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  Dressed in a ribbed T-shirt and black silk pajamas, he threw back the covers and was about to get into bed when his phone rang.

  He picked up the phone, and a nasally voice on the other end asked, “Is this Mr. Duncan?”

  He sat down on the edge of his bed with the phone against his ear. “I know this is an old joke, but my father is Mr. Duncan. I’m simply Ian.”

  “Well, Ian, I have Governor David Monroe on the line. He would like to speak with you. Do you have a moment?”

  Was this woman kidding? It was widely rumored that the popular North Carolina ex-governor was considering running for president. It was hard to believe, but the 2012 election had wrapped up only two weeks ago, and politicians were already putting out feelers for the next elections.

  Ian certainly hadn’t expected to hear from any presidential candidacy hopefuls—those political elites normally put in calls to his father. To date, Ian had handled mostly local, statewide and national congressional races. But he had every intention of becoming the kingmaker his father was several times over. “Of course I have time to speak with the governor. Please put him through.”

  “Ian, my boy, how’ve you been?” Governor Monroe greeted.

  Ian had met the governor eleven years ago when he was interning for his father. Maybe the governor had reached out to him because he was trying to reconnect with the great Walker Duncan. “I’ve been wonderful, Governor. How have things been for you?”

  “I’ve been working my backside off since I left the governor’s mansion. And to tell you the truth, I’m itching to spend eight years in another mansion that just so happens to be in Washington, D.C.”

  “Are you sure you want to take that on? You’ve been a private citizen for two years now. Can’t you think of anything more fun than running for president of the United States...like getting run over by a bulldozer and spending months in traction for instance?”

  The governor laughed and then confessed, “I’m a political animal through and through. When it’s in your bones, you can’t quit even if you want to.”

  “So, what can I do for you, Governor?”

  “I need a new campaign manager,” Governor Monroe said without beating around the bush.

  Ian wanted to leap, skip, jump and dance. This was it...his chance to prove to his father that he had what it took to be a kingmaker, just like him.

  Governor Monroe was saying, “If you could come out to North Carolina so we can talk, then we could see if we will be a good fit for each other. How about it?”

  “When would you like to meet?”

  “Can you be here on Monday?”

  Ian could be there tomorrow if need be. But he wasn’t about to throw all his cards out just yet. “I’m still finalizing a few things from the last election. Can I give you a call back in the morning to see if I can get there by then?”

  “That works, but I need to know something from you soon. I want to get a jump on this thing.”

  Ian hung up after promising to provide Governor Monroe with a final answer by midmorning of the next day. Ian went to sleep thinking that nothing could stop him from getting to Charlotte, North Carolina, by Friday.

  By morning when he drove in to work and entered his office, he was gliding like a man who’d just been knighted. In Ian’s wildest imagination he never would have thought that he’d get a chance to work on a presidential campaign this soon. Ian thought he’d have to continue proving himself through the Senate and gubernatorial elections. But now that this awesome opportunity has presented itself, Ian was going to ride it until the wheels fell off. Or better yet, he’d ride it all the way to a White House victory.

  He rounded the corner, getting ready to greet his office manager, when out of the corner of his eye he spotted someone seated on the brown leather couch in the waiting area. Ian took a step back, peeked into the room and was caught off guard by the vision of loveliness before him.

  He’d asked this woman out twice in the short time he’d known her. She’d never given him an answer, or even called him back for that matter. Ian had wracked his brain six ways from Sunday trying to figure out if he’d said or done anything to offend her. Maybe he’d drooled a bit too much when he was first introduced to her at Noel’s wedding. But he couldn’t help himself. She was an exotic beauty. Even this morning, with the way that white dress clung to her creamy cocoa-brown skin and her hazel eyes danced as she looked his way, he nearly stuttered as he said, “Surry, what are you doing here?”

  Surry stood and sauntered over to him.

  Ian wondered if Surry knew how seductive her movements were as she strutted toward him in a dress that accentuated her hourglass frame.

  “I was hoping that you would be able to speak with me this morning. I need your help.”

  Her voice was as sultry as her image was exotic. She reminded him of one of those island beauties he’d seen on those “come to the beach” commercials, enticing folks to vacation in the Bahamas, Jamaica or some other place made for running barefoot in the sand. “Um, I think we should go to my office—” he pointed to the door across the hall “—so we can continue this conversation in private.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate that you would make time for me.”

  He’d like to do a lot more than make time for this woman. But so far, she hadn’t been willing to give him the time of day. So, he was intrigued by this visit. Maybe he’d actually get that date before leaving for Charlotte.

  Chapter 2

  Things didn’t seem so cut-and-dried anymore. Yes, Surry needed help, especially since some blogger interviewed John Michael and allowed the man to spill his lying guts to anyone with an internet connection. Her phone was ringing off the hook this morning with reporters asking her about John Michael’s allegations. So, yeah, she needed help. But she didn’t want to take advantage of Ian or get herself involved in something she couldn’t easily get out of.

