The Random Acts of Cupid (Christian Romance) (4 page)

Ryan leaned close, his words clipped in anger. “Would you mind telling me, Miss Hutchins, why your friend, Britney Bowers, approached me earlier and profusely thanked me for the flowers I sent to her?”

Elise fumbled, “I’m not sure . . . I think Britney worked earlier, but that was before my shift started. I’m only working from noon to 5:00 today.”

“I’m well aware of when Britney was working. I came to the library this morning where she accosted me with her appreciation over the big bouquet of a dozen red roses sitting on her desk.”

“Maybe she misunderstood . . . ?”

“She showed me the card that came with the flowers. I just happen to have it with me.” Out of the pocket of his suit, he pulled a card out and handed it to Elise. It was from a florist—the florist Elise always used. Ryan thrust the card into Elise’s shaking hands. It read,
Here’s to possibilities, Love Ryan Jenkins
.

Elise opened and closed her mouth, completely speechless. She didn’t know how to respond. This was bad. This was very, very bad. And then it got worse.

“I didn’t send the flowers,” Ryan reiterated. “But I know
you
did. I told Britney straight out that they were not from me. She seemed very upset and disappeared into the staff area. I took the card and went directly to the florist to find out who had made the purchase.”

“Why would they tell you?” Elise asked in confusion. “I thought that kind of thing was confidential.”

“Oh, it probably is. But I’m a lawyer. I can be very persuasive. And when persuasion fails, I can be downright intimidating. I told them I did not send the flowers, and I strongly
suggested
they tell me who had used my name to commit fraud.”

“And they told you . . .”

“Your name. You had called. You had placed the order. They even showed me the invoice with your name and your credit card.”

Elise felt sick. She didn’t know what to say. She was shocked. She was embarrassed. She was afraid. Feeling the burn of tears behind her eyes, she looked away from Ryan, trying to feign sudden interest in the few umbrellas bobbing across Red Square.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, fully knowing the words were far too inadequate. But she wasn’t willing to offer an explanation. She knew it wouldn’t do any good anyway.

“Sorry isn’t quite good enough, Miss Hutchins.”

“Elise,” she correctly quietly.

“
Miss Hutchins
, look at me!”

Not knowing what else to do, Elise quickly acquiesced and swung her gaze back to him, but she avoided his eyes. She couldn’t take those beautiful eyes looking at her with such disgust.

“I have a theory. Let me explain it, and you tell me if I’m right.” Not waiting for her response, he continued. “You see, I don’t think this is an isolated incident. A campus newspaper ran an interesting story a few weeks back. Did you happen to read it?”

Once again, he didn’t seem to need a response from her.

“I think you’re Cupid.”

At that moment, Elise understood what it meant to have your blood run cold.

“Or maybe I should say, I
know
you’re Cupid,” Ryan said with conviction. “I reread the article and did a little investigating. It seems a little strange that a large percentage of the couples matched by Cupid work at or frequent the library.”

Elise shrugged. “It’s the University library. Of course everyone comes here.”

“But do a lot of them also frequent your church?”

Elise made the mistake of looking into Ryan’s eyes. He was a well-trained lawyer, and she was being interrogated. The second she made eye contact, she realized he could see the truth and her sense of guilt. There was no use denying it or trying to pretend that his theory was far-fetched.

“You were trying to set me up with Britney Bowers, weren’t you?

“She is crazy about you, Ryan!”

“But I am
not
crazy about her! There is no excuse for you sending her flowers and pretending they were from me. That’s deception and borderline fraud! And you claim to be a Christian! How can you justify your behavior? You interfere in others’ lives without permission. You are dishonest. You lie and deceive. Why? Does the end justify the means? My first impression of you was that you were a shy, sweet, Godly woman of good character. I can’t believe I was so wrong.”

Elise shook her head, tears making trails down her face. She somehow knew it would do no good to defend herself. He had completely misunderstood and misjudged her. But she didn’t have to stand here and listen to him rant and lecture her.

“Obviously nothing I say is going to change your opinion of me, so if you’re done . . .” Elise turned and fled down the steps and into the rain, her feet flying across the wet bricks.

Suddenly, Ryan was in front of her, blocking her path across Red Square.

“No, I am not done!”

In their haste, neither one of them had bothered with an umbrella or even a hood. Elise looked up at Ryan, frustrated, yet still almost mesmerized at the droplets of water dampening his hair and trickling down the angular planes of his face.

“What you are doing is wrong!” Ryan said, his features clothed with an intensity that only enhanced his rugged good looks. “Does anyone else know about how you like to toy with others’ lives? You’re famous now since that article. I think you deserve to enjoy your popularity. So I’m going to help you out with that. I intend to inform the newspaper of Cupid’s identity. I also think your supervisor at the library will find it very interesting to know how you’re using your position to ‘help’ others.”

Elise was horrified. With her hand covering her mouth, she just stared at the wickedly handsome man in front of her.

