by Taylor Lee
“No, Father, shame on you. You know very well that Ian doesn’t personally ascribe to that ugly insult. Just as we both agree that it is still one of the best ways for ignorant men to attack ‘uppity niggers.’ That said, Ian is correct. Your fidelity or infidelity in this case is 90% of the subject of these threatening e-mails.”
Walker hesitated and stared at his son. Ian thought he saw a glimmer of fear cross the older man’s face. But if it was fear he saw, it was immediately replaced by scorn. Walker sneered at him then gathered up his papers and strode toward the door. Standing in the doorway, he encompassed the four of them in his fierce glare. His words were hard, clipped.
“I do not have time for this nonsense. Every one of you knows that at base this is politics as usual. Particularly if your opponent is a racist son of a bitch who knows a few hundred Bible verses.” He whirled on them and his voice rose indignantly. “Well, I tell you what. I know a few of my own. But frankly the Bible is too wishy washy to demolish Brunson. I prefer Malcolm X. You know this one, Noah, or you should. I taught it to you when you were six years old and made sure that you knew it well. Malcolm said: Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.”
His eyes narrowed to slits as he glowered at them. His angry voice dropped dangerously low and shook with intensity.
“It’s best that you all know, I’m not feeling peaceful or courteous. And the last thing I’ll ever do is respect that conniving asshole who thinks he can scare me into quitting the race.”
The sound of the slamming door reverberated throughout the room. With an audible groan, Peter Kennedy leapt to his feet and hurriedly followed his boss out into the hallway.
~~~
No one spoke for several moments. Finally Noah rose to his feet and walked to the liquor cabinet on the far side of the room. He faced Ian and Diamond and said with a forced smile, “In addition to being a first rate prick, my father is almost as much of an alcohol snob as you are, Ian.”
He opened the glass fronted doors and pointed to the array of ornate bottles.
“What’ll it be, Boss Man? Macallan or Glenmorangie? Or perhaps we should let the real boss decide. Do you have a preference, Diamond?”
Diamond shook her head. “Either will be fine, Noah. Just make sure you bring the bottle and use real people glasses, not those snobby, ‘sniffy’ glasses Ian pushes on us.”
Ian laughed. “I like to think fine crystal is the best way to enjoy fine Scotch, but in this case I agree with you, Diamond. Bring the largest glasses your father has, Noah. I only draw the line at plastic.”
After they’d each worked their way through a glass of the expensive whisky, and Noah refilled their glasses, Ian broke the silence.
“Did either of you notice that John was the only one who mentioned the possibility of quitting the race?”
Noah emitted an aggrieved sigh. “Yeah, Ian. I noticed it and was likely as surprised as you were. We both know that a ‘quitter’ is the last thing my father is. Fuck, he’d be in the race to the bitter end if he were polling in the single digits.”
Diamond spoke up. “But, he’s not, Noah. Peter told me today that he’s ahead by at least 30 points.”
Ian interjected, “Thirty-eight points to be precise.”
Noah looked down and then took a hearty swallow of the expensive liquor. He closed his eyes as if to savor the potent libation. But when he opened his eyes Ian saw that they were damp with unshed tears.
Sounding hoarse, Noah spoke to Ian. “You’re right. My father’s veiled reference to leaving the race is significant. Like I said, until today, no one could ever convince me that Senator John Walker might abandon a race.”
Ian shared a glance with Diamond and wasn’t surprised when she brought up the issue that had to be consuming them all. She threw Noah a sympathetic glance then visibly steeled herself.
“Noah, you know how much I hate bringing this up, but…”
Noah interrupted her with a harsh snort.
“Would you be referring to Ian’s ‘elephant in the room,’ Diamond? Go ahead, say it. Ask the question on all of our minds that Ian was courageous enough to ask my father. Is Senator Walker having an affair? Or God forbid, several?”
Ian huffed a loud sigh.
“Unfortunately, I think we all know the answer to that question, Noah. Every attack in those emails refers in some way to extramarital sex. The more concerning factor is the way that the sender equates it with the vilest of sins.”
