Signed and Sealed (24 page)

“But will
I
be safe?” The query left Will’s lips before he had time to censor it. Eli’s expression was unreadable. He walked slowly back over to where Will was standing and slowly gathered him back into his arms. Will did not resist, to do so would have been futile. Eli’s hands were forceful and demanding. Eli made him look up at him as he spoke to him. His voice was rough with emotion.

“I will never deliberately hurt you.” He searched Will’s face for something, anything. “Marry me, and I promise to love you and take care of you. I will make your life as comfortable and perfect as I can; I’m telling you the truth. You asked me before if I was testing you, and I said yes. Ask me now if I’m testing you. I didn’t lie to you then, and I won’t lie to you now.” He paused, hoping for an answer. “You have nothing to fear from me, William, nothing.” His hands gripped Will tighter, longing for a response from him that would assuage the ache in his heart.

As predictable as Elijah’s statement was, Will was still shocked by it. He still believed that Eli truly intended to hurt and humiliate him. How easy it would be to believe him, to lose himself in Eli, and in the end… nothing but pain and heartbreak. He wanted to announce their wedding tomorrow and then move directly on to the bitter public breakup. Will wasn’t about to accommodate him with an acceptance to that proposal. Will was about to turn him down when Eli stopped him from speaking.

“Don’t tell me now.” He had sensed Will’s mood and decided to wait. He didn’t want to hear what he was so obviously going to say. “I’ll ask you tomorrow. You can give me your answer then.” He turned back to the desk. “These files contain the tax information you promised to review,” he said, changing the subject again. “I’ll see you at dinner.” Before Will could respond to anything, Eli left, closing the door behind him with an audible slam.

Anger and frustration engulfed Eli as he walked toward the stables.
That man is going to drive me insane with his speculation and mistrust
, he grunted to himself. He raked his hands through his hair and then swung at the stable door with his fist. He connected, and it alleviated some of his rage.
Why is it that I can’t seem to make him believe me? Somehow I have to devise a way to gain his trust, but how?

“Did that hurt?” Martin said from behind him.

“Not enough,” Elijah stated gruffly. “I’m finding out that physical pain is nothing compared to the emotional variety.”

“Last night, it looked like things were going quite well between you. Even this morning, you seemed pretty confident. You said that you were going to make the announcement tomorrow. What went wrong?”

“I don’t know. He’s warm and agreeable one minute and cold and distant the next.”

“It’s just that Will doesn’t trust you. He doubts your sincerity,” Martin told him.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Elijah retorted. He grabbed a brush and began brushing down the new stallion. He needed to work off this energy and think.

“Steven just brushed him,” Martin said.

“Then he’ll be brushed again, won’t he?” Elijah snapped. “I’m sorry, Martin. I just get so frustrated. I can’t seem to get through to him. I know he cares for me, but he refuses to accept me. There’s something that holds him back. Something about me scares him, and I don’t know, for the life of me, what it is or how to assure Will that I mean him no harm.” He angrily tossed the brush back into the bucket and closed the stall.

“According to Mrs. Coleman, Will is rather tense every time you come near him. She said that Will told her that every day he waits for the moment when you are going to turn on him. He doesn’t trust you at all. After all the tests, threats, and assumptions, he is walking on eggshells around you. He believes that you’re just biding your time until he screws up and you can pounce.”

“I’ve told him how I feel in plain, clear English. How could he possibly believe I’m still playing games? It stopped being a game the first time I kissed him.” Elijah remembered the first kiss, and Will’s response to him. It brought a smile to his lips. “He does care about me. As much as he fights it, he still feels something for me. We fucked, for God’s sake; I felt just how much he loves me.”

“Give it time, Elijah. He’ll come around.” Martin consoled him as best he could.

“I don’t have much time.” Elijah considered for a moment and then added, “I could get him to stay longer. He’s working on my last year’s tax returns. I could contact the farmers’ cooperative and hire him.” He smiled with relief. “I could hire him to do my audit. If I handle it right, that could take weeks.”

“Sounds like a plan, Brother.” Martin started to laugh.

“Before you leave,” Elijah said, catching him, “I’d like you to do me a favor.”

“Anything,” Martin answered emphatically.

“John Gerard stopped by here yesterday. He wanted to speak with Will. I’d like you to find out why. Find out what he wanted to say to him. I don’t trust that bastard, and I don’t want him bothering Will ever again.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Martin assured him.

Will
spent the morning going over tax returns. As before, he could find nothing amiss. Eli’s records were clean and proper.
Why does he want me doing this?
he wondered as he pulled out yet another file of papers. It was definitely busywork.
If I’m stuck here at his desk, then I won’t be wandering off into the forest or getting lost in the mall.
“That man has some nerve,” he exclaimed to the empty room. He glanced at the soup and sandwich that Mrs. Coleman had delivered an hour ago, but his appetite wasn’t there. He took the coffee, though, and drank the Thermos dry. At about two o’clock, he decided he needed to go for a walk. Will quickly cleaned up the desk and instead of going out the front door, opted to take the garden route and exited through the French doors behind the desk.

