Dar blinked, then chuckled a little in pure surprise. “You know, I thought I knew you from somewhere. You captained that hunter sub he went out on for two tours.”
“That I did,” the governor said. “Besides, I’d be a half-brained old sea salt to piss off someone who might prospectively bring more private sector jobs into my state, now wouldn’t I?” He gave her a rakish grin. “Got any plans for expanding in Troy?”
Cynthia Stuart returned at that moment, having shed the two aides. “My apologies, Governor, but I see you were well accompanied.” She gave Dar a nod. “Is Kerrison…? Ah, there she is. Kerrison, perhaps we can speak with your uncles now. Are you free?”
Kerry and Dar exchanged glances. “Sure. I don’t honestly know what good it’ll do, but I’m willing to try.” Maybe, she considered, in this very public venue, they’ll at least be civil. She put a hand on Dar’s arm. “You’d better—”
“Stay here?” Dar completed the statement with a faint smile.
“All right, but if voices start to get louder, I won’t be responsible for my reactions.” She watched Kerry walk to a knot of her family, relaxing a little when Michael slid in and put an arm around Kerry’s shoulders.
The governor gently cleared his throat. “Chip off the old block, aren’t you?”
Dar kept her eyes on her lover, but smiled with pride. “That’s what they tell me.”
“THAT THERE MAN is not worth this here suit.” Andrew folded his arms over his broad chest and reviewed the passing countryside. “Ah will tell you that.”
Ceci glanced at him, then returned her attention to the icy road ahead of her. “No, he’s not worth a potato sack. But Kerry’s Thicker Than Water 137
worth that suit, and besides, I like you in it.” She caught a pair of pale blue eyes reflected against the windshield and smiled. “Not as much as the white one, but still…”
Andrew merely grunted, shifting his shoulders inside his dark blue uniform jacket. “Spent enough time decorating it, now didn’t you?” he rasped, giving her a wry look.
Ceci chuckled smugly. “Wasn’t it a coincidence that box of medals from the Navy showed up yesterday? Amazing, I tell you, just amazing.” She turned carefully onto a smaller road, grimac-ing as she felt the wheels slide under her touch. “Lovely.”
“You want me to drive?” Andy asked.
“Honey,” Ceci struggled with the wheel a moment more, then got the car straight, “I’m sure Kerry and Dar would like to see us in one piece sometime this evening.” She accelerated cautiously.
“Ah. That’s better.” It really was hard to believe they were actually there. Certainly it was only marginally their business, and their presence would not, she suspected strongly, be a welcome one.
That one shot of Dar and Kerry coming out of the hospital the night before, both faces strained to an almost scary extent, made their decision for them, for better or worse. Ceci exhaled and nodded to herself. They had the means, they had the method, and by the goddess, here they were about to turn into the driveway of the Stuart family manse.
“Think we should have warned them?” she asked, waiting in line behind a maroon Jaguar.
An unexpected smile crossed Andy’s scarred face. “Nope.
Better to just do it and fill in the paperwork later.”
“Mm.” Cecilia pulled up to the guard and opened the window. The man leaned over and peered inside as she marshaled several well thought out arguments to gain admittance, prepared to bombard the man with inescapable logic and plain intimidation if she had to.
“Go right ahead, sir,” he murmured courteously. “Ma’am.”
The gate opened. Ceci glanced at her husband who looked back at her, equally puzzled. “Well.” She pulled the car through the opening gates. “I’m not looking that gift donkey in the ass.”
“Musta been taken by your pretty face,” Andy said.
“More likely by the glare off your chest, sailor boy.” Ceci patted the front of his uniform, which was liberally bedecked with medals and ribbons. “He probably figured you run the Navy.
C’mon.”
They got out and Ceci pulled the lapels of her coat closer as the cold wind chilled her skin. After a second, Andy was next to her, and he put a hand on her back to steady her steps as they 138 Melissa Good headed up the icy walk towards the house. “Stuffy looking, isn’t it?” she commented as they rang the bell.
“’Bout what I expected,” Andrew grumbled as the door opened. The staff member immediately retreated and allowed them to enter, offering to take their coats with a quiet word. They accepted the offer, and continued towards a large, crowded room off to the left.
Ceci checked out the house with a knowledgeable, patrician eye. The Stuarts occupied roughly the same social class as her own family, but there were differences. This was conservative, stolid, Midwestern money, concerned with presence and stability and tradition.
Ick. Ceci had a sudden, almost irresistible urge to throw a bucket of paint over the stately white walls. With an effort, she controlled herself and concentrated on studying the room full of dignitaries, searching for familiar faces. It was tough, being the height she was, but she managed to find Dar’s tall, elegant form almost immediately. She had her back to the door and was speaking to a tall, silver haired man. “There’s one.”
“Yeap. Easy to spot. Prettiest girl in the room,” Andrew noted with complete seriousness.
Ceci chuckled softly. Then she stopped laughing when she saw Kerry off to one side, ringed by a number of older men and women.
“That don’t look so good,” Andrew said. “Think I’ll go scout.”
“I’ll go clue in our daughter,” Ceci replied, and they moved off in opposite directions.
“WELL.”
Dar turned her head and found a most unwelcome sight. Kyle Evans was standing there with a slightly mocking expression on his face. “Ah. What rock did you crawl out from under?”
One silver eyebrow lifted. “Not even a pretense of civility?”
“Not for you.” Dar met his gaze evenly. Of all the members of the late senator’s staff, this was the one she had the most reason to hate. And she did, with a completeness that allowed for no mitigation. Kyle had been Kerry’s persecutor, the man who had carried out her father’s rigid policies, and a nightmarish tormentor who had scarred her gentle lover’s psyche in ways it horrified Dar to think about.
“Well.” Kyle examined the room with cool eyes. “Finally got what you wanted, didn’t you?”
“No. I’ve always had what I wanted.” Dar met his sudden Thicker Than Water 139
look with an icy smile. “But he finally got what he deserved.”
Kyle didn’t answer. Instead, he continued to study the room.
“Pity I was out of the country,” he purred. “I’d have made sure you didn’t join this little family reunion.” He turned and smiled at her with no humor at all. “But look, there’s the little prodigal. Let me go pay my,” his lip twitched, “respects.”
“I don’t think she wants them,” Dar said.
“I’m sure she doesn’t.” Kyle smiled again. “Maybe we can talk over…old times.”
He turned and glided away, leaving Dar with an icy facade over wild inner turmoil. She felt her blood pressure rise, sending a surge of warmth to her skin and muscles as her body interpreted the emotion she felt with uncanny accuracy. Her hands twitched, and it was only by the barest of margins that she held herself back from going after him.