When Passion Flares (The Dark Horse Trilogy Book 2) (5 page)

“I’m not selling anything.” There was a bite to her young voice that sounded oddly familiar. “I… I want to talk to Mr. Hall.”

“Which one? There are a few of us here.” Sometimes Hunter’s uncles dropped by and they quipped that it was a “Hall Ball” in progress.

“
The
Mr. Hall.” Now the girl furrowed her brows and nearly stamped her foot.
I’ve seen that before.
Somewhere, but Hunter couldn’t recall at the moment.

“And who should I say is calling?” At least Hunter would entertain the girl for a while longer. “That’s very important.”

Instead of inviting the girl to be more forward, however, Hunter caused her to step back and look sheepishly at him. Suddenly those red cheeks weren’t in anger, but from embarrassment.
Struck a nerve, did I?
Wouldn’t be the first time. “Holly,” she muttered. “Please tell him Holly came to see him.”

“Does he know someone named Holly?” Didn’t ring a bell to Hunter. Well, maybe he knew a Holly or two in the campaigning circles, but he doubted they had anything to do with this girl in particular.

“If he says he doesn’t, then he’s lying!”

More than one person on the street a ways away looked toward the Hall Manor, either in curiosity or for some other nefarious reason. “Fine, come in.” Hunter stepped out of the way – an action the girl was clearly not expecting as she gaped in awe at the front of the manor.

Obviously Hunter could not feed her to the campaigning wolves. So he escorted the girl into his father’s office, the one place on the first floor off limits to the campaigning crews. Holly gingerly sat on a couch in front of Terrence’s desk and stared at the tapestries and other wall hangings. Her eyes lingered a long while on a family portrait from a year ago. When she looked at Hunter, it was with the knowledge of who he must be. “Are you Mr. Hall’s son?” she asked.

“I am. You don’t recognize me from the commercials?”

Holly shook her head of brown curls. She reminded Hunter of his cousin on his father’s side, who had a mess of brunette spirals that had won her a few beauty contests. “My mama doesn’t let me watch much TV. She says it’s bad for me.”

“If it’s an election year, then she’s right.”

“You don’t look like his son.”

“Excuse me?”

Holly pointed at Hunter’s nose. “You don’t have the same nose as him.”

Hunter tapped his finger against his nose. “I get it from my mother. That happens.”

“Oh.” Holly swung her legs back and forth. “Can you get him for me please?”

“Yeah, sure.” Hunter shut Holly in the room and tried to recall where his father would be that day. After all that work, Terrence might as well give the girl a photo op.
He likes that sort of publicity anyway.
Hunter could see it in the papers and on the local news now.
“Gubernatorial candidate Terrence Hall takes time out of his busy campaign to talk to a sixth grader who came by his house today. News at eleven!”

Sure enough, when Hunter found his father in the master bedroom consulting a stylist over what he should wear to the upcoming debate, Terrence expressed joy that such a young lady would come by to speak directly to him. “Tell her I’ll be down within thirty minutes. No, wait.” He turned around with his arms still extended, causing the stylist to mutter beneath her breath. “Tell her that I’ll be down in ten. Can’t keep kids waiting.”

Hunter didn’t go down to tell the girl anything. He knew that within a few minutes his father would be ready, and wouldn’t he know it, Terrence soon changed into an unintimidating khaki pants and collared shirt.

As they descended the stairs and walked toward the office, Terrence asked, “So what’s the little bugger’s name? She’ll be impressed if I greeted her with it.”

“Holly. She didn’t give me a last name.”

They stopped in the middle of the hallway, since Terrence had to turn and look at his son with a foreign look on his face.
I’ve never seen him like this before.
It wasn’t panic. Nor was it concern. Terrence looked like he was stuck thinking of something from long ago, as if that name rang some kind of bell in his campaign addled brain. “Holly, huh?” His brows and lips turned downward, into the sort of scowl Hunter used to get when he was a kid on the verge of trouble. “How old was she again? Be specific.”

