“At least have some cake. It’s so amazing I almost don’t care that I’ll have to get my wedding gown resized.” Audrey swiped up another gob of frosting, her blue eyes trekking over to Jonah, then sliding back.”You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you, sister dear?”
“So you said earlier.” Eloisa placed the forks in a glass so all the plates stacked evenly and handed over the lot to a passing catering employee.
How rare that someone accused her of being full of surprises. She’d always been the steady one, tasked to smooth things over when her more-sensitive baby sister burst into tears.
“But it’s true. What’s the scoop with this Landis boyfriend?” Audrey gestured with her plate toward Jonah who looked at ease in his suit jacket, even in Florida’s full-out May heat.
Eloisa had found his constant unconcern fascinating before. Now it was more than a little irritating, especially when she couldn’t stop thinking about the feel of plunging her fingers into his thick hair when they’d kissed.
She forced her hands to stay steady as she clasped them in front of her, leaning against the table beside Audrey, her half sister topping her by five inches. Her willowy sister looked more like her blond father.
But they both had their mother’s long fingers. What would it have been like to turn to her mother right now? And how much it must hurt Audrey not having their mother around to help plan the biggest day of her life.
Certainly their mother’s shocking death from an allergic reaction to medication had stunned them all. Eloisa had been numb throughout the entire funeral, staying in the fugue state all the way back to Spain, to her study program.
And into Jonah’s bed.
Waking up the morning after with that ring on her finger. She’d felt the first crack in the dam walling up her grief. She’d barely made it out of Jonah’s rented manor home before the tears flowed.
Which brought her back to the dilemma of Jonah.
What was the scoop? Why had he shown up now when he could have sent a lawyer? It wasn’t like he wanted to see her or he could have contacted her anytime in the past year.”His arrival tonight came as a total shocker to me.”
Audrey set aside her plate, plucked a pink stargazer lily from the beach-themed centerpiece and skimmed it under her nose.”You never mentioned meeting him before.”
She hadn’t mentioned even the working relationship because she’d been afraid they would hear in her voice what she could barely admit to herself then, much less now.”Like I said earlier, this is your time, your wedding. I wouldn’t want to do anything to distract from that.”
Audrey bumped her waif-thin shoulder against Eloisa’s.”Could you please drop the altruistic gig for just a few minutes while we squeal over this like real sisters? He’s a Landis, for crying out loud. You’re rubbing elbows with American royalty.”
“Who wouldn’t squeal over that?” She couldn’t resist the tongue-in-cheek retort.
“You, apparently.” Audrey twirled the lily stem between her fingers.”Heaven knows I would be calling a press conference.”
Eloisa laughed, then laughed some more, so much better than crying, and let all the tension from the evening flow out of her. Audrey had her faults, but she never pretended to be anything other than who she was.
Which made Eloisa feel like a hypocrite since she hid from herself every damn day.
Her laughter faded.”Forget all about this evening and Jonah Landis. I meant it when I said these next couple of weeks are totally about you. This is the wedding you’ve been planning since you were a kid. Remember how we used to practice in the garden?”
“You were always the best maid of honor.” She tucked the stargazer lily behind Eloisa’s ear.”I wasn’t always a nice bride.”
“You were three years younger. You got frustrated when you couldn’t keep up.”
“I still do sometimes.” Her smile faltered just a bit.
“Remember the time we picked all the roses off the bushes?” Eloisa steadied the lily behind her ear, the fragrance reminding her of their childhood raid on their mother’s carefully tended yard.”You took the rap.”
Audrey rolled her eyes and attacked her cake again with her pointer finger.”No huge sacrifice. It’s not like I ever got in trouble. I cried better than you did. You were always into being stoic.”
“I’m not the weepy sort.” Not in public anyway.
“Tears can be worth their weight in gold. I may be the youngest, but you should take my advice on this one.” Audrey fixed her stare on her father, her fiancé and Jonah.”When it comes to men, you have to use whatever tools you have.”
“Thanks for the advice.” Not that she could see herself taking it even in a million years.”Now can we get back to focusing on your wedding? We have a lot to accomplish in the next couple of weeks.”
She tried to stem her reservations about Audrey marrying a guy with questionable connections. Her little sister had ignored all the warnings, even threatening to elope if Eloisa didn’t keep her opinions to herself.
Audrey pulled another flower from the centerpiece for herself.”And about Jonah Landis?”
Eloisa shrugged, suddenly hungry for the cake after all.”He’s my date.” She forked up a bite from the lone remaining slice on a plate the caterers hadn’t yet cleared.”It’s as simple as that.”
“Guess you don’t need a ride home tonight.” Audrey needled with the same practiced teasing she’d used on her since the days of Eloisa’s first boyfriend—the librarian’s son who occasionally snitched the keys to the reference room so she could read the Oxford English Dictionary in total privacy after hours.
“I have my car here.”
“One of Joey’s brothers can drive it over for you.” Audrey arched up on her toes.”Hey, Landis? My sister is ready to go. How about you get your chauffeur to pull up that Rolls Royce limo of yours. Eloisa’s been on her feet all day.”
Jonah’s gaze slammed into hers, narrow and predatory. She’d seen that look before, right before she’d shimmied out of her dress and fallen into bed with him.
Shoveling a bite of cake into her mouth, Eloisa tried to tell herself it would be enough to stave off the deeper hunger gnawing through her tonight.
Eloisa shifted uneasily in the limo seat.
Climbing back into Jonah’s car had seemed easier than discussing driving arrangements in front of the gossip rag reporter. Now that she was alone with Jonah, however, she questioned her decision. The drive to her town house felt hours away rather than a couple of miles.
Searching for something, anything to talk about other than each other, Eloisa touched the miniprinter and laptop computer beside her. She started to make a joke about checking Facebook from the road, but paused when her finger snagged on a printed-out page.
She looked closer before she could think to stop herself. It seemed like some kind of small blueprint—
Jonah pulled the paper from the printer and into a briefcase.”Why were you so camera shy at the party earlier?”
“I prefer to keep a low profile. Not everyone is hungry for a spot on the front page.” Ouch. That sounded pretty crabby coming out, but Jonah had a way of agitating her every nerve.
“Do you avoid the press because of your father? You can’t expect to stay under the radar forever.”
Did he realize how intimately their thighs pressed against one another? Eloisa slid her hand from the printer and scooted an inch of space between them.”My mother and I managed over the