An Irresistible Bachelor (An Unforgettable Lady #2)(89)

“Speech! Speech! Speech!”

Knowing he wasn’t going to be able to get away until he said something, he held his hands out and quieted down the guests.

“I don’t have anything to formally announce one way or the other at this point.” Supportive shouts drowned him out. “But thank you for your vote of confidence.”

As the clapping started again, he met Gray’s eyes. His friend was shaking his head, knowing exactly what would happen next. His mother had effectively announced his candidacy to three hundred of the most influential people in Massachusetts. And almost every one of them had a cell phone in their pocket. The news was going to be all over the Globe and the Herald tomorrow morning.

When the fervor began to die down, Mercedes turned to him, all smiles, and exclaimed, “Isn’t it fabulous! They love you!”

Jack leaned in closely, so no one else would hear. “Mother, you’re going to regret this.”

She gasped and pulled back, but he was already walking away. He had to get to Callie.

She’d disappeared, probably heading for her room. Jack was on his way to the stairs, deflecting congratulatory handshakes, when Gray stepped in his path.

“We need to deal with this. Now.” Before he could speak, Gray said, “Did you know she was going to do that?”

“Hell, no.”

Gray’s cell phone went off and he took it out and frowned at the number. “We’ve got to caucus and prepare a statement to the press. Then we’re going to have to reach all of the members of the exploratory committee, including those who aren’t here tonight. Pissing off the people who’ve been helping you is the last thing you need to do right now. None of them expected this announcement.”

Welcome to the goddamn club.

Jack was infuriated. He had all this shit to deal with because of his mother’s need to be a power broker, and all he wanted to do was to find Callie.



When Jack’s mother made her declaration and the crowd went wild, Callie closed her eyes.

“I can’t believe this!” Grace exclaimed. “How exciting!”

Callie forced a smile. “Yes. He really wants to run.”

So much so, he hadn’t even bothered to wait for her answer.

In the corner, she saw Gray cocking a cell phone and putting it up to his ear.

She had to give Jack and his friend some credit. Having Mrs. Walker announce the candidacy, while under the portrait of Jack’s father, was a brilliant piece of maneuvering. It was a perfect act of calculated spontaneity, a staging that emphasized his family’s lineage and service to the state and country. And doing it at a holiday party, without the press, was ideal. Word was going to get around just fine; hell, the cell phones were already being flipped open. The reporters were going to be forced to come to Jack for details, giving him an opportunity to grant interviews as a form of patronage. As a press strategy, it was magnificent.

He’d arranged the situation to his advantage beautifully.

As Jack held his hands over his head and smiled, assuming the quintessential politician pose, she looked away. She had no interest in what he had to say.

She couldn’t believe he hadn’t bothered to wait. He’d promised to hold off until tomorrow, but now it was all over. He was running. And she was out of his life.

With half an ear, she heard the guests quieting down obediently, Jack’s deep voice speaking, and then there was an eruption of clapping and shouting again.

“Callie?” Grace shouted over the uproar.

She snapped to. “Yes?”

“You wanted to go upstairs to talk?”

Not anymore, she thought. Or not for what she thought she was going to say.

“I just want to show you what I found,” she replied.

“You found another letter?”

“The letter, as it were.”

Callie followed Grace to her room.

Once inside Grace and Ross’s bedroom, she took a seat on a chintz-covered chaise lounge in the corner. Kicking her shoes off, she tucked her legs under her as Grace took the letter over to a lamp and read.

She’d been so ready to take the leap, Callie thought. To tell Jack everything and beg him to find a way for them to be together. And she’d decided that even if Grace was uncomfortable with Jack knowing about their past, it didn’t matter. She was going to speak the truth anyway and choose Jack over everything she’d spent her life protecting. As well as what little family she had.

Only she’d been too late. Or maybe he hadn’t been serious about not running, after all.

“This is extraordinary.” Grace looked up. “We were right.”

Callie glanced at the paper. “You were right.”

“Have you shown this to Jack?”

She shook her head. “I’ll wait until tomorrow. He’s got a lot on his hands right now.”

“He certainly does.” Grace put the sheet down on a bedside table. “How much do you have left to do on the portrait?”

“I finished the cleaning this afternoon. All I have to do is apply the fresh varnish coat and the project is done.”

Grace sat down at the foot of the chaise. Her fingers went to work on the heavy diamond studs she was wearing in her earlobes. “And then what?”

Callie laughed quietly. “And then I’m heading back to New York.”