He was dismissing her? Just like that? Her heart thundered in her chest, a mix of indignance and nerves.
"Sir?"
"I'd like a word alone with my grandson now."
Cheeks burning, she disengaged her hand from Tom's and stood up. Her pocketbook, which had been resting on her lap, slid to the floor with a plop. She bent over to pick it up, fumbling with trembling fingers to pull it over her shoulder. Suddenly she felt Tom's comforting hand on her arm, helping her up and walking her to the door.
"You did great," he whispered, though his eyes were flinty and flat. "Wait for me outside, okay?"
She nodded at him, trying not to cry.
She hadn't done great.
That much was clear.
***
"She's a looker, but is she also a hooker?"
Tom turned from the door to face his grandfather with barely restrained fury. The old man had done everything short of blatantly insulting Eleanora to her face, and Tom had never felt so angry with anyone in his life. "What the hell is the matter with you?"
"Is she?"
"No! She's a waitress!"
"Humph. Regardless, she's not at all what I had in mind for you."
"Be that as it may, she's my wife."
"Ha! Your wife! What a joke. She's cheap goods, is what she is. You met the girl five minutes ago, Thomas."
"That's enough!" Tom slapped his palms on his grandfather's desk, leaning over the dark mahogany to sneer at him. "Not only did I play by your rules, old man, but she's a better woman than any I've ever known. I'm lucky to be with her, and if anyone is cheap goods here, it's you, out of line with your cheap, below-the-belt shots."
"A Vegas wedding to a common waitress with no family, no education, no breeding." Tom's grandfather narrowed his eyes, sitting back in his desk chair and tenting his fingers under his chin. "You think you outsmarted me, boy? You didn't. You know as well as I do that you're thumbing your nose at my rules. But you're young, and you've always been a little impulsive, so I'll give you a chance to make things right. Annul this sham of a marriage and I will give you six more months to find someone appropriate before I cut you off."
Tom lifted his hands from the desk, crossing his arms over his chest. His grandfather gestured toward his office door with his chin.
"But I will require that she return to Colorado and you remain in Philadelphia, Thomas. So don't think you can annul the marriage and still have your cheap piece of ass on the side." He raised his bushy eyebrows. "So? What do you say? More than fair, eh?"
"What do I say?" Tom took a deep breath and tried to steady his voice, but it was still lethal. "I say, I'll take my chances with her. I say, Keep your goddamn money. I don't want it. I say, I choose her." He turned around and strode across the office toward the door.
"Now, Thomas," the old man blustered, leaning forward to stand up.
"Forgive me, Grandfather," said Tom, turning the doorknob before he faced his aging relative one last time, "but go to hell."
Slamming the office door shut behind him, Tom looked right and left down the hallway, but Eleanora was nowhere to be seen.
"Eleanora?" he called.
"Psssht! Tom!" Susannah peeked out of the front parlor with a feather duster in her hand, beckoning him to come closer. "She left."
"She lef-wait. Why?"
Susannah winced. "I'm afraid your grandfather's office door wasn't closed very tightly. The whole house heard what he had to say about her."
Tom grimaced, clenching his eyes shut for a moment and taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm his fury. "Where'd she go?"
"She raced out the front door." Susannah offered Tom a sympathetic smile. "Bet you can still catch her."
"Thanks, Susannah," said Tom, racing for the door and swinging it open. He paused on the front steps of the mansion for a moment and spotted her-a speck in the distance at the end of the long gravel driveway, almost at the gatehouse.
"Eleanora!"
Tom took off at a sprint, but she didn't slow down. She reached the gates and struggled to pull the heavy wrought iron open, finally managing to slip through. He ran as fast as he could, pulling open one of the gates and racing onto Blueberry Lane, where he found her leaning against a brick pillar at the entrance of the estate, her shoulders hunched forward and head down.
He stepped in front of her, reaching for her. "Eleanora."
She didn't look at him. Tears fell from her cheeks, plopping on the ground at their feet. "Please let me go."
"I can't," he said breathlessly.
"Please, Tom," she sobbed. "I have a credit card that I use for emergencies, and if I can j-just get to the airport, I can-"
Pulling her roughly against him, he crushed her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her and pressing his lips to her sweet-smelling hair. "Please don't go. You can't go. I told him to shove his money up his ass. I told him to go to hell. I told him I choose you, sunshine. I choose us."
She whimpered against his neck, a small keening sound that broke his heart even as her body relaxed against his. "Tom . . ."
"I don't . . ." He inhaled raggedly, still trying to catch his breath. "I don't have all the answers, Eleanora. Maybe six months from now, you'll think I'm a prick and leave. Maybe I'll find out you're crazy and beg you to go. But right here? Right now? I want you. I want you so bad, I can't think straight. I want you so much, I just turned down fifteen million dollars. Like it or lump it, you're my wife, and I just . . . God, I just want to give us a chance."
"You do?" she asked softly, her voice still a little shaky.
"I do."
She leaned back, looking up at him with glistening eyes and a brilliant smile. "I want you too, Tom. So much."
He placed his palms on her cheeks and found her lips with his, parting them, claiming them, celebrating that they wouldn't have to say goodbye, that for now they had chosen each other, and feeling breathlessly excited for their future.
When they were both panting and trembling, he rested his forehead against hers. "You're worth it."
"God, I hope so," she murmured, laughing softly, her breath landing on his lips like a blessing.
"We'll have to move," he said. "That penthouse belongs to my family."
"I've been comfortable with a lot less."
"I have several thousand dollars of my own money saved up. I'm not broke," he said. "And I have a good education. I can apply for jobs in New York or Hartford maybe. I've worked at English & Son for years-I should be able to find something on Wall Street or in insurance. We'll find a little place. Start small, but fresh."
"I'll make it homey with very little. I know how to do that. And I'll have breakfast for dinner waiting for you every night when you come home."
"Every night that you don't have classes, you mean. You're finishing college, Eleanora. Between my savings and whatever I bring home, we'll make it happen. You could go to NYU or Columbia. We'll check them out this spring and enroll you for the fall term. Deal?"
She laughed softly again, leaning forward to kiss him. "Deal."
"I swear to you, I won't stop working until we're on our feet. I'll give you a good life. I promise if you take a chance on me, you won't regret it."
"But what about you?"
"What do you mean?"
She leaned back a little to gaze up at him, her smile fading, her fingers clasping his wrist.
"What about the money? How can you do this? How can you turn it down for me?"
"I want you more."
"Won't you resent me?"
"No, sunshine," he said softly, threading his fingers through her hair and kissing her tenderly. "And besides, maybe he'll come around one day. Once he knows you. Once he sees that he was right all along."
"Right?" she demanded, jerking back from him, her eyes wide and insulted. "What exactly was he right about?"
He ran the backs of his fingers across her cheek, soothing her. "‘A good woman makes a man honest, makes him work harder, makes him true.' His words. That's why he wanted me to get married. His goal all along was for me to find a woman who made me honest and true, who made me want to work hard for her comfort, for her happiness." He pressed a sweet, swift kiss to her warmed-honey lips. "And he was right. A good woman can change the entire course of your life . . . if you want her badly enough . . . if you let her."