When they were done, the makeup artist began putting various products in a bag for Kat. She quickly calculated the savings in her bank account and realized that all this was far more than she could afford or what she wanted to spend money on.
Elle handed over a credit card to the manager, and Kat put out a hand to stop her. “I can pay for my stuff.”
Elle waved her away. “Don’t be silly. The campaign pays for all this.”
What? Why was the campaign paying for her makeup? She began to argue but Elle gave her a stern look, raising her brow toward the store manager.
The next stop was a high-end department store where Kat normally didn’t even dare to window-shop. They were ushered into a large room where a personal shopper had gathered various outfits in Kat’s size for her to try on. As she stepped into the luxurious fabrics, she searched for price tags and didn’t find any. So it was that kind of store.
With practiced efficiency, Elle commented on the clothes Kat tried. “You’re heavy in the chest and the hips, dear, so you want your clothes to show off those features, not hide them. Boxy suits, stiff materials are your enemy. Let’s find you clothes that flow with your curves.”
As much as Kat wanted to defend her wardrobe, the mirror didn’t lie. The extra pounds she was carrying actually flattered her in the clothes Elle suggested. She looked refined rather than frumpy, and the fabrics caressed her skin.
Before leaving, Elle insisted she wear one of the outfits she’d tried on, a pair of jeans and a dusty-rose silk blouse. “You don’t have to dress up at campaign headquarters. Fit in with the rest of the crew, and the media might not even notice you come and go.”
Kat had seen the clothes the rest of them wore; none of the staffers or volunteers were wearing designer jeans and silk blouses. She was about to argue then remembered she had photos and dinner scheduled with her father. It was probably a good idea to be wearing decent clothes, but she would insist on buying this outfit. Fresh anger bubbled through her as she remembered the senator’s offer to give her money.
They left with more than two dozen outfits, all charged to the campaign credit card. Kat’s mouth soured as she caught a glimpse of the bill Elle signed. She refused to let Kat pay for anything; not that Kat had a high enough credit limit to even buy what she was wearing. The clothes cost several months’ worth of her salary. What was worse, it was all being paid with blood money. She thought about the meetings yesterday and the outrageous demands that campaign contributors made. “I don’t need all of these,” she told Elle, who shooed her away.
Staff at the store were watching her discreetly. They all knew who she was. They were too professional to gawk, but their curiosity was obvious. She didn’t want to make a scene and have them make a story out of it for the evening news.
A mere four hours after they’d started, they returned to campaign headquarters. It was barely early afternoon. Grudgingly, Kat marveled at Elle’s efficiency.
Elle drove Kat to the parking garage so they could transfer the purchases to her car. “Now remember, it’s not just about the clothes, the hair and the makeup—it’s also the way you carry yourself.”
Kat nodded as if that made complete sense. She wanted nothing more than to get back to her desk and finish reading Nathan’s reports so she could be up to speed when she had dinner with the senator. It was time to focus on her book.
She fished her BlackBerry out of her purse while she rode the elevator, to make sure she hadn’t missed any messages from Alex. She stepped off absently, but the sound of people whistling and clapping made her stop. The entire staff was staring at her. People were standing up from their desks to get a look. Everyone seemed to be talking at once.
Nathan and Crista came toward her, and Crista nodded appreciatively. “You look great.”
“I’m still the same person,” Kat muttered.
Crista had the good sense to let it go. Kat returned to her computer and spent the next several hours poring over the analysis on the IED bill.
She knew her father had arrived when the loud hum and whir of the campaign office changed to a palpable excitement. Kat took a sip of her coffee and a deep breath. What was the protocol here? Should she stand and go up to him or wait for him to come to her desk? Was she supposed to shake his hand or give him a hug? Her stomach twisted into a thousand knots.
“Wow!”
She turned to see Alex standing behind her. She watched him study her and felt herself flush. “I guess this is what you wanted?”
He shook his head slowly. “Don’t get me wrong—you look fantastic. Exactly what we need for your publicity shots. But...”
She stepped closer to him. “But?”
His mouth quirked. “It’s not...you.” He took a step back.
She smiled. “It’s really not me, and I’m pretty sure it’ll barely last the day unless you plan to send me to the salon every morning.”
“The campaign can’t afford that.”
“I’m happy to return the clothes—they cost a small fortune.”
“Those I like.” His voice was thick and his eyes so intense, Kat’s cheeks burned.
“Well, you might want to take the pictures quickly before this paint wears off.” She gestured to her face to distract from the high pitch of her voice.
He cleared his throat. “Yes, well, the photographer is all set up.” He took her elbow. “Let me introduce you to your father. Fair warning—the senator is a hugger.”
She wanted to be mad at him, to give him the same attitude he’d shown her earlier, but she just let him lead her, taking comfort from the warmth of his hand on her elbow. She didn’t trust her legs to carry her the few feet to the senator’s office and meet the man who had consumed her childhood imagination.
