Deliver Me (35 page)

Still holding onto her wrist, Jeffrey turned to his other
woman. “Mrs. Patterson, I’ll get the payment when I come to finish up the
brickwork.”

“Go to her! You can have her right now. I don’t want
anything to do with you.” She wrenched her hands free. “I want you gone. No!”
she gasped when he tried to capture her wrist again. “Get away from me!”

“Amanda, stop this!”

“Leave me alone.” A
searing pain gripped her stomach. Clutching it in her hands, Amanda screamed, “I
hate you! I
hate
you!” The sharp pain
shot through her stomach like a lightening rod, bringing Amanda instantly to
her knees. “God, no,” she cried, cradling her belly, willing her baby to be
okay.

“Amanda!”

Faintly, she heard
Jeffrey speaking into his cellular phone to the 911 operator. Another stalk of
pain ripped through her and Amanda fell all the way to the ground, the dampness
from the earlier rain shower seeping through her lightweight dress.

She felt the rush of
liquid flow out of her and instant tears sprung to her eyes, tears that had
nothing to do with the paralyzing pain.

Her water had just
broken.

Her baby was coming.
Five weeks too soon.

***

Monica rummaged
frantically through the mountain of invoices and receipts. She’d just had the
contract for the ice sculpture a minute ago. It had to be in here. But it wasn’t.
Monica pounded both fists on the table, sending papers flying.

She had to get a
grip. The banquet was less than a week away, but her nervous breakdown was less
than a
second
away. If she did not
calm down she was going to go postal on the next person to walk through the
door, which would likely be Dr. Moore, since she had commandeered the head of
the food subcommittee’s office without his knowledge.

She wasn’t use to
being at the hospital and not being in the ER, but since it was her day off,
she’d had to find somewhere else to work. Right now, Monica was contemplating
bringing everything to the bar down the street. She would probably be in a
better mood after a few drinks.

What had she been thinking,
taking on this banquet, knowing so much was riding on it? When she first agreed
to chair the fundraiser, all Monica could see was the accolades she would
receive after saving the day. She had not thought about what would happen if
the banquet flopped.

Fear of the banquet having less than stellar success was
giving her an ulcer. Though, she must admit, the praise already trickling in
felt
really
good.

Monica was still on
cloud nine after running into Dr. Slessinger in the hallway. News of the record
number of pre-sold tickets had made its way back to the chief of staff. The
praises he sang would be enough of an incentive to get her through the next few
days.

Monica gathered the
papers that had flown from the desk and stacked them in a neat pile. Finding
this receipt was the last thing on her plate. Once she reviewed it and sent Dr.
Moore her approval she could head to the plantation in Destrehan and make sure
everything was in order for Saturday.

Monica heard the
door open, but didn’t bother looking up from her rummaging. “I’ll be out of
your office in a minute, Dr. Moore.”

Yes
. Monica breathed a sigh of relief as she came up with the receipt. She
had not gone crazy...yet.

“Dr. Moore couldn’t
make it.” Her head flew up at the sound of the familiar, sensual voice.

“Eli,” she
whispered. She bounded from the chair and rushed into his arms, showering his
faintly stubble-covered chin with a rain of kisses. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve promised to
cover a month’s worth of weekends for Dr. Bailey, but I don’t care because I
had to see you.”

Monica’s heart
soared. God, she loved this man.

“I can’t believe you
went through all that trouble.”

“Well, I did. So you
can imagine how disappointed I was to find your apartment empty. You messed up
my surprise.”

“I’m sorry. There
was just so much to do here today.”

“On your day off?”

“The banquet is in
less than a week, Eli.”

“And as I’ve said
before, there are other people to take care of this stuff. You’ve done a
wonderful job delegating, Monica. You should be in administration instead of
the ER.”

She feigned an
affronted gasp. “Bite your tongue.”

“I know you’d never
leave the ER. But, seriously, you’ve done everything you can do for this
banquet.”

“But I just want to
make sure everything is lined up—”

“No!” he said. “You’re
going to drive yourself crazy if you don’t stop.”

“I’m already there,”
she said with a sad laugh. In the relatively short time she had known him,
Monica had already learned fighting Eli on something like this was a losing
battle. “Fine,” she said, conceding before he found out just how involved she
had once again become in the banquet preparations. “What is this surprise?”

The devilish grin
that curved up the corners of his mouth sent a tiny shiver up her spine. “We’re
going to enjoy my number one hobby.”

Monica’s eyes
widened. Teasingly, she said, “In the middle of the day?”

“My second favorite
hobby,” Eli amended.

“And just what is
that?”

“Nah uh.” He shook
his head. “Just in case you don’t like it, I’m not telling you until we get
there.”

“No fair,” Monica
laughingly protested. “Really, Eli, I need to drive out to St. Charles Parish.
I’m scheduled to meet with the coordinator in about an hour.”

“Cancel.”

“I can’t cancel.”

“Then send someone
in your place.”

“I—”

Actually, she could
send someone else. In fact, she
had
sent someone else. Kenya James, an RN on the site subcommittee, was already at
Destrehan Plantation. Monica had no real reason to be there, she just wanted to
make sure everything was up to her standards.

“You were saying?”
Eli asked.

“Forget it,” Monica
replied. “Let’s go. The capable site committee can take care of the details.”

“You see, if you
would just accept everything I say as law, you could save yourself so much
time.”

“Get out of here,”
Monica laughed, pushing Eli out the door.

