Tempting

by Susan Mallery

  "We can't skip dinner," Alex said, his face tight in an expression she couldn't read. "Dinner is important. I talked to the chef. There's going to be a special dessert. You don't want to miss this. It will be great."

  "Alex, I'm serious."

  "We have to go to dinner."

  "I can't. I…"

  He frowned. "Are you sick? Do you need to go back to the hospital?"

  "No. I…I'm leaving."

  "What?"

  "I'm leaving Seattle. I've already given notice at Bella Roma and I haven't started at Buchanan's, so the timing is good. I need to do this. Go somewhere different. A place where I'm just a stranger. I want my life back. I want to live in my own house and not have the press bother me. I want to stop hurting the people I care about."

  He stood and stared down at her. "What the hell are you talking about? You can't leave Seattle."

  "I have to. It's for the best."

  "It's running away."

  She was disappointed. She'd thought he would at least understand. Although it was gratifying that he was so upset. Maybe her feelings weren't all one-sided.

  "Sometimes a strategic retreat is the best thing for everyone." she said as she stood and faced him. "Please don't be angry with me."

  "Why the hell not? You didn't even discuss this with me. You announce you're leaving and that's it? What happens now? You walk away?"

  She nodded slowly, then sucked in a breath as her head began to pound. "Everyone's problems are solved. Katherine won't be hurt anymore. I know what I've done to her and I feel sick about it. Bailey's safe. It will help the campaign."

  He glared at her. "Fuck the campaign. You think the press is going to forget you because you move away? They'll run with the story. As for Bailey, you don't know what would have happened. Those kids were wrong and they'll be punished, but you have no control over their actions or any way to predict them." He moved toward her. "You're giving up. I never thought you were a quitter."

  Okay, she'd been understanding for long enough. "I'm doing the best thing for the greater good."

  "You 're not willing to fight for what you want."

  “I’m not willing to hurt people I care about. You should be grateful. You love Katherine and you know how much having me around has devastated her"

  "Katherine is stronger than you think. What about the father you were so desperate to find? What about finishing what you started?"

  "Mark doesn't need me. He needs to be president. He needs you at his side, working for that goal. Not fighting the press about me."

  Alex drew in a breath. "I'm not with the campaign anymore. I haven't told Mark, but I'm leaving."

  Dani stared at him. "You can't. He needs you."

  "He has a very skilled staff who will take care of business. It's not my world. I can't be like him."

  Obviously an announcement hadn't been made or Dani would have heard about it. When the press found out, it was going to be ugly.

  "All the more reason for me to leave," she breathed. "That will disconnect us in the mind of the press."

  "And that's what matters, right?" he asked, sounding bitter. "Good to know which side you fall on. You got political real fast. You really are your father's daughter."

  The unfair accusation hurt nearly as much as her head. "That's not fair. Do you think this is easy for me? I love my new family. I don't want to leave them and I sure as hell don't want to leave my old family, either. I'm making a hard choice for the greater good."

  "It looks pretty easy from here."

  "Then you're not looking hard enough." She wanted to grab him and shake him. She hadn't wanted them to fight. She thought he would be sad she was leaving. Not angry. So much for fantasies, she thought grimly.

  He walked to the window and stared out at the view. Finally he looked back at her. "And us?"

  "I don't know how to make it work," she admitted. "It's too high a price. Even with you leaving the campaign."

  "So we're a casualty of war? It's over?"

  No, she screamed inside. She didn't want it to be over. "I care about you."

  "I feel very special."

  "Don't," she said and sank back on the sofa. "Don't get cold and sarcastic."

  "How should I act? I thought I mattered to you. I thought this relationship was significant. I thought you were the one I was supposed to be with." He walked back to her. "You're not the only one with a lousy track record when it comes to relationships. First I fall for a woman who lies about who she is and cheats on me, then I fall for one not strong enough to fight for what matters."

  Fall for one? As in… She looked up at him. "Alex?"

  "Are you going to tell Bailey you're moving on or do you want me to? She thinks you're friends, so this will come as a shock. But then she's always led with her feelings. That girl has the heart of a lion. I admire that about her. I thought you had that in common. Guess I was wrong."

  Tears filled Dani's eyes. Her vision blurred. She blinked to clear it and when she could see again, Alex was gone.

  Just like that. He'd heard what she'd had to say and then he'd left.

  She covered her face with her hands and gave in to the tears. She didn't want to go. That's what was killing her in all this. She didn't want to go, but she didn't see another way to stay out of trouble.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  "Katherine! I didn't expect to see you today." Mark stood and walked around his desk at campaign headquarters. "Is everything all right? Is Bailey…"

  "She's fine," Katherine said as her husband kissed her on the cheek.

  He always looked so happy to see her, one more thing she loved about him.

  He wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her against him. "I've been busy lately," he said as he ran his hands up and down her back. "Working here, flying back to D.C. I've missed you."

  His light touch was enough to ignite every nerve ending in her body.

  "I've missed you, too," she told him. "But we knew it would be like this if you ran for president."

  "The price of glory."

  He bent down and kissed her again. The contact was tender, yet sexual and she melted against him.