“Please, Ryan. Please . . . don’t tell.” Her mind went to all of the couples she’d matched. How would they feel when the magic and romance of an anonymous Cupid was suddenly brought into the realm of reality? What would her boss say? Would everyone misjudge her as severely as Ryan? She didn’t think she could handle the shame and embarrassment.

At her plea, Ryan’s expression didn’t relent even a little. “It’s the right thing to do. What you do is unethical, and this is the only way to have all the secrets out in the open. You made your choices, and now you have to deal with the consequences.”

Elise closed her eyes, her throat constricting in pain from trying to keep the tears from joining the rain that coursed down her hair and face. She longed to set things right! Ryan had misunderstood everything, and yet she doubted he would listen to an explanation, even if she could give it. He had positioned himself as judge and had convicted her without a trial. Now he was handing down her sentence. And it was harsh.

Elise felt a strange mixture of shame, anger, and sheer panic. What kind of lawyer was he? She deserved a good defense, or at least the chance of a trial. If only she could offer a case that he would understand and accept. That’s when a sudden, ridiculous idea hit her.

“Okay,” she said.

“Okay what?” Ryan asked, obviously suspicious over her abrupt mood change.

“Okay, you can reveal my identity. But before you do so, I have a request.”

“What?” His suspicions were not appeased in the least.

“Give me twenty-four hours.”

“How is twenty-four hours going to help?”

“I want to present my case,” Elise answered firmly. “You have made assumptions that aren’t true and judged my character in the worst possible light. You are wrong about me, and I would like to have a defense.”

“What exactly did you have in mind?” While not open, his expression was at least curious.

“Are you busy tomorrow? I know you won’t believe me if I just tell you what I do and how your opinion of me is wrong. You don’t know me at all, so I need to show you who I am. You need to observe what I do to match couples and why I do it. If at the end of twenty-four hours, you still want to broadcast my story, go ahead. I won’t stop you, and I won’t deny that I’m the Cupid the paper was talking about.”

Ryan stared at her for a full ten seconds. She could feel the rain soaking her hair. A few droplets escaped down her neck, trickling down her back and sending reflex shivers throughout her body. But she maintained eye contact with Ryan, refusing to even blink.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll give you twenty-four hours. But I’m not available tomorrow morning. I have to teach a class and then go home for a conference call.”

“That’s fine,” Elise said quickly, relieved and yet a little scared he’d change his mind. “I have shopping to do tomorrow morning anyway. We’ll make it work.”

Elise looked at her watch. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Elise took off at a brisk pace back across Red Square and up the steps to the library.

“Wait a minute,” Ryan said, at her elbow as they once again reached shelter from the rain.  “Where are we going?”

Not stopping, Elise continued to the library doors. “You agreed to follow me around for twenty-four hours, right? Well, my defense starts right now.”

Ryan’s surprise visit and the resulting drama had caused her to completely forget the appointment she had scheduled. She hoped she wasn’t too late.

Elise led the way up the grand staircase to the third floor.

As she walked past the glass-windowed group study rooms, she quickly saw the objects of her mission. Continuing past the room, she ducked behind a bookcase that provided a perfect line of sight.

“What exactly are we doing here, Miss Hutchins?” Ryan demanded, not bothering to follow Elise’s lead with concealing himself and not caring to use a library whisper.

He was going to ruin everything!

“Shh!” Elise said, putting one finger to her lips in a silencing gesture and using the other had to grab Ryan’s and pull him back behind her.

Shocked at her own boldness, Elise quickly released Ryan’s hand as if it were a hot ember and turned to explain. Facing his angry expression, her fierce courage suddenly abandoned her.

“Exhibit A,” she said, simply pointing to Group Study Room 2.

Ryan obediently peered around the end of the bookcase. “Aren’t those the same students you were talking to yesterday about their group study session?”

“Yes. Clay and Shelby.” Elise paused, nervous about how Ryan would react to her explanation. She’d never actually had to explain her matchmaking scenarios to anyone. Chandra and Britney had come along a couple times, but at this point, they almost took Elise’s unusual hobby as a matter of course.  

“But aren’t there supposed to be more students in the study group?” Ryan asked, clearly impatient but trying to play along. “They are the only ones in there.”

Finally, she took a deep breath and dove in. “I set them up. I’ve known for months now that they really like each other. But Shelby is very shy, and Clay is somewhat of a nerd. Clay didn’t seem to think that a beautiful girl like Shelby would ever be interested in him.”

“So you told them there was a study group session today when there actually wasn’t,” Ryan filled in.

“Not exactly,” Elise hedged, well-aware of his disapproving tone. “I just told them I had the study room scheduled. They usually have study sessions on this day, but their leader didn’t schedule it for today. So I scheduled the room myself; I just didn’t tell them they would be the only members in attendance.”

“That’s still a lie, Miss Hutchins. Whether you told them something that was untrue or you led them to believe it, you’re still being deceptive.”