“Yes, thank you. I am meeting a woman here. She said she would be wearing a green blouse.”
She did not see anyone that fit, yet. The waiter sat her at a booth, and she ordered a soda and chips. She waited for two hours, looking up anxiously each time a new person entered the restaurant. She was beginning to get worried about her environment. She looked around at the other customers coming in and out. They were loud and boisterous. Those seated around her were becoming more rowdy as they continued to order more liquor to their tables.
The waiter came over to her table again and asked if she would like him to order a cab for her. He explained that the cab drivers would not come to this part of town after a certain hour of the evening. This alarmed Eliza even more. She nodded that she would appreciate that as she realized she had been stood up. Someone who keeps appointments and someone who does not; another perspective difference.
Eliza paid and stepped outside to wait. She realized her mistake immediately. A group of three men started walking toward her, obviously drunk.
“Well, look at you.” One of the men pawed at her shoulder.
Eliza stepped back. “Do you mind?” She removed his hand, and all three men burst into laughter. She looked up and down the street, no cabs. Her panic rose.
“What’s the matter, is your boyfriend late? You can come with me.” He tried to put his arm around her, but she stepped back, frantically pushing him away.
“Hello.” Charles ran up to them and took her hand. “Eliza, I’m so sorry I’m late.”
She breathed out in shaken relief.
He took her arm and started walking her away from the men. He leaned down and whispered into her ear. “Come with me quick.”
She started to pull away from his domineering approach but then thought better of it as the three men started walking after them.
“Hey, wait a minute, that is my girl.” One man tried to grab Charles’s arm but missed.
They kept walking to the end of the block, where there was a limo waiting.
The men gave up after a few steps.
When Charles and Eliza reached the limo, the driver got out and helped them both into the back seat. He drove quickly away.
“What in the world were you doing alone in this part of town? Are you crazy?” Charles sighed and took her hand.
Eliza burst into tears. “My philosophy assignment.” She had been petrified around those drunken men. The stress and fear she had felt flooded out of her as she cried.
Charles gave her a tissue. “I’m sorry I spoke harshly. Philosophy was the one class I did not ace last year.”
Eliza looked up, alarmed, thinking what her parents would say if she failed to get straight A’s.
Charles acknowledged her alarm and nodded. “Yes, my father about had a heart attack when he saw the grades.” He had a twinkle in his eye, and Eliza couldn’t help but smile. “He still brings it up, particularly when I mention summer trips and cruises.”
As he should. Eliza agreed with his father’s alarm but found Charles’s cavalier attitude refreshing.
She explained her assignment and how she had been stood up. “I had no idea what type of neighborhood this was at night.”
“This is not a great part of town in the daylight either; there’s a lot of crime.” Charles was looking at her speculatively.
She looked back at him, wondering what he had been doing in this neighborhood.
“If you don’t mind my asking, how is it that you were here just in time to save me?”
He perked up and leaned toward her. “One of my college roommates is renting an apartment here. We were studying and I came to get takeout at the restaurant.” He leaned forward to the front seat. “Phillip, I left my books at the apartment.”
He looked over at Eliza. “I am starved. Would you like to stop and get something to eat? You must be hungry as well.”
Her gut reaction was “of course not!” But she was hungry and intrigued. She looked up to see Charles smirking as he watched the indecision on her face. “I think we can find a place where I won’t end up on the front page of the social section.”
She smiled sheepishly and nodded. “Actually, I’m starved as well.”
“Phillip, we need to find a restaurant where we will be unnoticed. And while we are eating, would you run back and get my books for me?”
Phillip chuckled. “I know just the place.”
“Yes, and we can wear sunglasses and pull our collars up, just in case.” She brightened up considerably.
“And be seated in a quiet corner of the restaurant with low lighting,” Charles added happily.
Eliza laughed and felt the left over nerves leave her. It seemed so natural that Charles would be the one to save her. She smiled up at him and took his hand.
Phillip drove along a quiet street and pulled up to the only business on the block, a small Italian family restaurant. They went inside to see just eight tables and three booths in the back. A waiter came over with menus. “Would you prefer a booth?”
“Perfect!” Eliza looked around and determined they didn’t know anyone in the place.
“I think we will be safe here.” Charles smiled and looked at Eliza. “Does anyone else in your family have your eye color?”
Eliza blushed and looked down. “Actually, my great-great-grandmother was purported to have had violet eyes.”
“Rachael tells me you are tearing it up at med school. How did your family take that decision?”
“Well, I had to sit them down and tell them all the grimy details that I knew about Herbie’s life.” She raised her eyebrows. “It’s not a pretty story.” She nodded her head and sighed. “While they were in a state of dismay over that, I threw in the fact that I had been accepted into medical school a year early.”
Charles nodded. “That was good.” He was thinking what he could come up with to rid himself of Miss Jolander.
“I told them that since the designated man of my future was unfit, I had decided to throw myself into a medical career where I could find joy in helping others.”
“They bought that?” He needed to give his situation some more thought. There might be a way out.
“Hook, line, and sinker.” Eliza smiled victoriously.
