Holly blinked at him. “You want to make the announcement tonight?”
“Yes,” he said. “It’ll come out in the paper later in the week… officially. The tabloids will be all over it well before then. But I’d like to make an announcement tonight. One, because I want to tell the whole world you’re mine. Two, because if we make this announcement, anything Elizabeth tries to do is completely neutralized.”
He could see the indecision warring on her face. Finally, after a long moment, she nodded. “I know you’re right. I just hate being the center of attention.”
“Well, I’m afraid that won’t go away for a while… but at least here, we’re among friends.”
“You’re among friends,” she pointed out.
Nathan smiled. “Let me introduce you to Bruxton and my friend Collier. They’ll both be in your corner.”
Holly took his arm and allowed him to lead her across the room. He introduced her to Bruxton Aumiller first. He was one of the wealthiest men in the country. Dressed in a tuxedo that had obviously been customer tailored for him, he looked every inch the successful entrepreneur and philanthropist that he was. But he also looked friendly, his smile warm and genuine.
He rose as they neared the table and reached his hand out for her. “You must be Holly,” he said. “Nathan tells me you’re the idea person.”
“It’s only one idea,” Holly replied, shaking his hand.
“If it’s a good one, my dear, one is all you need,” he said. “Nathan, leave this pretty young thing with me and go find her some champagne.”
“I don’t need champagne,” Holly protested.
“Nonsense. It’s New Year’s Eve, my dear. Everyone needs champagne… and based on that ring you’re wearing, there’s some celebrating to do.”
“Mr. Aumiller—“ Holly began.
“Call me Bruxton,” he insisted and waived Nathan away.
Alone with the older gentleman, Holly sat down at the table and folded her hands primly in her lap.
“He told me, you know,” Bruxton said. “That he was going to propose to you. In the interest of full disclosure, I suppose… in case it all went south.”
“I would hardly say no,” Holly admitted.
Bruxton smiled at her. “You care for him… not because of what he is or what he has, but because of who is. Don’t you?”
“Of course, I do. He’s a wonderful man. I couldn’t ask for anyone better,” Holly stated.
“Then remember that… because Elizabeth just walked in,” the older gentleman warned.
Her heart sinking, Holly looked toward the entrance. Decked out in an ivory sequin evening gown that hugged her lithe figure, Elizabeth was the perfect picture of an ice queen. Her blonde hair was elegantly styled and she was draped in diamonds. They winked at her ears, her wrist and also at her neck.
She strolled into the room but not on the arm of a date. No, her escort, Kurt Bedwell, entered the room several paces behind her. No doubt she hadn’t wanted anyone’s gaze to be on anyone or anything but her. It was classic Elizabeth.
As if her thoughts had summoned the other woman, Elizabeth’s head swiveled slightly and her cold, hard gaze settled on Holly. Then she made a beeline in her direction. Not wanting to be trapped, Holly rose to her feet and prepared to face the woman who wanted nothing more than to destroy everyone’s happiness.
“Well, good evening, Bruxton,” Elizabeth crooned as she neared the table. “And Miss Merriweather… aren’t you keeping exalted company this evening. I wasn’t aware Bishop’s paid well enough for you to be a member of this club.”
“What do you want, Mrs. Bishop?” Holly asked.
Elizabeth continued on as if Holly hadn’t even spoken. “Of course, it’s rather pedestrian of me to assume that you’re only being paid for the work you do during store hours. No doubt your extra duties are quite lucrative.”
“You’re vulgar and rude,” Holly stated firmly. She wasn’t letting that woman bully her any more. “And I don’t have to tolerate this treatment from you.”
“Kurt, darling, what’s Bishop’s policies on inappropriate conduct on store premises?”
Kurt stepped forward nervously. “Termination, Mrs. Bishop,” he offered.
“Exactly. And if a video of an employee kissing their employer on the store’s premises were to be made public… I imagine that anyone who’d ever been terminated from Bishop’s for a lesser offense would be well within their rights to sue the company, wouldn’t they? A bevy of wrongful termination suits would not doubt sink that shop permanently.”