Hunter shrugged. “I don’t know. Twelve? Thirteen? These days she could’ve been ten for all I know. I didn’t ask.”

“What does she look like?”

Where is this going?
Just two minutes ago Terrence couldn’t wait to meet the “little bugger,” as he put it. “So big.” Hunter gestured, indicating that Holly came up to his chest. “Curly dark hair. Honestly, I wasn’t really looking.” Why should he be interested in a little girl? His father was acting too strange.

Now Terrence’s scowl took on new proportions.
Whoa, there.
“I wish you had told me this earlier,” he said in a somber voice. A few interns scuttled by, giving their greetings to their boss, but Terrence could not be swayed to speak to them. Far cry from the man usually bopping from this place to that looking for anyone to converse with.

“What’s going on with you? She’s just a girl.”

They continued walking the few feet it took them to get to the office. Terrence put his hand on the doorknob whilst blocking Hunter’s path.
Don’t you think someone should be in there with you?
“One thing you would do well to keep in mind, son,” Terrence said in his fatherly voice. “It is never ‘just a girl.’” He opened the door, slipped in, and shut it firmly behind him.

Whatever the girl wanted with him was not disclosed that night. Hunter thought about asking later, when he saw his father laughing during dinner, but thought better of it. After all, Holly was some girl.
Even though they’re never ‘just a girl.’
Hunter wondered if Kerri qualified for that statement as well.

Kerri did not often accompany her father on his outings if she could help it.
I don’t appreciate being used as a prop.
She knew her parents didn’t mean it that way, but since she was a little girl Kerri had understood her role in her family – out in public, anyway.

That particular day was different, if only because her father was attending a meet and greet at the local animal shelter. For one day Raymond Mitchell volunteered, feeding and walking dogs, grooming cats, and most of all interacting with the public at the front desk. Photo ops abounded whenever he handed a dog leash off to children too happy for words.

Since Kerri often made a point of volunteering at animal shelters when she was in high school and college – because she wanted to, not to pander – she definitely had to go that day. It was public knowledge that the governor’s daughter “loved animals” and “always wanted a Corgi like Queen Elizabeth’s, but everyone knows her mother is allergic to pets.” The only ways Kerri could get out of going that day were by being deadly ill or off on that trip to Italy her mother kept hounding her about.

Speaking of hounds, this one is cute.
She stood behind the front desk, out of sight of most cameras. The media lined up along the back wall of the reception hall, interviewing adopters and having them sign release statements. Not to be confused with
relief
statements, which were made by more than one dog as they squatted in excitement by the door. At first Raymond was going to ignore it, but then his campaign manager whispered into his ear that this was a “great chance to strike one with the public.” The picture of the governor mopping up dog urine was going to be on front pages across the state.

Brenda was notably absent due to her allergies, so Kerri had to act as her mother’s stand-in. Reporter after reporter asked her about her work in shelters, and then more than one also asked her about her father’s policies.

“If you could have any pet in the world, which would it be and why?” asked one female reporter. It was the first one Kerri heard all day that had nothing to do with politics.

“I love lots of animals,” that was the standard answer she was coached to give. Even such questions needed those damned standard answers. After all, she wouldn’t want to offend a voter who really hated cats.

However, the most noteworthy thing for Kerri that afternoon was not anything her father did. It was who came wandering in an hour before closing, and thus took the media’s attention off Raymond Mitchell.

“Good evening, Miss Mitchell,” a man in a suit said. His dark hair was recently trimmed, and his face freshly shaved. Flashes from the camera continued to spark behind him as he talked to Kerri. Raymond’s campaigners rushed to the scene, and the manager stayed behind to talk to the governor.
Who is this guy?
He looked vaguely familiar. It wasn’t until the man gave a pallid smile that Kerri recognized candidate Joshua Payne from his low-budget commercials. “I don’t suppose you still have some dogs back there, do you?”

