graciously, bowing slightly and smiling.

“Is Jason home yet?” she asked, her eyes moving from the closed library doors to the empty staircase, hoping to find him walking towards her and seeing her transformation.

“I’m sorry to say he will be arriving late again tonight,” he replied.

Sophie felt deflated. “Oh. Well, then that’s different.” She walked up the stairs, wishing he could see her but sure she’d catch him before she fell asleep tonight.

Unfortunately, she missed him that night although she stayed up as late as possible, reading in the library. When she woke up around midnight, still in her new clothes to a silent house and no Jason, she went up stairs, changed into her old fashioned nightgown, optimistic for the morning.

The next three days were exactly the same. She spent her time roaming around in the huge house, reading books and the newspaper, searching for news of her husband through even the gossip columns. But for once, there was no mention of anything going on at Randal Enterprises. She knew that he slept beside her each night because of the indentation on the pillow and Jason’s aftershave lingering in the shower.

Wednesday night, she dressed carefully, knowing that Jason had mentioned that there was some sort of event he wanted her to be at that night. She dressed in a dark blue, silk skirt with a matching jacket that fitted her perfectly. She was dressed and ready a half an hour ahead of time and wandered downstairs in time to hear the phone ring. She quickly answered it and her heart accelerated when she heard Jason’s voice.

“I’m sorry, Sophie. I’m running late. Can I meet you at the party? Something has come up but I promise to finish it quickly and meet you there.”

“Of course,” she said sadly. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Just go to the party and talk to Elizabeth. I understand she’s attending tonight as well without her husband. She’s worried about the negotiations and they may turn nasty if I can’t turn them around in the next few days.”

“Are their demands out of the limits?” she asked.

“Yes and no.” He sighed deeply. “It’s pretty complicated and I don’t want to bore you with the details. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“That’s fine,” she replied, and hung up the phone.

Higgins was standing at the doorway, her coat in hand. “I guess I’m on my own,” she said and smiled wanly, allowing Higgins to drape her new blue coat over her shoulders.

“You’ll do well,” he said, and the reassurance in his voice really boosted her confidence.

Sophie arrived at the appointed house and greeted her host and hostess, Lord and Lady Gravely who seemed surprised by her appearance alone as well as her attire.

“Mrs. Randal, you look absolutely stunning in that color. Why have you been hiding all that gorgeous hair?” Lady Gravely said.

“That’s very gracious of you,” Sophie said, running a nervous hand through her hair. “I’m sorry that Jason is going to be late,” she explained. “There were some issues that came up late in the day that had to be resolved.”

“Not a problem,” Lady Gravely said. “Come along with me,” she said and took Sophie’s hand in hers. “I believe we need to start the introduction of you all over again.” Lady Gravely chuckled softly. “You look like a completely different person. And when your father was alive, I don’t think he ever would have let you attend a function without him.”

“My father was a very social animal, wasn’t he?” Sophie said as way of an excuse. She didn’t like people to know how controlling her father had been, and how distrustful of her.

“Matthew, have you ever met Mrs. Randal?” Linda Gravely said to a tall, slender man leaning against a column near the entrance to the living room where most of the guests were talking. “Sophie, this is Matthew Evers, a cousin of mine on my husband’s side. He seems to appear whenever he becomes bored traveling around the world.

The man turned with a bored expression but after one look at Sophie, his interest perked up. “Mrs. Randal?” he repeated. “I don’t believe I’ve ever had the pleasure,” he said. Taking Sophie’s hand, he gently kissed her knuckles. “How delightful.” He glanced down at Linda, “Please tell me she is no relation to Jason Randal.”

Linda laughed. “I’m afraid she is, Matthew. So behave.”

“A distant relation, perhaps?”

“His wife,” Linda corrected.

Sophie’s hand was still captured in Matthew’s large one and her face was now in flames of embarrassment. But she stood tall, pretending like nothing was amiss. “You know my husband, Mr. Evers?”

“Call me Matthew,” he said, chuckling as he tucked her hand into his arm and guided her towards the other guests. “And I think it is safe to say that everyone knows Jason Randal. And I do vaguely remember hearing that he had gotten married suddenly about a year ago, is that right?”

“Yes,” she replied quietly. She hated being part of the rumor mill but she supposed it was part and parcel of being married to Jason.

“I never would have guessed you were the one they said he married,” Matthew said, looking down at her curiously. “The rumors were obviously very wrong.”

Sophie didn’t ask him to elaborate on the rumors. They were obviously hurtful and she didn’t need anything to prick her confidence tonight. “Well, I’m glad to throw a wrench into the gossip’s trail.”

Matthew chuckled again. “You probably do much more than throw a wrench into them, don’t you?”

She looked up at him confused. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

Matthew’s eyes widened, and after a moment, so did his grin. “I guess you don’t, do you?” He seemed to pull her closer at that point but they had approached the first group of people and Matthew introduced her to the crowd who, once the introductions were over, continued with their discussion on the latest politics.

The evening was yet another boring event but Sophie eventually spied Elizabeth across the room. The older woman smiled and waved but she couldn’t get across the room at that point. Sophie smiled back then turned to politely listen to the group she was with discuss their most recent mountain climbing excursion. Since Sophie had never been mountain climbing nor had any interest in doing so, she had to listen politely and wait for her opportunity to excuse herself from the group.