He walked aimlessly around the garden for a while before heading off in the general direction of Kathy Graham’s place. “I need to get the hell out of here. I need to go home,” he declared. His mind accepted that, but his heart yearned to stay. His heart told him to accept Eli, to listen to him, but his heart had been wrong before. His heart had told him that his parents loved him, despite everything, but their inheritance had told a different story. His heart could not be trusted, so he relied on his mind for guidance.

Kathy invited him to sit with her on the porch and enjoy a glass of cool lemonade. “I’m sorry to be bothering you so much, but there just isn’t anyone here I can talk to,” Will explained.

“I don’t mind in the least. I enjoy your company,” Kathy assured him.

They talked about all manner of things except Will’s situation. He wanted to get away from his thoughts for a while and just be normal. They discussed school, family, most embarrassing moments, aspirations, etcetera. Kathy seemed to know that Will didn’t want to discuss Elijah, so she never approached that subject.

Will left Kathy’s around four and went back to the study. He let himself back in through the garden. He immediately picked up where he’d left off. Elijah had warned him that if he didn’t finish the tax returns, then he wouldn’t be leaving on Saturday, and he took Eli’s warnings seriously. He didn’t want to give Eli any excuses to have him stay longer. Will figured if he worked through the evening and most of tomorrow, he should finish it easily before Saturday. At six o’clock, Mrs. Coleman knocked and then entered.

“Dinner will be served in an hour,” she announced. She noticed the soup and sandwich sitting on the table untouched and scowled. “You shouldn’t be skipping meals, it isn’t healthy.”

“I’m sorry,” Will apologized. “I was busy and then I went for a walk to get some air,” he tried to explain.

“That’s no excuse. Next time I bring you lunch, young man, you eat it. Hear me?” Mrs. Coleman was scolding him, and all Will could do was smile.

“Yes, Mrs. Coleman,” he said. “I hear you.”

“Good, now go get ready for dinner. Both Mr. Hunters will be joining you.” With that, she quickly turned and left the study.

Will gathered up the loose papers and reorganized the files as they had been. He stowed them back into the drawer from which Elijah had taken them that morning. After he was satisfied with the cleanup, he ventured back upstairs to his room. The thought of having dinner with both Elijah and Martin was not pleasant. It was hard enough playing the game with just Elijah, pretending to be disinterested, distant, and unaffected, but to have to fool them both over the dinner table was going to be difficult, if not impossible. Chances were, he would say something that would tip them off or something that would lead to an in-depth questioning session by Elijah. Will wished he could just stay in the sanctuary of his room until Saturday. He had just enough time to change into a pair of nice jeans and sweater. At seven o’clock sharp, Elijah appeared at his door to escort him to dinner.

“How was your day?” he asked politely.

“Very good,” Will answered.
The games begin
, he thought.

Eli drew Will up close to him as they descended the staircase. “How are you getting along with my taxes?”

“I should finish by Saturday,” he informed him coldly, and then his mind began to wander. Eli looked so handsome in his tight, black jeans and his white, cotton shirt. Will also remembered how handsome he had looked last night in his pajama bottoms and bare chest. His breath caught, and he quickly changed his thoughts away from visual images of last night.
Why did I have to fall in love with him?
he thought as they entered the dining room together.
This could be so easy if I just felt nothing, but it’s not going to be easy. No matter what happens, it’s not going to be easy.

Dinner was surprisingly quiet. Elijah made a mundane comment about Will’s job back in Michigan. Will defended his position with the farmers’ cooperative without sounding too defensive, or so he hoped.

Elijah then looked at him with a strange, longing quality to his expression. “What is your dream, William?” His question seemed odd.

“Personal or professional?” Will asked carefully.

“Personal,” he replied and pinned Will with his dark gaze as he waited for his answer. The room became deadly still in anticipation of the response. Even Martin was watching him as if truly interested.

Will contemplated his answer and then stated, “True love and happiness are my personal goals.” He then skidded into his professional goals before anyone could comment. “And my professional goal is to someday own my own business.”

Will’s candid response surprised him. “Love and happiness.” Elijah repeated his words, savoring the sound they made and the implications they represented. Will looked away, fearing that with those two words, he had accidentally shared too much.

“Isn’t that what most people hope for?” he covered.

“No,” Elijah said without hesitation. “Most people are looking for money and fame.”

“Those would be professional goals, not personal,” he countered, but both Elijah and Martin were emphatically shaking their heads.

“For many, those are personal goals,” Elijah stated, and Martin agreed. Will didn’t want to go down that road again. It was obvious they were referring to Katrina, so he tried to steer the conversation in a more inoffensive direction.

“I visited with Kathy Graham this afternoon,” he announced and then went back to his meal. “She’s a very interesting lady, I enjoy talking with her.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Elijah stated, barely suppressing a laugh. Will wasn’t very good at changing the subject, but he let it go.

After dinner, Martin excused himself, and Elijah asked Will to take a walk with him. Will had hoped to disappear back into the study and continue his work for the remainder of the evening, but that dangerous, risky part of him had readily accepted the invitation. The sun was just beginning to set, and the darkness was taking over. It was Will’s favorite time of day. He liked the darkness; it was liberating in the way it cloaked and protected. Darkness was detachment and freedom. Will never understood fear of the dark.
You can’t see what’s in the dark, sure, but what’s in the dark can’t see you, either.
He smiled at the rambling of his own thoughts, and suddenly realized that Elijah had no difficulty seeing him in the dark.