Kerri glanced once at the media brigade and tried to remember her training. Fine thing if she got in trouble
this time
because she was too casual with an opposing candidate. “Yes, Mr. Payne, there are still quite a few up for adoption. What brings you in?” More flashes. More murmuring from the peanut gallery.

“I promised my sons that we could get a dog this year. They’re away at camp right now but will be home soon. I want to surprise them. Don’t want a dog that’s too big or too small. Something friendly and energetic for them to run around out in the yard with. What do you think? Any dog fit that description back there?”

Kerri motioned to one of the regular volunteers beside her. “Martha here can help you, sir. She knows the dogs much better than I do.”

Joshua thanked her for her help and followed the volunteer into the kennels. Kerri then excused herself before the cameras in front of her could catch her making an odd face at the situation that just occurred.

Of course, the campaign manager showed up just as she turned the corner into the secluded break room. “You did well,” he said. Kerri could only roll her eyes. “We were totally blindsided by that guy coming in. Stay out of the way so he doesn’t catch you off guard.”

No problem.
There were better ways for Kerri to spend her time than to converse with that man anyway. Not that she had anything against him. She didn’t even know who he was, really, besides his name.
That and Hunter really likes him.
The few times she and her boyfriend talked about the Independent, Kerri was almost convinced. But Hunter was charismatic like that. He could even be a politician if he wanted. That was almost a scary thought.
If I married him, would it be more of the same down the road?
Kerri sat at the break table and drank some juice from a bottle. When she dreamed of getting married one day, she usually dreamed of a man who had nothing to do with politics. Kerri couldn’t imagine that being the rest of her life. More campaigns… more managers… becoming a politician’s wife like her mother or Ronnie Hall… Kerri heaved a sigh of frustration, and that wasn’t even her fate.

“May I join you, Miss Mitchell?”

Kerri looked over her shoulder to see Joshua, unaccompanied by any media somehow, standing in the break room door. Caught off guard indeed.

Joshua sat next to her at the table.
Keep your cool.
Oh, why was she so nervous around this man of all people? As far as Kerri could tell, he was harmless. “Tell me,” he began, his eyes never leaving Kerri’s frame, “what does the governor’s daughter do for fun around here? I would like to know, in case I become governor. My boys are still quite young, and I want them to have a good childhood, all things considered.”

Nothing to do except lean back in her chair and hope someone from the campaign hopped in and stopped this nonsense. “Fun? I do what any woman does, Mr. Payne. Get a manicure and gossip about celebrities.” She hoped that he could detect her sarcasm.

“That so? I don’t know if my boys are into that sort of thing, but I wouldn’t put it past one of them. He is always getting into his mother’s makeup and having a ball.” Something about this man’s smile was unnerving. Like he was up to something. On the contrary, he was like an old friend looking out for one’s best interests.
Mine?
Kerri didn’t know what those interests were. “I’m surprised that you’re not seeing anyone right now. Or so that’s what the media tells me.”

Please don’t be coming on to me.
Kerri sat up in her seat. “What business would that be of yours, Mr. Payne?”

“It’s none of my business, at least not at present. But you seem like a nice young woman, and I would hate to see you get caught up in any sort of scandal.”

Now that rattled a few bones inside Kerri’s body. She gaped at Joshua as if he proposed to her. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but…”

“I’ve heard nothing.” The man stood, hands in pockets. “And I wouldn’t want you to think I’m spreading misinformation. But these sorts of elections tend to get very heated, and people will do anything in their power to bring down one side or another. Sadly, this tends to leave some casualties along the way. I must be going now. I wish you and your family well, Miss Mitchell. Thank you for your time.”

No one came to rescue Kerri, who remained in the break room until it was time for her to make her final appearance an hour later. By that time Joshua had chosen a medium-sized mutt to take home to his children, and the cameras descended upon him like dogs themselves. Kerri couldn’t care. She was too perturbed by what that man seemed to know.