no evidence,” she said, disrupting his train of thought. “My father destroyed everything. He took all of my clothes and burned them himself. And I wasn’t allowed out of the house until every last scratch and bruise was totally gone.”
“Willa, Willa.” He sighed. “You’re what, twenty eight-years old? Why did you let your father bully you like that?”
“Because he was John Merris. When did he ever not get his way?”
Gabe pursed his lips. “I told him to go to hell, and I’m still standing. In fact, I’ve done moderately well in spite of John’s best efforts to wreck me.”
That glint of humor flashed again in her eyes. But he understood her response. John Merris had been known for his frightening temper and razor-sharp tongue that flayed anyone who dared to gainsay him. Even as a teen, he remembered Willa having a talent for fading out of sight and out of mind almost at will. A useful skill for a person who had lived with her father.
“Would you like to see some of the cool tricks my house can do?” he asked her abruptly.
“Uhh, sure.”
He gave her a tour of his high-tech apartment ending with the high-definition media wall that took up one entire side of his home theater, projecting everything at life size.
“Wow!” Willa exclaimed. “I’d love to see a Longhorn football game on this monster.”
He laughed. She was a sports fan, huh? “You feel like you’re on the field with the players. Texas plays Oklahoma State next weekend. You’re officially invited to watch it here with me.”
“Deal.” Her expression was young and happy and warmed his soul. It made him want to pick her up and swing her around, and then make love to her all night long.
Startled, he examined the urge more closely. He had no trouble getting all the sex he wanted; a continuous stream of beautiful women hoping to snare him and his bank account threw themselves at him. But this feeling wasn’t just about sex with Willa. He actually liked her. He hadn’t liked a woman in longer than he cared to think about. In point of fact, he mostly felt contempt for the women who threw themselves into his path.
“You’ve got a big day tomorrow, Willa. I should let you get some rest.”
He showed her to the guest suite and made sure she knew how to operate its various gadgets, including the door locks, before he beat a hasty retreat away from the temptation she represented.
Gabe had seen John Merris’s campaign ads on TV where his wife and daughter stood in the background like smiling robots. They’d looked like scary freaks, actually. Gabe had always assumed that the overbearing bastard had stripped their souls clean away. But in spite of her father, Willa Merris wasn’t entirely broken.
And in spite of James Ward, too. Gabe’s gaze narrowed as he stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom. That boy was going to pay for what he’d done to Willa. It was the least he could do for her. Gabe lay awake long into the night, plotting the destruction of one James Ward.
Willa stared out from the wings of the makeshift stage at the brightly lit podium that the governor would walk out to momentarily, and introduce her as the new junior senator from the great state of Texas.
“You okay?” Gabe murmured beside her.
She nodded, even though it was a lie, and smoothed her new charcoal-gray suit down her front. Gabe had fed her breakfast, helped her write her blessedly short speech and then driven her over to Neiman Marcus an hour before the upscale department store opened.
A personal shopper, makeup artist and hairdresser had been waiting inside for her. She’d stood like a patient doll while Nieman’s efficient staff took care of her, dressing, primping and painting her to perfection for this press conference. And not one bit of it felt real. It was all an elaborate dream. Were it not for Gabe’s warm, firm grip on her elbow, she would still be absolutely convinced that none of this was real.
“Remember, Will. You’re about to become a United States senator. You have nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of. Of all the people he could’ve chosen, your father thought highly enough of you to entrust this job to you. And you’re going to do great at it.”
She smiled ruefully at him, but the expression felt fake and plastic on her face. She was a fraud. And the whole world was about to see it for themselves. “Can I go throw up in the corner now?” she muttered.
Gabe laughed. “Don’t bother picturing them all in their underwear. Picture them naked.”
“If I can stand up in front of a bunch of five-year-olds and teach, I can talk to these folks,” she whispered back. “That’s not what I’m scared of.”
“What, then?” Gabe asked in concern that was so sweet, she almost forgot she wasn’t supposed to trust him.
“They’re going to eat me alive about the James Ward thing.”
“Screw them,” he declared. “Refuse to talk about it and move on with the press conference.”
She opened her mouth to retort that the reporters wouldn’t give up that easily, but the television camera lights popped on just then with a slight buzzing and a rush of hot, blinding light. Governor Graham walked out from the opposite side of the stage and gripped both sides of the podium as he read from a teleprompter. Too late for her to run away and hide.
“… would like to introduce my choice for the position, Willa Merris, daughter of the late Senator John Merris…”
Her feet stuck to the floor, and were it not for Gabe giving her a smile and a little shove, there was no way on God’s green earth she’d have walked out in front of that phalanx of cameras and reporters.
The next few minutes passed in a daze. She held up her right hand, repeated the meaningless sounds that were actually the Congressional Oath of Office and read the strings of words on the piece of paper in front of her on the podium that were her statement of thanks to the governor and her promise to the voters of Texas to do her best to represent them.
And then the governor’s press secretary uttered the phrase she’d been dreading worse than facing a firing squad. “Senator Merris will take a few questions, ladies and gentlemen.”
The shout that went up was worthy of spectators at a Roman gladiatorial bout. The cacophony held the same avid bloodlust. She recoiled from the aggression of the crowd, stunned at the hostility rolling off the room toward her. Had they all secretly hated her father so much or was this nastiness directed at her, specifically?
She gazed across the sea of faces, looking for anyone who didn’t appear openly eager to shred her.
No surprise, her mother hadn’t shown up today. Hurt, disappointment and anger swirled inside her. Minnie wasn’t a bad person, but forty years with John Merris had broken her. Willa got that. Still, she could’ve used a little support today from someone who didn’t hate her outright.
Larry Shore’s face caught her attention. He’d been singularly unhelpful this morning in the scramble to prepare her for this press conference. Truth be told, he’d been of little help to her or her mother since the murder, and no help at all since he got out of jail a few days ago.
At