Knowing what she had to do didn’t make it any easier. But Holly had a choice. She could give up working for the store she loved, or she could give up the man she loved. “Then it’s a very good thing that I’ve given my notice, isn’t it? I’ll no longer be working for Bishop’s in any capacity.”
“I wasn’t aware of this,” Kurt stated. “All resignations must be given to HR.”
“Or to the CEO of Bishop’s,” Nathan said as he approached them. “What exactly are you doing here, Mr. Bedwell?”
Kurt stammered. “Mr. Bishop, sir, I wasn’t aware you’d be here.”
Nathan nodded. “But you knew Holly was, didn’t you? Is that all Elizabeth told you? That you were coming here to browbeat and bully an employee?”
Kurt shook his head and uttered a halting reply, “Well, sir, no… that is to say, I had no notion that Miss Merriweather would be in attendance. Mrs. Bishop requested that I accompany her—.”
“Mrs. Bishop. You mean your former employer? The one who was involved in a very lengthy and bloody legal battle with your current employer for control of the store where you still, at least for the moment, work?” Nathan demanded.
“Yes, sir,” Kurt said.
“You’re fired, Mr. Bedwell. I don’t need spies and corporate espionage in my business. If I can’t trust you to be loyal to Bishop’s, then I can’t trust you with something as important as the staffing of my store… as for you, Elizabeth, perhaps you should congratulate Holly and I on our engagement. We are family, after all,” Nathan said.
Holly watched the other woman’s face pale and then immediately purple with rage.
“You’re not really going to marry her!” Elizabeth said. “You’re only saying that because you want us to drop this mess about the two of you and your ‘accidental’ overnight stay in the store! I saw the video, Nathan… I saw your sexual harassment of this poor young woman. And when it hits the internet—.”
“It won’t matter,” Nathan said, cutting her off. “Because Holly and I are getting married. Whatever you’re planning, Elizabeth, whatever you hope to gain by all of this… you can’t. The store is mine. Holly is mine. And I’m not giving either of them up to you.”
Elizabeth let out a screech that silenced the entire room. The band stopped playing, dancers stood stock still and stared at the scene playing out before them. “You’ve taken everything from me! If you think I’m going to stand by and watch you sail off into the sunset with this cheap, white trash—.”
“That’s enough,” Bruxton said, rising to his feet. He waved his hand toward the band and they started playing once more, the music covering the conversation so that bystanders wouldn’t be here. “Elizabeth, I don’t know what Nathan’s father was thinking when he married you. From the moment Wilson brought you into this circle, we all knew what you were… cold, grasping, heartless. And I know other things, Elizabeth. I know about the tennis coach you were spending time with before Wilson died. I know about the housekeeper who was fired for stealing…only she wasn’t. Those expensive handbags that went missing had been pawned by you.… You intentionally had that woman fired because she knew about your indiscretions.”
Elizabeth glared at him. “Wilson had no right—.”
“Wilson had every right to leave his store to his son,” Bruxton interrupted her. “Every right. And we all know that will you had drawn up and tricked him into signing, the one that the judge tossed out unceremoniously, was
nothing more than another example of your perfidy. And what you tried to do the store, his legacy, is a crime and a shame. I have the ability to ruin you socially in this town… if you haven’t done so already. Don’t test me, Elizabeth. You will leave Nathan and his lovely fiancee in peace or you will deal with me.”
“Why are you doing this?” she demanded.
Bruxton smiled. “Because I know all about you, Elizabeth. Every shady, underhanded, immoral and wretched thing you’ve ever done. And I just don’t like you. So if you try to interfere or if you do anything to damage Nathan and this young woman, I won’t hesitate to expose you.”
“That’s hardly a reason to embroil yourself in our family drama,” she snapped.
“Oh but it isn’t just family drama anymore. I’m now a stakeholder in Bishop’s. I’m investing a significant amount of money into the business… with the assumption that Nathan will make this new venture successful and be able to buy me out of it once it’s launched. If you do anything to jeopardize that, I will take you to court, Elizabeth, and I will see to it that you’ll be working as a maid instead of just hiring and firing them. Is that clear?”