“So have you noticed how the tension between our families has risen recently?” She looked concerned. “The Harrington-Stanton rivalry is in full swing. They are at war.”
“Yes, what’s going on? What have you heard on your side?”
“Ah…the enemy agent tries to coax secret information out of his target with the promise of food.” Liza smiled shiftily and raised one eyebrow.
“But the beautiful damsel sees through his ploy and tries to divert his attention by batting her long eyelashes in his direction.” Charles leaned in to look into her eyes.
“But he has seen this weapon used before to great advantage and is ready. He pulls out his reflective eyeglasses just in time to avoid the captivating web she was trying to spin.” Liza leaned back, waiting to see what Charles might say in return.
“The damsel decides this will require a greater distracting effort and allows her shirt to slip off of her shoulder.”
Liza’s forehead wrinkled as she gasped and quickly added, “But then she thinks better of it and pulls it back up where it belongs.”
Charles laughed as he put both hands up in apology. “So you see the spy has learned one secret. The principles at the Stanton estate are still intact.”
“And the ones at Harrington’s are not.” She did not look amused.
The waiter came to take their order. Charles asked Liza if she wanted to share a pizza.
“I would love one with sliced tomatoes and chopped olives on top.”
“I had one like that in Italy. It was great.” He turned to the waiter. “Do you make them here? Maybe with a little ground Italian sausage as well?”
“Yes, it is a favorite with the locals.” He gave them water and a basket of Italian bread baked with pa
rmesan and garlic butter.
“I’ve heard that the Harringtons are close with the Jolanders,” Eliza said.
That was a subject he definitely didn’t want to discuss.
Charles grimaced as he tore a piece from the loaf. “Let’s just say the parents would like to see a match between two particulars. I do not say ‘people’ because this is totally a business arrangement and has nothing to do with the wants or wishes of any people involved.” Charles sighed. “I am delaying any movement in that direction as long as I can. Rachael is searching for possible cures for my father, and I can only hope I will be able to escape that part of his plan.”
As Charles looked into Eliza’s eyes, he could see that the love she had for him was still there. He took her hand. A deep sadness hung around them both as they waited for their dinner, lost in their own thoughts.
His father wasn’t making any progress toward being cured, and even though it looked like Eliza had escaped the plans her parents had made for her, he still found himself bound by his family in a way that reminded him of an octopus clutching its prey before devouring it.
To make matters worse, the Stantons had outbid the Harringtons for a lucrative contract they both needed. Michael Harrington’s snide smile as he walked out of the club last week had set his father on edge. The feud itself was the only thing that seemed to be prospering lately.
Chapter 14
The next day, Eliza was scheduled to work in the emergency room of the hospital. She loved these assignments because even though she wasn’t doctoring, she was there in the midst of the saving work that was going on. They asked her to stand in as the ward clerk for the day. It was exciting as the ambulances came in. Everyone took their place, ready to offer lifesaving care. As Eliza got off of the elevator, she saw Rachael at the nurses’ station.
Rachael walked over to stand by Eliza. “How ya doing?”
“I’m good. I love working here. Everything is so instant and vital. Last week was emotionally hard with that DOA from the rodeo.” She felt the pinch in her chest. “I didn’t know what to do.”
Rachael looked at the chart she was holding and wrote something. “Yes, there is not much you can do when a man is kicked in the head by a horse.” She wrote something else and looked at the schedule. “Although I wish every day there was more we could do.” The pain in her face was obvious for a moment and then it washed away as Rachel studied her chart again. “We are shorthanded. Can you go in and see the woman in three?” Rachael asked. Eliza really appreciated all the help Rachael gave her.
Eliza took the file from the door and looked at the report. The name said Leann Minor. When she opened the door, she recognized LeAnn Jolander. “Oh, I’m sorry, I must have the wrong room.” She turned to leave, looking again at the report. It said Leann Minor. “Leann Minor?” This was the woman who was supposed to marry Charles as a business arrangement? What was going on here?
“Yes, what did the lab say?” LeAnn was sweating and looked very pale. Just then, a man entered the room.
“Oh, how are you doing, hon?” He put his arm around her and pulled her close.
Eliza felt like a third thumb. “Your white blood count is very high. Are you having much pain?”
“Yes.” She doubled over, clutching her side. “Where’s that doctor?” Her breathing became more rapid and the man with her looked up helplessly at Eliza. She left and found Rachael outside.
“She has a very high white blood count, in a lot of pain. And, Rach,” Eliza pulled her aside, speaking in hushed tones. “It’s LeAnn Jolander. She’s using the name of Leann Minor.” Eliza raised her eyebrows. ”And she has her boyfriend with her.”
“What! Hmm, that would be good news for Charles.” Rachael winked. “And you too.” She went in to see the patient. She stuck her head back out. “Eliza, call surgery. We need the on call surgeon prepping; I’m sure we’re going to have an appendectomy here. We’re sending her for a CAT scan now.”
Eliza called up to surgery and imaging. If LeAnn had a boyfriend, or better, if she was secretly married, then Charles would be free. There would be no Jolander-Harrington merger.
