The immaculately coiffed woman smiled at Elinor warmly. "I'm fine, my dear. You look so lovely tonight."
"Thank you."
"I just wanted to grab you for a moment to chat about the Peach Festival." Mrs. Wilmington drew her inexorably aside. "You did promise Daisy that you'd help with a booth, didn't you?"
"Yes, ma'am. I did."
"Wonderful. We want you for our Ladies' Guild booth. We're selling homemade peach ice cream again. And this year I've found some darling little outfits for the volunteers to wear."
"Outfits?" Elinor echoed hesitantly.
"Yes," the older woman said firmly. "Milkmaid outfits. I've purchased them myself. You'll look precious in one."
"Oh, good," she forced herself to say. "I'm always glad to help out the Ladies' Guild." Surely, she could tolerate a few hours in a milkmaid's outfit for charity.
"Wonderful." Mrs. Wilmington beamed and patted Elinor's hand. "You must excuse me, dear. I need to speak with Charlotte Bixby."
Elinor couldn't help smiling as the determined do-gooder bore down on another victim. Charlotte didn't stand a chance.
The room had grown warm with the heat of so many people, and Elinor decided to seek out a drink at the bar the caterers had set up in the back of the room. A press of people crowded around the bar. She placed her order with the harried bartender and stood back to wait.
"Congratulations," a sultry voice said.
Elinor swung around, surprised to find Norell at her side. "I beg your pardon?"
The dark-haired woman, looking gorgeous in a form-fitting red dress, smiled at her. "I said, 'congratulations.' You've bagged yourself quite a man."
"Miss?" the bartender barked.
Grateful for the distraction, Elinor took the glass he held out to her. She sipped at her drink while Norell leaned forward, giving the bartender an eyeful of cleavage as she sweetly requested a martini.
Her order placed, Norell turned to Elinor again. She smiled ruefully. "Good luck on keeping him. But Cole's not a man who's easily snared."
"No?" Her throat still felt dry despite the gulp of white wine. She could just imagine how Norell had tried to snare Cole. The thought left her fingers curling into claws.
"No, indeed, he's not." Norell sighed, before smiling at Elinor again. "I am intelligent enough, however, to know when I'm up against tough competition. Cole is obviously enamored of you. Now."
Cole threaded his way through the vivacious crowd, searching for a tumble of chestnut hair in the crowd. He'd lost Elinor more than an hour ago when his attention had been snared by a financier from Vicksburg. The man had talked incessantly, but as soon as he could, Cole had broken away and gone looking for her. A hard knot of anxiety had been forming in his belly over the last week and it grew more intolerable by the minute. He was in love with Elinor. Irrefutably and irrevocably. And he was scared spitless of losing her.
Each day that passed with the sale of Oakleigh still unsettled increased the chance that the whole deal would blow up in his face.
Buying the plantation house was no longer a priority. For her, he would give it up. But he ran into problems every way he turned. Now that Daniel was dead, and the house almost certainly left to Elinor, Cole suspected she needed to sell.
Cole had done his homework before ever offering on Oakleigh. He knew that Daniel owed back taxes and had little actual income. As far as he could tell, no provisions had been made for a pension for Charlie.
Even if Elinor wanted to keep the house, she'd be hard-pressed to find a way to do it.
Withdrawing his offer on the house would leave her in the lurch. But seeing the purchase through could very well endanger the fragile trust he hoped she was beginning to feel for him.
Today, as he'd held her in his arms while she slept, a daring idea had occurred to him. If he could get Elinor to marry him, now, immediately, it would be harder for her to leave him when the truth came out.
"I was beginning to think that you'd skipped town."
Cole swung around, drawn by her voice.
Elinor leaned against a decorative column, her smile hinting at shared secrets.
Pushing past a group of revelers, he went to her and pulled her into his arms. "Let's get out of here." His voice sounded too husky and she looked up at him in surprise.
"Already? I'm sure you haven't met all the best families in the parish yet." She fluttered her eyelashes at him saucily.
He captured her mouth in a breathless, hungry kiss that set the blood pounding in his veins. When he pulled back, she stared up at him with dilated eyes, her soft mouth parted by her rapid breath.
"I'm ready anytime you are," she said.
Cole made his way through the throng, towing Elinor in a firm grasp as he stopped to say their farewells to a surprised and disappointed Susan.
"We really must be going," he said for the second time. "Goodnight."
The cool night air was a relief as the door closed behind them. Cole, his hand still locked with hers, walked to the car without speaking. He wanted her with a fierce hunger that, if allowed to take control, would end up with them rolling on the mayor's front lawn, locked in passion. She was so responsive to his touch that he thought she might actually agree to such a shocking activity.
But he had to keep his head if he were to seduce her into marrying him tonight.
They walked down the darkened street to his car. Cole unlocked the passenger door but didn't open it. Instead, he pulled Elinor into his arms and leaned her against the car, taking her mouth in a sizzling kiss.
She melted in his arms, as she always did, moving against him in a way that threatened to drive him insane.
"El?" he whispered, holding her tight. "Let's get married tonight."
"What?" She stared up at him in confusion.
"I have a private jet waiting in Monroe. We could be there in an hour—"
"A jet?"
"—and we could be married in Las Vegas before morning."
"Cole . . ." Her eyes were dark and disturbed. "I don't know. It seems crazy."
"It'll be fun, El." He tried to keep the intensity out of his voice. The slightest unexplained nuance could frighten her away. "We're perfect together."
She stared up at him, clearly torn between longing and good judgment.