Part 37 (1/2)

”You don't have to be concerned, sweethearta”my new friend, Mike, has that covered.” Brooke was doing her best Evita from the balcony. ”He's a SEAL and SEAL teams accept only the best.”

”What's the harm in letting her talk?” the big guy said in a remarkably high-pitched voice.

Joan could see Muldoon, purposely standing with his back to the camera, talking to Brooke, trying to talk her down from the ledge, so to speak.

That was when she realized that she had her cell phone, and Muldoon had his cell phone. She quickly dialed his number.

s.h.i.+t, she could hear it ringing, but he was ignoring it. ”Come on, Michael, pick up!” Or read my mind and grab Brooke and get her the h.e.l.l inside. Although, if she resisted him, that wouldn't look too good on camera...

Whatever he was saying to her, it served to distract Brooke only temporarily.

”I seem to remember you telling me once that you tried to get into the SEAL program while you were in the Navy,” Brooke continued for the cameras, for John, poor b.a.s.t.a.r.d, whose political career was going to be in jeopardy if she mentioned his last name. ”But, golly, you just weren't good enough, were you?”

A crowd was starting to gather, some people watching from inside the ballroom and others from out here on the patio. Joan redialed Muldoon's number.

”I'm going to ask you again to get out of my way,” she told the giant squeaky-toy man.

”You're going to have to try to go through me,” he responded, managing somehow to sound both apologetic and boreda”as if this sort of thing happened to him more than once a day. ”But if you do lay a hand on me, there will be a lawsuit, plus a whole lot more bad press for the current administration.”

”I hate you,” Joan told him.

”That doesn't particularly break me up.”

Brooke continued orating. ”I suppose I should end this by being gracious and wis.h.i.+ng you the best, too.”

End this. She was going to end this. Thank you, Lord, have her end this fast. Joan saw both Myra and d.i.c.k picking their way through the crowd, trying to move quickly without revealing how completely panicked they were.

”Excepta”whoops!a”you've already had the best, but you threw it away, didn't you?” Brooke said. ”Have a nice evening, darling.”

”Okay,” Joan said loudly. ”That's all. Thank you. We don't have time for any questions. Lieutenant, will you please take Ms. Bryant inside?”

But wait. Brooke shook Muldoon off, because, like the chef selling Ginsu knives on that late-night TV infomercial. there apparently was still more.

”G.o.d knows I'll enjoy my evening.” Brooke got even louder and more dramatic, if that was possible. ”Think of me, darling. Tonight I'll be doing it Navy SEAL style.”

Oh, dear Lord in heaven.

”Well, there's the Brooke Bryant sound bite of the year,” the giant squeaked.

No freaking kidding. ”Thank you,” Joan said again. ”That's all we have time for.”

But Brooke had a different finale in mind. ”And in case you want a reminder of what you've been missing...”

Oh, s.h.i.+t, s.h.i.+t, triple s.h.i.+t!

”Whoa!” The bruiser's eyes opened more than halfway as Brooke pulled her gown up and over her head.

It was a smooth move that a stripper would have had to train for years to pull off. It left her standing there in only her fancy underpants for the entire world to see.

But alas, the visuals were not yet over. As Muldoon grabbed her to pull her insidea”enough was apparently enough for him and he took her over his shoulder in a fireman's holda”Brooke threw her gown off the balcony. The s.h.i.+ny red fabric caught the light as it fell to the ground.

Joan turned away from the sight of the heavy curtains closing in Brooke's room to find Myra bearing down on her.

”I'm prepared to take full responsibility for this,” Joan said. ”I should have been able to stop it. I should have done something.” Jesus, maybe she should have taken off her dress.

”She did the best she could,” the giant told Joan's boss.

”Shut up, you nasty man.” Joan startled herself with her own ferocity. She turned back to Myra. ”Will you please fire me and get it over with, because I really need to get out of here right now.”

What she wanted to do was get in her rental car and drive far, far away from this hotel where, in one of the grand suites, the one man she liked better than any other man she'd ever met in her lifea”yes, it was true, and she'd completely and foolishly blown any chance at all with him because she was an idiota”and the President's daughter were doing it, Navy SEAL style.

But Myra had other plans. ”Meeting. My suite. Ten minutes.”

Well, gee, wasn't this going to be funa”figuring out how to take this outburst of Brooke's and spin it into something positive. Well, barring that, they'd try to spin it into something less destructive.

Less destructive to the President, that is. Brooke and Muldoon and Joan were all just p.a.w.ns in this game.

Joan knew that if she opened up to Myra and confessed that she had a personal interest in Muldoon, that d.a.m.n it, she really liked this guy, the response would be ”So what?”

Of course, it didn't really matter, because that would probably be Muldoon's response right now as well.

Ihbraham looked stunned, and Mary Lou modestly pulled her s.h.i.+rt down slightly, attempting to cover herself while still providing Haley with some air. Haley, of course, immediately grabbed her s.h.i.+rt and yanked it up.

”There's room for you to sit,” she said, s.h.i.+fting over so that there indeed was room on the bench.

”Uh,” he said. ”Yes. Thank you.” As he sat, he glanced at her, then looked away. ”It doesn't bother you to do that out here? Where anyone can see?”

She looked around. The little churchyard was deserted. And her back was to the street. The only person who could see her was Ihbraham.

”It would bother me more to drive home with a screaming kid,” she said. ”I used to carry a scarf to cover us, but these days she just pulls it off. I could sit in my car, if you want. I mean, if it bothers you...”

He laughed. ”No. I just thought I could no longer be surprised by American ways anda”” He looked at her, looked at Haley, who was slowing down, her eyes drifting shut. ”You're beautiful and she's beautiful and... it's beautiful to watch. I don't know why most of the world insists on hiding such a beautiful thing.”

”Because most men can't seem to grasp the idea that b.r.e.a.s.t.s were put on this earth for something other than their own personal pleasure,” she said. ”They can't walk past a woman breast-feeding a baby without getting a woody. So we have to keep ourselves covered up because of their problem. Oh, shoot, I'm leaking on the other side.” Dammit, she'd ruined another s.h.i.+rt. By the time she got home, the milk would have stained.

”A woody,” he said. He laughed. ”I think I know what that means. I've never heard it called that, but...” He laughed again. ”And this is something you're comfortable talking about with a man who's not your husband?”

”I think of you as a friend,” she told him. ”Friends say whatever they want to each other, don't they? If you want, I'll watch what I say. I just thoughta”'

”No,” he said. ”I don't want you to watch what you say. I'm just... aware of how differently we were raised by our parents, you and I.”

”Yeah, well, my mother was too busy f.u.c.king anyone who brought home a bottle of gin to raise me. My sister raised me.” She didn't want to talk about that again. ”What's with your brothers? They're not very nice.”

Ihbraham sighed. ”It's ugly. It's ... We inherited my father's businessa”a car dealers.h.i.+pa”when he died. I don't want to work with them, but they want me to come back because the business is jointly owned with our uncle and cousins. If I come back, we'll have control. It's foolish and petty and they shouldn't have come looking for me.” He muttered something in that funny language. ”But I guess they're angry, and now I am, too. A perfect situation, huh?”

”They said something about me, didn't they?”