The orderlies came out of the elevator, pushing a gurney. As they were rolling LeAnn out with her boyfriend in tow, Rachael leaned over to Eliza. “I called Charles to come down.” She had a huge smile on her face and waggled her eyebrows.
Eliza went back to her desk in ER and tried to keep track of all the patients and their records. In about twenty minutes, she looked up to see Charles walking in. He stopped when he saw her and walked over. “What’s going on? Rach said I had to get down here, that it was an emergency.”
“She is up in surgery with LeAnn. She wants you to go up and sit with her significant other who came in with her.” Eliza saw a spark of hope light up Charles’s face. “Go up there and meet that guy.”
This could be the answer to his prayers. He stepped off the elevator and stopped at the vending machine to get two sodas He walked over and sat down next to a man who looked quite worried.
“How ya doing?” Charles handed him a soda.
“Thanks, I needed that. My wife is having an emergency appendectomy; we should have come in last night.”
Wife? “Who’s the doctor?” He had to be sure he had the right guy.
“The ordering physician was Dr. Harrington, a woman. But I haven’t met the on call surgeon yet. He should be here any minute.”
Charles had to smile.
“Dr. Harrington is great. I’ve worked with many of the other doctors on staff. Your wife is in excellent hands. Good luck.” He got up and headed downstairs. Was this really happening? LeeAnn was married? Secretly?
Eliza was waiting for him in the hallway. Her shift was over.
Charles stepped off of the elevator and put his arms around her and swung her around in the air. As he lifted her to his lips, he whispered, “Marry me.” And then he kissed her before she could answer. Eliza clung to him desperately as joy cascaded through them, a joy she had never hoped to have.
The emotion of the moment carried them away until they heard Rachael clear her throat. “Dr. Atkins will do the surgery upstairs.”
“Rach, we’re getting married! That is, of course, if Eliza agrees?”
“Well, it’s not exactly like I planned it.” She looked over at Charles, teasing him. “It’s better!”
Charles could barely contain his joy. He was free. “I never thought this would happen. I am so happy.”
They walked together down the hall. Charles knew it wouldn’t go over well with their families but he no longer cared. He’d given them everything else he could. But with LeeAnn gone, he felt like he could explore other options without ruining a merger. But he couldn’t be sure Eliza wouldn’t be hurt by their families’ disapproval. “But what about the feud?”
Rachael huffed. “The feud goes back to at least the 1700s and a dispute over a horse. It’s about time they all get over it.” Rachael looked at them and shook her head. “If I were you, I would elope on the spot. There’s no way you are going to get these two families together, so why give them time to ruin it for you.” She hugged them both. “Go now!”
Charles took Eliza’s hand and they literally ran out the door and jumped into his car. He looked over at Eliza as they drove off. “Let’s go get the dogs and go back to the Rio Lago Ranch. I’ll call Mary and get it all arranged. We can have a Texas ranch wedding.”
“That’s perfect. It’s a perfect happily ever after.”
Epilogue
Two years after the elopement, Charles carried his new little daughter, Annabel, out to the stable to see the new puppies. It had been a long two years. The first months after the elopement required some hard adjustments with the Harringtons and the Stantons. Feelings ran high. Long-held opinions were threatened as each family member witnessed the obvious love of Charles and Eliza. It was the birth of Annabel that had toppled the ire each family held for the other. As she was christened with the names of both of her gran
dmothers, Anna and Bell, the last brick of contempt fell.
“Annabel, look at these little pups.” She toddled over to the box where the puppies were. Charles never did pursue his medical career—one doctor in the family was enough. He took pride in the programs he initiated to benefit his employees. The merger with the Jolanders fell through, but after Annabel was born, the Stantons took their place. The Stantons and the Harringtons were now thicker than thieves; an unfortunate analogy that was heard in high places around the city.
Eliza rode into the stables and slid off of her horse. “Hey, Annabel, you are walking!” She walked over and picked her up, twirling her around accompanied with squeals of delight. “I love you so much!” She set her down again next to the box full of puppies.
“So, Charles, are you ready for the race?” Eliza looked up into her husband’s eyes, smirking just a little.
“I have been ready for weeks, my darling.” He gave her his most competitive, threatening look.
This was one tradition all the Stantons and Harringtons were ready to let go, but not Charles or Eliza. They would continue to race. The thrill and freedom they felt took them back to the days when they first fell in love.
The day of the yearly race arrived. The grandmothers took charge of Annabel, and the families gathered around to watch. Eliza rode up to the starting line next to Charles.
“You are looking beautiful.”
Eliza flashed her violet eyes at him, flirting. “Do you need to borrow my bandana? The dust can be terrible this time of year.” Eliza smiled, looking quite demure.
“I feel it would be best this year if you keep the bandana. Unless you plan to go wild with the whip.”
“Oh no, I merely think fast thoughts, and my trusty steed flies around the track.”
The official walked over and interrupted their banter. “Shall we begin?”
Her Billionaire Secret Romance Page 13