CHAPTER 1
Autumn
One of the things I loved most about spending time with my father was getting the opportunity to explore the world with him. Ever since my mother passed away, he and I became almost inseparable. Even though I had an older sister, I sometimes felt like I was all my father really had, Anna was too busy with her own life to look after him the way I did. So, traveling became my way of bonding with my father. Plus, I knew that having me around helped distract him from his grief.
Now, it was a regular part of our lives, particularly as my father’s political ambitions grew and evolved.
Staring out of the window of our limousine, taking in the sights of Turkey, I felt his gaze upon me. I turned toward him and smiled. “What?”
My father was a handsome older gentleman. Though I got my petite size and most of my looks from my mother, I had inherited his dark eyes and hair.
He waved his hand around. “What do you think? Do you like it here?”
I nodded. “Yes, it’s beautiful.”
He chuckled. “You say that about every country we visit.”
“Well, I guess I just find beauty in everywhere I go.”
Dad’s smile faltered just slightly. “That’s exactly the kind of thing your mother would have said. Sometimes it’s scary how much you’re like her.”
I turned my gaze back to the window, giving my father a moment of privacy as I pretended not to see him quickly wiping a tear from his eye. My mother had been the love of his life, and sometimes I worried he would never recover from her death. I missed her too, but I’d been so young when she passed, that my memories of her had already started to grow scarce as the years went by. While my older sister remembered her a little better than I did, my memories were limited to the stories I’d heard about her.
Mostly though, I learned to find comfort in knowing she was no longer in pain. Dad, on the other hand, had lost his soul-mate, which was much harder to deal with. I often hoped he would eventually find love again, but he typically carried on as if such a thing wasn’t even possible. Instead, he poured all his energy into his career, especially now that he was being considered for Vice President of the United States. Due to the success he’d had as Speaker of the House of Representatives, most insiders believed the vice-presidency could easily be his if he really wanted it.
“I really appreciate you keeping an old man company, taking all these trips with me,” he said once he’d collected himself.
I smiled. “There’s no other place I’d rather be.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Well, that’s a problem! You’re still young—you should be out living life and having fun.”
“But I like traveling the world with you. It is fun.”
Dad shook his head. “I mean fun with people your own age, Autumn. What are you doing tonight?”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“You see? That’s precisely what I mean.”
I sighed, knowing he had a point. I hated to admit it, but I spent so much time trailing behind him that I had practically given up on maintaining the kind of social life normal for a woman my age. This was something Anna regularly chastised me about as well. And if I was honest with myself, it definitely took a toll on me. Sometimes, I desperately wished for a chance to unwind with some careless fun, but I hardly ever allowed myself to get away like that. It just wasn’t the way things were for me right now.
“Why don’t you call Senator Stokes’s daughter?” Dad suggested. “She’s out this way too, you know. Maybe the two of you could catch a movie or something.”
I nodded, thinking it actually sounded like a good idea, although I was pretty sure we could find something better to do than catch a movie. “You know what? I just might do that.”
“Good.” Dad settled back into his seat and closed his eyes. We had a long ride ahead and once we made it back to the hotel, he would be bombarded with phone calls, emails, and meetings.
I pulled my cell from my purse and scrolled through it to find Elise Stokes’s number. I shot off a text message reading: U busy tonight?
She responded instantly: Nope. What’s up?
How about we go out? Dancing and drinks?
Sounds good! Count me in!
I returned my phone to my purse and then leaned back in my seat as well, deciding that maybe a pregame nap would be good for me too.
* * *
By the time I got back to my hotel room, Elise had already done some research and found a club in the area that was supposedly the place to be for anyone looking for a good time. I should have known that would be the case though. My father and Senator Stokes had been friends for decades and thus, Elise and I grew up knowing each other. In her college years, Elise had been infamously known as a party-girl, much to her father’s chagrin. He had spent too much time answering and confronting reporters about his daughter’s wild antics. Since graduating, however, she had calmed down considerably, becoming the more responsible and respectable kind of daughter better suited for the public eye. Still, she knew how to let her hair down, and tonight would be one of those nights.
Thank God. Because Dad was right, I needed it.
After styling my hair and applying holding-spray to my curls, I put on my makeup and slid into my dress—a slinky black number that hugged my figure in all the right places, and even helped give the illusion that I had longer legs. When I was younger, I had often resented my short height since it often made people think I was younger. As I grew into my late teens and twenties though, I developed enviable curves that made more than a few representative’s sons look at me differently at political gatherings.
Satisfied with my dress and hair, I stepped into a pair of black sparkly open-toed heels and then studied myself in the mirror, trying to determine what else I needed to complete my look. I decided on a pair of sparkly earrings and a bracelet rather than my usual watch; I didn’t want to bother with keeping track of time tonight.