The Senator's Daughter (11 page)

“Excuse me?”

“She looked good on the cameras yesterday. I think you can get her over the media aversion. She's smart and she has a pedigree. If the senator runs for president, you'll be all set with her by your side. She meets your requirements.”

His chest burned. “Let's not have this conversation again. That's not what our breakup was about.” Why was Crista opening old wounds? When he hired her, they'd both agreed not to rehash their relationship.

“Yes, it was, Alex, and don't insult me by pretending it wasn't. But there is one thing I haven't figured out. Why were you with me to begin with?”

Because you're intelligent and didn't bore me to tears.

“Crista, we agreed to keep it professional. Let's not get into this again.”

She pressed her lips together. “I'll talk her into Iraq.” She turned and walked away.

Alex didn't know whether to stop her or thank her. Crista was wrong about Kat meeting his requirements; she was too headstrong and volatile. Arguments would be typical in their daily lives, and he couldn't afford to keep being impulsive. He needed someone with whom he was in complete control of himself. The last thing Kat needed was another violent man in her life.

CHAPTER EIGHT

W
HY
WAS
SHE
even considering it? Alex's halfhearted offer hadn't been real. She chewed her lip. She was tired of having things happen to her and merely reacting to them, changing her life to accommodate whatever disaster someone else caused. She'd realized that yesterday, when she'd stepped out of headquarters with her father into the sea of reporters. So she'd gone along with him, smiled and made conversation, all the while gathering information for her book, including a quote her father wouldn't expect her to publish. Maybe she should take the same approach with this trip to Iraq.

Alex's words came back to her. She'd never been to Iraq, and she didn't know what it was like. So who was she to pontificate on what should happen there? Getting an opinion from soldiers on the ground and speaking to locals would add dimension to her analyses, let her see firsthand what Alex was talking about. And being with Alex had nothing to do with this.

She picked up the phone, and her aunt Luce readily agreed to come stay with her mom. Kat suspected Emilia had called her aunt two nights ago and put her on standby when Kat returned from Washington, DC, tired and barely able to walk through the front door.

Kat had never traveled internationally. She had lectured for hours on the war in Iraq without ever having stepped foot in the country. When would she get such an opportunity again? Aunt Luce could take care of her mom for a few days, couldn't she?

If she was lucky, the trip might even shorten the time she needed to spend with the campaign. The faster she wrote the book, the sooner she would get her promotion. Then she could go back to her normal life, where her world made sense and she didn't live in a fishbowl or have to deal with her father.

She tried not to think about how disappointing dinner with the senator had been. He had been charming and full of amusing tales, but beyond discussing the IED bill, there was nothing real in their conversation. They'd never gotten back to talking about her mother or shared any feelings about their newfound relationship. The only substantive moment they'd had was when he talked about his son and daughter, his voice filling with genuine pride.

“Hi!”

Kat jumped. She'd never get used to people sneaking up behind her. She made a mental note to check out the other cubicles to see if there was one that faced outward so she could see who was coming at her.

“Hi, Crista. How are you?”

Without waiting to be invited, Crista pulled a chair from another cubicle, blocking Kat's entry as she parked herself. “So, I called the home-health company you use and they agreed to increase the coverage on your mom if you want to go to Iraq.”

Kat sat up straighter, irritation burning deep in her belly. “Crista, I wish you hadn't done that. It's my personal business and I don't like—”

“You're not authorized to offer the owner's daughter an internship on the campaign in exchange for them not charging you any more than what you're paying for the summer. I am.”

Kat took a breath. “I...”

Crista put her hand on Kat's shoulder. “It's okay to let people help you. Nathan gets me a cup of coffee every morning because he knows I hate the stuff we brew here. Alex paid the ER bill for the IT kid when he broke his arm. We work together for fourteen hours a day—we're each other's family.”

An elephant was sitting on her chest. Kat had never had a real friend, someone who would take care of her. She always had too much to ask and not enough to give. Colin had been her friend first. He hadn't seemed to mind that she didn't have a lot to offer in return for his kindness with her mother, but then he'd taken the only thing she did have that was all her own. Her professional integrity. What did Crista hope to get from her?

“Sometimes you need a friend to do something you wouldn't do for yourself, Kat. Go to Iraq, take a break from your daily obligations. Enjoy the time with Alex.”

