Eliza perked up and looked for the little runt she had been favoring. “I want this one. Let’s tell Carson right away so he saves them for us.” They both sat next to each other, leaning back against the wall and holding and loving their puppies and each other in silence.
Then Eliza brought up the subject Charles had hoped to avoid, if only for this hour. “What are we going to do about our families?”
Charles hated to do it, but he saw no other way. “I’ve just had some terrible news. The families win Liza, we are going to do nothing and move on with our lives.” Charles sighed but was adamant.
“Oh, I thought we had something special.” Memory of the hurt in Eliza’s face would tear through him every time he thought about her.
Her hurt made his own worse. “This isn’t going to end up like one of your books. We have responsibilities, and I have to carry out mine.” Charles got up and left the room before she could see the tears that clouded his vision.
As he walked through the stable, Carson stepped out of his tack room. “Is everything okay? I heard your father stopped by. It must be important if he would come down from Connecticut.”
“Everything’s okay. He was in Houston on business and just came by to say hi. Thanks for asking.”
Eliza left the stable and went to her room and cried until she her whole face was puffy and swollen. As she looked in the bathroom mirror, she decided crying was definitely warranted but not at the cost of looking ugly. She would rather be the silent sorrowing type like many of her heroines. She washed her face with water and applied a little makeup and then went down for a snack, having missed lunch.
Before she joined the afternoon class, she found Carson and told him she and Charles would like to purchase two of his puppies and showed him which ones. He said he would give her directions of how best to care for them since they would be leaving their mom a little early.
“Are you doing okay?” Carson looked concerned.
“I don’t know. Something happened with Charles’s father.”
Eliza joined everyone over at the corral at 1 p.m. Vinny came and stood by her. “When do you want to talk?” he asked.
“How about after this session? Maybe we could take the paddleboat out and make it fun?”
Vinny raised his eyebrows. “That does sound fun. I’ll meet you at the dock.”
She looked over at Charles, who looked away sadly.
Vinny was saying something that she missed. “Oh, I am sorry, I missed that.”
“I was saying maybe you should bring your suit, and we could swim.”
Vinny gave her the creeps. Swimming with him had no appeal whatsoever. “Well no, I would prefer to just paddleboat if that is okay.” She smiled sweetly, the smile that usually helped her get her way. What is it with this guy? I didn’t think it was possible to find a person worse than Herbie, but this guy seems close.
The dreamy possibilities that had surfaced on this trip had all evaporated into nothing. She wished she could have been there when Charles’s father came. Whatever he’d said had ruined her happily ever after. She thought back to the stable. Charles had seemed so despondent. Then he’d brought up his family responsibilities. They take precedence I guess. Stupid Harrington family responsibilities. Her first appraisal of Charles had been right. I don’t like him. I don’t like him at all! And I hate his whole family, except Rachael, of course. She was feeling there really was something to this feud. She was now the recipient of a broken heart because of them. These thoughts filled her mind as she went through the afternoon session.
When it was over, Eliza went to her room to change into shorts and a light blouse. It was hot, and some time on the water sounded good. She ran down the stairs just as Charles was coming up. She looked away and passed him in silence.
He looked back as she passed. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“You are much too busy with family responsibilities to concern yourself with what I do, Charles.” Eliza lifted her head in triumph. Finally the perfect words had just come flowing out of her. The nerve of him, trying to control what I do.
She found Vinny waiting on the front porch. “I figured I would come over here and get you.” Vinny was staying in the bunk house with the other jockey hopefuls. Eliza had chosen the plus package at the ranch house.
The paddleboat was awesome. It had two pontoons and a big paddle wheel in the back. It was a two bench seater, one facing front and one facing back, and best of all it had a canopy over the top to keep you out of the sun.
“This is great.” Eliza climbed in and over to the far seat. Vinny joined her in the front. Fortunately, there was a steering handle in between them. That was comforting to Eliza. The looks Vinny gave her were warning signs for sure, but she hoped everything would be fine, at least until she could hear about his racing tricks. They both started pedaling, and the boat smoothly glided out into the middle of the lake.
“This is nice to have you all to myself.” Vinny winked. If he was trying to impress her with his charm, he needed lessons. What he’d said sounded like something a villain would say to the damsel he had just abducted. Eliza shivered.
“Are you cold? I could come over there and keep you warm.” Another alarming line.
“Vinny, let’s just talk about racing. Why don’t you share with me some of the tricks you mentioned?”
“Well, there is one thing that does work.” His eyes gleamed and her interest increaded.
“When someone is trying to pass you, swing wide with your whip so that it ‘inadvertently’ hits the horse that’s trying to pass you as well.”
“Is that legal?” Eliza was aghast at his racing behavior. She couldn’t imagine doing that to Charles if he tried to pass.
“Of course not, but who can tell. You are just taking the whip to your horse, and they got in the way.” He smirked and looked at her, obviously proud of this trick.
“Is that it, Vinny?” She looked over at the shoreline as they cruised farther and farther away.
“Well now, I think that is a good tip. I can save the next one for when we get closer.”
