Hideaway (21 page)

M
artin watched the shadowy figure of his wife as she leaned against the wall separating their terrace from the adjoining hotel suite. He knew she would be up waiting for him. Over the past two weeks she had been unable to sleep unless he took her to bed and held her until exhaustion claimed her tense body.

Lately, everything had begun to annoy her: the heat, crowds, personal appearances and the accelerated pace of covering as many as ten cities within a week.

Insomnia wracked Parris until she appeared gaunt and fragile. Photographs captured the haunted look in her large eyes, giving her the appearance of a runway model with the graceful hollow of cheeks under delicate, high cheekbones.

The hectic pace was taking its toll on everyone involved with the campaign. Olga Ramirez, one security person and two speech writers had all succumbed to exhaustion. And as much as he tried, Martin found it virtually impossible to retire for bed before midnight.

Eliot Howard had begun his counterattack and he was compelled to spend more time trying to convince the voters that his political inexperience was not a major issue.

Glancing at his watch, Martin winced as he mentally predicted Joshua’s reply when he woke him out of his much needed sleep
at one in the morning. He didn’t hesitate as he picked up the telephone and dialed the number. It took less than sixty seconds to relay his instructions.

Sliding back the screened door, Martin stepped out into the humid blackness. His hands circled Parris’s tiny waist. She was thinner than she was when he met her ten years before.

“Parris, you’ve got to try to get some sleep.”

“I can’t sleep,” she mumbled weakly, floating against his stronger body.

He picked her up, shocked by her weight loss. He placed her on the bed, lying beside her and drawing her into his body’s warmth. Burying his face in her freshly shampooed hair, Martin kissed her neck. “Do you want me to get a doctor to prescribe some pills to help you sleep?”

“I don’t need sleeping pills, Martin. I need a husband, not a man I have to share with millions of other people. I feel betrayed. I thought I married you, not the state of Florida.”

“You have me, baby. You have all of me.”

“I only have a little piece of you, Martin. The little piece that’s left over after you’ve given everyone else the charm, wit and your grand plan for overhauling the state’s political machine.” Pulling out of his embrace, she glanced up to find him staring at her. “I’m tired, Martin. I’m tired of microphones being shoved in my face and flashbulbs distorting my vision.

“I’m sick and tired of smiling and trying to be gracious to people who make snide remarks about you breaking up my marriage to Owen. I need a break from this circus.” She massaged her eyes with her fingertips. “If I don’t get away from the madness for a few days, I’m afraid I’m going to go crazy.”

His lids came down swiftly, masking his disappointment. Didn’t she know that it was her presence that gave him the motivation to keep the pace he’d set to attain his goal? It was her he came back to to renew himself for the next battle. His need to defeat Howard and Russell had become a burning obsession, raging out of control. It had come down to a personal war instead of a battle of political ideology.

“I’ll have Joshua take you home tomorrow.” His voice lacked emotion. “He’s to stay at the house until I come back on Saturday.” Martin ignored her soft sigh of relief. “You’re to remain in Fort Lauderdale until Regina is out of school. She only has three weeks before the terms ends so it’ll have to be your decision whether you want to remain at my parents’ house during the weekdays with Regina or permit her to stay with Mother, Nancy or Juliana until the end of the school year. The next three weeks should give you enough time to recuperate, finish decorating the house and anything else you feel you want to do.

“After that, you’ll be expected to hold up your end of this cause, Parris. It will only become more fierce and ugly the closer the day of reckoning approaches.” The burning light in his midnight eyes belied his flat tone. “I hope this meets with your approval, Mrs. Cole?”

She dropped her gaze, staring at his bare chest. “Yes, it does, Martin. Thank you,” she whispered.

Martin gathered her close, feeling alone and empty even before her departure. Their marriage had become one of convenience and betrayal. She was right. He had betrayed her. He needed her; he needed her so much; but more than that he loved her. He held her until her breathing deepened and she fell asleep.

You’ve used her
. The three words attacked him relentlessly until he clenched his teeth to stop his denial from spewing out. The three words continued to haunt while he slept and taunted him the following morning long after Parris had returned to Fort Lauderdale.