Ian let his words sink in and then added, “Frankly what worries me most is that the sender seems to believe that the sin is egregious enough to warrant your father’s death.”
Noah buried his head in his hands for a moment then gazed up at Ian. His dark eyes were rife with pain.
“What worries me even more, Ian, is that my father is an exceedingly proud man. And, frankly, a violent man at heart. His temper is legendary. To say that he does not suffer fools is a wretched understatement. My concern is that he will become so incensed at the ignominy of the threat that he will strike out.”
Diamond was clearly surprised.
“Surely you don’t think that your father would go after Brunson personally, Noah? Harm him in any way?”
Noah pressed his lips together in a thin white line and held his hands up in defeat.
“Yeah, Diamond, I do. Ask Ian. He knows my father as well as I do. Are you concerned that my father will go after Brunson, Ian?”
Running his hands through his hair releasing a sexy lock against his forehead, Ian breathed out a long hard sigh and then nodded.
“Frankly, that is what has concerned me most since I first saw those emails. Among the many things that make your father larger than life is the fact that he is a vengeful man. I’ve never seen him not go after anyone who had the temerity to question him, much less attack him and call him a sinner.”
Ian sighed again and glanced from Diamond to Noah and then held up his hands in acknowledgement.
“Yes, Noah. We all need to be concerned. Especially Deacon Brunson. In the vernacular, that self-righteous prick is a dead man walking.”
Chapter 14
Ian’s teasing admonition ringing in her ears, Diamond drew her dignity around her like a cloak and dashed from the room, making a hasty retreat to the hotel lobby. She couldn’t believe how Ian had embarrassed her in front of Noah. Remembering the amusement sparkling in his slate gray eyes she knew it was intentional.
After their challenging conversation with Noah and a second glass of the remarkable scotch, Ian had glanced at his watch in surprise.
“Damn, Diamond. We have a big event tonight. So do you, Noah. None of us can miss the fundraiser for your father. If for no other reason than to make sure that he doesn’t embarrass himself.”
Noah groaned. “Christ, I nearly forgot about it. Damn, I need to get back to our apartment to change. Ruby will kill me if I’m late. She and my mother went dress shopping over the weekend and if what my mother implied, Ruby’s new dress is spectacular.”
Noah’s grim expression softened. “Of course, no matter what she wears, Ruby always looks spectacular but according my mother, this particular dress is a knockout.”
Rising to his feet, Noah quaffed the remaining inch of the amber liquid and put the glass on the table. Looking from Ian to Diamond, he sighed and said with a sad shake of his head, “I don’t know how to thank either one of you. I should have known something was wrong. My mother told me last week that she was worried about my father and asked me to talk to him, to see if I could figure out if there’s a problem.”
He shook his head and closed his eyes for a moment against the memory then gazed at them beseechingly, “I intended to. I really did, but I got tied up with the planning on the wedding. Ruby and I have been so happy…I just wasn’t paying attention. Even when my mother asked for my help, I minimized her concerns. Plus, I’d seen the latest poll numbers and assumed my father was
cruising to certain victory.”
When he sighed again, Ian stepped over to him and put his arm around his shoulder.
“Don’t blame yourself, Noah. You couldn’t have known what was going on. Your father made sure of that. The only reason he called me was because Peter Kennedy threatened to go to you if his father didn’t reach out. When Peter sent me the emails, I knew he had a right to be worried. And Christ, they’ve escalated even more within the last two days.”
Not allowing Noah to pull away, he added, “Listen, Noah, these next couple of days are going to be challenging. But we are both involved now and so is Diamond. Among the three of us we are going to get to the bottom of this and figure out who is threatening your father. We are also going to ensure that he doesn’t do anything foolish. We’re in this together Noah, and your father is going to survive this crisis. You got that, man?”
When Noah nodded grimly in agreement, Ian glanced again at his watch. He caught Diamond’s eye and smiled. Clearly trying to lighten the tension in the room, he winked at her.
