“I can’t believe she would act so impulsively, so thoughtlessly after all I’ve done to make the perfect wedding for her, to give my daughter the social send off she always wanted.”
Eloisa bit back the urge to note it was the send off Harry wanted. “I’m sorry about all the money you lost on down payments.”
“You don’t understand the worst of it,” Harry rambled, the frustration in his voice rapidly turning to anger. “She says she and Joey are moving away, cutting ties to start fresh away from his family. She’s going to throw away all the influence of his family name.”
It sounded to her like her sister had wised up. Now that the shock was beginning to fade, she knew that Audrey was better off.
Jonah gave her a questioning look.
She held up a hand and spoke into the phone. “It’s for the best Audrey gets her life in order now rather than risk a messy divorce later.”
And didn’t that hit a little close to home?
Harry’s laugh hitched on a half sob. “Eloisa? Where are you? How soon can you get back, because I really need your help right now.”
“Uh, I went out for a drive.” And a flight. And a swim. Followed by a resounding realization that she and Jonah had very different expectations from life. While she’d more than enjoyed the peaceful aftermath of their lovemaking, she couldn’t spend her entire life just floating alongside Jonah. “Don’t worry, Harry. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
She disconnected the phone.
Infinity had an end after all.
Jonah tugged on jeans and a button down, slicking his still-wet hair back.
God, things had gone south with Eloisa so fast.
Her family snapped their fingers and she was ready to run to their side. On the one hand, that could be an admirable trait. As a Landis, he would behave the same way in a crisis. When his brother’s military plane had gone done in Afghanistan, the family had all pulled together to hold each other up until Kyle was found safely.
When Sebastian and his wife Marianna separated after their adopted daughter was reclaimed by her biological mother, the brothers had sat together through that first hellish night and poured drinks for Sebastian.
He could go on and on with the list.
Then why was he so damn irritated over this? Because no one was there for her. Yet they expected her to drop everything for manufactured crises that seemed a daily occurrence in Eloisa’s household.
Jonah watched her yank on a fresh sundress and wished he could have enjoyed the moment more. But she was packing. Leaving. Determined to return home immediately to do heaven only knew what. Her sister had left and married some other guy. It was a done deal.
But still, Eloisa was tossing her clothes into her little bag a lot faster than she’d put them in there in the first place. What was really going on here?
Eloisa looked up sharply. “I thought you said we were alone?”
He stopped buttoning his shirt halfway up and looked around, listened. The elevator rumbled softly, then louder, closer. “Decorating staff is downstairs, but there’s no reason for them to come up here, and they don’t have an elevator key for the penthouse anyway.”
A ding sounded just outside the suite.
His muscles tensed protectively. He checked to make sure she was dressed on his way out into the sitting area. “I said no one would bother us. Apparently I was wrong.”
And he damn well wasn’t happy about the interruption.
He opened the door into the hall just as a carefully coiffed woman stepped out of the private elevator. He would know those sweater sets and pearls paired with perfectly pressed jeans anywhere.
His mother, of all people, had arrived in the middle of nowhere just when he happened to be with Eloisa. His mother’s arrival was too convenient. She must know something or at least sense something. He could swear his mom had some kind of special maternal radar.
Could this day go to crap any faster?
Closing the door to the penthouse quietly to seal off Eloisa from the catastrophe in the making, Jonah swore softly as he stepped toward the elevator. “Hi, Ma.”
Ginger Landis Renshaw swatted his arm even as she hugged him. “Is that any way to welcome your mother? You may have gotten taller than me by the time you turned thirteen, but you will still watch the language, young man.”
His mother was all protocol out in the political world, but with her family she still kept things real—even though she was now an ambassador to a small South American country.
He glanced over his shoulder at the closed door. He could only keep Eloisa under wraps for so long. His best hope was to head off his mom long enough to go back into the suite and warn Eloisa. Prepare her for the meeting. Most women he dated either froze up around his family, or worse. They kissed up.
He was certain Eloisa wouldn’t be the latter, but he worried about the former. And she sure as hell was more than a “date.”
At least his brothers weren’t here. “Mom, I have someone with me. This really isn’t a convenient time.”
“I know. Why do you think I’m here? I want to meet this Eloisa for myself rather than keep waiting for you to get around to it.”
Nobody got jack by Ginger. The only question that remained? How much did she know? A lot, apparently, if she’d already learned Eloisa’s name.
The door to the suite opened. His window to prepare anybody was over.
“Jonah,” Eloisa called softly. “I’m packed and ready to leave, but if you’re busy with work I can call a cab.” She pulled up short at the sight of his famous mother. “Excuse me, ma’am.”
“Eloisa, this is my mother,” he said, although it seemed no introductions were needed, “Ginger Landis Renshaw.”
