The Kept Woman Read Free

pediatric nurse who only moonlights as a belly dancer. And she's incredibly flexible."
    "Good. Then she'll recover nicely when you break up with her."
    "No one's going to believe I'm engaged anyway." Jack chuckled, staring up in exasperation at the room's ornate pressed-tin ceiling. "I'm just supposed to wake up one day and bam !—I'm suddenly overcome with the urge to commit? Please. Who's going to believe that crap?"
    "People change, Jack. The voters would accept that you've matured, that you found the right woman and decided to settle down. It happens to men all the time."
    He glanced over his shoulder, one eyebrow arched, a green eye narrowed at her in doubt.
    "And there's plenty of time before the primary," Kara continued. "A dinner here, a basketball game there, an anonymous tip to the Star 's city desk, and pretty soon you've got a blossoming romance in place before the February filing deadline. It doesn't look rushed. And you're golden."
    "Or I'm dead meat." Jack whipped around. "Surely you realize I'd be nailing down my own coffin lid if someone discovers this little business transaction? Maybe, I don't know, someone like Christy Schoen ?"
    Kara had anticipated this concern, and she nodded crisply. "I will micromanage the hell out of the media. I will personally keep Christy on a short leash."
    Jack roared. "Careful. That little bitch will yank your arm right out of its socket sniffing out a lead story for Capitol Update ."
    Kara smiled. She'd been a guest on Christy's Sunday TV show more times than she could count, and she knew all about the journalist's pathological disdain for Jack. Kara couldn't exactly blame her—no woman likes to get kicked to the curb in public. "You really were a real ass to Christy, you know."
    "Yes, I was. But pardon me if I feel the time for apologizing is long gone."
    "Well, we'll handle Christy, because we have to," Kara said. "As for the rest of the media, the secret will be a light touch. A little public exposure will go a long way with this. And you can always explain that Samantha and the children treasure their privacy."
    "Children?" Jack's eyes went huge. "This rental woman comes with children ?"
    Kara shrugged good-naturedly. She knew this part would be the hardest for Jack, but it was also the piece that was going to appeal most to voters. "Three kids. I know them. They're great. Her baby, Dakota, is the cutest little—"
    "Stop right there." Jack began laughing again, and this time his chortle had an edge of madness to it. "Sure, I'd like to be the newest senator from Indiana. I'd like that just fine. But Kara, there will be no babies rented in order to get me there. No kids. This is insane."
    Kara waved a manicured finger in the air. "Think about it, Jack. What would scream reformed more than having a hardworking divorced hairstylist and her three kids at your side? You can play it down. Let the voters make their own inferences. I'm telling you. It will work fabulously."
    "Absolutely not." Jack shoved his hands down into the front pockets of his chinos and glared at her. "And I would think that after four campaigns and twenty years you'd know me better than that."
    Kara tilted her head and paused for a moment, then sighed. "That's just it, Jack. As your longtime campaign manager and dear friend, I can tell you the truth, and the truth is that you've just been handed your last shot. Allen Ditto's decision not to run for the Senate again is a gift , and if you don't make it happen now, you never will."
    "That's just one possible scenario."
    "It is the only one." Kara eased out of her chair and walked to where he stood by the wall of bookcases. She gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Look, Jack, it's been four years since you ended your lieutenant governor gig and two years since Christy helped the voters decide you were a punkass, sexist pig not fit for the Seventh District congressional seat."
    Jack winced.
    "Every focus group and poll we've commissioned has said the same