After dinner, Sophie finally found herself alone on a balcony. She breathed in the refreshing, cool air and accepted that Jason probably wasn’t going to make it tonight. But she had done okay on her own. Most of her small success tonight was due to Matthew Evers though. He had kept her close for the first part of the night until Lady Gravely finally said he must stop monopolizing her time. He let her go but it was flattering, the look in his eyes as he moved away to another group of people.

“I thought I’d find you out here,” Elizabeth said, closing the French doors behind her. “If there’s an escape to nature, I’m assuming you’ll find it, won’t you?” she laughed.

Sophie joined in, liking the woman’s teasing tone. It wasn’t like the malicious laughter inside when they were tearing someone else apart. “I guess you’re right although I’d never really thought about it.”

“It feels good, doesn’t it?” she said, taking in a deep breath.

“Yes. Things get a little hectic inside, don’t they?”

“Especially if you are on the arm of Matthew Evers,” Elizabeth said, looking sternly at Sophie. “It might be better if you stayed away from that man,” she said.

“Really?”

“yes. He’s not very nice where the women are concerned,” she said.

Sophie looked out into the inky sky and sighed. “I think I already knew that.”

“But it was nice to have someone look at you as if you were a woman, instead of just a wife, right?” she said, knowingly.

Sophie reluctantly nodded her head.

Elizabeth nodded as well. “I’ve only met your husband a few times but I’m guessing he doesn’t really know how to be a very good one, does he?”

“Oh, Jason is wonderful,” Sophie defended.

“Except that he isn’t here.”

“You’re husband isn’t here either.”

“Yes, that’s why I know what you’re going through. But take it from an old, wise woman who has seen and done it all. Don’t be pulled in by the Matthew Evers of this world. They only bring trouble and, I can guarantee, nothing else.”

Sophie personally thought Matthew was harmless but wasn’t going to contradict Elizabeth. “Perhaps you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right,” she said. “But that isn’t what I came out here to talk about. I wanted to thank you for your advice the other day. I put the beer in small little dishes around my hostas and I haven’t seen any new holes in the leaves.”

“That’s great news!”

“Well, that’s not to say that there won’t be.”

“Yes, you have to refresh the beer periodically.”

“And throw out the old stuff,” Elizabeth laughed, wrinkling her nose. “I have the gardener do that part.”

Sophie laughed as well. “That sounds like a good plan.”

“So when are you coming over to take a look at my roses?” Elizabeth asked.

“I don’t know,” Sophie replied. She had assumed the initial invitation had been simply polite dinner talk.

“Is tomorrow too soon for you?” she asked. “You could take a look at the awful black spot plaguing some of my tea roses, then we could have lunch. Will that be okay?”

Sophie nodded eagerly. “That would be lovely,’ she said.

“Good. I have to go now and drag my irritating husband home so he can battle the negotiations tomorrow. Apparently some scurvy business pirate is trying to take over my husband’s company,” she said, winking at Sophie.

Sophie gasped. “Jason said there were tensions. Is there anything I can do?” she asked. “I can assure you that Jason treats his employees extremely well.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” she said, waving her hand. “All this talk is just a whole bunch of baloney. Edward just doesn’t want to retire but I’m forcing him into it. We have three grandchildren that I get to see only once a year. I want him to retire so we can travel more and see the world as well as my grandchildren. Just let the men play their games and everything will work itself out in the end.”

Without another word, Elizabeth walked over to the balcony and walked inside, leaving Sophie leaning against the cement banister, staring at her in awe. How could one woman know her husband so well? She hoped she would understand Jason, even a little. But would she be married to him thirty years from now?

Sophie looked down at her lovely blue dinner suit and smoothed the front lovingly. “Not at this rate,” she said to the night.

Sophie fell asleep that night determined to tell Jason what Elizabeth had said after dinner. She was sure it would ease everyone’s minds to know that this was all a lot of fuss over nothing. But the following morning, she woke up again to an empty bed. This time, there was a large bouquet of flowers beside the bed but that only made her angrier. Jason had slept beside her for the past five nights and hadn’t touched her in any way.

Did he not want her anymore? That couldn’t be true! Not after all she’d done to change her appearance so she wasn’t so mousy anymore. He couldn’t turn away from her just when she was determined to fight for him.

Throwing back the covers, she showered and changed clothes, this time into a pair of blue and white striped slacks and a white, short sleeved sweater with a boat neck which, according to Sasha, pulled the eyes upwards instead of downwards.

She called the store and made an appointment for the moment the store opened up. Michael drove her again and stood sentry inside, not close enough to hear what Sophie had to ask Sasha, but close enough so he could intercede with Mary if she approached again.

“What can I do for you today, Mrs. Randal?”

Sophie waived aside the formality. “Sasha, I need your advice but it is a little embarrassing.”

“Okay. I’m glad you thought I could help.”

Sophie looked away but her face flamed red before she could start. “You see, Jason hasn’t seen me yet. All these wonderful new clothes that work miracles on my figure and my confidence but he’s been working late so I’m already asleep when he comes home.” She finished then waited for Sasha’s advice. She wasn’t disappointed.