by Angela Hunt
Daryn’s hand fell to her lips. She could think of only one reason Quinn would roust that venerable old man out of bed: President Craig Parker was dead or dying. In an effort to maintain the illusion of order, the chief justice of the Supreme Court would administer the oath of office to Parker’s successor before daybreak, before the morning newscasts . . .
The chief justice would administer the oath for her.
Her fingertips clung to her lips, which had gone cold and still, then adrenaline surged and she found her voice. “I’m on my way.”
Snapping the phone off, she crossed to the closet in three strides. After flicking on the light, she squinted in the brightness, then reached for a black suit that reeked of authority and solemnity.
She grabbed the ivory silk blouse that never wrinkled, then crossed the darkened bedroom and tossed the hangers on the bed. Dressing in the stream of light from the closet, she struggled to anticipate the aftereffects of something that had happened in another darkened bedroom a few miles away.
President Parker, who’d appeared hale and hearty at a state dinner a few hours ago, must have had a heart attack. If it proved fatal, she would become the tenth vice president suddenly to assume the office.
And the first woman.
She stepped into the skirt, yanked the zipper upward, then slipped her arms into the jacket sleeves. Moving to the mirrored wall behind the bed, she fluffed her short hair, then wet a fingertip and wiped a leftover mascara smudge from below one eye. She’d forgo makeup; no one would expect a national leader to appear pink and blooming in a moment of crisis.
Satisfied with her face, she took a half step back to check her head-totoe reflection, then drew a deep breath. This wasn’t the look she had imagined she’d adopt when she became the first female leader of the free world . . . still the juxtaposition of dark suit and pale complexion would make a striking photograph.
An image to resonate through the ages—and to make her father proud.
Also Available from Angela Hunt
Coming in January 2004
0-8499-4319-1
When Emma first met Abel Howard, she was a woman with a past, a woman who had not always made all the right choices. But after twenty-five years of marriage to Able and with his world-renowned ministry career at its peak, she doesn’t often have a reason to dwell on things of the past. Until Christopher Lewis—the son she gave up for adoption years before—arrives on her doorstep. This young man’s entry into her life rocks Emma to the very core of her being—challenging everything she’s ever believed about God and His purposes for her. The Debt is a tender, bittersweet story of redemption and forgiveness
