The Best-Kept Secret

The sound of water thundering into a bathtub was muffled by a door closing.

“Let’s hope you don’t see that.” Her smile included Hud, which was a refreshing change from the dagger-filled expressions she’d given him earlier today. “How do you take your coffee?”

“Black.” She looked worn out, more in need of a glass of wine than coffee. “Should you be drinking that stuff this late at night?”

“Are you kidding? After Casey goes to bed my second shift starts. I work every night until about midnight.” Rosie’s admission came as no surprise. She’d gotten far for one so young. She brought him a mug with a Chinese proverb on it—A fall into a ditch makes you wiser.

Well, he’d already fallen and considered himself bruised, but less gullible.

“You can’t get ahead without putting in the extra time.” Rosie sat across from him.

“I know that.” Here was the opening he’d been looking for. “I’ve spent all week looking critically at the situation in the city. I have several ideas—”

“Before you go any further, let’s go back to the two obstacles you’ll need to overcome—the allegations behind your resignation from the Senate and—”

“If you insist on telling me that I have no personality after the day we’ve had, I may have to call in character witnesses.” Hud couldn’t believe how closed-minded Rosie was being about this.

“You’re missing the point completely.” Rosie covered his hand with hers ever so briefly, but long enough to stir his pulse. “In the public’s mind you’ve become this icon of wealth and power. You’re a myth, a fairy tale.” Avoiding his gaze, she added cream to her coffee. “You lock yourself away in a tower, don’t grant interviews, don’t admit to missteps or misfortunes. Of course, the voters can’t identify with you.”

Hud’s face felt wooden. “So you think Roger Bartholomew is a better choice?”

“It would be more to my liking if Roger switched parties and ran for the Republicans.” Rosie still wouldn’t look at him, paying careful attention to the sugar she was adding to her mug.

Relief deflated some of the fight out of him. Hud sat back in his chair and reached for his coffee.

“What is wrong with getting up close and personal with the public? You’ve been in my face all day, and let me tell you, that was quite a surprise.” Rosie laughed softly, almost to herself. “I had no idea that you were so…”

“Determined? Driven?”

Rosie looked at him levelly then said, “I was going to say creative and ballsy. I wouldn’t have approached a rejection quite the way you did.”

“But it worked.” At least, so far. Promising things were lurking just beneath the surface between them.

She shook her head. “I didn’t think you were like your brother in any way, but you are.”

“You knew Samuel?”

“Mommy, come shampoo my hair.”

Rosie held her coffee mug midway to her lips, as if she realized she’d said more than she should have.

CHAPTER FIVE

“DID THE MAYOR leave yet?” Casey asked, sailing a pirate ship in the bubbly water.