Parris watched the fast moving cumulus clouds race across the bright blue sky as a strong breeze from the ocean cooled her moist skin. After two days of rain the sky brightened with sunshine and warmth. She dangled her bare feet in the warm pool water, leaning back on her hands and enjoying the cooling air. The stiff fronds of the overhead palm trees caught the wind and bowed majestically from their towering height.

“We’re finished, ma’am.”

Parris was reluctant to look at the man who supervised the landscaping crew. A large prominent vein throbbed visibly under the pale flesh stretched across his forehead. She finally stared at him until he looked away, seemingly embarrassed by her obvious repulsion.

Joshua watched Parris watching the man. “Send the bill to Martin Cole,” he said.

“Will do, sir.” The landscaper nodded at Joshua and walked back to his truck and crew.

Joshua sat down beside Parris, examining her intently. “Is something wrong?”

“That man,” she said quietly.

“What about him?”

She shivered despite the heat. “He was staring at me.” A shiver of panic swept through her as fearful images of her abduction came back to haunt her. “Every time I came out of the house I found him standing there, not doing anything. I tried to ignore him but he kept watching me.”

“Have you ever seen him before?”

She shook her head slowly. He couldn’t be the man who had accosted her in the mall parking lot. He was too tall. The man who had stalked her was slightly-built and was close to her own height.

“No,” she finally admitted.

“It’s been rough on you, hasn’t it?”

“What has?” She pretended ignorance.

He leaned closer as the wind ruffled his now longer silver-blond hair. “Don’t pretend with me, Parris. I know you crave your privacy and wish for some kind of normalcy in your marriage. You want to be able to breakfast every morning with your husband before seeing him off to work. And after Regina leaves for school, you’d love to go to an elegant little shop that has been set up for your decorating business.

“You want to come home after work, see Martin and Regina and share what’s left of the day with them. You probably want another child and I can safely guess that you detest this nasty game of politics Martin has become involved in.”

Parris stared at his grim expression, feeling her own temper rise. “With a friend like you Martin doesn’t need any enemies, does he?” she asked bitterly.

Joshua raised his eyebrows. “You doubt my loyalty to your husband?” His pale eyes burned into her. Placing a long elegant hand on her shoulder, his fingers tightened. “You’ll desert him before I will,” he predicted.

She jerked out of his grasp. “If you’re such a loyal friend, why are you saying these vicious things about Martin?”

“I just want you to be aware of your position, Parris.” He shifted, staring out into the ocean, his gaze following a flock of circling gulls. “Martin loves you and I know you love him. But sometimes love can obscure reality. Before you agree to go any further with this campaign think about the consequences. Make certain all of the successes will be worth what you’ll have to sacrifice to achieve it.”

Parris sat, trailing her feet in the pool long after Joshua returned to the centrally air-cooled interior of the house. She was aware of his anger because he had been forced to baby-sit her until Martin returned; and it had not made her feel any better to have him constantly watching over her.

Wherein Joshua was restless and bored since they had returned to Fort Lauderdale, she hadn’t been. She spent a day shopping for food to stock her pantry, and for linens for the bedrooms.

Decorating the bedrooms allowed her a taste of reality and stability. In keeping with the tropical locale, she’d decorated the spaces in light, airy romantic colors.

The bedroom she would share with Martin contained a graceful white brass and iron king-size bed with a white embroidered comforter and sheets of eyelet and lace. She wondered about Martin’s reaction to sleeping in the frilly, feminine bedroom, but dismissed it as soon as the thought entered her head. He probably wouldn’t notice; defeating Eliot Howard and Russell Baker were his only priorities.

She hadn’t been able to resist the graceful dips and curves of
the head and footboards when she saw them in the manufacturer’s warehouse. Glass and wrought iron tables, live potted plants and palms and a pale green rug completed the furnishings. An adjoining dressing room held two massive oak armoires and dressers.

Regina’s room was filled with wicker furniture, handwrapped over welded iron tubing frames in a delicate light green. The double bed with a wicker headboard, matching aquamarine, apricot and cream bed dressing enchanted the child when she first saw it, but failed to sustain her interest as she complained she had “nothing to do by herself.”

