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Used with permission
The Perfect Candidate
By Stephanie Sterling
Copyright ©2012 by Stephanie Sterling
All rights reserved.
1
“You know that now is when the real work starts?”
Michael Reese, still celebrating his nomination for President, sipped his whiskey and pretended that he hadn’t heard a word that Norm, his campaign manager, had said. When Norm repeated his comment, however, it seemed to Michael that some response was required.
“I’m sure we can take a couple of days off to relax and enjoy our victory,” he said dismissively, sinking down onto a large black leather sofa to take the weight off his feet. He felt like he had been working himself into an early grave these past few weeks. Surely he deserved a little time off?
Obviously Norm didn’t think so.
“Please tell me you’re joking?” he choked, tugging at spectacles. “NO! We cannot take a few days off to relax!” he cried, when Michael remained silent. “Do you think the Vance Campaign is going to take a few days off to relax?”
“Yes, if they have any sense,” Michael muttered, under his breath. He mentally retracted that statement. These were people who supported Walter Vance after all.
Norm perched his amble backside on the arm of one of the chairs that was part of the sofa suite. He had a certain look in his eye… it was a look that Michael had come to know, and dread.
“So…” Norm began, once he had worked up the courage to broach whatever particular topic was on his mind. He shuffled a stack of papers that was clutched in one hand and cleared his throat: “I think we need to revisit the topic of your love life.”
Michael frowned, which caused his aching head to pound even more violently that it had been doing. He glanced at his glass- still half full. He really hadn’t had that much to drink, despite Norm’s fears he wasn’t completely irresponsible, but that begged the question- if he wasn’t drunk, what the hell was his campaign manager talking about?
“I’m too busy to have a love life,” Michael grunted.
“Well, this is something you have to make time for- or at least pretend to make time for. It’s got to be part of the campaign,” Norm argued.
“What are you talking about?” Michael growled. “The campaign is about my politics!”
“No, Michael, the campaign is about your image,” Norm snorted, as if he was talking to a particularly dim-witted child. “And the state of your love life, or rather, the current non-existent state of your love life, will play a big part in that. It’s the one area where you can really be attacked.”
Michael groaned, finished his whiskey and dragged a hand through his hair. “Norm, I have two ex-wives. I’m a cynical bitter guy. I think it’s best if we just package me as a bachelor and leave it at that.”
“The voters won't be satisfied with that. They love Mrs. Vance. They love the idea of having a First Lady.”
“Well, I don’t have a First Lady!” Michael snapped. “I don’t want one, and I certainly don’t need one!”
Norm, rather wisely, let the subject drop for the rest of the evening, but it was brought up again a few days later. Michael and his team were sitting down having a meeting when Norm cleared his throat and resurrected the topic. He had a newspaper with him this time to back up his point. On the cover Michael was getting a little too friendly with a young woman that he had met at a bar several years earlier- who turned out to be a stripper called Tallulah.
“I was at a friend’s stag party!” Michael exclaimed in his defense.
It was typical that the one night, in what felt like a decade, that he had relaxed and had some (harmless!) fun was now splashed across the tabloids. It wasn’t even recent! However, even he could see that, while the men around the table where nudging each other and looking amused, each of the women looked highly affronted.
Michael glared at his campaign manager. “What do you suggest?” he growled.
“We need a First Lady to keep you out of trouble and to appeal to the electorate,” Norm said simply.
Michael groaned, but he sensed this was a losing battle. “Fine,” he sighed, to the apparent relief of the man sitting beside him. “Go and find me someone then.”
“Hrm, well I don’t know it will be as easy as that,” Norm said thoughtfully. “I mean we would need to vet-”
“Oh God!” Michael swore. “You mean to tell me you’ve been going on about this for weeks and you don’t even have someone lined up? You pick out my socks for Christsakes!”
“Well, I-” Norm spluttered, looking insulted.
Michael pushed himself up out of his chair to indicate that the meeting was finished. Everyone started shuffling papers and reaching for bags. “Never mind, I’ll find someone myself,” he said to Norm. “In fact-” a thought had just struck him. He glanced around the room again… looking carefully at his female members of staff.
Kim was too young. Barbara was too old. Laura was too… pregnant. Ashley was… Michael paused as his eyes ran over his speech writer. She was attractive, smart, single, about the right age, not pregnant… she was perfect!
Michael glanced and Norm, and then, when he had the man’s attention, looked meaningful at Ashley. Norm looked surprised, but not disapproving. Michael took that to mean he had the go ahead. He walked after Ashley as she hurried out of the room.