  Crossing her legs to get comfortable on the sofa in Ian’s office, she watched as he took his jacket off and slipped it around his high-backed chair. The man was a dream in motion. He was much lighter in complexion than any of the men she normally dated. The waviness of his hair also indicated to her that his parents were not of the same ethnic group. If she had to guess, she’d say one of his parents was white and the other black.

  But none of that mattered to Surry. She was here in a strictly professional manner. She tried to turn her head away from the vision in front of her, because she truthfully couldn’t care less that with his jacket off she could see that the man had biceps, triceps, muscular pecs and... Watch yourself, she admonished herself.

  “Do you have some water? My mouth is a little dry,” Surry said while scratching her throat and then coughing. It was getting hot in here. Surry felt like unbuttoning her top to get a little air, but decided against that.

  “Sure.” Ian opened the small fridge he kept in his office and pulled out an assortment of iced tea, Coke, root beer and a simple Pure Life water bottle. “Do you need anything else?”

  “I’ll just take the water.”

  Ian handed it to her, held back the iced tea for himself and then put the other bottles back in the fridge. “So, how’s business at the new boutique?”

  “How did you know I opened my boutique?” She hated the suspicious tone of her voice, but these days she didn’t know whom she could trust. She prayed that Ian would be in her corner.

  “Noel told me.” He put down his drink and said, “I haven’t been checking up on you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Shaking her head, Surry waved the notion away. “I’m sorry about the way I sounded just now. I guess I’ve just become a little paranoid during these past few weeks. I’ve got too much going on.”

  He sat down on the sofa next to her, giving her his full attention. “Want to tell me about it?”
<
br />   “Where do I begin?” Surry was at her wits’ end. The expansion deal for her clothing line was about to blow up in her face. No one would want to carry Designs from the Motherland if they thought she stole any of her designs. She’d be forever branded a fraud, and what customer in her right mind would want to wear the designs of a fraud?

  “I know you’re busy, so I don’t want to waste your time by beating around the bush.” Surry turned toward him and continued, “I was just about to sign a contract to have two very high-end chain retail stores carry my designs. In anticipation of this contract, I put all of my earnings into increasing production of my designs. Since John Michael started shooting his mouth off, the contract has been put on hold. And to tell you the truth, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  “What kind of claims?”

  “He says that the designs for my spring and summer collection were stolen from him.”

  “Did you and he work on designs together?”

  “Never! I don’t like John Michael’s designs, but we worked a few fashion shows together and split the cost of both rentals at two expos about seven years ago. But since then I haven’t collaborated with him or anyone else. To tell you the truth, I much prefer to work on my own.”

  “A loner, huh?”

  She didn’t like the way he said “loner.” He made it sound as if there was something wrong with a girl needing her space and preferring to work alone. But Surry saw nothing wrong with her choices. Besides her girls, Danetta and Ryla, Surry didn’t hang out with anyone. She had a business to run and that required most, if not all of her time. But that didn’t make her a loner, did it? She shrugged, “Okay, yeah, I like being alone. I do my best designs that way. No television, no music...just me and the chirping of the crickets.”

  “That must be how you creative types like to do your work. Me, I’d go crazy if I didn’t have my iPod or my radio going most of the time. I love music and it helps me think.”

  “To each his own, I guess.”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Ian said, and then silence fell. After a few moments, he rubbed his hands together. “So, how can I help you?”

  “Ryla says that you’re a good guy and the best when it comes to handling image problems.”

  “Ryla said that, huh?” There was a slight smile on his face, as if he wanted to break out into a laugh from things he knew, but wouldn’t say.

  “She sure did. So, after John Michael did this blog interview—” she handed him the interview that she’d printed off the internet “—and then his lies got reported in the paper this morning, I rushed over here, hoping that you could help me. I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before. So I didn’t know what else to do.”

  * * *

  Was he hearing her right? She hadn’t bothered to respond to his offer of dinner, and she was in his office at this moment only because she needed an image makeover? He stood, read the blog that she handed him and then turned back to her. “This guy obviously has a problem with the success you’ve had with your line of clothing. But I’m not sure how I can help you.”

  Flipping her hair off her shoulder, she said, “I don’t know, either. I’m about to lose everything if John Michael gets away with the lies he’s spreading. Ryla spoke so highly of the way you were able to help Noel, that I just...” Her shoulders slumped as her voice cracked. Her eyes said that she’d rather be anywhere but here, dealing with this issue. “I just hoped that you would be able to do something to help me also.”

  The woman he met at Noel and Ryla’s wedding was dynamic, self-assured, ready to take on the world. But Surry looked so helpless as she sat on his couch worrying about losing everything that he wished he could help. But how on earth could he help her and work his own plan?

