Tempting

She recognized Senator Mark Canfield because she’d seen him on television. She’d even voted for him. But those acts had been from a distance. She’d never thought of him as more than a political figure. Now he was here and there was a very good chance he was her father.

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Words faded from her brain as if she’d just lost the power of speech.

The senator walked toward them. “Are you dragon-boy, Alex?” he asked the younger man.

Alex shrugged, looking faintly uncomfortable. “I told her I was the dragon at the gate.”

The senator put a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “You do a good job, too. So is this young lady causing trouble?” He turned to Dani and smiled. “You don’t look especially threatening.”

“I’m not,” she managed.

“Don’t be so sure,” Alex told him.

Dani glared. “You’re being a little judgmental here.”

“You’re going to make trouble with your ridiculous claims.”

“Why are they ridiculous? You don’t know for sure, yet.”

“Do you?” Alex asked.

The senator looked at both of them. “Should I come back at a better time?”

Dani ignored Alex and turned to the senator. “I’m sorry to barge in like this. I’ve been trying to make an appointment to see you but every time they ask me why, I can’t give them the real reason. I…”

The enormity of what she was about to do crashed in on her. How could she just blurt out what she’d been told? That twenty-nine years ago he’d had an affair with her mother and she was the result? He would never believe her. Why would he?

Mark Canfield frowned at her. “You look familiar. Have we met before?”

“Don’t even think about it,” Alex told her. “You don’t want to mess with me.”

She ignored him. “We haven’t, Senator, but you knew my mother. Marsha Buchanan. I look a little like her. I’m her daughter. And, I think, maybe yours.”

Mark Canfield’s face barely showed any reaction at all. Must be all that political training, she thought, not sure what she was feeling herself. Hope? Terror? A sense of standing on the edge of a cliff, not sure if she should jump?

She braced herself for rejection because it was crazy to think he would just accept what she said.

Then his expression softened as he smiled. “I remember your mother very well. She was…” His voice trailed off. “We should talk. Come on in to my office.”

Before Dani could take a step, Alex moved in front of her. “You can’t do this,” he told the senator. “You can’t meet with her in private. How do you know she’s not with the press? Or the opposition? This could be a setup.”

Mark glanced from Alex to her. “Is it a setup?” he asked Dani.

“No. I have ID, if you’d like to run a background check on me.” The last statement was aimed at Alex.

“I will,” he said smoothly and held out his hand.

“You expect me to hand over personal information right now?” she asked, not sure if she should be impressed by his efficiency or nail him in the shin with the pointy toe of her shoe.

“You expect to speak with the senator. Think of this as a security deposit.”

“I’m not sure this is necessary,” Mark said calmly, but he didn’t try to stop Alex.

Dani dug in her purse for her wallet and pulled out her driver’s license.

“You wouldn’t happen to have your passport on you?” Alex asked.

“No, but maybe you’d like to take my fingerprints?”

“I’ll do that later.”

She had a feeling he wasn’t kidding.

Mark glanced between them. “You two finished?”

Dani shrugged. “Ask dragon-boy.”

Alex nodded. “I’ll join you as soon as I get one of the IT people working on this.” He waved Dani’s license.

“IT people?” Dani asked as she followed the senator into his office.

“Information technology. You’d be amazed at what they can do with a computer.” He smiled and closed the door behind her. “Or maybe not. You’re probably very computer literate. I wish I were. I know as much as I need to so I can get by, but I still have to call Alex every now and then to get me out of a bind.”

He motioned to a conversation area at the rear of the room. There were two worn sofas, a couple of chairs and a coffee table that looked as if it had served time in a frat house.

“Have a seat,” he said.

She perched on the edge of one of the sofas and glanced around the room.

It was big and open, but lacking in windows. Not a surprise, what with the entire campaign office being in a warehouse. From what she’d seen so far, the senator didn’t believe in spending a lot of money on appearances. The desk was old and scarred, and the only color on the wall came from large-scale maps of different parts of the country.

“Are you really running for president?” she asked. That someone she’d just met could be doing so now was beyond astonishing. It was just plain weird.

“We’re exploring the possibility,” he told her as he settled in a chair opposite the sofa. “This isn’t a permanent arrangement. If my campaign looks like a go, we’ll move to a more accessible location, but why spend the money now if we don’t have to?”

“Good point.”

He leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees. “I can’t believe you’re Marsha’s daughter. It’s been what? Thirty years?”

“Twenty-eight,” Dani said, then felt herself blush. “Although I suppose for you it’s been closer to twenty-nine.”

He nodded slowly. “I still remember the last time I saw her. We were having lunch downtown. I remember everything about how she looked. So beautiful.”

There was a darkness in his eyes, as if he were lost in a past Dani couldn’t begin to imagine. She had so many questions and wasn’t comfortable asking any of them.

Mark hadn’t been married then, but her mother had been. Dani barely remembered either of her parents. The man she’d always thought of as her father, at least until she’d found out otherwise a few months ago, was little more than a blur.

Still, she found herself thinking about him, wondering when her mother had stopped loving him and whether Mark Canfield had been a part of that decision.