Page 62 of Married at Midnight

At the thought, Ellie frowned. It seemed rather ironic that she and Connor, as well as Viola and her bridegroom, had started their marriages the same way—with the Elvises involved. Or was it a coincidence? she wondered for the second time.

Connor had called it fate a short time ago.

Another realization crystallized, and she reached in her pocket for the note Connor had left her—a note in his handwriting. She studied the writing that was so different from the bold, almost slanted script on the notes and the poem he’d left before.

Suspicion sluiced through her, twisting her stomach. Someone else had written the other notes—someone else who desperately wanted them to stay together. The question was, who?

Had it been the Elvises who’d married them? Had she and Connor fallen into some twisted Elvis plot for Viola’s sake? Had Viola manipulated everything that had happened between them?

Did Connor know? Maybe that’s what he’d wanted to talk to her about, “their options.” Not their divorce, but how manipulated the past five weeks had been for both of them.

Oh heavens . . . Ellie released a fractured breath as she staggered to the closest white chair. She dropped onto the seat, her legs suddenly numb.

Had any of it been real?

Viola’s heart attacks had been real. Her surgery and hospital stay were proof enough of that. Ellie had to give the older woman credit for her perfect timing.

The sex had been real.

Ellie allowed herself a smile at the memory of Connor’s kiss downstairs. Not even Viola could fabricate the spark that ignited between her and Connor with a look, a touch, or a kiss. Their mutual attraction was real, but was it enough to keep them together when the truth of Viola’s deception came out?

A sound came at the door to the ballroom, interrupting her thoughts. Ellie spun toward the sound. “Connor, you’re right. We need to talk.”

It wasn’t Connor who stood in the doorway. It was Amanda Frost.

“How did you get in here?”

Amanda’s smile turned sinister. “Your husband left in such a hurry he forgot to set the alarm.”

Comprehension dawned over Ellie. “That was you who broke into the lab?”

“No. Just a distraction in order to get what I really wanted.”

She stepped slowly forward with her hand in the pocket of her dark coat—a dark coat that looked very similar to the one Ellie had seen on the person jumping over the fence after the house break-in.

“I want you to leave.”

Amanda’s face tightened. “We don’t always get what we want.”

Ellie stood, knocking her chair over in the process. She desperately tried to think of what to do, how she could take control of this situation. The longer she kept Amanda talking, the more chance she had of Connor returning home. “What can you possibly hope to accomplish by threatening me?”

Connor’s ex-girlfriend stopped before her. “It’s not you I want.”

“Then what?”

She sucked in a breath, then in a controlled voice replied, “Your husband’s research and his prototype. I figure if I take the thing he loves most, he’ll hand it over willingly.”

Ellie couldn’t help it. She laughed. “That was a big assumption on your part.”

Amanda frowned. “Why is that?”

“Because he’ll never trade me for his research or his car. You might as well end whatever this is now before you’re looking at more serious charges than breaking and entering. Twice.”

Amanda murmured close to her ear, “I’m sure you underestimate yourself . . .”

A chill slid through her as Amanda’s fingers clamped around her elbow.

Ellie swung her other arm, connecting with Amanda’s chin.

She lurched back but only tightened her grip on Ellie’s arm. Damn, the woman is strong! But if Amanda meant to take her somewhere, Ellie wasn’t going to make it easy. She kicked Amanda’s knee and wrestled out of her grasp. With her heart in her throat, Ellie raced for the door. She had finally found a purpose for the handcuffs Jordan had given her, except they were upstairs in her room.

Ellie had scarcely cleared the door frame of the ballroom when Amanda caught up to her. Ellie felt a sharp pinprick bite into her neck.

Her body went limp, and she watched Amanda smile. A heartbeat later, Ellie melted to the ground. Her last thought before darkness engulfed her was of Connor and how much she would miss him when she never saw him again.