When Passion Flares (The Dark Horse Trilogy Book 2) (3 page)

Not that she had anything
good
to do. For once she had no appointments with interviewers or photographers. Some young women may have pined for such a life, but Kerri did not appreciate having her mug splashed across every newspaper and local journal talking about “The Essentials Of Women Today.” If only she knew that was how it would be spun! When the interviewer arrived that fateful day, she asked Kerri routine questions: what she studied in college, what she wanted to do in the future, what she looked for in potential partners, and what she thought the state needed the most in terms of policy. Kerri had given her safe, stock answers, posed for some pictures, and went on with her day. Later that same week, she opened a regional magazine to see everything had been spun as if she were saying all women should get married as soon as possible and forget about pursuing careers. “It’s difficult making such important decisions…” she was quoted as saying. “…Husbands… have the right of it.” She had no idea in what context she originally said everything, but that was
not
it.

What does this state need?
Kerri sat in the den and watched some TV.
Better education, better infrastructure, better everything!
She wasn’t sure what her father would do about any of that. He would make promises, as always, but he would never deliver. No politician on either side did. Kerri still didn’t know who she was voting for. Maybe she would abstain. At least then she couldn’t say she voted for Terrence Hall if pressed.

Kerri wasted most of her morning watching TV. It was the same bullshit no matter the channel. Her parents paid for the cable news and debate channels… not that either of them watched them. Instead, they paid interns to watch the news.
I wonder how normal that is.
The first few dollars Kerri earned in her life were from watching TV for her parents. The thought disgusted her, and she changed the channel to some home improvement show.

Brenda emerged from the other room an hour later, ripping the eyeglasses off her face as she flopped onto the couch beside her daughter with an exasperated sigh. “I tried, honey!” She patted Kerri’s curled up legs, but not without making a comment about how she needed to shave them.
Once a day isn’t good enough? Oh, of course not.
Brenda should talk. Kerri got her fast-growing hair genes from her mother’s side of the family. “I found the perfect Italy package for you. One month, three cities. Only the best tour guides and events!”

“Great.”

“I know, isn’t it? Sadly, when I went to try and purchase it, I found out we were low on funds in the personal account. I’m steamed! Your father should have told me he was taking out more for his campaign. He took out a chunk two weeks ago and… oh, you don’t want to hear about this.”

“No, really, I’m riveted.”

Brenda ignored her daughter’s insubordination. “I’m sorry, honey. Maybe in a couple of weeks we can get it together.”

“I’m fine, Mother. Really. Italy can wait a few months.”
I’d rather wait until the election is over and go with Hunter.
To think, they could vacation where Romeo and Juliet lived.
Was Verona a real place?

“I’m still annoyed with your father…” Brenda continued to mumble about it as she got up and left the room. “Should’ve told me he was moving funds around… oh well, not the first time this has happened…”

As she left, Kerri received a curious text message.
“Hello stranger.”
It was from Hunter.
“You got some time for me today?”

Smiling, Kerri responded with alacrity.
“I seem pretty free today. Where are you?”

“Down the road from the Governor’s Mansion. If anyone asks, I’m going say that I’m scoping out where I’m going to live come this January. Can you sneak out and meet me?”

Kerri glanced at where her mother had gone.
“Well I’m not forbidden from leaving the premises. Can you wait twenty minutes?”

“For you I’ll wait the whole day.”

Somehow that made the breath catch in Kerri’s throat.
Maybe he’s a poet.
She put her phone away and went up to her room to get ready for her surprise date.

She put on a flowing cotton skirt with a loose blouse made for the summer day. A sunhat covered her face and sandals dotted her feet. With any luck, nobody would recognize her on first glance. Not unless they were intimately familiar with her wardrobe, and few people could claim that. Like Hunter, who was becoming quite familiar with the kinds of clothing Kerri wore.

“And where are you going?” Brenda asked from the dining room as Kerri walked by with a straw tote bag over her shoulder.

“Just going for a walk.” Kerri tried to keep it cheery. No sense making her mother suspect something on a beautiful day like this. “I’ll be back before dark.”

“Should I send an escort with you?”

Scoffing, Kerri put her hand on the front door of the Governor’s Mansion. “I’ll be fine, Mother. I’ll call or text if something delays me.” With a happy wave of the hand she stepped out into the delectable sunshine.

With only the beautiful day to keep her company, Kerri could be happy.
It’s good to get some fresh air.
Aside from the occasional stroll in the gardens, she didn’t get out much on her own these days. What was the point when someone was bound to follow her if she stepped off the road and toward town? The governor’s daughter out for a walk… what a great photo op that was! Kerri was surprised her father didn’t think of it first.

Sure enough, she saw Hunter’s car poking out at the end of the road. Kerri looked this way and that to make sure nobody was watching before she darted into the alcove and dove into the passenger’s seat. Hunter barely had time to give her greetings before he stepped on the gas and tore out of there as if they were driving off to get hitched.
Don’t tempt me.
Coming back as Kerri Hall would be the biggest middle finger she could give her family.

“So where are we going?” She contorted in her seat, attempting to correct her posture as she fished for the seatbelt. Hunter took a curve dangerously fast, and Kerri yelped in both anxiety and excitement. “Hopefully not the morgue.”

Hunter laughed as he shifted gears.
I like the way he handles a stick-shift.
Look at him, giving Kerri ideas in the car. “It’s a surprise. But I hope you brought your sunscreen.”

“I’m not wearing any, no.” Kerri wished that he could see her winking, but Hunter kept his eyes firmly on the road. “Good thing you have those big strong hands to help me out, huh?”

Naughty Kerri, making her boyfriend take his eyes off the road. “I’m not opposed to helping a beautiful woman out with her…” A car honked at them, and Hunter had to pull a smooth move while Kerri laughed beside him.