She paled. No one crossed Bruxton in business. It was a known fact. He was a wonderful human being, but had a streak of ruthlessness in him that made him a good friend and a terrifying enemy. “It won’t matter,” she said with an ugly twist of her overly filled lips. “Bishop’s is doomed to fail. The days of businesses like that are long over. If I’d held onto it long enough, I was going to sell the building to developers. I just needed the store’s bottom line to drop low enough that no one could question the decision… You’ll never bring it back from what I’ve done to it.”
“We’ll see,” Nathan said. “Now, it’s time for you to leave. Or you’ll be escorted out… I’m sure Bruxton wouldn’t have any trouble at all getting your membership revoked here.”
“First thing tomorrow morning,” Bruxton said, still smiling as he raised his champagne glass in a mock toast. “In fact, there won’t be a club in the state that will have you. Good luck hunting for your next victim… I mean husband.” By the time Bruxton had finished speaking, everyone at the table was speechless. Including Elizabeth. After a very long and awkward moment of silence, she turned on her heel and strode away, Kurt Bedwell scurrying in her wake.
When Elizabeth had gone, they all breathed a sigh of relief. “Well that was unpleasant,” Holly stated.
Bruxton laughed. “I didn’t think so. I rather enjoyed telling her off… Now, some advice for the two of you. Get married. As soon as possible. She can’t be trusted no matter what I’ve threatened her with. The sooner you all are married the sooner a good PR person can turn this into the Cinderella story of the century. Bishop’s, not just the store but the entire mystique of it, will scream romance. And what bride doesn’t want that?”
On the surface, it was brilliant advice. But it sparked a feeling of unease in Holly. Was that why Nathan had proposed so quickly? Was it all just a PR maneuver to help the store? Doubt filled her.
As if he’d sensed her discomfort, Nathan took her hand. “Dance with me.”
She looked out at the dance floor filled with couples as the band struck up the first notes of a popular ballad. Unable to find a good reason to refuse, she allowed him to lead her onto the crowded floor.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as he took her into his arms and they swayed to the music.
“Do you really want to marry me?” she demanded.
He laughed. “Of course, I do. I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t.”
“Not even if creating some Cinderella fantasy for the masses about the crown prince of Bishop’s falling for a lowly employee would save the business?” she asked.
He stopped moving. They stood there completely still in the middle of the dance floor. “That’s not why I asked. That’s not ever been what this is about… Holly, I love you. I think I fell in love with you the first time you smiled at me. I fought it for as long as I could… until Barbara with her meddling took away my ability to do so. I’d walk away from the store, from the deal with Bruxton. I’d walk away from everything just to be with you. Just say the word.”
Holly felt tears stinging her eyes. “You really love me that much?”
“Even more,” he said. “Do you love me?”
“Of course, I love you,” she said. “It’s impossible not to!”
“Then trust me,” he urged. “Trust us.”
It wasn’t just about love. It was about a leap of faith. If she didn’t take that leap it would destroy everything between them. Holly took a deep breath, stepped closer to him and came up on her toes to kiss his lips.
“What was that for?” he asked.
She pointed up to the mirrored ball twirling over their heads. “They forgot to take down the mistletoe… I need a wedding dress. Do you think the bridal department at Bishop’s can work a miracle in twenty four hours?”
He grinned at her. “I think I can pull some strings.”
* * *
Outside, standing in the freezing cold, wrapped in a heavy fur coat that had cost the earth, Elizabeth glared at the valet. “What is taking so long?”
“There are a lot of cars, ma’am,” the boy said apologetically. “You’re welcome to wait inside where it’ll be warmer.”
But she wasn’t welcome. That had been made abundantly clear. Elizabeth opened her mouth, ready to give him yet another earful, when the other valet rounded the corner in her little Mercedes. “Finally,” she murmured, still fuming, as she stomped down the steps and made her way to the driver’s side of the car. The valet stepped out of the vehicle and pressed, leaving the key in the ignition and the car running.
