When Passion Flares (The Dark Horse Trilogy Book 2) (2 page)

Chapter 2

Trying to reach Kerri those next few days proved utterly futile. Every time Hunter was sent to voicemail, he cursed and slammed his phone down as if it had offended him.
Did her parents take her phone? Did she decide to dump me?
No way. Kerri would have said something if she intended to dump Hunter after what happened at the brunch club. That was one thing Hunter really loved about her: she was opinionated and not afraid to say what was at the forefront of her mind.
She would bust my balls the moment she decided to dump me.
Such a thing shouldn’t have made Hunter smile.

Of course, he could not blame the current circumstance on anyone other than Brenda Mitchell, who probably had a good pearl clutch over what she and Ronnie had discovered that day. As for Mrs. Hall, her reaction had been to “properly scold” her son, which meant expressing her deep concern that he had made a large error in choosing a potential girlfriend.

Hunter telling his mother that Kerri was
already
his girlfriend fell on deaf ears.

He spent most of his free time when he wasn’t helping with his father’s (or in truth Joshua Payne’s) campaign fretting over the woman he cared for fondly. Perhaps loved, even, although it was too early and too volatile of a time to tell.
But I must love her if I’m feeling like this already.
Four days of no communication with Kerri, and Hunter was about to lose his mind. He missed her sharp wit and her ability to stimulate both his mind and his body. A woman that he both wanted to debate with and make love to? It almost seemed too good to be true.

Maybe it was. After all, Kerri was a figment of his imagination now.

Hunter had the campaigns to distract himself, but it didn’t stop him from thinking of Kerri every few minutes as if she were a specter haunting his waking hours. How could he not think of her while helping his father assemble smear campaigns against Raymond Mitchell?
I’ve got a great one for you, Father.
He shuddered to think of what his father’s campaign manager would do with such information about Kerri.

“We’ve gone up two more points in this week’s polls,” Terrence said at dinner while flipping through his tablet. He leaned back in his seat at the head of the table as if he had accomplished something great, like being elected governor of the state.
Not yet, Dad.
“We keep this up, and we’ll overtake Mitchell as the favorite to win.”

He always liked to say that. “We.” As if Hunter had anything to truly benefit from his father becoming governor. Oh, sure, there were plenty of benefits, especially if he wanted to go into politics as well. But was it worth it if it meant he didn’t get what he
really
wanted?

“Hunter.”

His phone went back into his pocket. “Yeah?”

Terrence chewed on his salad as he eyed his son sitting to his right. “I hear that Governor Mitchell is going to have another fundraiser this weekend. You game to go as my eyes and ears?”

A fork clattered against porcelain across the table. Ronnie looked up with a startled visage and said, “He can’t go!” When her husband looked askance at her, she continued, “You’ve put him in those commercials now, so everyone will know who he is. Why in the world would the Mitchells let him into the fundraiser if they know he’s your son? Really, Terrence, think these things through. You’re going to have to send an intern or something.”

While husband and wife discussed tactical matters, Hunter returned to his phone and his frantic texting to Kerri.
“Just let me know that you’re okay,”
he wrote.
“Did they steal your phone from you? House arrest?”
He wouldn’t put it past the Mitchells when it came to saving the image of a precious, virginal daughter.

As soon as supper was over, his mother pulled him aside.

“Are you okay?” she asked, licking her thumb and wiping a smudge off her son’s cheek. Hunter stepped back. He hadn’t been comfortable with her doing that since he was five. “I know you’re upset about not getting to see that girl, but… you understand it’s for the best of the campaign, right? Oh, imagine if your father had found out!”

Hunter maintained a straight face. “I am not afraid of my father.” He was twenty-four, not four. “But I understand what you mean. I don’t agree with it, but I understand.”

That was enough to placate Ronnie the worry-wart for now. But before Hunter could once more retreat to figure out his next game plan, Terrence and his campaign manager Paul appeared from the study, waving the youngest Hall down. “Come in, son!” Terrence called, his sleeves rolled up and his slippers on. “Got something we want to discuss with you.”

Although skeptical, Hunter maintained his even expression and joined Terrence and Paul in the study, a medium-sized alcove in the Hall residence that sported half a library and enough political magazines to destroy a forest. Terrence never read any of them. He had other people read them and report on the findings. That was how Hunter learned to read so many years ago.

Like the two buddies they were after so many years, Terrence and Paul lounged on a sofa while enjoying some brandy. They invited Hunter to join them, but he chose to sit on the other side of the coffee table, in an armchair given to Terrence by a fellow representative back in Washington. Hunter couldn’t remember the man’s name. He had a hunch he was from California, the place Hunter called home when he was a small child… before Terrence uprooted the Hall family to their current state where it was easier to get elected to local offices.

“Your father tells me that you may not be able to go to Mitchell’s next fundraiser,” Paul said after a sip of brandy. He crossed his legs on the sofa, and probably would’ve lit a cigar if given the chance. A weasel-looking man of over fifty, Paul had seen enough campaigns to write a tell-all book – most of those campaigns were for his good friend Terrence Hall, who picked him up fifteen years ago because he represented the only competition to ever crush Terrence in an election.
When you can’t beat them…
Since then, Paul might as well have been called Paul Hall. “Shame, since that information you gave us last time proved to be instrumental in getting us ahead a few points. Get them where they’re weak, right?”

Hunter shrugged. “Sure.”

“Bet you got a good look at the governor’s daughter, eh? Ain’t she around your age?”

This time Hunter almost lost his poker face.
Do they know?
He had one split second to determine the amount of information Paul had. Forget Terrence – he wouldn’t know a monkey was scratching his shoulder – but Paul was paid to know everything about the opposition. “I don’t know much about her, but I’m sure I saw her.” It seemed safe enough for an answer.

