Page 17 of Where There's Smoke

“Oh. Well.” Ignoring the heat rushing into my cheeks, I managed a quiet laugh. “He is rather, um, intense.”

“Perfect for a campaign manager, though.” Roger’s leather desk chair creaked as he leaned back. “You can’t ask for a better man to be on your side during an election, let me tell you.”

“I don’t doubt that,” I murmured. “Anyway, I, um.” I coughed, wondering when I’d forgotten how to articulate my thoughts. Oh right. When I met Anthony. “I should get going. Chris and Julie are coming to dinner tonight.”

“Very well, then.” He rose. “Do say hello to Chris for me.”

“I will.”

With Roger behind me, I left his den, and we walked down the hall to the foyer. At the enormous double doors, I reached for the doorknob but hesitated.

Roger shifted his weight. “Something on your mind, son?”

I glanced back down the hall in the general direction of the veranda, where I’d left Anthony. “I’m not sure about everything we discussed with Anthony earlier.”

My uncle furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, he said he needs to know anything that’s going on. So he doesn’t get blindsided by it. Don’t you think we should tell him—”

“Absolutely not,” Roger said sharply. “The fewer people who know, the better.”

“You don’t trust him?”

“Of course I trust him.” My uncle clapped my shoulder. “I wouldn’t let anyone else run your campaign. But the more people who know, the more likely the truth is to come out. Even inadvertently. It’s better to keep it between the handful of people who already know.”

“Still. A few people do know. It could theoretically come out.”

Roger smiled, tilting his head just so. “Jesse, no one will find out. As long as no one knows who doesn’t need to, there’s no reason for Anthony, the media, or anyone else to find out.” He lowered his chin, giving me The Look, the one he and my father had both inherited from my grandfather. “Right?”

I dropped my gaze. “Right.”

“I assume Simone will keep this to herself as well?”

“Of course.” I met his eyes, silently cursing how easily he could intimidate me with nothing more than a look. Arguing with a man who could spearhead an act of Congress and persuade people to vote for it was much easier said than done. “The thing is, Anthony’s no more likely to let it out than anyone else who already knows, but he of all people needs—”

“Jesse. Son.” Roger put both hands on my shoulders, pressing down just a little. “Stop worrying about it.”

Right. Of course. That was easy.

“All right.” I hoped he didn’t feel the resigned drop in my shoulders. “I should go. Simone won’t be happy if I’m late.”

Roger chuckled. “Not if she has to entertain that wife of Chris’s.”

I forced a laugh. “Yeah, no kidding.”

He patted my shoulder just hard enough to make me feel like a little kid instead of a grown man. “Well, have a good evening. Do give Simone my best.” His pointed look said nothing if notand remind her to keep her mouth shut.

“I will.” I reached for the door again.

Once I was outside, it was all I could do not to sprint across the courtyard to my car. I needed…I needed…fuck, I had to get out of here. Away from here. Not that I was looking forward to where I was going, but right now I wanted to be anywhere but here.

I turned the key in the ignition, and the car roared to life with a satisfying “we’re about to get the fuck out of here” sound. As the engine rumbled impatiently beneath the hood, I put on my seat belt, put the top down, and pulled on a pair of sunglasses.

Then, not a moment too soon, I got the fuck out of there.

All the way home, I couldn’t get Anthony out of my mind. On one hand, there was the guilt that I was keeping some information from him. On the other, he was…Anthony.

I was lucky I’d made it through the conversation with him and Roger this afternoon, never mind the one-on-one out on the veranda. The subject matter—both spoken and not—was anything but comfortable. The looks Anthony kept shooting my way alternately intimidated me and pushed the breath out of my lungs.

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