Her head snapped up. “There's nothing going on between me and Alex.”

Crista smiled slyly. “I never said there was. I just said enjoy the time with him. It's hard to get his attention for more than five minutes around here—you can learn a lot about the campaign from him.”

Her face heated. “Oh.”

“It's okay, Kat. We're not dumb. We spend most of the day analyzing what someone meant or trying to predict what the opponent might do. We're pretty good at reading human behavior. It's obvious you're attracted to Alex and that he's got a thing for you.”

“I'm not pursuing him.”

Crista laughed. “Not because of me, I hope. We dated two years ago—that's like ten campaign years. If it makes you feel better, I've had two boyfriends since Alex. I'm most definitely over him, and honestly, I think he might be less cranky if he had someone. He handles everything alone.”

Kat searched Crista's eyes, but she gave away nothing. “Since you're so good at reading people, you do know that Nathan has a thing for you, right?”

Crista chuckled. “See? It's not that hard to figure these things out.” She lowered her voice. “I don't think it's a good idea for me to get involved with him until I'm ready for a long-term relationship. He's a forever kind of guy.”

Kat knitted her brows. Hadn't Crista said she'd broken things off with Alex because he
wasn't
going to marry her? “Are you really sure you're over Alex?”

“I know what you're thinking. It's not that I wanted to marry Alex—I just needed to know there was a future if I was going to invest more time in him. I didn't want to fall hard, spend years in a relationship and then realize we weren't in the same place. I'm thirty-three years old—I can't afford to waste several years on a guy and still have a family at the end.”

If that was the case, why wasn't Crista open to the idea of dating Nathan? Kat wanted to say something, but she kept her mouth shut. Crista had extended her friendship and Kat didn't want to push it. “Well, it's hard not to be attracted to Alex, but we disagree on everything. It's never going to work between us and I'm not interested in casual relationships.”

Crista smirked. “You just wait—Alex has a way of getting under your skin. So, will you go to Iraq?”

There was no reason not to. With her aunt's help and extra nursing care, her mother would be well taken care of. “I'm the only person in the world who wants to go to Iraq to take a break.”

Crista clapped her hands. “Don't worry. We usually arrange security with a private company in addition to what the army will provide. There are a number of green-zone camps and the general will decide which one to send you to on the day you arrive, to minimize the risk of an ambush.”

Crista continued for several more minutes. Kat should've been concerned about the fact that she'd need to wear a bulletproof vest from the second she stepped off the plane, but all she felt was an uplifting energy. The most adventurous thing she'd done in her life was to try skiing with Colin on a rare weekend when her aunt had come to visit.

Crista excused herself and returned a few minutes later with a credit card and piece of paper. “This is your travel credit card and a list of items you need to buy. Use the credit card—the campaign will cover any of the supplies on the list.”

Kat scanned the list. “Thermal underwear?”

“We have an Iraq travel guide on the network drive. Read it. The temperatures there can vary considerably. You need to be prepared. It's not exactly a honeymoon location.”

Before Kat could protest, Crista held up her hands. “Sorry, I can't help it. Just take my advice and don't let Alex push you away. He's a terror in the office but he's a wonderful boyfriend.”

She left Kat wondering exactly what made Alex such a wonderful boyfriend and how she was going to get through seven days in close proximity to him.

* * *

K
AT
LOOKED
UP
at the departure monitor to make sure she was heading to the right gate. Dulles Airport was a blur of world-savvy travelers walking with purpose. Two days had gone by in a whirlwind. She was grateful that her aunt had come early so that Kat could finish shopping for the “trip to hell,” as most of the staffers called it.

She'd downloaded a pile of reading onto the campaign tablet, which she hoped would get her through the twenty-hour trip. There weren't any direct flights to Baghdad from the US; it wasn't a great tourist destination. They'd be flying a commercial airline into Doha, Qatar, then taking another flight to Baghdad.

Kat idly wondered who else was flying to Iraq, given the new security concerns. Alex wanted her to have a passport that identified her as a US government employee, but they hadn't had time to get it for her, so she was traveling on her tourist one. For once, Kat was grateful to Colin for insisting that she get a passport so they could go overseas for their honeymoon. Now that she thought about it, she'd been more excited about the possible trip than the actual honeymoon with Colin.

