Oath of Honor

were so charged, she thought she might start humming. She hadn’t been

this keyed up during the night she’d spent with Louise. That had her

worried. Whatever the strange effect Wes had on her, it was something

she’d never experienced before. Reason enough to keep a safe distance.

Fantasies, though, were harmless.

• 117 •

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chapter fifteen

Lucinda dropped her pen on her desk as the door from the Oval

Office opened and Andrew walked in, a little after eight a.m.

She stood. “Mr. President. I—”

Andrew closed the door. “I’m alone, Luce. Don’t get up.”

Lucinda came around the front of her desk and gestured to the

chairs on her way to the coffee credenza. “I thought you were in a

budget meeting.”

“I was, but we’re not going to move on anything at this point.

Richard wants to wait until after the Iowa caucuses. He thinks we may

have more support than the numbers are showing right now.”

“Well, Richard is the campaign manager and he knows numbers,”

Lucinda said, pouring them each a cup of coffee. She handed one to

Andrew. “I think as soon as Russo starts showing his true colors, we’ll

see a huge swing from the independents in our direction.”

“That would be the best-case scenario,” Andrew said, accepting

the cup as he leaned back in the chair, balancing the saucer on his knee.

“Blair called this morning.”

“Ah,” Lucinda said, sitting beside him. “I briefed Cameron on the

situation.”

“Mmm, I gathered. Blair was a bit peeved she hadn’t been read

in.” Lucinda smiled and sipped the coffee. “Just a little bit peeved?

She is mellowing.”

Andrew laughed. “I don’t think I’d use that word, but she’s

beginning to accept some of the politics.”

“Do you think that’s age, or is she just bowing to the inevitable?”

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Oath Of hOnOr

“Blair?” Andrew smiled, his voice warming. “You’ve known her

all her life. Do you think she’ll ever bow to anything?”

Lucinda pictured the wild teenager, and the angry young woman

of just a few years ago, and the incredible, strong, focused adult Blair

had become. “No, she will always take things by the throat. It’s one of

the things I love about her.”

“Me too,” Andrew said softly. “That’s what I wanted to talk to

you about.”

Lucinda set her coffee cup on the edge of her desk and turned to

face him fully. He was still as handsome as he had been when she’d

joined him during his race for the governor’s mansion almost two

decades before. Clear-eyed and strong, with an inner kindness that had

not been blunted by politics. “What’s worrying you?”

“I tried to talk her out of coming along.”

“I thought you might. I take it she disagreed?”

“Vociferously.” Andrew sighed and loosened his tie. “I couldn’t

deny that her presence has always made a difference in my election

campaigns. The public loves her, and she grabs the attention of the

younger voters. They rally around her because she’s so smart and strong

and doesn’t care who knows how she feels.”

“She’s her father’s daughter in that.”

“No small amount of that comes from you.”

“And her mother,” Lucinda said softly.

“Yes. And her mother.”

“Blair won’t run from danger, and unless we change our plans

to bring Cameron inside, there’s no way we’ll convince Blair to stay

home.”

“We could do this without Cam,” Andrew said. “I’m not happy

about involving her either.”

“Andrew,” Lucinda said, “Cam is the perfect person to investigate

the source of these leaks. She has no political affiliations, other than

her loyalty to you. We can trust her completely. And she’s very, very

good.”“Jensen briefed me this morning. Although the threat level remains

unchanged, the soft intel we’re getting shows a heightened probability

for hostile action.”

Anxiety squeezed Lucinda’s throat, but she kept her voice even.

They’d faced the worst together—his wife’s death, attempts on Blair’s

life, threats against the nation abroad and at home. She would never

• 119 •

RADCLYfFE

let her fear for him show. “All the more reason to start looking hard at

those around you.”

He stretched his arm out between their chairs and she took his

hand, closing her fingers around his broad, strong palm. He squeezed

gently.“I knew you’d say that,” Andrew said. “And I know you’re right.

I know you’ll make sure nothing happens to her.”

“Blair will be safe,” Lucinda said firmly. No matter what she had to

do, she would see that was true. “And so will you. You just concentrate

on winning this election.”

The president laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”

v

A tap sounded on Wes’s partially open office door and she clicked

closed the autopsy report on Len O’Shaughnessy. “Yes?”

The door swung open and Peter Chang appeared in the doorway.

She knew from the duty roster he’d been on the night before. She also

knew from her early-morning review of the night’s logs there’d been

no major emergencies. One of the chefs had sliced his hand and needed

stitches, a delivery man was evaluated for a wrenched shoulder, and a

staffer in the press room had come down for something to help with her

stomach flu and learned she was pregnant.