She pulled him into a brief hug, her slight frame practically swallowed up in his arms. Charlotte was a gorgeous woman in her mid-fifties who looked much younger than her actual age. Her blonde hair was pinned up in a fancy up-do for dinner, even if the dress she wore wasn’t the one she’d wear to thefundraiser.
“What’s going on?” Jamie asked as theyparted.
Charlotte reached out to smooth down the lapels of his suit jacket before patting his shoulder. “I assume you’re asking about the SecretService?”
“Father didn’t have federal protection even aweekago.”
Charlotte crossed her slim arms over her chest and sighed. “It’s a recentdevelopment.”
“How recent? Why wasn’t Iinformed?”
“Because they only arrived yesterday morning.” Charlotte’s gaze tracked away from Jamie to settle on Kyle, her expression remaining calm. “I was under the impression Katie would be joining us for the fundraisertonight.”
“Something came up. In fact, I need to update both you and Father.” Jamie placed his hand on Kyle’s back and guided him forward a step. “You’ve met Kylebefore.”
“Once, briefly,” Charlotte replied. “I’ve seen more of him from the gossip sites than I have in person. It’s been a headache trying to get that narrative undercontrol.”
Kyle’s expression didn’t change, but Jamie could feel him go a little rigid beneath his hand. He wanted desperately to let Kyle know that his mother was displeased with the situation and not them, but truthfully, Jamie didn’t know if that was true or not. His mother had always been rather bullish on keeping the family’s name off of the gossip sites unless it painted them in the spotlight she wanted them to shine in. Charlotte had cut her teeth on how to manipulate the media as a child, and he knew the Pavluhkin mission didn’t sit well with her for manyreasons.
“Ma’am,” Kyle said quietly before glancing at Jamie. “I’ll stay out here to give you guys someprivacy.”
“I’ll keep you company, Kyle,” a new voicepipedup.
Jamie looked over to his right as his younger sister came out of the second bedroom. Leah Callahan was tall and thin, a socialite who was at the forefront of fashion and who had been on the covers of quite a few fashion magazines over the years. She’d turned twenty-six a few months back, and for once, Jamie had been present for her birthday party. He’d spent most of the evening warning off potential suitors with a battlefield-worthy glare until Leah had smacked him on the arm and declared he wasspoiling her night. After that, he only glared when she wasn’tlooking.
Leah’s long blonde hair was curled and pinned up for tonight’s dinner, the delicate pins and combs dotted with diamonds and trailing long strands of pearls. Jamie assumed it was the latest trend and didn’t comment on how silly he thought itlooked.
“Leah,” Jamie said, turning to give her a hug. “Howareyou?”
“Getting tired of being on the road so much and this campaign isn’t even close to being over.” Leah smiled at Kyle. “Nice to see youagain.”
“Nice to see you too, Leah,” Kylereplied.
The smile Kyle graced her with was easy and real. They’d initially gotten off on the wrong foot back in January when they first met, but Leah eventually got over her anger at the situation. She was the only one of Jamie’s family who knew that he and Kyle were together beyond the needs of a mission. She’d come by for dinner a few times during summer around missions and gotten to know Kyle. It meant a lot to Jamie that Leah approved of his relationship, and he was glad he’d have her in his corner when he eventually broke the news to hisparents.
Whether or not his parents approved of Kyle wouldn’t stop Jamie from marrying him. Of course, Jamie still needed toask, but that was neither here nor there. He’d find the perfect moment at some point. It’s not like he was getting cold feet oranything.
Really.
“Your father is in the office,” Charlotte said, waving aside the aide who had been hovering politely off to the side. “Let’s go speakwithhim.”
Kyle gave him an encouraging nod before giving Leah his full and undivided attention. Jamie followed his mother toward where the master bedroom was housed. The office was right next to it, a small room decked out in comfortable leather furniture and a public terminal he knew his father would never touch. His family always brought their own electronic monitoring devices and jammers to ensure their privacy, along with their owncomputers.
Senate Majority Leader Richard Callahan was in the middle of a conversation with a balding man in a suit, laughing over some detail they found funny. His father was an imposing man born out of a background of wealth and power, and who always seemed disappointed that Jamie wasn’t following in his footsteps. That’s not to say Richard hadn’t tried to get him into politics, because Jamie’s entire family had attempted to cajole him out of the MDF and back into civilian life over the years. He’d declined every time, believing his duty to the country was better served through fighting—first with the Marine Corps and now withtheMDF.
His father had other ideas, which made the conversation they were about to have more than a littlefraught.
“Father,” Jamie said as the door slid shut on their heels. “Why do you have Secret Serviceprotection?”
“Ah, Jamie. So good of you to find the time to join us,” Richard said with a pleasant smile that didn’t mean anything to Jamie. He’d seen that mask on his father’s face many times before. “Allow me to introduce you to Special Agent Lawrence Sanderson. He’s in charge of the security detail assigned to us and any additional agents that may beneeded.”
“Us,” Jamie echoed, not liking the sound of that at all. “You don’t need Secret Service protection, Father. You have privatesecurity.”
“Things change, Mr. Callahan,” Lawrence said with a professional smile directedJamie’sway.
Jamie eyed his father. “Apparently.”
“Lawrence, if you’ll excuse us?” Richard said, gesturing for Jamie to comecloser.
