Susan Mallery - Tempting

"You're great," Dani said and instantly felt stupid. As if she was babbling around someone she admired. Which she kind of was.

"Thank you," Katherine said.."You're very kind." She pointed to the folder on the coffee table. "There it is. The infamous speech."

Dani held in a groan. She picked up the folder and flipped through the pages. There were only five of them, double-spaced. The opening told a story of a working single mother who found out she had stage four breast cancer and her quest to find the right family to take her children.

Maybe it was the placement of the moon or the fact that she was due to get her period in three days or the hellish trauma she'd been suffering, but Dani found herself suddenly fighting the need to cry.

She sank onto the sofa as she struggled to keep from bursting into tears. Breathing slowly didn't help, nor did swallowing or thinking about something else.

Katherine moved closer. "Dani? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. It's just stress." She blinked several times and tried to smile. "Sorry. I won't be like this when I give the speech. I'll be too frightened."

Katherine handed her a box of tissues. "Don't apologize. You feel what you feel. Is there anything I can do?"

It was a simple question, but the kindness in the other woman's voice was too much. One tear escaped, then another. Dani did her best to hang on to the little dignity she had left.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I'm, ah, dealing with a lot right now. Not that I need to tell you. You have your own issues. I've made things worse. I know that. I didn't mean to. I really admire you and I'm so sorry I've screwed up your life."

Katherine sat down next to her. "You haven't screwed up my life."

"How about challenges?" Dani asked with a sniff. "I've brought those along. You don't deserve that."

"You haven't done anything. We're all fine."

"I never wanted to hurt you."

Katherine's mouth tightened. "I'm not hurt."

She was lying, but Dani understood that. Under the circumstances, why would Katherine trust her with the truth?

"I've made a mess of everything," Dani said. "Without even trying. Imagine what I could have done if I’d been working at it."

"What mess?" Katherine asked.

"The poll numbers. I was watching one of those political shows on Sunday and they said the poll numbers were down because of me and Alex. They said the Canfield campaign was already over."

Katherine patted her arm. "You can't believe everything you hear. Of course the campaign is going forward. If this is the worst of it, then Mark will win by a three-quarter majority. Poll numbers go down, then they go up. This week it's you. Next week it will be something else."

She sounded so calm. So confident. Was it really that simple?

"I haven't damaged Mark's chances?"

"Never."

"Okay." Dani wiped her face. "That's good." She straightened and patted her cheeks. "I'm healed. At least for now. Do I look scary?"

"You look fine."

"Thanks. I want you to know I didn't mean for any of this to upset you. For what it's worth, I won't be seeing Alex anymore."

Katherine tried not to react to the news. Despite everything, she'd found herself liking Dani. The young woman seemed sincere and Katherine had always been a sucker for anyone suffering.

As for Dani and Alex not seeing each other, she tried not to be happy about it, but relief flooded her. If they weren't together then maybe Katherine wouldn't get so many questions about them all the time. She was tired of the questions and the humiliation those questions brought.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Katherine called.

Bailey walked into the room. "Dani! I heard you were here."

Dani smiled at the teenager. "I am. How are you? Do you still love your shoes?"

"More than anything."

Katherine drank her water and tried to be mature. It didn't matter that Dani had taken Bailey shopping for high heels. Honestly, she, Katherine, had never thought to make the offer. It was good for Bailey to get out with other people-people who weren't family-and experience the world. She was fine with it.

Okay, maybe there had been a tiny twinge that she hadn't been the one to share that experience with her daughter, but she would get over it.

"I have a dance," Bailey said. "For school. It's the night of my birthday and I get to wear a beautiful dress."

"Lucky you," Dani said. "I'll want to see pictures."

Bailey sank onto the floor and grabbed Dani's hands. "Will you please take me shopping for my dress? I want you to help me find it. Please?"

The words cut through Katherine like a laser.

She 'd wanted to be the one to go shopping with Bailey. She'd wanted to be the one making those memories. Although she and her daughter had never talked specifics, she'd assumed she would be the one going with her.