“Miss Kendall!” Michael called, when Ashley began to pull away from him. When she head her name she stopped and turned around, flashing him a smile as he drew nearer.
“If this is about the speech for the women’s institute I’m almost finished, sir,” she assured him confidently.
“And I’m sure it’s wonderful, but this isn’t about that,” Michael said smoothly, donning his most charming smile.
Ashley looked confused. “It’s not?” she frowned.
“No,” Michael said simply. He started to wonder how he was meant to go about this proposition… and then he decided that the best way was just to say what he had to say. “Miss Kendall, how would you like to be my First Lady?”
She blinked up at him. Michael couldn’t quite determine the look on her face but it was somewhere between amusement and alarm. “What are you talking about, Mr. Reese?” she demanded.
Michael sighed and glanced at his watch. He didn’t have time for this now. “Look, Norm will explain everything to you, I’m afraid I have to go and take a very important phone call.” And without any further ado, he left Ashley to talk to his campaign manager, confident that Norm would be able sort everything out.
2
Norman Winters, Mr. Reese’s campaign manager explained the whole ludicrous scheme to Ashley. She listened to him; she didn’t really have a choice. She was so stunned by what he was saying to her that she momentarily lost the power to speak. It truly was an absurd plan! Unhappily, she didn’t seem to be able to convince Norm of this fact! Ashley determined to go and see Mr. Reese himself during lunch and appeal to his common sense!
Running her mind over the idea all morning kept Ashley far too occupied to concentrate on her own work. Part of what alarmed (and secretly thrilled?) her was that the idea wasn’t completely abhorrent to her… Michael Reese was a very handsome, very charismatic man, added to which, he might just be the most powerful man in the world in just a few months.
Not that any of that would do her any good at all, not if she were only pretending to be his girlfriend, Ashley reminded herself sharply.
When it was finally time for lunch, Ashley pushed herself back from her desk and went in search of her prospective ‘boyfriend’. She rapped sharply on his office door and was asked to come in.
Ashley was about to launch straight into her argument, when she saw that Mr. Reese was on the telephone, and so she was forced to hold her tongue. Michael waved a hand towards a chair, motioning her to sit down, and then he carried on with his conversation.
Ashley perched herself on the edge of a hardback chair, and tried not to notice the way that Michael kept dragging a hand over the top of his head, ruffling his graying hair in a manner that made it look like he had just crawled out of bed. Ashley toes curled in their shoes involuntarily at that thought.
Michael finally finished his telephone conversation and turned the full dazzling force of his attention on Ashley.
“Miss Kendall,” he smiled. “What can I do for you?”
Ashley blinked. Surely he could guess? Perhaps he had already forgotten about it and the whole plan was off? She didn’t want to consider why that made her feel disappointed instead of relieved.
“You do remember what you asked me this morning?” she asked warily.
“I think I asked you to be me First Lady?” Michael grinned, eyes twinkling in a highly dangerous manner- highly dangerous for any woman within fifty feet of him that was, Ashley amended uncomfortably.
“Yes, you did… and was just wondering… have you lost your mind?” she blurted. It was hardly the most eloquent turn of phrase she had ever come up with, but she was working at a disadvantage here! To her surprise, and annoyance, Mr. Reese’s grin widened.
“I don’t believe so, Miss Kendall,” he chuckled. “And I must say, you’re selling yourself rather short if your think a man would have to be insane to take an interest in you.”
“I- OOH! That’s not what I meant!” Ashley spluttered.
“What did you mean?”
“That this whole scheme of yours-”
“Actually it’s Norm’s scheme,” Michael sighed wearily. “If you have any complaints you should really take them up with him. I had to agree to find a girl to pretend to date just to get him off my back.”
“How flattering for me,” Ashley hissed icily.
Michael didn’t look particularly perturbed by her disdain. In fact, he found it rather refreshing, in a sort of strange, perverse kind of way. It was entertaining at least. He leant back in his chair and pressed his fingers together, and studied Miss Kendall thoughtfully over their tips.
“You’re on my team, aren’t you?” he asked slowly. “You are working to help us win the election? This would just be another part of your job.”
Ashley looked completely unconvinced. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to do better than that, Mr. Reese.”
Michael nodded. “You’re right, it’s not fair for me to get something for nothing,” he agreed silkily. “What do you want?” he asked thoughtfully. He was pleased to see that Ashley looked surprised by this tactic, and it took her several moments to manage a reply.
“What do you mean, what do I want?” she asked suspiciously. “What exactly are you offering?”
“A permanent position on my staff when I’m elected?” Michael suggested.
Ashley raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you mean if you get elected?” she said dryly.