“Ruby isn’t the only one who’ll be wearing a new dress tonight. And if I’m any judge of what kind of a dress will look spectacular, the one that I bought for you, Diamond is a certain winner.”
At Diamond’s frown, he leaned over and pinched her cheek.
“Surely you agree that as special an occasion as our first appearance as lovers deserved an extraordinary dress? Well?”
Diamond forced a smile but even she knew it was a grim one. She tried to look as nonchalant as Ian and not let on how shocked she was at Ian’s audacious remark. Seeing Noah’s raised eyebrows and startled glance first at Ian and then her, Diamond shrugged and moved toward the door.
Ignoring Ian’s reference to them as “lovers,” she said coolly, “It wasn’t necessary for you to buy me a dress, Ian. I have more than enough dresses with me that will be adequate for tonight.” As she neared the door, she added “I trust it can be returned.”
Ian caught her arm as she went by him.
“Let me put it this way, Tiger. Perhaps it could be returned, but it won’t be. When I saw it, I bought it immediately.” He dragged his gaze across her body, his lips kicking up at the corners in a suggestive smile. “If any dress was made for you, it is the one waiting for you in our suite. So be a good girl and simply say, ‘Thank you, Ian.’ ”
He moved next to her and reached out and pinched her cheek again. “Now run along. Go up and get ready. Do all the things that you do to look as gorgeous as you always do. I may be a trifle late so you can go into the ballroom when you arrive. But don’t worry; I won’t leave you alone for long. I don’t intend to let anything spoil this auspicious evening.”
Ignoring her gasp, Ian reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. Dangling the ornate chain carelessly on one finger, he held it out to her. When she jerked back staring at him, he reached for her hand and spread her fingers open then pressed the key card in her hand.
“Here is your key to our suite. It’s on the twelfth floor—the concierge floor. You will need to use this key in the elevator to access our floor. It can only be opened by us and the hotel personnel who will be tending to our needs.”
He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek and squeezed her hand. His eyes were dancing with amusement.
“Smile, lovely lady, or I might think you are uneasy, even anxious, about out adventure.”
He buzzed her cheek and whispered, “But then you probably have good reason to be uneasy.”
Refusing to answer him, and determined to leave the room without embarrassing herself further, Diamond jerked her hand free and headed to the door. As she passed Noah, who was staring at her in wide-eyed disbelief, she said with a dismissive shrug, “Ignore your boss, Noah. I’m sure you know what an ass Ian can be. Don’t pay any attention to him.” Gathering as much dignity as she could and ignoring Ian’s low chuckle, she said, “Please tell Ruby, I’m looking forward to seeing her tonight. I’m eager to catch up on your wedding plans.”
As she’d made clear in the past, she was certain that both Ian and Noah knew that the wedding plans of all of her agents were of no interest to her whatsoever. Feeling as compromised as she ever had, she made a wide circle to avoid Ian, and bolted from the room. His laughter followed her down the hallway as she practically ran to the elevator, trying to ignore the startled patrons she left in her wake.
Diamond got off the elevator on the twelfth floor and walked the short distance to the door at the end of the hallway. She realized with a start that it was the only room on the floor. Standing in front of the ornately paneled dark teak door discreetly labeled Private, Diamond struggled to slide the key card in the lock. She squeezed her eyes closed and admonished herself. Good God, why did she let Ian do this to her? She knew he was teasing her, purposefully embarrassing her in front of Noah. He obviously was enjoying their pretend ‘affair,’ a ruse that for some ungodly reason she’d agreed to. At length she managed to steady her shaking fingers long enough to open the door.
When she stepped inside, pulling the heavy paneled door closed behind her, her breath fled from her lungs with a whoosh. Fighting the wave of dizziness that flooded her, she clung to the doorknob and braced her back against the door. She didn’t remember ever fainting in her life but if there were to be a first time, this definitely could be it.