  Only Mark, she thought as she gave herself over to sensation. Only ever Mark. She loved him more than she'd thought possible. Her guilty secret was that she loved him more than she loved her children. But that didn't make her blind to his flaws.

  She drew in a bream and pulled back. "We need to talk," she said.

  He put his hand on her rear and squeezed. "Can we talk naked?"

  She laughed. "At any moment, five of your staff members could burst through that door. Do you really want them to see you doing it with your wife?"

  "Why not?" But he straightened as he spoke. Then he took her hand and put it on his erection. "What do I tell this big guy?"

  "That I'll see him tonight."

  "Fair enough." He led her to the sofa by the wall. "So what do you want to talk about?"

  She stared at the man she loved, taking in the familiar features. She still remembered the first time they'd met-how she'd literally seen him across a crowded room and had known that nothing would ever be the same again.

  "What would have happened if Marsha hadn't broken things off?" she asked, jumping right into the uncomfortable conversation. "When I came back to find you, would you have left her for me? You would have had to make a choice."

  She thought he might get angry. Instead he angled toward her and stroked her hair.

  "Don't do this," he said quietly. "There's no answer, Katherine. You know that. It's a situation that never occurred and it doesn't matter what I say. You'll believe what you want to believe."

  He was right, of course. He knew her well. "She gave you the one thing I never could."

  "You're talking about a child. But you did give me children. You gave me eight of them. Selfishly, what's more important to me is that you gave me myself. I'm the man I am today because of you. That might not be saying much, but I know I'm a better pe
rson for having loved you all these years. You are the best part of me, Katherine. You always have been. You see me through eyes blinded by love and most of the time I want to live up to your impossible expectations."

  His words reached out and hugged her heart. She felt both exposed and gratified. "Really?"

  "Yes. There's no choice, there was never a choice. Life happened and now look at what I have. Would I choose Marsha? I can't regret Dani, but I wouldn't trade her for one of our children. Who would I have to give up? Julie? Alex? Oliver? Whose smile would I not see? Bailey's? Sasha's? They're my children, too. I can't live without any of them. Or you. You have always been the heart of me, Katherine. I love you."

  Mark was good with words, but this time she believed him. Believed them. They washed over her, healing old wounds, making her certain that loving him had been the right thing to do.

  "You are the light of my life and I would be lost without you," he said, then he kissed her.

  She kissed him back, putting all of her passion into that moment of lips and tongue and breath.

  He chuckled. "Okay, now you're making trouble on purpose."

  "A little." She stroked his face. "I have to. You're going to be very angry with me in a minute."

  "Why?"

  "Because of what I'm going to say. What I'm going to ask you."

  His humor faded. "You never ask me for anything."

  "I know." It had been a point of pride with her. Sometimes a stupid point of pride, but there it was. She drew in a breath. "Alex wants to leave the campaign. He's not a political animal. He doesn't want to disappoint you, but he can't do it anymore."

  Mark leaned back and swore under his breath. "I need him. He's good at what he does."

  "Dani's leaving Seattle. She feels responsible for what happened to Bailey and for the declining poll numbers. All she wanted was to find her family. She thinks she's made a mess of everything and the easiest way to fix things is for her to go away."

  He looked at her, his blue eyes dark with questions. "What do you think?"

  She took his hands in hers. "That you are the only man I will ever love. That I would change the tide for you, if that's what you wanted. I would die for you, Mark. You know that. But you can't do this anymore. The price is too high. It's time to let the dream go."

  Color drained from his face. He seemed to shrink a little, hunching down as if crushed by disappointment. It physically hurt her to say those words and she would have given anything to call them back, but she couldn't. There were too many other lives at stake. She might be willing to die for her husband, but she wouldn't continue to hurt those she loved for him.

  She braced herself for the argument, the rage, the accusations. She knew how much he wanted the chance to make history. He stunned her by straightening, then squeezing her fingers and saying, "If that's what you think is best."

  "What?"

  He smiled. "I trust you, Katherine. I've always trusted you. You wouldn't have asked me on a whim. You know what this means to me and what I'll be giving up. What was that line from that Star Trek movie I like so much? The needs of many? I'll have them write up an announcement today and get it out to the press. It will be the usual statement about spending more time with my family. Ironically, it will be true."

  That was it? No protesting? No yelling? No anything? "Just like that?"

  He kissed her. "Just like that, Katherine. I love you. Someday you're going to have to start believing that."

  She sucked in a breath, then threw herself into his arms. Tears burned in her eyes. "Thank you."

  "No, don't thank me. You're the amazing one in this relationship. I'm just along for the ride." He ran his hands up and down her back again. "What if I told you the door has a lock?"

  She'd always carried a weight inside-the heavy burden of being the one who loved, rather than the one who was loved. For the first time ever, that weight cracked and fell away. She felt light, happier, filled with possibilities.

  "I'd tell you to use it and get naked."

  ***

  Alex sat at a table in the Downtown Sports Bar. He'd been there a few times but it had been nothing more than a place to meet friends. Now he knew it to be part of the Buchanan empire, a place that mattered to Dani and therefore mattered to him.

  A busty, blond waitress came over. "Hey, darlin'. What can I get you?"