His mother pushed past him, her eyes both sharp and welcoming. “Call me, Ginger, please. All those names are too much of a mouthful. It’s nice to meet you, Eloisa.”
“And you, too, ma’am,” she said simply, taking his mother’s hand lightly.
No shaking in her shoes.
Thus far she seemed to be silently holding her ground and letting Ginger fill the silence with a running monologue about her trip out. Eloisa had a quiet elegance about her, a way of smoothing over even awkward situations. It was easy to see why she was the rock of her family, why both her fathers needed her by their sides right now.
God, she was mesmerizing.
“Jonah? Jonah!” his mother called.
“Huh?” Brilliant response. He peeled his eyes off Eloisa. “Uh, what did you say, Ma?”
Ginger smiled knowingly before answering. “I was just telling your delightful friend Eloisa how I had a stopover in the area to meet with a congressman friend of mine. Since I was in the States, I gave my other boys a call so we could all meet up here for a family overnight vacation.”
What the— “My brothers? Are here?”
“Downstairs checking out your latest work. It’s all quite lovely dear.”
Apparently the evening could get worse.
Eloisa stepped back, as if dodging the brewing family conspiracy. “Jonah, it sounds like you and your mother have a lot to talk about. I’ll just call to check in with my father while you meet with your family.” She nodded toward Ginger. “It was lovely meeting you, ma’am.”
She disappeared back into the suite before he could stop her. Although he appreciated the chance to find out what was up with his mother’s surprise visit.
“Mom, what are you really doing here? No way in hell were you and Matthew and Sebastian and Kyle just in the neighborhood.”
“Language.” She swatted his arms again and tugged him into the elevator. “Let’s talk in here where it’s more private.”
“Did the General come along, too?” He could sense the family closing ranks. Something was up. And as much as he wanted to go comfort Eloisa, he needed to make sure she wasn’t walking into some kind of ambush.
God, he’d thought Eloisa was quick to answer the call of her kin. The Landises could round up relatives faster than most people could put dinner on the table.
“Hank couldn’t make it back from his meeting in Germany in time. He sends his best.” The doors swooshed closed.
“Mom, this is nuts.” And part of the reason he needed to travel. Frequently.
“This is being a mother. I can hear it in your voice when something’s wrong. It’s a mother’s instinct, a gift I have for all of my children.” She nailed the Stop button. “You asked about the Medinas and so I tapped into some resources. I found out quite a lot as a matter of fact, most of it about you and Eloisa.”
Okay, she’d definitely captured his interest. For Eloisa’s sake, he needed to find out every bit of information his mother had been able to unearth. “What did you learn?”
His mother pinned him with a stare she’d perfected on all four of her boys. “That you’re married. And I decided that since you’ve been married for a year now, if I wanted to ever meet this new daughter-in-law of mine, I had better take matters into my own hands.”
Twelve
Stunned, Jonah stared at his mother and processed her bombshell, along with all the repercussions it could have for Eloisa. How had his mom found out about his marriage…? “Sebastian.”
Ginger nodded slowly. “I went to him with some questions when I started looking into the Medinas. He thought I already knew.”
Their mother always had been good about pulling information out of them unawares. He couldn’t even be mad at his brother.
Jonah pulled his thoughts back to the present. Things were still so unsure with Eloisa he needed to tread warily. “Mom, I understand your impatience, but I need for you to hold back just a little while longer.” As much as he loved his family, Eloisa was his primary focus. What else had Ginger found out? “What were you able to uncover about the Medinas? Did you learn anything about the old king?”
She leaned back on the mirrored wall silently and chewed the tip of her glasses dangling on a chain around her neck.
“How much do you know about Eloisa?” he pressed again.
Ginger dropped her glasses back to rest on the chain. “I know who her real father is. A carefully kept secret for over twenty-five years, a secret that seems to be leaking out since your marriage, otherwise I never should have been able to uncover her identity.”
He went stone-cold inside. He’d never for a second considered he’d put her at risk by marrying her. But of course he hadn’t known her secret then. What a convoluted mess.
One he would fix. “No one will ever harm a hair on her head.”
“You’re that far gone, are you?” Her face creased with a deep and genuine smile. “Congratulations, Jonah.”
Far gone? Hell yeah. “I’m married to her, aren’t I?”
“There are problems, obviously, or you wouldn’t have spent the year apart.” She held up a manicured finger. “I’m not trying to pry. Only commenting on the obvious. Of course, I don’t know her, but I would imagine she has reason to be wary.”
“Eloisa freaks out about being in the spotlight.” He glanced at the closed doors, thinking of her on the other side waiting with her suitcase. “When the time comes, this needs to be handled with a carefully worded press release.”