Paul smiled. “She’s hard to miss. Beautiful young lady. Hard to believe those two old fools made such a lovely one like her.”

Watch it.
Fine thing if Hunter’s relationship with Kerri was found out because he decked Paul for sounding like a bastard. Kerri would be livid to know such Neanderthal behavior occurred, but damn would it be satisfying. “I suppose. What is this about again?”

Paul leaned back into the couch while Terrence continued to soak up the smug air in the room. “We’ve recently discovered something quite interesting about the Mitchell family. We don’t have any proof yet, but once we do, this election will be in our bag.”

“I see.” Hunter squared his shoulders. “What does this have to do with me?”

“Nothing. Just thought you would like to make a toast to your father’s…”

Something beeped in Terrence’s pants. “Whoa there!” he exclaimed, jumping up to snatch his phone from his back pocket. One look at the caller made his cheeks redden. “Afraid I gotta take this one in private, fellas.” He exchanged a look with Paul that Hunter could not translate. “Go ahead and leave your old man alone for a while, son. This stuff would bore you.”

Says the man who wants me to go into the family business.
But Hunter nodded his head and took his leave of his father and the campaign manager. There were more pressing things he wanted to get back to anyway.

Like locking himself in his room and attempting to call his girlfriend once more.

Hunter sat on the edge of his bed, his jacket loose on his shoulders and his necktie almost strangling his throat. He loosened the knot to give himself some air. By the fifth ring on the other end of the line, Hunter swore he had stopped breathing.
I just want to hear her voice.

“Yes? Hello?”

Finally, for the first time in what felt like an eternity, Kerri’s voice filtered through the phone. Hunter heaved the biggest sigh of relief in his life. “Kerri. It’s me.”

A pause. Then, “Of course it’s you. Don’t you think I’ve known who’s been calling?”

“Then why didn’t you answer? I’ve gone crazy imagining what has happened to you.”

“Happened to me? Do you think my parents locked me in some tower to keep me pure and secluded from the rest of the big, bad world?”

“…Maybe?”

At last, Kerri laughed a little, although it did not assuage any of Hunter’s worries. “You better believe I got a stern talking to. But I am hardly a princess locked in a dungeon. My mother has been watching me like a hawk, that’s all. This is the first time since we were together last that I’ve had my phone to myself. She got lazy and forgot to take it away from me tonight.”

So they are monitoring her…
Or at least Brenda was. Hunter figured if Raymond had found out, he would have heard about it. From the other end of Raymond’s fists. “I’m glad you’re okay. Kerri, I have to see you.”

“Have to? Or really want to? Go on, flatter me.”

It was that sort of talk that made Hunter smile and want to shower his girlfriend with every compliment in the world. Oh, he would flatter her. He would flatter her to suffocation if he could. What were their families to them when they had fun like this to share?
In any other circumstance, we could be together.
The more he became entranced by Kerri Mitchell’s beautiful existence, the more Hunter thought of the term “star-crossed lovers.” Something he hadn’t thought of since high school English class.

“I want to see you too.” The words trembled at the tip of Kerri’s lips. “Oh, this has been the worst. I’m afraid my mother is up to something.”

“My father certainly is.” Hunter told her about what he heard in his father’s study.

“Something on my family? I have no idea what it could be. Then again, it’s not like I know everything that goes on around here. I’m just an ornament to these people.”

“It could be anything. It could even be completely false, knowing how these things go.”

“Uh huh.” Hunter was sure he didn’t have to tell her twice about it. “At any rate, we need to figure something out soon. Specifically, when are we going to meet again?” Kerri lowered her voice. “I miss you. A lot.”

Hunter did not expect that tone of voice to punch him in the gut. “I miss you too,” he said softly. “Well,” he reclaimed the confidence that was almost sapped out of him, “I don’t know about you, but I still have free reign. Or at least I don’t think I have anyone following me around.”

The chuckle coming over the phone told Hunter he had no idea what he was talking about. “It’s not like I’m under house arrest. But I wouldn’t be surprised if someone is watching me. You can probably guess how my mother is.”

Controlling? Fearful?
The exact opposite of Ronnie? Hunter did not envy his girlfriend. “If there’s something you need me to do, say the word.”

Kerri took her time responding. “Come rescue me, Romeo. Your princess awaits you.”

There were a lot of things weighing on Kerri’s mind those following days, but nothing as heavily as what her mother was scheming behind the scenes.

She has got to be kidding me.
Kerri woke one sunny morning to find brochures about Rome, Venice, and Milan slipped underneath her bedroom door. Brenda had circled anything that seemed “hip and cool” through the eyes of a woman who had long been out of touch.
Don’t think I’ll be going on any Gondola rides soon.
Kerri had nothing against going to Italy one day. God knew she loved anything romantic like that, but not when it was her mother’s idea.

“So what did you think, dear?” Brenda asked at breakfast. They were alone in the vast dining room, with only the echoes of voices in the other room to keep them company as sunlight streamed through the east facing windows. “I hear Italy is absolutely beautiful in summer. The sooner we get you there, the better.”

Kerri made the sourest face she could muster. “I don’t want to go to Italy right now.”
Like I’m letting you ship me off to be rid of my scandal with Hunter.

But Brenda wasn’t listening, not that such a thing surprised her daughter. “I’ll make the arrangements today. How does a month in Italy sound? Or how about the rest of the summer? We’ll tell the press you have an important job lead there. Yes, good. You studied Italian in school, right? That will work.”

“French, Mother. It was French.”

“Close enough.”

Kerri excused herself from breakfast after that.