  He barely glanced at her. "A beer. Whatever you have on tap."

  "Sure thing." She leaned over, giving him a view of her low-cut T-shirt and her impressive, barely contained breasts. "Anything else? My shift ends in about a half hour. We could go somewhere and talk."

  He looked at her face. She was pretty enough seemed friendly and there was no doubt as to what she was offering. He couldn't have been less interested.

  "No, thanks."

  "If you're sure?"

  "l am."

  She straightened and gave someone behind her a thumbs-up. "He meant it. He wasn't interested. Swear to God, I don't think he could pick me out of a lineup. Dani's a lucky girl."

  "Appreciate it, Heather," Reid Buchanan said as he walked up to the table and gave Alex a rueful smile. "Hey, she's my sister. I was just checking."

  Alex wanted to hit him. Just once, with enough force to break his nose. Not that he would. While he resented being tested, he knew that he would do exactly the same thing for one of his sisters.

  "No problem," Alex said. "I'm not worried about passing any test you have. I love Dani. I want to marry her."

  Reid sat down. “That's putting it on the table. So why did you ask me to come meet you? You want permission or something?"

  Alex shook his head. "Not permission. Just a little help. I'm planning an intervention."

  "What? Why?"

  "Dani thinks she has to leave Seattle. It's complicated and a lot of it is about the senator's run for president. She doesn't like being in the press, doesn't like that she upset my mother. So she's going to run away. Or so she thinks."

  "I don't know anything about this."

  "I doubt she's told very many people." He pulled a small, velvet box out of his jacket pocket and put it on the table.

  Reid picked it up, opened it and studied the ring. "It's so sudden," he said. "We barely know each other."

  "I work fast."

  Reid grinned. "I thought I'd make you squirm."

  "It would take a lot more than that. I'm going to ask Dani to marry me and I'm not taking no for an answer."

  Reid's gaze narrowed. "It's not your decision to make."

  "She loves me. She wants to stay in Seattle. But she's hell-bent on sacrificing herself for the good of the family. The whole family. Your side and mine."

  "So why tell me all this?"

  For the first time since Reid showed up, Alex felt uncomfortable. "I don't know how to approach her. I tried the romantic dinner route and that was a total failure. She's going to be leaving in the next couple of days so I don't have much time. I figured a frontal assault might work. You, me, the rest of the family. Together we can convince her to stay, I'll propose, she'll say yes and we'll live happily ever after."

  "You have it all planned out. What if Dani doesn't want to marry you?"

  Alex didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think about how dark and cold his world would be without her light.

  "No one could love her more than I do," he said at last. "If she says no, I'll keep trying. She's everything to me."

  "Why should I believe you?"

  "Because from what I hear, you know what it's like to want to sell your soul to be with the one woman who matters."

  Reid nodded slowly. "Good answer."

  ***

  Katherine rode the elevator to Fiona's high-rise condo. She only had a few minutes, which was fine. She didn't have all that much to say.

  Fiona wasn't expecting company so she wasn't her normally perfectly groomed self. Her hair was loose and a little stringy, her sweatshirt had a stain on the front and her jeans hung open, exposi
ng a growing belly.

  "Katherine!" Fiona touched her hair, then pulled her sweatshirt down over her stomach. "What are you doing here?"

  "Something I should have done a long time ago."

  "Oh. All right." Fiona sounded wary. "Please come in."

  "I don't think so. What I have to say will come more easily in the doorway." She smiled coldly. "You're good, I'll give you that. You played the mourning, lost ex-wife so well that I bought in to the whole story. You had me doubting Alex, which is too stupid for words. I know the kind of person he is and now I know the kind of person you are."

  Fiona shifted uneasily. "I don't know what he's been telling you-"

  "Very little," Katherine told her. "That's part of the problem. If he'd told me the truth from the beginning, I would never have trusted you. But he didn't want to speak ill of you, which is a statement to the kind of man he is."

  Katherine took a step closer. "I know what happened. I know you cheated, I know you lied and tried to get between him and Dani. I know you've been using me to get to Alex, all in the hopes of being the daughter-in-law of the president. I hate to destroy anyone's dreams, but that isn't going to happen. Alex will never go back to you, I will never trust you again and for the record, Mark is no longer running for president. Stay away from me and my family. If I ever see you trying to ingratiate yourself with someone I know, I'll tell that person everything that has happened."

  She glanced down at Fiona's stomach. "I suggest you get the real father of your baby to marry you."

  "Are you kidding? He's a nobody. Damn him. This should have been Alex's baby. He was supposed to stay married to me."

  Katherine wondered how she could have been so wrong about Fiona. She was usually a good judge of character, but apparently everyone had an off day.

  "Stay away from Alex. Stay away from me. Go somewhere else, Fiona. Trust me, it would be for the best."

  Katherine turned to leave. Fiona followed her into the hallway.

  "You can't do this," she cried. "We were friends. That has to mean something."

  Katherine glanced back at her. "We were never friends. You played to win and you lost. Deal with the consequences. They're relatively minor. If you're smart, you'll appreciate that and disappear. If you try to cross me, you will be very sorry. I promise you that."