“I saw Bradley from channel four doing a wrap up outside the lobby,” Justin, one of the staffers told them.
“And?”
“Hard to say.” Justin’s eyes shifted to Eliza. He smiled and shrugged.
Another staffer arrived, tossed his jacket aside. “Well?”
“Nothing yet.”
Eliza glanced from each man in the room to another. Her skin grew pale.
The men spoke to each other, each speculating what the media would say. Carter sat on the arm of the chair Eliza sat in and leaned forward. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
Yeah, right!
“We can watch in the other room.”
She glanced at the bedroom door and shook her head. “I’m fine here.”
Yeah, right!
Twenty minutes felt like an hour. As the opening credits for the news rolled over the television screen, room service arrived. Jay rushed the hotel staff in and out. Nobody bothered with the food.
“Shh!”
Carter’s first glimpse of Eliza on the screen filled him with a strange sense of pride. It was unfounded, he knew, but watching her walking beside him on film felt right somehow.
“After last week’s blunder, gubernatorial candidate, Carter Billings is on clean up. He certainly enlisted a mysterious and charismatic partner to help him. It’s hard to determine if Mr. Billings was fighting off an unwanted suitor to his current girlfriend, or if his explanation holds merit. You be the judge.” As the press ran a clip of Carter’s press statement, Carter noticed what little color Eliza had on her face disappear. Her index finger slipped between her lips, her eyes fixed to the screen.
You sound defensive, Miss Havens.
I’m offended.
“Even with Miss. Haven’s obvious edge, she humored the reporters with her crack about Mr. Billings not being able to determine a ref’s call during a football game. Still, this reporter isn’t convinced Mr. Billings will be able to escape the now notorious YouTube video.”
Jay switched to another channel. This one more sympathetic than the last, but still not what Carter was hoping for.
Without a word, Eliza stood and walked past the crowded room and into the bedroom.
Chapter Six
Her stomach churned and she didn’t even bother to keep from biting her nails.
Eliza glanced down at her expensive dress before removing the hat from her head and throwing it on the dresser. “What a waste.”
She collapsed onto the bed and grabbed her purse. She removed her wallet and found a well-worn picture. On the yellowed paper was a once happy family. Her mother, who Eliza resembled so closely they could pass as sisters, and her father, an honest, loving man, and her as a child of only nine.
The picture had been taken six months prior to their deaths. Prior to their murders.
Those memories were buried so deep, at times, Eliza would forget. After seeing her picture on every news channel, she realized how much she and her mother looked alike.
And that could be a problem.
A knock at the door had her scrambling to put the picture away and to close her purse. “Eliza?”
It was Carter. “Come in.”
Closing the door behind him. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. It’s you they’re smearing all over town. I can’t believe how much they’ve twisted everything.”
He leaned a hip against the dresser and tucked his hands into his pants pockets. Even with all the stress, he was sexy as hell. “We didn’t think one press conference would fix everything.”
“I hope you won’t need me. My wardrobe budget is tapped for the year,” she released a nervous laugh.
“I can reimburse you.”
Her jaw tightened. “Please. That’s not what I’m suggesting.” Besides, she couldn’t remember the last time someone paid for her clothes… Well, outside of a stupid yellow bridesmaid dress. “So what’s next? More press conferences?” She needed to know so she could make a graceful exit from this part of Carter’s plan.
“I’m sure those will happen.”
He moved over to the bed and sat beside her. She placed her purse to her side.
“You have a different plan, don’t you?”
He nodded, nervous suddenly in a way she’d not seen him before. “We’ve run studies, and researched past candidates in similar situations. Outside of waiting four more years, I need to do something drastic to get the media’s focus on the race.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“It’s simple. They want a family man in office.”
Eliza shifted on the bed. “You’re going to pull a family out of your butt?”
He laughed and his blue eyes fixed to hers. “No. I’m going to get married.”
Her smile fell. Kathleen? Isn’t he done with her?
“That’s extreme, isn’t it?”
“I don’t think so. Getting married fixes the image of a fight-starting, party boy in a bar. It adds stability to an office that historically has been run by married men. It’s the answer to my problems.”
Maybe it was, but her stomach didn’t like it. She swallowed hard. “I suppose.”
“You agree?”
“You’re the politician, Carter. You have a finger on the pulse of the voting public more than I do. I guess as long as Kathleen agrees—”
“Kathleen?” His confused stare bordered on comical.
“Who else?” He probably had a small lineup of willing women to be Mrs. Billings.