Affairs of State. Jennifer Lewis

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ things happen, not sit around waiting for them to happen.”

      “I guess that’s the best way to live your life. I’m going to adopt that attitude from now on.”

      “Just keep on being yourself and don’t worry about the press or anyone else. Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”

      A smile tugged at her mouth. “I bet you wouldn’t say that in front of the press.”

      “True. So more accurately, you have to be yourself, but not put every aspect on public display. I won’t lie, it’s a delicate balance, but I can already see that you’re more than capable of doing it.”

      She shrugged her slim shoulders. “I don’t really have any choice.”

      “In some ways, I think that makes it easier.” He slid his arm around her shoulders, which sent a delicious sensation of warmth flooding through his torso.

      He instantly regretted the rash move when she sprang forward toward a herb border. He shook his head in frustration at himself. He could see that beneath her calm and controlled demeanor she was nervous and skittish as a startled filly. It hadn’t been easy to persuade her to come here and he didn’t want to add to her anxiety by being yet another person who wanted a piece of her.

      Her scent filled his nostrils, delicate and feminine, like their lush floral surroundings. “A garden is the perfect backdrop for you.” The sunlight sparkled in her dark hair and lit up her eyes. Even the bird on a nearby tree branch seemed transfixed by her beauty, still and unblinking, head cocked.

      “I don’t know why. I haven’t spent much time in gardens.”

      “You grew up in the city?”

      “Nope, in a tiny town in Montana, but my parents didn’t have a garden like this. It was a smooth clipped lawn with a fence and a doghouse. No camellias to bury your nose in or arbors to stand gracefully under.”

      “The president’s from Montana, isn’t he?”

      “Yes, that’s how the journalists found me. They went there to do a story on his childhood and decided to tap the phone of a former White House maid who lived in his town. She inadvertently revealed that my mother—his high school sweetheart—had become pregnant and never told him.”

      Anger surged inside him. He knew the story already. Who didn’t? It had been setting headlines on fire for months. And since he was here to sign a treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom to punish those who used technology to violate other people’s privacy, it was his business to know the more intimate details. “Have you been following the story in the press? Angelica Pierce, the ANS journalist who did the illegal wiretapping is going to prison, last I heard. She’s expected to get a twoto five-year sentence.”

      “I know. Everyone seems to think I should be thrilled about it, but I feel sorry for her. It turned out that Graham Boyle, the former head of ANS, was her biological father and had denied all knowledge of her for years. I’m not sure if she was trying to impress him or ruin him with her illegal antics, but it certainly was a cry for help. I did hear that she and her father have started writing to each other now that they’re both behind bars. Hopefully they’ll have a better relationship once they’ve both served their sentences.”

      “Now that’s a family situation that makes almost anything seem normal by comparison, even discovering that your father is president.”

      “I suppose you’re right. And I did have a ridiculously normal childhood.” The sun sparkled in her hair. She looked so fresh and pretty out in the sunlight. None of the newspaper images did her justice.

      “Did you like growing up in Montana?”

      “Sure. I didn’t know anything different. I thought everyone could bike to the store with their dog in the handlebar basket, or fish in a river all day long on Sunday. Sometimes I miss the simple life.”

      “Really?” She was relaxing a little.

      “Only for a moment, though.” She flashed a slightly mischievous smile. “I do love the hustle and bustle of D.C. I guess when it comes right down to it, I’m a people person rather than a hiking in the wilderness person.”

      “Why can’t you be both?”

      “I suppose I could. But in the last three or four years I’ve been so madly busy I can barely sleep in on the weekends, let alone commune with nature.”

      “Time management is an important part of life in the spotlight.”

      “There you go again! I refuse to believe that the rest of my life will be lived in a spotlight.” She hadn’t tensed. She was teasing him.

      He shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe the president will get voted out of office in three years and everyone will forget all about you.”

      “Hey, that’s my dad you’re talking about!”

      He laughed. “See? You feel attached to him already.”

      “I admit I have been thinking a lot about meeting him, and my mother. I’m nervous, though.”

      He shrugged. “What have you got to lose?”

      “What if I hate them?”

      A smile tugged at his mouth. “Then you hate them. That’s hardly worse than not knowing them at all.”

      “I wonder.” She inhaled deeply, and started walking across the lawn. He kept pace with her, trying to tug his eyes from the seductive swishing movement of her slim hips beneath her dress. She swung suddenly to face him. “What if I adore them and they don’t like me?”

      “That’ll never happen.”

      “How do you know?”

      “Because you’re the kind of daughter any parent would be thrilled to have. The universe seems to be pushing them toward you. Take a chance, live dangerously.”

      “That sounds like your kind of motto rather than mine.” She touched the delicate red petal of a hibiscus in a tall clay pot. “My life is spent reducing the chances that something can go wrong and trying to be as cautious and well prepared as possible. I suppose that is an occupational hazard.”

      “Time for a change, then.” He said it softly. She was so afraid of stepping outside the boundaries of the life she’d made for herself. Too worried about her reputation and the media and what the future might hold. He’d like to shift her focus to much more interesting things like the feel of their lips touching or their hands on each others’ skin.

      The urge to kiss her was growing stronger each second. He wasn’t quite sure what would have happened if it wasn’t for all the discipline he’d developed during his royal upbringing and honed in his army training. Even her thoughtful gaze was driving him half mad.

      But the way she’d leaped away from him like he’d stung her warned him to slow right down. He’d have to go very slowly and carefully with Ariella.

      “Maybe you’re right.” Her words surprised him.

      “You’re going to meet them?”

      “I’m СКАЧАТЬ