The only glitch had been obtaining a visa. Alex had a diplomatic passport that didn't require a visa but she did. Somehow the senator managed to make the calls to get her the required visa from the Iraqi embassy in Washington. She hadn't talked to her father since their dinner, but he'd sent her a box of candy the next day with a nice note thanking her and reiterating the invitation to meet his family. The box was filled with dark, nut-crusted chocolates.

She was meeting Alex at the airport, but they hadn't arranged a specific meeting spot, so she wheeled her carry-on onto the train that took her to their gate. Crista had advised not to check a bag if she could avoid it. Apparently, American bags had a way of disappearing during transit to the Middle East. Lucky for her, she didn't have a lot of equipment or clothes that she wanted to take with her. She kept it to basic mix-and-match clothes and a few travel essentials.

She had nearly an hour until the flight to Doha, so she purchased a latte and sandwich from a nearby coffee shop. She wasn't sure if there would be food on the plane. This was only her second time at Dulles Airport. The last time was when she'd flown out for a political-science conference. A knot formed in her stomach as she remembered the stress of that trip. Her aunt hadn't been able to come to stay, and at the time Kat could afford only a couple of hours of nursing care a day. She had to cut the trip short when her calls home went unanswered. She found her mother in bed, with the room reeking of bodily fluids. Her mother had tricked the nurse into believing she'd taken her medication when in fact she'd been stuffing the pills between her back tooth and cheek then spitting them out when the nurse left. Kat had promptly changed nursing companies.

Would her aunt be able to handle her mother for a whole week? Thanks to Crista, the nursing company was sending someone four times a day, including late evening hours, which usually came at a premium. Her mother had thrown a fit when she found out, but relented when Kat threatened not to go. This wasn't a trip where she could be back home in a few hours if there was an emergency. Crista had warned her that even with optimal connections and flight times, it took more than a day to return from Baghdad.

She settled into a seat and sipped her coffee, wondering when Alex would show up. She hadn't seen him since the day in the office when he'd asked her to come to Iraq. He'd emailed her briefing materials, but other than that, she hadn't talked to him.

Glancing out the window, she saw the plane was at the gate. It was one of the largest planes she'd ever seen. Boarding began, starting with first class. Kat checked her watch, wondering when Alex would show up. They were forty minutes from departure. What would she do if he didn't appear? There was no way she was going to Baghdad alone.

“Worried I wouldn't show?”

She breathed a sigh of relief and turned to find a smiling Alex standing behind her looking...more handsome than he had a right to be. His jeans and untucked white polo shirt made him look loose and not at all like the buttoned-up Alex she was used to.

“You like cutting it close, don't you?”

He smiled. “I'm a seasoned traveler not checking luggage. If I hadn't known you'd be sitting here nervously staring at your watch, I'd have come twenty minutes later.”

He motioned toward the line. “Let's go.”

“They haven't started general boarding yet.”

“Have you looked at your ticket?”

She frowned. “I'm in row ten.”

“What does it say above the row number?”

“B.U.S.I.”

He rolled his eyes. “We're in business class.”

She gasped. “Really?”

“It's a long flight.”

He took the handle of her bag and wheeled both carry-ons toward the gate, where the attendant gave Alex a brilliant smile. When they reached the plane, they stepped onto lush carpeting. A flight attendant in a beautiful burgundy suit greeted them and motioned to a staircase. Kat tried to keep her mouth closed. She didn't even know there were airplanes big enough to have two stories. Alex was seated next to her, and she avoided his gaze when the attendant showed them how to convert their seats into full beds. Relaxing into the window seat, she watched Alex remove a book and sink into his seat. The attendant reappeared and gave them drink and dinner menus.

“Are they seriously serving filet mignon and wine for dinner?”

“First class gets lobster.”

“I wouldn't know. They don't even give you a drink in economy.” She turned to him. “Why are we traveling business? I know these tickets are twice as expensive as economy class.”

“Four times.”

“Excuse me?”

“Business-class tickets are four times more expensive than economy seats on international flights.”

She swallowed. He placed a hand on top of hers. “If I were traveling alone, I'd have bought the economy ticket, but Senator Roberts insisted we fly you first class. That ticket was ten times more expensive, so I made a call figuring you wouldn't mind.”