She’d pictured her father as everything from the president of the United States to a third-world dictator. She had always wondered what it was about politics that had made her father willing to give up on his family, and the question had only grown stronger in her mind after her mother’s revelations. TV glamorized public life, but after going through the makeover, she could see things from her mother’s point of view; she felt like a total fraud. How could anyone live this way all the time? Was the power that alluring? She sneaked a sideways look at Alex. How important was it to him?
Senator Roberts was standing in his glass office. He was bent over a piece of paper with Crista. Alex’s grip on her tightened. Her stomach flipped, threatening to send back the coffee she’d drunk an hour ago. This was the man who had fathered her, the man who had changed the course of her and her mother’s life.
She already knew what he looked like, could picture his shock of white hair and bright blue eyes. Having spent hours watching media clips of him discussing serious defense policy, joking with reporters and charming the media, she was as prepared as a thirty-five-year-old woman could be to meet her father for the first time.
They were going to meet in his office so they could have some privacy; Alex had thought of that and arranged it. As it was, every campaign staffer, including the entourage that had accompanied the senator, was staring at her as she walked in with Alex.
The stir in the office made Senator Roberts look up and make his way to the door just as she arrived. Alex let go of her.
“Katerina, welcome.” Her father wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. Being a tall man, he enveloped her. Kat heard the telltale sound of a camera and noticed a photographer out of the corner of her eye.
She tried to speak, but her throat was closed. This was the man she’d thought about during every school performance her mother couldn’t attend, every father-daughter event she politely declined. The man who brought despair into her mother’s eyes every time Kat asked about her father.
He released her and she looked up into his shining eyes. “It’s nice to meet you, sir,”
she said in a thick voice.
“You are just as beautiful as your mother.” His voice caught. Had he thought about Emilia in all these years? Her research on him had told her that he’d remarried less than a year after he divorced her mother. His second wife had died three years ago from cancer. He had two children from the marriage who were two and four years younger than Kat. There were a ton of photos of her half brother and sister on the internet: happy childhood shots of them at their father’s rallies, at pumpkin patches and ballet recitals. Kat wondered how many of those pictures her mother had seen.
“Mom was keen on me meeting you,” Kat said quietly.
The senator nodded and stepped back. “I was wrong in the way I handled things with her. I should’ve taken her calls. I was hurt and angry when she left, but you have to know that if I thought for even a second that she was calling to tell me about you, I would’ve rushed to her side.”
“You remade your life pretty quickly. It doesn’t seem like there would’ve been room for us.” Kat hadn’t meant to say the words out loud. The dinner conversation she’d planned revolved around safe topics like the IED bill, the practicality of his campaign promises, his plans to run for president in four years. She’d promised herself she would stick to the things she needed to write her book. A relationship with the senator was not something she needed, so there was no point in bringing up touchy personal subjects.
He sighed. “We have a lot to talk about. Why don’t we do it over some good food and maybe a nice bottle of wine?”
Kat nodded, and after they posed for the photos she’d promised Alex, the senator led her out the front doors. He had parked on the street. The moment they stepped out, they were surrounded by reporters. She blinked against the camera flashes.
“Senator, what’s it like meeting your daughter for the first time?”
“She’s a wonderful woman and it’s my honor to have her by my side,” he replied smoothly.
“Ms. Driscoll, what do you think of the senator now?”
Kat’s vision swam. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Crista had said the campaign photographer’s pictures would be circulated with an official statement from the senator so the media would stop hounding her.
Then it hit her.
The senator had purposefully parked on the street so they would have to walk out the front door together. The media would follow them to dinner and he could make a show of getting to know his daughter. Spinning away from her father, she flung open the door and stormed back into campaign headquarters. Alex was waiting on the other side.
“I had no idea he was going to do that,” he said before Kat had a chance to scream at him. “The plan was for him to ask you to drive and leave his car out front so the reporters wouldn’t be the wiser.”
She narrowed her eyes. Was he telling the truth?
He stepped toward her. “I remember my promise, Kat. I know how important it is to you. I wouldn’t betray you like that.”
The door opened behind them. “Kat, are you okay?” Kat glared at the senator. She was being played. Just like she had been with Colin. And she was letting it happen to her all over again, sitting back and letting her father and Alex manipulate her to get what they wanted.
No more. It was time for her to do what she should have been doing all along. What she should have done with Colin when she first discovered his betrayal.
She smiled sweetly. “I guess we’d better take my car if we want to avoid the media.”
The senator nodded and she caught Alex staring at her from the corner of her eye. She offered her arm to her father, who took it, and they walked to the elevator. She could feel Alex’s eyes on her. Maybe this was a good thing; she was now absolutely certain where she stood with him. She wasn’t going to let another man take advantage of her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ALEX DIDN’T NEED a report on how the senator’s dinner with his daughter had gone. There were plenty of pictures. They showed Kat leaning in, laughing and toasting with the senator. It was all fake. She was putting on a show—one he’d wished for but now felt uneasy watching. Smiles that didn’t reach her eyes, exaggerated gestures... She was trying too hard to look happy. The photos were beautiful and the campaign staff were busy spreading them on various social-media sites rather than trying to get them deleted. He should be happy that she’d finally gotten the message about how to act, but he had a sour taste in his mouth. What was Kat up to?