***

“You have
got
to be kidding me.”

Eli maneuvered his
SUV into the first empty parking slot he could find, sending her a smile.

“Miniature golf?”
Monica asked, dismay making her voice hike up like a soprano.

“I couldn’t get a
tee time at any of the courses that are up and running.” Eli step down from the
SUV and went around her side. “Besides, I figured you didn’t play so I thought
I’d start you off on something a little simpler than the front nine at English
Turn.”

Monica halted in the
act of getting out of the car. “Please don’t tell me you spend all your free
time on the golf course. That’s so cliché.”

“Hey, I’ve got to be
prepared for early retirement.”

She rolled her eyes and finally allowed him to assist her.
Placing her hand in his, she stepped down from the front seat. She brushed past
him and Eli nearly died as he caught a nose full of her delicious, delicate
scent. Maybe he
should
have opted for
his number one hobby.

“You’re right,”
Monica said. “I have no idea how to golf. I’ve never even held a club.”

As she crossed her
arms over her chest, Eli’s eyes automatically zoomed in on her luscious
breasts. He envisioned trailing his tongue along their delicate slopes before
taking her taut nipple between his teeth. His groined tightened unmercifully.

“Forget the golf,”
he said, taking her by the arm. “We’ve got better things to do.”

“No,” Monica pulled
away. “You brought me out here. I’m ready to hit a home run.” She made a
swinging motion as if holding a baseball bat.

“Wrong sport.” He
rolled his eyes.

“It was a joke.”

“Fine. Ha. Ha. Now
let’s go.” He went after her arm and once again she pulled away.

“Why are you in such
a hurry to go?”

Eli looked into her
eyes, making sure his smoldering gaze left no question to what he wanted. Her
eyes traveled down to his crotch where the evidence of his arousal was more
than obvious.

When he noticed the
devious smile creeping up the sides of her mouth, Eli knew he was in trouble.
Monica took a step back and crossed her arms over her chest again, but this time
she rested them just under her breasts. They stood out as if they were being
served on a platter. Eli groaned.

“I guess that’s a
pretty good reason,” she finally answered. “But, umm, I think I’d rather golf.”

Oh, the woman was
heartless.

Eli closed his eyes
and dropped his chin to his chest. “You’re doing this just to torture me, aren’t
you?”

“What?” she asked
with angel-eyed innocence. Just the thought of all the un-angel like things
they could be doing right now was enough to drive him crazy.

“Monica, please.”
His raspy voice was filled with desire. He so needed to get her out of this
parking lot and into a bed. He didn’t even care whose bed, as long as they were
horizontal.

Monica tipped her
head to the side and taped her finger against her chin. She squinted her eyes,
as if thinking really hard. “Uh...no. I say we golf.”

“Woman, you are so
evil.”

She was barely able
to keep the laughter from her voice. “And you, Dr. Holmes, are way too used to
getting what you want. I think someone needs to knock you down a peg or two.”

“Can’t you do that
another night? In fact, I’ll let you. You can deny me anything you want
tomorrow, but I really,
really
want
you right now, Monica.” The last part came out like a man pleading for his
life, though it was only fair since Eli was sure he would die if he didn’t have
her in the next five minutes.

“Nope.” Monica shook
her head. She grabbed him by his sleeve and dragged him toward the colorful
entrance to the miniature golf course, purposely swaying her hips from side to
side.

“Stop that,” Eli
warned.

“Stop what?”

“You know what. If
you don’t want to go at it between two parked cars, you’ll stop shaking your
behind like that.”

She stuck her nose
in the air. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her hips rocked even
more.

Eli reluctantly
followed her to the cashier booth, trying like hell not to look at her firm
backside. It was impossible.

When he took his
wallet out of his back pocket to pay for the round of golf and club rental, he
pulled his shirt from his pants hoping to conceal his erection. Obviously, his
little man wasn’t going down any time soon.

For a sport he
enjoyed almost as much as breathing, this was the most frustrating round of
golf Eli had ever played. Monica did her best to distract him. She took her sweet
time bending over and situating the ball on the tee, leaving her saucy butt in
the air a few moments longer than necessary.

She was going to pay
for this. He may not let get any sleep at all tonight.

“To say you spend
most of your spare time playing golf, you sure are missing a lot of putts,”
Monica remarked after Eli missed a three-footer he normally could sink with his
eyes closed.

“I’m usually not
this distracted,” he said in his own defense.

“Distracted? Why
ever would you be distracted?” There was the doe-eyed innocence again.

“Keep it up,” he warned. Unable to guard against her
infectious smile, Eli could not help the grin spreading across his face. That’s
okay. He would be grinning a hell of a lot more in a few hours.

“So what’s your
handicap?”

“Depends on who I’m
playing with.”

She stopped in the
middle of her putt and looked back at him. “How so?”

Eli shrugged. “I
tend to play better with Alex, but Toby brings my game down.”

“In what way?” She
looked at him with genuine interest.

Eli thought about it
for a minute. He’d asked himself the same question time and time again. “I don’t
know,” he finally answered, because truthfully, he didn’t. “Toby and I have
always been in competition with each other, especially after my dad died. Alex
fell into the father role, and Toby and I were like the two kids who always
wanted to impress him.

“It’s not a secret
that Toby is the most athletic of the three of us, so when it comes to sports,
my game always falters when I’m around him. It’s like I break under the
pressure of trying to compete with someone I know is better than I am.”