Regina had been ambivalent about coming down to Fort Lauderdale. She whined that she missed her cousins and grandparents, and Parris retraced the fifty miles to take her back to M.J. Regina would remain in West Palm Beach during the week and return to Fort Lauderdale on weekends.

Parris couldn’t relax enough to remain in West Palm Beach; the thought of running into Owen had become a constant threat she couldn’t ignore.

She refused to permit Regina’s wish to stay in West Palm Beach to dampen her relief of being away from the frantic pace of campaigning. She was able to sleep soundly and the shadows under her eyes disappeared quickly.

She no longer had to concern herself with what to wear, makeup or jewelry. In Fort Lauderdale, with Joshua beside her, she strolled the streets in complete anonymity, comfortably dressed in her worn jeans, oversized T-shirts, frayed sandals or jogging shoes and sunglasses.

Joshua walked into the kitchen, surprising Parris when he smiled at her. “You’re not cooking tonight. We’re going out, and it’ll be my treat.”

She returned his smile. Apparently their earlier confrontation was forgotten. If he was offering her an olive branch she would accept it. “Only if I can wear what I have on.”

Joshua glanced at her slim white cotton skirt, red T-shirt and white espadrilles. “You don’t have to change.”

He drove to a popular downtown restaurant with a patio bar, waterfall and an abundance of tropical foliage. The fragrance of grilling steaks on an open hearth filled the air with a mouthwatering aroma.

“What would you like to drink?” Joshua asked her after they seated themselves.

“Something cold with a mixture of tropical juices.”

“You don’t trust me enough to order something alcoholic?”

She stared at him. “Whether I trust you or not is inconsequential. Martin trusts you.”

Joshua smiled again, and he looked like a different person. She had been wrong when she thought him cold and unfeeling. Joshua Kirkland was as human as she was, only he was an expert when it came to hiding behind a wall; a wall he let few penetrate.

“That’s because Martin is special to me, Parris. Very special.” He walked away to order their drinks.

Resting her chin on the heel of her hand, Parris smiled as Joshua was waylaid by two attractive young women as he made his way back from the bar with their drinks. They sandwiched him in a corner, each hanging onto an arm. Joshua gave them a solemn expression, motioning with his head in her direction.

Parris puckered her lips, blowing him a kiss. The women turned and glanced in her direction. She raised her left hand and wiggled her ring finger, and Joshua was allowed to escape.

He sat down opposite her, letting out his breath. “Thanks.”

Leaning forward, she said softly, “What did you tell them?”

He managed a sheepish grin. “I told them I was married and had six kids at home.”

Parris speared a cherry tomato from one of the two bowls of salad a waitress had left on the table, giving him a skeptical look. “Six kids?”

He frowned. “Three sets of twins.”

She laughed aloud, and to her surprise so did he.

“How’s the drink?” he questioned.

“Perfect.” She glanced around the crowded restaurant. “This place is charming, yet relaxed. Thank you for inviting me.”

“My pleasure, Mrs. Cole.”

A slight frown creased Parris’s smooth forehead as she put down her drink. “Why do you insist on calling me that?”

“Aren’t you Mrs. Cole, Mrs. Cole?”

“Yes, I am,” she replied. She glanced away, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. “But Mrs. Cole makes me sound prim and staid.”

“You’re a challenge, Parris. That’s why Martin was attracted to you.”

First she was shocked, then wary. How did Joshua know so much about her? About her and Martin? Had Martin told him about their relationship?

A waiter approached the table to take their order, interrupting their conversation.

Parris sipped her drink and ate half of her salad in silence. She declined Joshua’s offer of another drink, and waited for him to reorder his before gathering enough nerve to ask him the questions which had plagued her since she was introduced to him.

“How long have you known Martin?”

“Seventeen years,” came his direct reply.

“Did the two of you go to school together?”

Joshua leaned back in his chair, staring at her, his gaze now cold and forbidding. “No. Martin grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth while I grew up in what is known as Little Havana.”