Post 2 Day 2

Please read the first beach party post for information about the beach party. If you want to read the excerpts in order start with the first post and make your way to this one. If you like Return Engagement, you can order it at http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com This excerpt takes place where the last one left off.

The picture? A sandcastle from the real beach party.

Her lips tightened. She had never told him what happened right before their final date, but she remembered it as well as if it had happened only yesterday.

“Hello, Miss Lane. May I come in?”

“Of course, Senator Lovinggood. It’s nice to see you. Please, come in and have a seat.”

“That’s all right. I won’t be staying long. I stopped by to tell you that I don’t want you to see my son anymore.”

“Senator…”

“Please, hear me out, Miss Lane.”

“Go on.”

The senator’s cold eyes bored into hers. “Richard is only seventeen, but you are twenty-two. Presumably, you are more experienced than he is. Truthfully, I blame his infatua-tion for you on his inexperience. Don’t take advantage of an impressionable boy, Miss Lane. Richard isn’t a toy to be used for your pleasure and then discarded. He’s being groomed for important work in the future, but if he keeps seeing you he has very little chance of winning any political office. If you care about him let him go.”

Even now she swallowed against the anger that still burned her. I was so angry I thought I might have a stroke, she thought. How dare he come to my home and try to intimidate me! Her eyes took on a faraway expression. I decided on the spot I’d never agree to the senator’s demands. I thought that seeing me wouldn’t ruin Richard’s future career. The senator only wanted to frighten me away.

She and Cathy had reached the set now. Elizabeth pasted a brilliant smile on her face, but inside where it counted she was bleeding. I changed my mind when Richard and I ended up in my bedroom kissing, touching, and undressing. I knew then that Senator Lovinggood was right. If Richard and I continued our relationship, the press would crucify both of us. While it would probably help my career, it would only hurt him. Scandal titillates the public and enhances a star’s reputation, but it’s the kiss of death for a politician.