“Yes. Or at least he was. He left the army a few weeks ago.” Ashley noticed her colleagues drifting into the meeting room. “We’d better hurry or we’ll miss out on the chocolate biscuits.”
Christine tapped her handbag. “I brought my own. You can share.”
In the conference room, they sat next to each other.
Geoffrey strode into the room with two senior members. They took their seats while Geoffrey remained standing.
“Earlier this morning, our senior members held a meeting. The polls have us trailing by a huge margin. This election needs a shakeup to improve our hopes of winning. With that in mind, we’ve decided to rejig our party line-up and present something new to the voting public. I will resign and step into a senior role.”
A buzz of conversation sprang up, and Ashley shared a glance with Christine.
“Who will they appoint?” Ashley whispered.
Christine shrugged. “Who knows?”
Geoffrey raised his hand for quiet, and silence fell. “Last night and this morning, we discussed my replacement. We looked at achievements, popularity, and a host of other circumstances.” Geoffrey scanned faces, his search halting when he met Ashley’s gaze. “The new Labor party leader—if she will accept the post—and we hope, our next prime minister, will be Ashley Townsend.”
Ashley blinked, uncertain if she’d heard correctly.
“Yay!” Christine leaped to her feet and wildly applauded. “Go, Ashley!”
The party members joined in the applause, and several of the younger ones hooted and hollered with approval while Ashley continued to stare at Geoffrey.
“Speech!” Christine shouted. “Speech!”
Geoffrey signaled Ashley to stand and join him. Her legs trembled, but she managed the short journey.
“Thank you, Geoffrey. I know this can’t have been easy for you,” Ashley murmured.
“You’ll accept?”
“I am honored,” Ashley said in a total understatement. It was something she’d dreamed of since she was five-years-old and learned she’d lost out on the queen position. Although she hadn’t been elected yet, she could be the prime minister if the Labor caucus swayed the voting public.
“Ashley has good news,” Christine shouted above the chatter. “She got engaged this weekend.”
“Congratulations!” several of her colleagues called.
Ashley listened to the congratulations for a few more minutes before raising her hand for silence.
“Thank you. I am honored to accept the leadership of the party. I know we have had problems, and I have my own ideas and suggestions of what to change. Shall we pull up our shirt sleeves and get to work again? We have a lot to do before Election day.”
6 – Sexy Lingerie
Josh hadn’t realized lingerie shopping would provide entertainment. He’d gone to the shop Ashley had suggested, and the instant he’d stepped foot inside, an assistant had made a bee-line to him. After he’d pulled out his list, the middle-aged woman had helped him meet Ashley’s requirements.
He’d added a few requests of his own since he believed Ashley should embrace her sexy. She could turn heads and still do an efficient job for her electorate.
They’d sorted out bras, getting the sizes and makes Ashley had specified since she knew they fitted well.
“My fiancé is often in the public eye. She wants to make sure her lingerie doesn’t show beneath her clothes,” Josh said.
“We have this new line. The boy-shorts are perfect to wear beneath trousers, yet they’re still very feminine.” The assistant held up plain black panties in a silky fabric.
Josh imagined Ashley wearing them and nodded. “One set of black and one set of beige.”
“They come in three-packs.”
“Even better,” Josh said.