True to his word, Hunter kept their destination a surprise until they were almost there. It took twenty minutes to drive wherever they were heading, and that was somewhere far out in the countryside. Kerri watched farms and ranches roll by on a quiet highway, the cows grazing while a rainbow of wildflowers bloomed both on the side of the road and in the gentle fields around them. Eventually developed land turned into wild woods full of dispersed sunlight and meadows full of butterflies. Hunter eased down a dirt road and parked the car behind a large oak tree. Like a gentleman, he opened Kerri’s door, a picnic basket slung over his other arm.
One of those days, huh?
Kerri held her sunhat against her head, hooked her arm with Hunter’s, and enjoyed the fresh air of the woods as they transformed into a green meadow overlooking the countryside.

“Is this public land?” she asked, Hunter shaking out a cloth blanket to lay on the edge of the woods. “Or do you know the person who owns it?”

Hunter finished spreading out the blanket and opened the basket to reveal bits of this and that. The biggest surprise was a small bottle of wine and two plastic glasses.
He really thought this through, huh?
Kerri tried to contain her blushing, but found it so difficult that she had to look away and hide it beneath the wide brim of her hat. “My family owns this land, actually.” Hunter sat on one side of the blanket and opened the wine. The satisfying pop echoing in the meadow attracted Kerri’s attention again. “Never have done anything with it. My father’s owned it since I was a kid. I think he was going to build a summer home here, but then we moved into the city for his job. No sense building a cabin only a few miles away.”

“I see.” Kerri flattened her skirt against her legs and sat on the other side of the blanket. “We never really had vacation homes. My father was always too busy to take enough vacations somewhere to make it worth it. We rented places.”

Wine almost spilled out of a glass.
Looking at me, love?
Kerri wouldn’t deny that she got a rush from almost making her boyfriend spill an expensive drink everywhere.
Explain that to your family.
“Well, I don’t think most people in the world have vacation homes of any kind.”

“We’re not like most people.”

With wine glass passed to his girlfriend, Hunter leaned back on his arm and clinked his against hers. “No kidding. Most people get to openly date whoever they want. Sure, their parents may not like it, but it’s not like it will cause a huge scandal in a whole state.”

Kerri shivered and masked it by taking a sip of the wine. A luscious rose wine. Too bad she couldn’t savor it because she was thinking of her family. “Oh, I don’t know. I dated some boys in college that my parents would say are ‘scandal ready,’ as they put it.”

“That so? You can’t stop there. Tell me more.”

Uh huh.
Because men loved hearing about their girlfriends’ histories. Kerri would try her luck anyway. “There was this guy named Logan – I know, I know – who was fine on his own. I don’t think they would have objected to his appearance or behavior, really. But his family was, shall we say, not even half as affluent as mine.”

“Ah, yes, lacking campaign funds. My family would never say it, but in my experience, women are allowed to come from poorer families. Then they make a nice Cinderella story.”

“Don’t even remind me.” Kerri knew her fair share of such stories. Of course, it would be better if Hunter married a woman from a rich family for the same reasons the Mitchells wanted her to have a man of means, but the public loved a story about rags to riches… especially when someone as good looking as Hunter was involved. That thought was the only thing able to lower Kerri’s blood pressure again. “Does it ever end? Do we ever become old enough where it doesn’t matter anymore?”

“When your parents have the last names Mitchell or Hall around here… no. I don’t think it ever ends.” Hunter put his hand on the small of Kerri’s back. “That’s why if… well, if we decide to continue this relationship, we’re going to have to figure out how we handle our parents. They’re never going to condone it.”

Not even yours?
Ronnie and Terrence were always going on about how “open” they were to different kinds of relationships. As far as Kerri could tell, it was a huge part of Terrence’s campaign. Sure, they would be horrified at first, but Kerri could see them spinning it as them being more open minded than her parents.
It’s always politics.
Meanwhile, the Mitchells would see them as perverts, and Kerri as guilty of high treason.

“If we decided to continue…” Kerri snorted into her wineglass. “I like your realism. I don’t have time for bullshit either.”

“You mean this isn’t a bunch of bullshit?” Hunter smiled, if only so Kerri would know he was teasing. “I don’t know, I mean, I like you a lot, but we’re sort of at a point right now where we need to decide if the bullshit is worth it.”

“You’re basically asking me to make a decision about how I feel about you right now.”

A chilly breeze blew by, making Kerri’s arms feel like ice cubes in the middle of a sunny, warm meadow.
Put more pressure on me, why don’t you?
“Unlike most couples, Kerri, we don’t get much time to explore those annoying things called feelings.”

Kerri turned her nose up. “Well then. Tell me how you feel about me. I’m not going to do any more thinking about my so-called feelings until you tell me how you feeeeeeel.” She rubbed his shoulder and leaned against the strength of his torso. If she was going to put herself through this, she might as well flirt. Just in case it went down in flames… at least she’d have something good to remember.

“I don’t want to make any damning statements right now,” Hunter began, his hand tightening at the bottom of Kerri’s spine, “but I’m quite fond of you.”

“Enough to put up with my parents’ bullshit?”

“I like to believe we’re…”

“Old enough to deal with it. Yeah, yeah.” Easy for him to say. He could run away and nobody would care. If Kerri ran away, the media would analyze what had “tainted” her. Was it society? This man? Were her heart and mind so fickle that she was easily swayed by whatever way the wind blew? There was no escaping it. Kerri Mitchell, the girl who couldn’t make adult decisions without her parents’ approval. She envied women from other families who could run away and not be the gossip fodder for the cable news channels. Hell, this affair could even make international news!

“It’s true,” Hunter continued. “I wish we could take our time. Get to know each other like we normally could. But as it is, we’re forced to meet like this and make snap decisions.”