Oh brother, now what? They glided over to the trees on the other side of the lake. Normally, I would love this. She looked over at the bridge to see if anyone else was close to the water. She couldn’t see anyone.
Vinny moved over to Eliza’s side of the bench.
“What are you doing, Vinny, get back on your side.” Eliza was alarmed and ready to bolt. The only problem was she was forty feet from shore.
He slid up real close to her and said, “Give me a little kiss, and I will let you go.” His lips were way too wet, and his breath was horrible. And all that was besides the fact that there was no way she was going to kiss him.
She could smell his awful, cheap cologne. Eliza stood up and pushed his hands away. “Take me back to shore immediately.” He reached up and took a hold of the bottom of her shorts, trying to pull her back down. As she reached down to move his hand, she lost her balance and fell back into the lake.
The cool water encompassed her, bringing a feeling of relief to be out of his clutches. She came up out of the water, taking a deep breath, and pushed her hair back away from her face. Vinny was laughing hysterically and was no help as she tried to grab something to hold on to the slippery aluminum pontoon.
Eliza looked around toward the closest shore. To her horror, she saw something brown and long slip into the water. She froze. Someone yelled from shore. “Get into the boat!” But she couldn’t move. The brown ridges on the back of a floating gator hovered toward her.
Vinny was laughing so hard he didn’t see the gator. Just then, she saw someone dive from the bridge yelling. “Swim, Eliza, swim.”
The creature had large eyes, poking above the surface. It’s inner lids opened and she saw flecks of color in its eyes.
“Eliza! Move!”
It’s Charles, I have to move! But she couldn’t break her eyes away from the gator. Vinny finally woke up to the situation and go
t a paddle and started hitting the water with it.
Charles arrived and pulled Eliza to him and pushed her up onto the pontoon of the boat. “Take her hand, Vinny. He turned and dove under the boat to the other side and pulled himself out of the water. The gator did a U-turn and headed back to shore.
Eliza sat on the back bench, where Charles took her in his arms and held her as she shook from the terror. Charles turned to look at Vinny with disgust. “Paddle us to shore, now.”
“It’s okay, Liza,” he whispered. “Shhh, you’re safe.” Her hair was full of lake weeds.
As they got to shore, Vinny stepped off first and started to walk off the dock, leaving the boat to start floating away.
“Hey! Tie the boat to the dock.”
Eliza looked up into Charles eyes and saw his barely contained fury.
She sheepishly looked down and said, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t move. Thank you for saving me.” She leaned back against his arms. “You are the hero in this story.” Eliza looked up into his eyes, shedding another tear.
“Yes, but this story doesn’t have a happy ending, and I’m sorrier about that than you know.”
He looked to the dock and Vinny was standing there with his hands on his hips, smirking. Charles stepped out first and confronted Vinny. The shorter man tried to push him away, but Charles was twice his size. Vinny lunged at him again, and Charles moved to the side, causing Vinny to basically throw himself into the lake. Charles chuckled as he watched Vinny come up out of the lake, sputtering and looking around wildly for a gator as he lunged to shore. Then Charles turned toward Eliza and gave her his hand to help her out of the boat.
Eliza held Charles’s hand as they walked to the ranch house. They stopped on the porch and asked for towels so they wouldn’t drip water all over the floors. Mary came running out.
“We’ve called the county; they’ll trap the gator and take him back to where he belongs.”
“Where does he belong?” Eliza looked back at the lake and shivered.
“There is a gator refuge just a few miles down the road. They’ll take him there.”
Eliza gave Mary the towel. “I guess I need another appointment at the spa; this time it’s seaweed.”
Charles took her arm. “Listen, we really need to talk. Would you be willing to walk around the lake this evening when you are finished at the spa?”
“Well,” Eliza hesitated. “Okay.” She looked up at Charles and raised her eyebrows. As she left for the elevator she thought, This is so he can hurt me once again, I guess. But she really hoped there was a chance for them, and she was willing to hear what he had to say. At least maybe she would find out what his father said that had changed everything and ruined her budding dreams. She ran up the stairs to her room to shower and change and then headed to the spa. She still had hope. This was a torturous situation to experience firsthand. It was much worse than reading about it. Many of her books had a terrible event that threatened to separate the couple forever. But as the reader, you knew that all would be happy in the end. This was real, though, and their chance for love could be lost forever.
The spa was great. The beautician was spending a lot of time blow-drying her hair into a style while she had a pedicure. “I am just going to pull all this hair back into a ponytail.”
“Okay, I will just get it dry for you, then.” She reached over and handed Eliza a hair clip. “This will hold your hair back if you don’t want to use an elastic.
“This is cute; I will probably use this a lot.” The clip was large enough to hold her hair. She loved the feel of wearing her hair down, particularly if she was riding a horse. Having her hair blow out behind her made her feel free. But the snarls that ensued were a price she was not willing to pay every day, so a clip would be fantastic.
The beautician clipped her hair back for her, rolling the front sides back into the clip. It looked wonderful. She left a few straggles hanging down. I need to show Marie this one. “Would you take a couple pictures of this style for me with my phone? It’s so much fancier than just pulling my hair back.”