  Ian Duncan was nothing if not focused. He knew from the day he first interned with his father that he would be in the game of politics for the rest of his life. Even with the craziness now going on in Washington, Ian still desired this life as he desired his next breath. Thankfully, he’d never wanted the frustrating job of being a politician. He wanted to be the puppet master, the one behind the scene pulling all the strings, making kings of mere men. His father had become known as a kingmaker because he’d headed three campaigns that had catapulted two former governors and one former statesman into the White House.

  It was now Ian’s turn to prove that he had what it took to be a kingmaker. Since his college days, Ian had vowed to let nothing stop him from achieving his goals. He’d loved playing basketball but had never been interested in going pro. He’d spent years giving all he had to the game of politics, and at the age of thirty-one he was about to reap the fruits of his labor. He couldn’t allow this thing with Surry to get him off his game. He’d be a fool to help her when the prize he’d strived for all this time was now waiting for him in Charlotte.

  Looking at Surry was not helping him. He wanted to scoop her up and protect her from the storm. But to do that, he’d have to put his own dreams on hold, and Ian couldn’t do that. He averted his eyes. When that proved to not be enough, he went and stood in front of the window that overlooked the parking lot and then said, “I know politics. I don’t know the first thing about fashion. So, I’m not sure that I’m the one to help with this issue.”

  Surry stood and walked over to the window. She put her hand on Ian’s shoulder and turned him to face her. Her eyes implored him as she said, “You don’t understand. If you don’t help me I could lose everything. I’ve worked so hard for what I have. I can’t lose it just because of a lie.”

  He rested a hand on her arm as he leaned against the windowpane. This woman was so beautiful. She was everything he wanted in his personal life. But he was also a professional. “Surry, believe me, it’s not that I don’t want to help you. I can’t. I will be leaving the state in a few days to talk with a man who is interested in running for president. If he and I decide to work together, I’m going to be very busy trying to build a team to get his campaign up and running.”

  Running her hand through her hair, she looked at him with determination in her eyes. “The sad part about it is that I was prepared to come over here and beg for your help if I had to, and you wouldn’t have been able to help me even if I had begged.” She patted him on the shoulder, stepped back and said, “Congratulations on the new client. I’ll find a way to resolve this issue.”

  As Ian watched Surry walk away, he wanted to reach out and pull her back to him. Was he a fool? How could he let her walk away like this? The phone on his desk started ringing, jarring his mind back to the business at hand. As she closed his office door, he picked up the phone. “Ian speaking.”

  “Well, my boy, what’s it going to be?”

  Ian wanted to tell Governor Monroe that he was no one’s boy...had been his own man since he was nineteen and wasn’t trying to go back to school for nobody. However, this man might become the next president of the United States of America, so he’d hold off on telling him how he could and couldn’t address him. “Hey, Governor, I was just in a meeting. But if you hadn’t called me, I would have given you a call within five minutes or so.”

  “I don’t have the patience of Job, my boy. I’m a man of action. I gave you the night to think about it, so what’s it going to be? Can I expect to see you in Charlotte on Monday or not?”

  Ian went back to the window and watched Surry climb in her Mercedes C300. He didn’t know why, but Ian felt in his gut that he would forever regret not being able to help Surry. But he had a business to run, so he closed his eyes and took the plunge. “One question, Governor. Why me?”

  “What kind of fool question is that? I was told that you are the best and I want to work with you.”

  Ian had his answer and he was fine with it. “You can count on me, Governor. I’ll be there on Monday.”

  “That’s what I wanted to hear. I’m looking forward
to going over strategy with you.”

  Surry was driving out of his life as he said, “Oh, and one more thing, Governor. You won’t ever have to doubt my loyalty to you. I live and breathe this job. So, I’m your man and we are going all the way to the White House.”

  Chapter 3

  On Saturday morning Ian went to the strip mall near his condo and purchased a few items for his upcoming trip. He then met Noel Carter at the Breakfast Klub for some waffles and wings. “Have you found a place to stay in Washington yet?” he asked his old friend.

  Noel shook his head. “Ryla and I are going out there next week to look around.”

  “I’m headed out of town next week myself. I can’t give you a name right now, but I’m meeting with someone who is thinking of running for president.”

  Joy spread across Noel’s face. “That’s all right. I’m excited about that. You go handle his campaign, and then in about a decade or so, you and I will be working on my presidential campaign.”

  “Now that sounds good to me. We will have another President Carter in the White House.”

  “Yeah, but I’m going to be there for two terms.”

  The men ate their food and then Noel put his fork down and said, “I’m not going to be able to go home if I don’t ask you something.”

  “What’s up?”

  “Ryla wants to know if you talked with Surry.”

  “She came by my office yesterday. I feel for her, because this guy is trying to do a number on her. But I have to leave town on Monday morning, so I’m not sure I can help her.” Ian didn’t mention to Noel that he was also bothered by the fact that Surry couldn’t pick up a phone to accept his dinner invitation. But the moment she needed help, she came right over to his office. But he wasn’t bitter, so he was trying hard not to act like it.