The Candidate's Wife Read Free Page A

warmth.
    "Well? What do you think?" Adam asked. Impatience colored his deep, richly masculine voice.
    Julia gave herself a mental shake and glanced at the paper in her hand. Her stomach did a backflip as she took in the latest, confidential polling numbers. Governor Norris suddenly had a lead of almost 15 percent. The last Times poll had showed the candidates evenly splitting the vote. To her relief, she felt her mind slip back into a familiar analytical mode, despite Adam's unsettling nearness.
    "What do I think? I think you're in serious trouble," she said, as she scanned the numbers again. To measure the effect of her words, she raised her eyes to Adam's face.
    For a moment, his jaw tensed, and a muscle twitched in his cheek. He schooled the sharp planes of his face into a stoic expression, then nodded. "Go on."
    Julia took a deep, calming breath. "Well," she said, slowly, "for the past few weeks, Norris has hit the so-called family issues hard. Education, daycare, tax credits for dependents, and so on." Adam and Phil were nodding. She hurried on, more confident now. "With less than a month left until Election Day, Norris is desperate. This commercial tells me that he's about to get personal." Anger burned hotly in the pit of her stomach, and she fixed her gaze on Adam's face. "It doesn't matter that you sponsored the best education bill in decades, and that Norris went and vetoed it. Voters don't look at the record. They see pictures of Governor Norris with his wife and kids, and then they look at you. . . ."
    She bit back her next words. An embarrassed flush heated her cheeks. She'd almost made reference to Adam's active social life, combined with his appetite for media publicity. His campaign staff liked to joke that the senator had never met a pretty woman or a press photographer he didn't like.
    Phil jumped in to complete Julia's sentence. "They see him with his latest blond bimbo, is what they see." His voice remained as sweet as maple syrup, but Julia detected an expression of disappointment on his lined face.
    Adam wheeled on his campaign manager with barely contained fury. "My personal life --"
    "-- is everyone's business," Phil finished smoothly. He stood, crossed the room, and gripped the edges of Adam's desk. He leaned across the polished wooden surface to address Adam directly, in a serene but matter-of-fact tone. "Has politics changed since I was your age? Yes. Do you think I like it? No, but it's happened, and there's nothing we can do about it. Your father and grandfather got away with plenty, my boy, as you well know, but they lived in a different age."
    He narrowed his eyes and fixed Adam with a wistful stare. "You've got so much potential, Adam. If you win this election there's no telling how far you'll go. I hate to see you throw it all away."
    Julia watched the exchange with interest, though she couldn't imagine what it all had to do with her. Adam glowered at his mentor and friend. His blond brows drew together, and he pressed his full, firm mouth into a grim line. Julia shivered, but Phil showed no fear. He seemed to know that Adam posed no threat, despite his thunderous expression.
    Phil turned back to Julia. "So, my dear, imagine you're in my shoes. Imagine you need to give your candidate the piece of advice that will turn this thing around. What would you say?"
    Surprised by the question, Julia hesitated. It made no sense that Phil would ask her advice. Her expertise was academic, rather than practical. She shrugged and said the first thing that popped into her mind. "I guess -- well, in a hypothetical situation, I'd tell my candidate he ought to get married."
    Phil let out a bark of laughter as he returned to his chair. Julia blushed and rushed on, hoping to repair the damage. "I mean, of course, in an ideal world where the candidate was already seeing someone seriously. Unless you're --" She shot Adam a questioning look. According to the tabloids and the office gossip, he had a different woman on