He’d had a long meeting with the senator last night after his dinner with Kat. All of a sudden, the man wanted to explore alternate options to the IED bill. Alex tapped on his desk. Had Kat said something to him or was someone else undermining Alex’s efforts? Had the EAGLE managers noticed the check hadn’t been cashed yet? Had they called the senator directly? He made a mental note to talk to Crista. She was the only person on staff he could trust.
He checked his watch. She should be here by now. The senator was scheduled to do a stump speech then meet with a heavyweight donor afterward. Alex had come to headquarters first so he could talk to Kat. There wasn’t much time; he was supposed to follow the senator all day then return to Washington to clear up a few things before leaving for Iraq in two days. The senator had come back from Egypt with a promise from the government to sell the IED technology, but the general in charge of the US presence in Iraq hadn’t given his support. The general’s endorsement was essential to ensuring that members of the Armed Services Committees of both the House and Senate would support the bill. The senate committee chairman was already making waves, upset that Senator Roberts was getting credit for the bill even though he was listed as a cosponsor. It was these petty things that often derailed a bill, so the general’s endorsement was essential.
Alex was better positioned to talk to the general than the senator given that he’d actually served in Iraq. The trip had been booked weeks ago, and Alex had been dreading it. He hadn’t been back to Iraq since he and Nick got shipped home. The plan had been to firm up the deal with the Egyptians then seal it with the general’s endorsement. Now the senator wanted him to go talk to the general about options other than the new IED technology.
The only good part of the trip was that he would be thousands of miles away from Kat. He’d spent two hours last night watching her dinner through the various news channels and social-media sites rather than clearing his inbox. What was it about her that was making him feel so out of control? A break would help him get his head back in the game. She wasn’t in any immediate danger.
He hadn’t gotten the full story on Colin from their research. He’d leaned hard on his CNN contact, promising her an exclusive on the IED bill to squash the old story on Kat. He had been so angry that Kat had been subjected to a man like Colin that he’d called up the guy they used for opponent research. It was a nice way of describing their dirt-gathering guru. The man had sent him a report within hours confirming that Colin was doing well and married to the dean of the college where Kat used to work. He was apparently the son of a famous academic and the brother of an accomplished lawyer. Until the book came out, Colin had been considered a failure in the otherwise illustrious family. His publication had gotten him a promotion to full professor, one of the youngest in the school’s history.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out the book was probably based on what he’d stolen from Kat. It was taking everything Alex had not to drive out to the address he’d gotten for Colin and give him a piece of his mind. Something had snapped inside him when he saw Kat’s face as she described the incident. Further proof he couldn’t trust himself around her. His BlackBerry buzzed and rang.
“Mellie.”
Her voice was honey sweet. “Just checking to see if we’re still on for dinner tonight?”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Mellie had just quit the senator’s office yesterday to return to her “charity work,�
�� which was a socialite’s way of saying she was tired of a nine-to-five job. Or in this case an eight-to-eight job. Mellie had worked hard for Senator Roberts and Alex, never complaining about the punishing hours, especially considering she was the daughter of a prominent New York family for whom the term “heavyweight donor” was invented. Her brother was the former mayor of New York City, her uncle the governor of New Hampshire. She’d been pursuing Alex since she started working in the senator’s office a year ago. He had finally accepted her weekly dinner invitation. It was time for him to start thinking more seriously about his own political future. Mellie was definitely FLOTUS material. And a good distraction from Kat.
“Good morning, Alex.”
Kat was standing in the doorway. Based on how lovely she looked, he assumed she was wearing clothes from the new wardrobe. Soft linen pants and a delicate blue blouse the color of her eyes. Her hair was beautifully styled, but he noted that she hadn’t applied much makeup. He knew it was essential for the cameras, but it just wasn’t her, and he respected that. She was gorgeous without it, anyway.
Kat smiled and he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“I hear you had a good dinner last night.”
She nodded. “It was great. Thanks for setting it up.” She seemed like she was about to say more, but she shut her mouth as if she’d changed her mind.
As she turned to go, he stood. “Wait—aren’t you going to tell me more? Did you change the senator’s mind about the IED bill?”
She gave him a stunning smile and he frowned. Her mouth was stretched a little too wide, her eyes too cold. “We discussed it, and I think he has some valid points. I look forward to working on it with him.”
This is new.
“Glad you’re finally toeing the party line. I see Elle’s makeover changed more than just your look.”
She narrowed her eyes. Good. I’m getting to her. She spun on her heels to walk out. He knew he should let it be, but he couldn’t help himself.
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