On the passenger side of the vehicle, Kurt Bedwell lifted the handle of the door and tugged. Nothing happened. “Elizabeth, unlock the other side.”
She arched one perfectly waxed and tinted brow at him, or as much as her botox would allow her to arch it. “I don’t think so, Kurt. Our business is concluded. There’s nothing you can do for me now… and that means I’m no longer obligated to do anything for you.”
“But we rode together,” he said, his tone befuddled and his expression screwed into one of comical confusion.
“Yes. But we’ll be going home separately. Call an uber or a taxi… but don’t call me. Not ever again. I only tolerated your pathetic presence because you were useful. Now you aren’t,” she said coldly. “Therefore, how you get home is of no concern to me.”
With that, Elizabeth climbed into her car and drove off into the night, leaving the man who’d been her spy for the last several months to gape after her in the cold. Perhaps she’d move on to Florida. Rich, old men were her stock in trade, after all, and the Sunshine State was rife with them.
Epilogue
It wasn’t her wedding. But Holly Merriweather-Bishop, Executive Director of Weddings by Bishop’s, was even more nervous watching the bride walk down the aisle than she had been on the day of her own wedding. It was the day before Christmas Eve and they were hosting their very first ceremony. After almost a year of renovations, of contract negotiations, of scheduling and decorating, and networking with vendors to be able to offer the perfect venue, the Hall at Bishop’s was being christened in the perfect way.
The bride, Jenna Aumiller, granddaughter of Bruxton Aumiller, was their very first client. And as the room that had once been little more than a cluttered storage room glittered with thousands of elegant white lights and was crowded with clusters of beautiful red roses and boughs of holly, it couldn’t be more perfect. Stephanie, Holly’s sister, had been the actual wedding planner for the event and she’d done a stellar job. She was directing traffic as the ceremony concluded, getting the receiving line in order and ushering the guests toward the banquet space.
Standing at the back of the venue, watching the guests filing out after the beautiful ceremony had concluded, Holly felt immense pride in all that they’d worked so hard for. She bit back a triump
hant if watery smile. Then she felt a warm hand at the small of her back. Glancing over her shoulder, her husband stood at her side, handsome beyond words in his perfectly tailored tuxedo.
“Breathtaking,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.
Holly grinned, replying in the same hushed tones. “So far it’s gone off without a hitch.”
“I wasn’t talking about the ceremony,” he said, looking at her meaningfully.
Holly felt a blush stealing over her cheeks. Whenever he looked at her that way, she did feel beautiful. Despite being six months pregnant and unable to fit into anything she owned anymore, he could make her feel that way.
“I love you,” she said. “You think Barbara would lock us in on Christmas Eve? Sort of an anniversary celebration?”
He leaned in, his breath fanning her ear as he said, “I have a better idea.”
“Don’t leave me hanging,” she demanded. “What is it?”
“Bruxton has offered us his cabin for a Christmas getaway.”
Holly arched one eyebrow, a mocking nod to one of Nathan’s own frequently worn expressions. “And how many rooms does a cabin owned by Bruxton Aumiller have?”
“I think twenty-six… no twenty-seven,” he said with a grin. “But it’s just me and you. No staff. No employees. And did I mention that it has a Christmas tree and a lake view?”
“The best of both worlds,” she agreed. “When do we leave?”
“In thirty minutes,” he said.
“But the wedding—.”
“Is in hand,” Nathan stated. “Stephanie has it all under control. Our bags are packed and in the car… and you my lovely and very pregnant wife have been on your feet far too long today.”
He was right. She’d never in her life had anyone who took care of her the way he did. Nathan made her feel not just loved, but cherished. “Fine. But if we’re leaving in thirty minutes, we’re missing out on cake… you better be prepared to make up for that.”
“I’m not much of a baker,” he replied thoughtfully before adding in a very suggestive tone, “But I do have a few tricks up my sleeve.”
Making Merry: A Christmas Romance Page 9