Fires of Autumn (12 page)

His face
fell. “You don’t think you could fall in love with me?”

She
giggled. “Get serious,” she scolded softly. “I’m trying to make a point. Let’s
say the entire Terrorist Nation launches an attack against Russ and I’m caught
in the crossfire.  You can only save one of us. Who do you save? The love of
your life or the guy you’re paid to take a bullet for?”

He lost
his humor. He just sat there and stared at her, sitting back in his chair. 
When he spoke, he lowered his gaze.

“You’re
not going to like my answer.”

Her humor
faded. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “You
have
to save him, Colt. That’s
your job. I understand that.”

He looked
at her, almost sharply. “That wasn’t going to be my answer.”

Her smile
left her completely.  “Then that’s why no one can know if you and I have a date
or two,” she whispered. “That very question could come up and if anyone thought
your loyalty was more to me than to Russ, you’d suffer.  The Secret Service
would reassign you so fast that it would make your head spin, and you know it. 
They’d move you back to Chicago to be with Obama or somewhere else, and I’d
never see you again.”

“You
wouldn’t quit your job and move with me?”

Her smile
was back. She couldn’t tell if he was serious or not but just to be safe, she
decided to treat the question as if he was teasing her.  The alternative was
much too scary and serious, at least at this early stage.

“That
depends,” she looked at her watch, noting the time. “If I had a big fat rock on
my finger, I’d have to, but like I said, my boys’ lives are here and I don’t
think I’d want to uproot them for a fling.”

“Trust me,
you’d have a big fat rock on your finger.”

She
laughed softly. “What makes you think I’d accept it? Besides, I’m not sure my
dad would let me marry a Sheridan.”

He
grinned, glancing at his watch also. Then he stood up. “We can talk about that
tonight,” he said, moving to pull her chair out.  “What time do you get off
work?”

She picked
up her purse and began to move out of the sandwich shop. “That depends,” she
said. “If Russ doesn’t need me, then I’ll be off about four-thirty.”

“I’m not
off until six,” he opened the door to the shop for her, stepping out behind her
into the cool sunshine. “Give me your address and I’ll come get you.”

“How about
if I just meet you somewhere? I live out in Falls Church.”

He
shrugged. “That’s barely ten miles away,” he said as they began to walk down
the street. “But if you don’t want me to pick you up, that’s fine.  Where do
you want to go for dinner?”

She
shrugged, her gaze moving out onto the street, the sidewalk, watching the world
go by as she thought on his question.  Before she could open her mouth, he took
her right hand and tucked it into the crook of his left elbow.  She looked at
him, surprised.

“Why did
you do that?” she asked.

He
wouldn’t look at her, the brown eyes scanning the landscape. “Because I figured
you wouldn’t let me hold your hand. This is the next best thing.”

She
laughed softly. “Are we going to the prom again?”

“Looks
like it.”

She
continued to snort. “I’ll have to let you go when we go around the corner. If
anyone from the White House sees us, we’ll have a lot of explaining to do.”

“So just
let me enjoy it for the next minute, will you?”

She
squeezed his arm as they walked along. “Want to go to Charlie Palmer Steak
House tonight?”

He nodded
as he glanced over at her. “Sounds great.”

She smiled
up at him, aware she was walking very close to him with her arm looped through
his. “Good,” she said. “I’ll be there at six-thirty barring any great world
catastrophe.”

He just
nodded but there was a strange look on his face.  Casey caught it. “What’s
wrong? Why do you look like that?”

He
shrugged.  They were nearing the intersection next to the White House so he
took her hand off his elbow, kissed it, and let it go.

“I was
trying to think of the last time I was out on a date and I really can’t,” he
looked at her as they stopped to wait for the light. “I hope I remember how to
behave.”

Casey
grinned, although she wasn’t quite over the soft, warm kiss to her hand.  Her
heart was racing because of it.

“You’ll do
fine,” she told him, stepping off the curb when the light turned green but
noticing he wasn’t following. “What’s wrong?”

He
remained up on the curb. “Nothing,” he pointed to the West Wing in the
distance. “You should probably walk in without me. I’ll follow in a little
while.”

She
understood, waving at him as she continued across the street and up onto the
sidewalk on the other side. Colt watched her as she moved down the sidewalk and
headed up to the guard shack near the west wing.  He found himself watching the
way her gorgeous hair reflected the light, the shape of her legs in those sexy
shoes, and realized that he had gotten himself in to a huge amount of trouble. 

He was
attracted to her more than he should have been and he couldn’t help it. He
didn’t want to help it.  Meade and the others were expecting him to get close
to her and that was his goal, but he had no intention of using her and moving
on.  That was the last thing he wanted to do.   Casey Cleburne was crossing
lines with him and he couldn’t stop any of it.  Part of him felt sick about him
but a greater part of him was giddy with joy.  He hadn’t felt such things in
years.  He was very much looking forward to their date that night.

Pulling
his cell phone out of his pocket, he made a call.

CHAPTER FIVE

Casey was
faced with a surprise when she walked back into her office.

An
enormous bouquet of flowers was on her desk, the vase of cut crystal and
flowers of gorgeous lilies, roses and gladiolas.   The entire arrangement had
to be three feet tall and when she entered her office, Maggie and Lisanne were
there, smelling the flowers and admiring the beauty of the arrangement.  They
whirled on Casey when she entered.

“Look at
this,” Lisanne was excited. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

Casey was
a little taken aback.  Startled, she inspected the massive arrangement with a good
deal of curiosity.  There was a big card stuck in a fancy holder and she
plucked it out, looking at all of the flowers as she opened up the card.

