Page 86 of Forged By Sacrifice

His eyes narrowed, and he looked back at Dani, fake smile disappearing. “Tell Guy if he wants my spot on the Intelligence Committee, he’ll have to have me shot and hanged first.”

Dani sighed. “You know that isn’t what this is about.”

“Do I?” He waved the notes Dani had handed him. “Gun bill. Pentagon spies. What the hell is next?”

I stepped between Dani and the man, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up for the first time in ages. Dani placed a hand on my arm, stopping me before I said something I shouldn’t.

“You don’t have anything to worry about from Mac or Guy unless you’re the representative from the state of Delaware, because Mac’s the only one gunning for anyone’s spot,” she said, heading toward the door, and I followed.

Senator Fenway barked out a laugh. “A politician, huh? I’ll make sure Lester Coats knows he’s coming.”

We didn’t respond as we left. I fought every instinct that told me to go back inside and give the man a black eye. We were twenty steps down the hallway before I breathed a word. “What the hell, Dani?”

She shrugged. “While Guy Matherton is one of the good ones, Todd Fenway is one of the sleaze buckets.”

“He hits on you like that all the time?”

“Please. That was nothing.”

My blood boiled further, but I was also pissed at more than just Senator Sleaze. “And Granddad just sends you to meet with him anyway?” I asked.

Dani stopped short, turning to look at me with her hand on her hip. “Granddad has more important things to worry about than whether some scumbag is hitting on me. Don’t you dare say anything. I’ve taken care of myself for nine years without you here. I can certainly take care of myself now.”

She kept going, and I dogged after her. “Shit. I didn’t mean anything by it, Dani. You’re fricking incredible. I mean that. But why doesn’t anybody do anything about it?”

“Like what? Tell his wife he sleeps with the staffers? You don’t think she knows that?”

“Jesus Christ,” I breathed out.

But inside, I was freaking out. Not only because of Dani and the situations my sister must have been in over the years that I’d never once heard about, but because I wasn’t sure I could be in the same room with those kinds of men and not end up punching someone. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do any of what Dani did with grace and ferocity. It had me wondering if maybe Dani should run for office, and I should be her campaign manager.

? ? ?

By the time Friday finally hit, I was ready to forget everything I’d seen and heard all week. The dog-and-pony shows, the “What’s in it for me?” discussions, and especially, the grubby men who hit on my sister. The number of those had grown substantially as the week went on. In fact, they’d outnumbered the ones that I put in Matherton’s “good guy” category by about nine to one. Dani had ignored every single one of their looks and backhanded comments, simply going in for the kill every time she needed to. She knew exactly when to push and when to back off, and I continued to be amazed by her.

If it wasn’t for the fact that I would have Georgie on my arm that night, I would have bailed out on the embassy reception so fast that I wouldn’t have left any contrails behind. But Dani had plans for me that involved discussing a human rights bill with an embassy aide, and continuing the gun legislation discussion with another of Senator Fenway’s schmucks after I’d made her promise she wouldn’t confront Fenway himself.

She’d snorted, saying there was nothing to worry about when she had Russell with her. But somehow, I couldn’t imagine Russell, who’d barely spoken ten words to Dani in my presence, standing up for her to anyone.

Which was what I was thinking when I opened the door to let him into our apartment while I waited for Dani and Georgie, who were getting ready in Dani’s room. All I’d done was shower, shave, and put on the tux that had been delivered by courier that afternoon. The rented tux tugged at my shoulders a bit too snugly, but it would do for the night as long as I didn’t do any calisthenics.

Russell looked—surprisingly—good in his own black tux that certainly wasn’t a rental. It looked like it had been made to fit him and accented the muscles I hadn’t known he had until that moment. He’d left his glasses behind, or maybe he was wearing contacts, which only made me wonder what color contacts Georgie would have in when she emerged from Dani’s room.

“Russell,” I said as I let him in.

He eyed me just as I eyed him. “Tantini’s?” he asked, referring to my tux.

I nodded.

“Dani said I should give you the name of my tailor so you can have your own made. You’ll need one, at a minimum.”

He handed me a card, and I took it, setting it on the counter. I was just going to give him my two cents on what I was now considering his protection duty when I heard the clatter of heels on the wood floor and heard his intake of breath. I turned to see Dani coming toward us.

She was in a sapphire-colored dress that suited her blue eyes and dark hair. She looked beautiful with her hair down in soft curls and diamonds around her neck that I recognized as having belonged to our grandmother.

“You look stunning,” Russell said, lifting her hand to his lips, and I didn’t know whether I wanted to strangle him or slap him on the back for being a gentleman with my sister.

“You do look pretty spiffy, Gooberpants,” I teased. She smacked me across the chest with her handbag.

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