Eliza took the elevator up and went into the kitchen to talk with Mary.
“Hi, Mary, can I take a picnic out to the lake for dinner tonight?” Eliza didn’t want to see Vinny any time soon, and eating dinner with him and Charles would be enough to ruin everyone’s appetite.
She came out of the kitchen in time to see Charles headed into the dining room. “Charles.” She motioned for him to come toward her. “I have an idea.”
“What’s up?” Charles walked over a bit warily.
“Under the circumstances, I really don’t want to see Vinny again so soon—if ever—and, rather than spend dinner in my room, I asked Mary to give us a picnic dinner to take with us on our walk.”
”I, on the other hand, want to see Vinny again.” Charles face hardened, and she saw him clenching his fists at his side.
“Well, then, this idea is sounding better and better.”
Mary came out and handed Charles a basket, and Eliza took his arm. “Come along.” They walked out to the porch and down the steps toward the covered bridge.
Eliza laughed. “The first time I crossed the bridge, I saw three flamingos and one turkey sitting on the railing. It was the funniest thing.”
“Well, you’re the flamingo and I am the turkey in this story.”
Eliza agreed with Charles. He was the turkey, and she was beginning to see how her first instinct to dislike him was holding true.
“Let’s eat here on the bridge; we can use the benches as tables.” Eliza pointed across the lake. Why ruin dinner? She was determined not to cry, but just in case it would be good to be far away from everyone else.
“So what do you think about the training so far?”
What he was probably asking is if she thought she’d learned anything to beat him with yet. Eliza was thinking maybe Vinny’s trick was not so bad if she used it on Charles. “Yes, I think I have learned a few tricks, but I am not going to give them away, Charles, so don’t ask.”
Charles laughed. “I like that about you—your determination even in the face of terrible odds.” He smirked and raised his eyebrows, challenging her.
“Whatever. Which one of us is here at a riding camp, trying to save face with his family?” She laughed scoffing.
“We are both here at the camp. But you’re right about one thing. I don’t think there will ever be any face-saving over that loss. I can see it hounding me into my golden years.” Charles shook his head, looking down.
Eliza had to admit he truly was without pride in these matters. Most men would never get over the loss he’d suffered at her hands, but he was magnanimous and so kind each time she bested him, yet he had the audacity to insist she wasn’t good enough competition for him. Eliza shook her head.
Charles looked lost in his thoughts, so Eliza leaned over. “What?”
“Oh, I was just thinking about our race here. We came in tied. Now that was not only exhilarating, it was fun.” He reached for her hand. “The best way to finish.”
Eliza was looking out over the lake, reliving the race. “Do you suppose they got that alligator yet?” She looked around the lake’s edge for anything that could be an alligator lying in wait for some unsuspecting prey.
“I don’t see anything, but I didn’t see trappers here either.” Charles helped Eliza clean up their dinner items and put them in the basket.
“Let’s start walking. We can pick this up on the way back.” She was dreading what he might say and hoping she could maintain her dignity and not cry.
She waited for him to speak, determined not to say the first word. It was his walk, and he wanted to talk—she wasn’t going to make it any easier for him. They walked along in silence, Eliza imagining what he might say. Perhaps he had a letter like Mr. Darcy, which would explain his poor behavior and solve this difficulty, and he just wanted her to read it. Or maybe he was doomed to marry a woman who was mentally deranged and would eventually burn
down his estate and die in the fire—at which time, he would finally be available to her. She smirked. Surely his plight was severe if one was to analyze his change in behavior, his total about-face. When they reached the bench, they both sat down and sighed.
“I have never seen you so quiet.” Charles looked over at her and touched her hand. She pulled it away slowly. Charles looked down. “I felt an explanation would be appropriate.”
“Charles, you have nothing to explain. You don’t owe me anything. After all we have only seen each other two or three times in our lives.” Moments that I’m sure I will review over and over in my mind and heart for years to come. “And those moments were mostly adversarial in nature.”
“I was just thinking that my behavior would seem odd.” Odd? Is that what he calls it? Odd? Such a short little word to encompass a total ruination of her hopes.
“Well, I have also been thinking it was odd.”
Charles took a deep breath “Some of it I can’t tell you, but something has come up that requires my help in the family business. I will have to change my medical school plans and go into business for my Dad.”
Eliza could see the sorrow in his eyes, and she softened in her resolve to set him down properly. “I am sorry about that, Charles. I know how much you were looking forward to medical school.”
She shifted slightly on the bench. “Is there anything else you can say that might involve us?” She hated to ask but couldn’t help herself.
“Well, all I can say is that I will soon find myself in a situation similar to your brother Devon a few years back.”
“What do you know about Devon?”
“Eliza, didn’t you know? Devon and Rachael were dating; Rach says they were in love.”
Eliza sat up and took a huge breath. “I didn’t know anything about that. Devon and my parents argued all the time. Next thing I know, he is getting married, which turned out to be a big waste. I was kept out of most of it.” She bit her lip. “Are you getting married?” This was worse than anything she could have imagined.
Her Billionaire Secret Romance Page 9