Jealousy burned hot and bright, making her want to attack the woman responsible for this situation.

"Bailey, I'd really like that" Dani said, sounding as if she meant it. Which she probably did. "Katherine, would that be all right with you?"

Katherine knew her jealousy was misplaced and that she was acting like a child. The lessons she'd learned from her mother came back to her. Always be calm, no matter what she was feeling inside. Always do the right thing, the proper thing.

"Of course. You're so sweet to take her. I know Bailey will have a wonderful time."

It hurt to speak the words. It hurt to smile. She wanted to hiss and scratch like a cornered cat.

Bailey sprang to her feet, then hugged them both. "I can't wait! I can't wait!" She spun in a circle, her hands in the air, her face bright with pleasure.

Katherine looked at her daughter and tried to find happiness in the moment. She just couldn't. She wasn't that big of a person.

When Bailey left, Dani sighed. "She's so great. I adore her."

"Me, too," Katherine said, doing her best to keep the sharpness out of her voice.

"Thanks for letting me take her shopping."

"It's not a problem. Now what were we talking about?"

Dani's face shifted until she looked as if she'd lost everything. "Alex," she murmured. "That we won't be seeing each other anymore."

"I see," Katherine said. "What changed your mind? The poll numbers?"

She should point out to Dani that she couldn't let other people's opinions run her life. That was the right thing to do. But before she could decide if she was that mature or not, Dani said, "No, it's not the poll numbers. Alex accused me of that, too."

"Really?"

Dani nodded. Her eyes were dark and filled with pain. “I’m sorry about the numbers, but that's not the reason. He thought I was running away. To make things easier."

"You're not?"

"No." Dani swallowed. "I think…I think he might still be seeing Fiona. She came to talk to me and she made a really good case for that."

Katherine could feel Dani's pain. The other woman looked at her.

"You know them both. Is it possible? Could Alex still be seeing Fiona?"

It was like an out-of-body experience, Katherine thought as she seemed to stare down at the room. She could see herself sitting on the sofa. So perfect, she thought, taking in the cashmere sweater, the pearls. She was a cliché. A cliché whose life had been turned upside down by the proof that her husband could father children when she couldn't have them herself.

She argued that it wasn't Dani's fault. That she hadn't knowingly brought this humiliation to Katherine. That the fact that she and Bailey got along was a good thing. She could hear her mother's voice telling her to always be a lady.

Screw that, she thought bitterly. For once she was going to do exactly what she wanted to do. What felt right and would make her hurt a little less.

She looked at Dani and lied. "I don't want to hurt you, but I do think it's very possible Alex and Fiona are seeing each other."

Alex walked into his father's office at campaign headquarters. He knew Mark was in a meeting and that Katherine had come in for a photo shoot. She stood in front of the wall map of the country.

"Do you have a minute?" he asked.

She turned and smiled at him. "Of course. I'm stuck standing until the photographer is ready. I can't muss or wrinkle. I can barely make an expression at all, so don't be funny or all this makeup will crack."

He grinned. "Makes me want to ruffle your hair."

"Naturally. Why is it that the small boy always lives inside the man?"

"One of my gender's many charms."

"Yes, it is." She tilted her head. "What's going on? What do you want to talk about?"

His humor faded. He closed the door for privacy and moved toward her. "What would you say if I told you I wanted to leave the campaign?"

Her blue eyes widened. "Alex, no." She reached out and put her hand on his arm. "Seriously? You hate it that much?"

"Yeah. This isn't me or what I want. I'm not a political animal. But I said I'd help and he's my father.”

She nodded. "Right. Loyalty to family. Doing the right thing." She dropped her hand. "I'm the wrong person to ask about this."

"Because you're too close to what's going on?"

"That, and…" She drew in a breath. "I know about doing what's expected. Sometimes when we go the other way we feel free and sometimes we just feel like crap. Do you know which it's going to be for you?"

"I'm not sure it matters," he told her, "I never thought I'd get caught in the middle of something like this. I know where my loyalties lie and I still can't make myself want to stay."

"This campaign is a complication in all our lives," she said. "Especially now."