“What happened?”
“Who are you hiding from?”
“Why reveal your identity now?”
Questions flew at her from everywhere at once.
Everything blurred. Eliza felt her breath coming in short pants, and her palm grew moist in Carter’s. She knew the spotlight was on her, and she alone needed to ask for the public’s help.
Carter pulled her beside him and let her address the audience.
“My father was a hard working American man. He and my mother had the kind of family values we all want to project to our children. After my dad witnessed an unmentionable crime, he did what so many people would not. He stepped forward to do what was right. He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he hid the truth.”
She thought of her dad, his smile, his robust laugh. “We were taken away, our identities changed. But it wasn’t far enough.” Emotion clogged the back of her throat. “He and my mother paid for his testimony with their lives.”
She found Dean in the back of the room and spoke to him. “I was taken away, given a new identity, and have stayed hidden since I was a child.”
“Is the threat behind you, Mrs. Billings?”
She shook her head. “No. But I couldn’t stay hidden any longer. Carter entered my life and the people I cared about wouldn’t let me run any longer.”
“So there’s someone still after you?”
She shrugged. “There is no reason to believe the man responsible for my parent’s early death doesn’t still have a vendetta against me.”
“Who is it?”
Eliza shook her head and Carter stood up to the mike. “We cannot disclose that at this time.”
“Why protect him?”
“We’re not. But the man has a family, children of his own,” Eliza protested. “Is it fair to condemn them the way I’ve been condemned? Believe me, I want nothing more than to think the past is behind me so I can look to my future without a room full of bodyguards.”
The reporter turned in a circle as did many others and the physical presence of guards became abundantly clear.
Behind her, Samantha’s arm rested on her shoulder. Then Max and Sally approached Carter’s side. “I stand in support of my wife and will do everything in my power to keep her from harm,” Carter pledged. “I’m in awe of her courage to stand before you and tell her story. I hope you will support me in keeping her safe.”
The room was utterly silent until one lone clap sounded from the back of the room. Eliza’s eyes misted as she saw Dean clapping. Soon the room responded until everyone was on their feet.
****
“Nice speech.”
Carter turned toward his uncles’ flat voice. “She did well.”
Max rocked back on his heels and watched Eliza over the rim of his cocktail glass. “Convincing. Even to me.”
“The truth has the unique ability to carry weight.” Carter nodded toward a couple that passed them without interrupting.
Max lifted his drink to his lips and murmured his next words. “It’s not enough.”
“What isn’t enough?”
“Playing the martyr. The past has a way of catching up with you. You should know that, counselor.”
“What are you saying?”
Max leaned forward so only Carter could hear him. “People like us don’t hope. We make things happen.” Max brushed off the edge of Carter’s dress coat. “I’ll be in touch.” Max set his empty glass on a waiter’s tray before walking away.
An uncomfortable ball of lead threatened to settle deep in Carter’s stomach. Why did he feel his uncle’s words were more threat than a legitimate call to action?
Probably because they were. Carter knew that asking favors from his uncle would haunt him. Carter couldn’t bring himself to stop Max from whatever he planned. Keeping Eliza safe was paramount. Nothing else mattered.
Their return trip from the dinner sped by. Eliza spoke of the actors she’d met, the producers. She didn’t mention the unveiling of her darkest secret to the world. It wouldn’t be long before the media dug and found the name of the man responsible. Carter knew this…and as he watched her nibble on a fingernail, he knew she thought about it too.
She worried.
Instead of addressing the problem, Carter kept the conversation light.
Still, when they drove up to the front doors of their home, he peered into the darkness listening to the sounds of the night for anything out of place. All he heard were crickets and the rustling of leaves in the trees above their heads.
One of the bodyguards had preceded their arrival and made certain no one lurked inside. When Carter waved the armed guard away, he captured Eliza’s hand in his and kissed her battered nails.
She sent him a bashful smile. One he didn’t see often. “We’re going to be okay,” he promised.
She opened her eyes wider, and he saw the mist gathering behind her lashes. “I-I’m scared, Carter.”
Her admission slammed into his soul. Carter took her face in his hands and did what he could to drive away her fears. He lowered his lips to hers and willed her to forget her fears with his kiss. He stifled her whimper by deepening their kiss. The tip of his tongue coaxed hers open, to allow him inside.
She opened and melted against him in the same instant. Her timid hands flattened on his chest and burned a path straight to his heart. He moaned, or maybe it was her, and he wove his fingers alongside her neck and laced them into her soft tresses. Pins scattered onto the floor of the foyer. The length of her body meshed with his from lips to toes.
The tip of her tongue teased his until he kissed her with indecent kisses. Eliza sucked in a desperate breath and released a nervous laugh. Carter smiled as he kept her lips occupied. He’d managed to make her forget.
He bent down and swung her into his arms.
She chuckled low in her throat and nuzzled his neck as he carried her to their bedroom. “You don’t have to carry me,” she told him.
“Having to, doesn’t play into my thoughts.”
She used the hand she wasn’t using to keep from falling to loosen the tie around his neck and unbutton his dress shirt. “You smell so good. Spicy, masculine…desirable.”
His already aroused state burned with need from her words. Carter kicked their bedroom door closed behind them. “What does desirable smell like?”
Eliza slid alongside him until her feet touched the ground. She slowly removed his tie and tossed it to the floor. “Mmm. Sexy. I think I understand what pheromones are now.”