and I like to report the truth, and the truth is that Custer’s responsible for all the dead and wounded currently rotting on this hill. I’m going to write articles and perhaps even a book on this battle, only with my version showing the world just what a headstrong bastard Custer is. And I wouldn’t mind making a lot of money and a name for myself with it. On the other hand, I’m going to have to move quickly. Some very important people want him to run for president. If he becomes too powerful politically, his friends will protect him and the truth will never come out.”
“Thank you, I guess, but any early promotion will be resented by others.”
“Christ, Ryder, they’re not making you a general, just a first lieutenant. Even Sergeant Haney thinks you deserve it for saving his Irish ass. He’s recovering nicely and sends his regards.”
Ryder laughed. The last he’d seen of Haney was on the knob where Custer was making his final stand. He’d had arrows sticking out of him and looked like a human pincushion. Haney was highly regarded and it was good to have the older NCO’s concurrence with his actions.
“Assuming I actually am promoted, what will happen to me then?”
“If the political part of this gets as messy as I think it will, the Army is going to circle the wagons to protect one of their own, Custer, and you will be sent far, far away so nobody can ask you difficult questions. My guess would be Oregon or even Alaska, at least until things settle down.”
Oregon? Alaska? Ryder’s mind whirled. They were at the end of the world. What the hell had he done to deserve this? Why not just send him to Siberia? So much for being rewarded for doing the right thing, he mused. What the hell, at least he’d be promoted.
◆ Chapter 2 ◆
L ibbie Custer stretched her bare legs under the silk cover and listened to her husband snore. It was comforting but also worrisome. He’d returned to the White House late after a meeting at the Willard Hotel with some political allies. As usual, since it was a political meeting where women weren’t welcome, she hadn’t been with him and she didn’t like that. She worried about what he might have agreed to. He was still so naïve when it came to politics and she didn’t want his presidency to become a national disgrace like Ulysses Grant’s had become. She accepted that she was by far the smarter of the two very ambitious people and that George needed her to control him as well as lead him. She and George were a team and a team should not make decisions without both members being present. She was not yet forty and some said she was even lovelier than she had been when she was twenty.
She and George were also still passionately in love and there were many times when they laughingly thought their White House lovemaking would wake the servants.
It could have been paradise, but it wasn’t. She acknowledged that George was in well over his head. If power corrupts, then he was also being corrupted. He’d begun drinking heavily and he seemed distracted by events he didn’t quite understand. She didn’t think he had a woman on the side, or, she laughed softly, on her back. However, if he did, she would exact the only form of revenge a woman could. She would betray and humiliate him as well, and he understood that.
Until and if that unlikely event occurred, she had two goals—protecting him and advancing his presidency.
Beside her, Custer stirred and yawned. “Libbie, I’m bored.”
“That, sir, is a terrible thing to say to a woman you just had your way with. Did my ripe and lovely naked body not please you?”
Only an hour before, she’d been awakened by the familiar feel of his hands roaming her body. He’d gotten her nightgown up to her shoulders and had discarded the silk pajamas from India that she’d given him for his birthday. She’d responded eagerly and matched him stroke for stroke after he’d entered her. When they were finished and he seemed to
“Thank you, I guess, but any early promotion will be resented by others.”
“Christ, Ryder, they’re not making you a general, just a first lieutenant. Even Sergeant Haney thinks you deserve it for saving his Irish ass. He’s recovering nicely and sends his regards.”
Ryder laughed. The last he’d seen of Haney was on the knob where Custer was making his final stand. He’d had arrows sticking out of him and looked like a human pincushion. Haney was highly regarded and it was good to have the older NCO’s concurrence with his actions.
“Assuming I actually am promoted, what will happen to me then?”
“If the political part of this gets as messy as I think it will, the Army is going to circle the wagons to protect one of their own, Custer, and you will be sent far, far away so nobody can ask you difficult questions. My guess would be Oregon or even Alaska, at least until things settle down.”
Oregon? Alaska? Ryder’s mind whirled. They were at the end of the world. What the hell had he done to deserve this? Why not just send him to Siberia? So much for being rewarded for doing the right thing, he mused. What the hell, at least he’d be promoted.
◆ Chapter 2 ◆
L ibbie Custer stretched her bare legs under the silk cover and listened to her husband snore. It was comforting but also worrisome. He’d returned to the White House late after a meeting at the Willard Hotel with some political allies. As usual, since it was a political meeting where women weren’t welcome, she hadn’t been with him and she didn’t like that. She worried about what he might have agreed to. He was still so naïve when it came to politics and she didn’t want his presidency to become a national disgrace like Ulysses Grant’s had become. She accepted that she was by far the smarter of the two very ambitious people and that George needed her to control him as well as lead him. She and George were a team and a team should not make decisions without both members being present. She was not yet forty and some said she was even lovelier than she had been when she was twenty.
She and George were also still passionately in love and there were many times when they laughingly thought their White House lovemaking would wake the servants.
It could have been paradise, but it wasn’t. She acknowledged that George was in well over his head. If power corrupts, then he was also being corrupted. He’d begun drinking heavily and he seemed distracted by events he didn’t quite understand. She didn’t think he had a woman on the side, or, she laughed softly, on her back. However, if he did, she would exact the only form of revenge a woman could. She would betray and humiliate him as well, and he understood that.
Until and if that unlikely event occurred, she had two goals—protecting him and advancing his presidency.
Beside her, Custer stirred and yawned. “Libbie, I’m bored.”
“That, sir, is a terrible thing to say to a woman you just had your way with. Did my ripe and lovely naked body not please you?”
Only an hour before, she’d been awakened by the familiar feel of his hands roaming her body. He’d gotten her nightgown up to her shoulders and had discarded the silk pajamas from India that she’d given him for his birthday. She’d responded eagerly and matched him stroke for stroke after he’d entered her. When they were finished and he seemed to
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