“I prefer to be optimistic,” Michael grinned. “Which is why I choose to believe that you’ll come around to my way of thinking,” he said smoothly.
He didn’t entirely know why he was pushing so hard for this when it was something that he had always been opposed to whenever Norm suggested it… There was simply something about Miss Kendall that brought out the competitor in him.
Ashley rolled her eyes, but she stopped fighting him for a minute. “The electorate won’t be fooled,” she said, shaking her head.
“Of course they will be,” Michael argued, sweeping away her concerns in a single confident sentence. When he saw the flash of irritation in Miss Kendall’s eyes he grinned. “Well there’s only one way to test which one of us is right,” he pointed out, no longer surprised to find that he was enjoying himself.
Ashley didn’t look quite so happy. “This is a bad idea,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.
Michael sighed, and donned a more serious visage. “Why do you think this is a bad idea, Miss Kendall?” he asked gently. The look that she shot him seemed to say that her reasons should be obvious.
“Apart from it being dishonest you me?”
Michael leant forwards in his chair and rested his elbows on the desktop. “Miss Kendall, you must believe in this campaign, you wouldn’t be working as part of it if you didn’t, correct?”
“Well, of course-”
“Well then, do you think it’s fair that Walter Vance has an advantage over me because he’s married? Do you think he’ll be able to run the country any better, because he has a wife?”
Ashley frowned. “Well, the First Lady does play an important role in-” she started to say, but quickly fell silent when she saw how Michael was glaring at her. “Um, I mean- no, he wouldn’t be able to run the country any better that you, Mr. Reese, sir,” she said obediently.
Michael smiled, although this time the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Then I don’t see why we need to give him that advantage, do you, Miss Kendall?” Ashley found herself shaking her head before she even knew what she was doing. “Excellent!” Michael cried. “Then we’re agreed.”
Ashley opened her mouth, and then shut it again. There didn’t seem to be any way of winning this argument. “But… won’t people thinks it’s a bit odd that you’re suddenly involved with your speech writer?”
“No, why would they?” Michael asked. “We see each other virtually every day. What could be more natural than for us to strike up a relationship?”
Ashley looked doubtfully. She might see Michael almost every day, but she would have bet her life savings that he had never looked at her twice before, not in all the time that they had worked together.
“I still think-” she started to argue, but was cut short when the telephone on Michael’s desk began to ring. Ashley made to excuse herself while Michael answered the call, but before she could get out of the room he shouted after her.
“Dinner tonight, Miss Kendall,” he said. “It’s the least you can do for me, since you made me miss lunch,” he added with a chuckle, grinning when he saw she was going to argue against this too. Michael then turned his attention back to his phone call and Ashley was able to slip away.
What had she got herself mixed up in? She asked herself, and she hurried back to her office to try and get her head around things. Mr. Reese couldn’t really be serious, could he? He was bound to come to his senses… and yet, Mr. Winterson had spoke to her too. What would happen if they were both determined for her to carry out this charade?
That question was answered quickly.
She would get to spend a lot more time with Michael Reese… because despite his rather overbearing behavior that morning, Ashley did have a great deal of respect for the man. Of course, it wasn’t respect that made most women swoon whenever they saw him…
“Stop it,” Ashley muttered to herself under her breath, as she slipped back inside her own office. There was no point her making a fool of herself over a man who saw her as a useful tool in his campaign! “Well that’s all you ever have been,” she pointed out sensibly, moaning when she saw that she had half a dozen messages on her answer phone.
Buckling down to work, Ashley determined to banish that man from her thoughts completely… that was easier said than done though- particularly when, midway through the afternoon, a stylist arrived to help her get ready for dinner!
“But I don’t need any help!” Ashley wailed. She still had so much work to get done before she would be anywhere near finished!
“Oh believe me, you do,” contradicted the woman, who had introduced herself Shannon (just Shannon, like Madonna) when she barged straight into Ashley office.
“Look, I don’t have time-” Ashley tried desperately to explain, but the other woman clearly wasn’t listening; she was talking loudly about what colo
urs would suit Ashley best, how they absolutely had to get her out of black and how her severe hairstyle was doing nothing for her face and delicate bone structure.
“And those glasses have to go!” Shannon declared, as if they were a crime against humanity.
“I have contacts too!” Ashley cried in her own defense. It was simply that people (men actually) seemed to take her more seriously when she was dressed well femininely.
“Just relax,” the stylist soothed.
Ashley sighed and finally relented. For the second time that day she realized that she didn’t have a choice.
3
“I can’t decide if you should meet Miss Kendall at the restaurant or leave with her from here,” Norm mused, as if this was a matter of national importance.
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