After a long moment she regained enough of her composure to enter to the room. It was a stunning expanse easily the size of two or even three normal hotel rooms. It took her a minute to understand that the huge room was merely the front room to the suite. A wall of floor to ceiling windows added to the expanse as did the stone patio running the length of windowed wall. The floors were covered with the same teak wood that comprised the ornate entrance. Beautiful area rugs served to section off the expanse, making it almost cozy rather than overwhelming. Walking slowly from space to space, Diamond marveled at the understated elegance. It was as though every piece of the softly contemporary furniture, each lighting fixture, even the throw pillows had been chosen by a master designer with exquisite taste.
It took her several minutes of wide-eyed appraisal to truly understand just how elegant the room was. Looking out at the city spread in front of the windows, Diamond counted each of the famous monuments all viewable from her balcony. In the distance the capital building stood at one end of the mall. The White House was visible to the side looking smaller and more sedate than the other ceremonial buildings. But then its size had always surprised her. Clinging to the railing, Diamond battled another wave of dizziness. It wasn’t the height that bothered her or even that she could see literally for miles. Or imagining what the landscape would look like in the drama of a dark sky studded with stars and myriad city lights. No, what was most overwhelming to Diamond was that in all of this opulence she had yet to see the rest of the suite, specifically the bedroom.
Forcing herself to take a deep breath, she relinquished her death grip on the railing and traced her steps through the stunning living room to the paneled double doors at one end. She hesitated for a moment before entering praying that Ian had had the decency to get two queen beds. As she pushed the doors open she knew without looking that was a vain hope. As she surely should have expected, a king-sized bed occupied the center of the room which was surrounded on three sides by walls of window. Swallowing past the grapefruit-sized lump in her throat that was making it impossible to suck in a deep breath, she walked over to the door leading to what she assumed was the bathroom. No doubt the door to the side must have led to the bathroom because the room she’d stepped into was clearly a dressing room. And that was when she saw the dress.
For the third time since she entered the hotel suite that was beginning to seem a lot like a chamber of horrors, Diamond felt as though she really might faint. Ensuring that the third time was anything but a charm, she struggled against a wave of nausea. Choking back the bile rising in her throat she lurched over to one of the overstuffed chairs on either side of the raised
dais and sank down. In the middle of the stage-like platform was a mannequin. The model was clothed in a one-shoulder, black lace, floor length evening gown. The dress was striking not only because one shoulder was bare but the slit up one side of the skirt went to the top of the model’s thigh baring her entire leg. To say the dress was floor length was a misnomer, given that it looked as though at least half of the dress was MIA. Diamond snorted. A floor length “half-dress” would have been a more correct description. To add to the drama, the lace was woven in wide leaf like patterns that revealed a significant amount of the wearer’s bare skin through the open lace.
Diamond knew her body well enough to know that the concoction would fit her lithe figure like a second skin. She also knew high end designers well enough to know that she was looking at a dress that had to have cost multiple thousands of dollars. The dress was clearly an original and easily cost in the five figures. Just as surely as she knew all of those details, staring at the outrageous creation, Diamond also knew that she’d die before she would consider wearing it.
“Do you like it?”
Ian’s voice cut through her stunned examination of the remarkable dress. Diamond grasped the arms of the chair for support and stared at him. Damn, why did that man always have to look so sexy?! He was tall, several inches over six feet. His dark, almost black hair was streaked with gray at the temples. It was artfully coiffed to look slightly mussed with a wayward lock of hair that fell over his forehead, which only made him look sexier. His slate gray eyes sparkled with an ever present dash of humor. And arrogance. Dammit, don’t forget his arrogance. Diamond admitted it was the primary driver in her love/hate relationship with the powerful man. On one hand it made her never want speak to him again, to run from him as hard and fast as she could. On the other hand, it made her ache to know what it would feel like to be taken by a man who obviously was experienced in making women feel things they’d never felt before.
Diamond had been so absorbed in her perusal of the dress that she had not heard him enter the suite much less the dressing room. His eyes were sparkling with amusement and he wasn’t attempting to hide his smile.