“Good
Lord,” she hissed. “This thing must have set someone back a few hundred
dollars.”

“Who’s it
from?” Maggie wanted to know.

Casey
finished opening the envelope and pulled out the card.  It was a very pretty
card and inside was a hand-written note:

Sorry you
were left behind today.

Would
dinner make up for it? I’d love to treat you to a night out.

Warmest
regards, Scott Dane

Shocked,
Casey quickly folded up the card as Maggie and Lisanne strained to see who had
sent the flowers.  Casey waved them off, shoving the card into her top desk
drawer.

“Go back
to work, ladies,” she sat down in her chair. “I’m going to keep this a secret.”

Maggie and
Lisanne weren’t about to let it go.  “Casey, that’s not fair,” Lisanne whined.
“Can we guess?”

“No.”

“Please?”

“
No
,”
Casey was focusing on her computer. “I’m not going to tell you, so go back to
work.”

“The
florist is the one near the Capitol Building,” Chris said from his desk next to
Casey. “Maybe it’s from someone in the senate.”

Casey
glared at him. “Zip it, Eckart,” she commanded. “It’s none of your business.”

Chris
snickered and went back to work.  As Maggie and Lisanne pestered the
tight-lipped Casey, Colt entered the office. He couldn’t help but notice the
massive flowers on Casey’s desk but did nothing more than cock an eyebrow at
the sight as he went into his office.

“Nice
flowers,” he commented.

Casey
watched him, trying not to react. No doubt he was wondering who sent them and
she was feeling some anxiety as a result.  She really liked Colt and didn’t
want him to think she was a player with a string of boyfriends. She wasn’t like
that at all.  She chased Lisanne and Maggie out of her office and went back to
work, trying not to look at the massive flower arrangement on her desk.   It
really was beautiful, but she wasn’t interested in dating the senator, not when
Colt Sheridan had her attention.  She was definitely a one-man woman.

Russ came
down from the family apartments around two thirty in the afternoon, passing
Casey’s desk and making a fuss over the flowers.  He asked who had sent them
but she coyly declined to tell him, causing the man to chuckle.   Just as he
was heading to his office, the uniformed secret service agent that was
stationed in the lobby of the west wing entered with another massive
arrangement of flowers.  Three dozen red roses were artfully positioned in
another massive glass vase as the secret service agent sat them on Casey’s desk
next to the other arrangement.  He looked at the two, nearly covering half her
desk.

“Wow,
Casey,” he commented. “Is it your birthday?”

Casey was
quickly growing mortified, even more so as Chris giggled over at his desk.  She
was ready to punch him right in his smug face. She stood up, inspecting the
gorgeously perfect roses, before shaking her head.

“Somebody
must feel sorry for me or something,” she said, noting the card and pulling it
from the holder. “Are these really for me?”

The
uniformed secret service agent, a young man with an infection grin, nodded. 
“They just came. Who are they from?”

Casey
cocked an eyebrow at him. “None of your business,” she said, sweeping her hand
at him. “On your way, Anderson.  Bye-bye. Get lost.”

The young
man backed out, a big grin on his face, as Russ came up to the desk, inspecting
all of the flowers. “I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often,” he said. “A
beautiful young single woman ought to get flowers every day.  Will you tell
me
who sent them?”

Casey gave
him another bashful grin, the card in her hand.  “I don’t even know.”

“Will you
tell me when you do?”

“Probably
not.”

He snorted
and turned back for the Oval Office.  Sure that no one was looking over her
shoulder, Casey opened up the small card that had come with the roses.

To the most beautiful
girl I’ve ever seen.

Looking forward to
dinner.

Casey
couldn’t help the grin on her face as she quietly folded the card and put it
back in the envelope. That, too, went into the top drawer of her desk. Her
heart was pounding and she just felt like smiling forever. She couldn’t stop.
As she turned back for her computer, Colt emerged from his office.

“So who
are the roses from?” he asked casually.

Casey
tried very hard not to sound giddy when answering him; Chris had a big mouth
and big ears, and he would pick up on anything she said and spread it around.

“Somebody
sweet and wonderful,” she said honestly. “But don’t ask for a name because I
won’t give it to you.”

He cocked
an eyebrow. “I’ve been trained in multiple interrogation techniques,” he said.
“I can make you talk.”

She
puckered her lips at his threat. “You’d better leave me alone,” she said, “or
I’ll tell Mr. Roses and you’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

Colt
cracked a smile. “Fine,” he pretended to huff. “What about the other flowers?
Did another Mr. Wonderful send those, too?”

The smile
faded from Casey’s face, her eyes riveted to his. “No,” she said. “He’s Mr.
Unexpected. But I won’t tell you his name, either, so don’t ask.”

Colt’s
smile broadened. “You’re a popular girl,” he said, watching her grin and lower
her head, refocusing on her computer. “Actually, I need a few minutes with the
President. Do I have to send you flowers in order to get on his schedule?”

She
snorted. “Maybe,” she looked at Russ’ afternoon schedule. “How long do you
need?”

“Fifteen
minutes at the most.”

Casey’s
attention lingered on the calendar. “He’s got a few minutes now,” she said.
“Let me buzz him and see….”

Just as
she went to hit the intercom, the President buzzed her instead. “Casey,” he
said. “Get Barbara and Jason in here. Find Paul Halferty as well. I want you
all in here.”

“Right
away,” Casey replied. Then she glanced up at Colt as she picked up the phone.
“Looks like it’s going to have to wait.”

Colt
nodded, watching her get to work. “It can.”