A Billionaire's Redemption(20)

Are they here to yell at you because you own an oil company or to yell at me because I’m a politician?” she responded.

Since no one knew I was coming to this shindig, and I wasn’t on the guest list, I’m guessing they came for the good senator. But I can tell Paula to go suck an egg if you’d like.”

That’s okay.” She threw him a wry look as they ducked under the waving signs. “I lived in the shadow of my father for a long time. I learned a thing or two about handling hostile reporters and angry mobs.”

Are you saying your old man had a talent for attracting both?” Gabe retorted drily.

She snorted in amusement. “Perchance.”

Senator Merris, your father used his position to protect oil companies from taking any responsibility for the environmental and health carnage of fracking in Texas. Do you plan to do the same?”

Congress is not in session at the moment, and no major legislation will come up for a vote regarding fracking between now and next January, so I’m not going to have an opportunity to take any stand on the matter. But thank you for asking. I’m so glad you came to cover the Annual Scholarship Ball and Auction. Let me take you inside and introduce you to the event chairwoman. Her name is Jacquelyn Carver. She’ll be thrilled to meet you and tell you all about the event.”

Willa took the reporter by the arm and gestured for the cameraman to come along. She kept up a steady stream of commentary about the Ladies’ Auxiliary and their charity work, and gave the reporter no chance to get a word in edgewise. It was a tactic straight out of her father’s playbook. Before Ms. Craddock knew what was happening, Willa had handed her off to Jackie Carver, who would no doubt talk the reporter’s ear off.

Willa turned away from the camera and flummoxed journalist in relief. And there was Gabe, only a few feet away, waiting watchfully.

Shall we be on our way again?” he asked.

Let’s.”

This time when they went back outside, the picketers weren’t as loud or aggressive with their sign waving. Willa stopped in front of a woman whose poster showed a very sick little girl lying in what looked like a hospital bed.

Tell me about your daughter,” Willa asked gently.

The woman told a tale of respiratory problems and mystery symptoms, and a frustrating failure by doctors to find a source of the girl’s serious illness. Willa pressed her business card into the woman’s surprised hand. “Call me tomorrow. I’ll have my staff help you get access to medical research specialists. If fracking is making your daughter sick, I want to know.”

The crowd nearby went silent, apparently stunned that she gave a darn.

Do you have a leader or representative of some kind?” Willa raised her voice to ask the group at large.

An imposing man in a black suit coat, jeans and black cowboy boots stepped forward. “That would be me, I suppose.”

She gave him a card, as well. “Call me. I want to hear more about what all of you are experiencing.”

Uhh, okay. Sure,” the man replied, obviously more than a little suspicious. But the crowd’s ire seemed diffused and they called farewells to her as Gabe handed her into the SUV.

The Escalade pulled away from the curb before he asked, “Are you really going to talk to those people?”

Yes. The way I understand government to work, I’m the representative of the people. It’s hard to represent them if I don’t know what worries them.”

A noble—and naive—sentiment. If you were to hold your father’s office for more than a few weeks, the lobbyists and political-action committees would change your mind soon enough, I expect.”

I’m not so sure about that,” she replied. “I read a number of my father’s notes, and I have no lofty illusions about how deals get done in Washington. In my mind, the key to being a decent congresswoman is to plan on serving only one term in congress and spending that entire time voting the will of one’s constituents and one’s conscience.”

Gabe laughed. “If only.”

She sighed. “It’s not like I’m going to get a chance to make a difference in the few months I’ve got in this job.”

You’ve still got the power to endorse a candidate and make a few statements and press releases. The question is, what things matter to you? What do you want to tackle in the time you have?”

She studied him with interest. That was an excellent question. And no one had ever asked it of her before. What did matter to her? For her entire life, John Merris had dictated what was important to her and her mother. He’d coached them in how to answer any political or opinion questions to mirror his platforms. It had always been about him.

I don’t even know which political party I would support if I had the choice,” she said in wonder.

Gabe glanced over at her in surprise. “Well, then, you’ve got some homework to do, kiddo. Your father’s political party expects you to endorse their replacement candidate for him by next week.”

She sighed. “I should be teaching a bunch of kids their numbers and letters and colors this week. Instead, I’m embroiled in politics and my father’s murder, people breaking into my house and a criminal investigation against James Ward. And if the women at the ball were correct, I’ve apparently sprouted horns and a forked tail, too.”

You don’t actually care what those bleached-blonde bitches think, do you?” Gabe asked scornfully.

If only she had his tough hide. But no one had ever turned on her like that before, and it had been hurtful and humiliating. And her mother...

Someone must have given my mother uppers to get her to that ball. She’s been nearly catatonic since my father died.”

It sounded like someone fed her a bunch of lies, too. You do know not to take personally anything she said, right? She looked completely whacked-out on amphetamines or better.”

You think?” Willa asked hopefully.

I know.”

How?”

An ex-girlfriend with a drug habit.”

She replied lightly, “Why, Gabe Dawson. I don’t know whether to be more surprised that you dated a druggie or that you actually stuck around long enough with any one woman to consider her a girlfriend.”

What the hell do the GCBs of Vengeance say about me?” he exclaimed.

GCBs?”

Good Christian, uhh, Belles,” he answered sourly.

She smiled. “Well, they say you’re quite a lover. But that you refuse to talk about marriage, and get thoroughly surly if the subject even comes up. Common wisdom is that you never got over your wife dumping you and that you still carry a torch for her.”

Gabe said nothing.

Comments? Rebuttals?” Willa asked lightly.

No comment.”

Rats. She’d really love to know how he actually felt about Melinda Grayson. Did he still have a thing for his ex-wife? It would explain a lot about him. Like why he’d hightailed it back to Vengeance when the police told him Melinda had gone missing, and why he’d never remarried. Was she tilting at windmills to even fantasize about a relationship between the two of them? Would she want way more from him than he could ever give her?

Aww, c’mon, Gabe. Give me something, here,” she cajoled teasingly. “I was straight with you.”

Fine.” He sighed. “I am an excellent lover.”

She laughed, not only in amusement, but also to hide the way her stomach was suddenly jumping with nervous anticipation. What she wouldn’t give to see for herself. “What about your ex-wife? Do you still have feelings for her?”

Melinda was—is—a force of nature. You either get sucked into her orbit or she chews you up and spits you out. Making it to the inner circle of her universe was a big accomplishment for me back then. But I couldn’t honestly tell you if I ever got to know the real woman or not. The one I was married to was impressive in just about every way. But she didn’t go much for feelings. We never talked about things like love or insecurity or need.”

Wow. That sounded cold and, frankly, unappealing.

Gabe continued, “Do I have feelings regarding her? Of course. Worry. A sense of unresolved differences. Abandonment. She bailed on me before, and as selfish as it might seem, I feel like she has bailed out on me again.” He added in a rush, “I know the police think she was kidnapped, and this disappearance isn’t her fault. And I feel as guilty as hell for feeling like she’s left me again. So the answer to your question is yes. I still have plenty of feelings toward my ex-wife.”

Complicated ones. That might or might not include romantic feelings like love and desire to reunite. He’d neatly avoided talking about those in his outburst.

What do the police know about her kidnapping?”

Shockingly little. Her housekeeper arrived one morning, and Melinda was just gone. There were no signs of a struggle in her house or office. Her car was still parked in the garage, her keys and briefcase and laptop sitting on the kitchen counter. Her syllabus and lecture notes for the semester were on her desk.”