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group protested Dad's stand on nuclear weapons
to Lucas, and he listened to them in amazement
and said "
" 'Gee, how come Dad wants to do that?' " Justin
chimed in and they chorused Lucas's infamous
reply. And both ended up laughing. Stacey was
surprised by his laughter. Neither Justin nor her
father had laughed at the time.
"Then there was the time," Justin said," you
went out with the son of your father's wealthiest
campaign contributor and confided to a reporter
that the kid was a 'real nerd.' "
"I was only sixteen at the time. And the kid was a
real nerd!"
Justin shook his head, laughing. "So was the
kid's father, but it's hardly the kind of thing you
tell the press."
Abruptly, Stacey's smile faded. "That's what I
particularly despise about politics, Justin. The
phoniness, the hypocrisy, the manipulators and
the users. It's an artificial world."
"None of that is exclusively consigned to politics,
Stacey. I worked in advertising and in marketing
in New York City before I joined your father's staff,
and the dynamics were the same there. Perhaps
even more cutthroat."
Stacey's golden-brown eyes held a faraway look.
"I remember so well when you first joined Dad's
staff. Dad kept raving about what a genius you
were and how lucky he was to have you on his
team. He said that we all had to do whatever you
told us to do, because you were in complete
command." Her face hardened. "We hated you
before we ever laid eyes on you. And nothing has
changed!"
"Your hostility toward me is all mixed up with
your hostility and resentment toward your father,
Stacey. I realize that it must have been particularly
difficult for your older brothers to watch a man not
much older than they become their father's
confidante."
"Particularly when Dad scarcely spoke to them,"
she added grimly.
"And you're very loyal to your brothers, aren't
you, Stacey?" Justin said quietly. "I'm sure all four
of you found it hard to listen to your father rave on
about how lucky he was to have me when he'd
never expressed a similar sentiment about his own
children. And in my position, I'd been handed the
role of giving directions that more suitably might
have come from your father himself."
"Except he was too busy to bother with any of us.
He never has."
Justin's eyes held hers. "I'm fully aware that
ours has been a most difficult relationship thus
far, Stacey."
"And will continue to be," she promised coolly.
His analysis of her family secretly astonished her.
She'd never credited Justin with a shred of emo-
tional insight. She'd never credited him with a
shred of emotion!
"No, Stacey." He gave her a crooked smile. "Our
relationship is about to change dramatically. For
one thing, we'll be seeing each other constantly.
We're going to be working very closely with one
another from now on. I've given you three months
since that night in August. Plenty of time, plenty of
space. It's time to rein you in, butterfly."
"You're talking in metaphors. And you're not
making a bit of sense!" She meant to snap at him,
her tone forcefully caustic. Stacey was dismayed to
hear herself sounding nervous and confused.
"Then let me explain, Stacey." His smile seemed
slightly feral, and it chilled her. "As of today you've
resigned from your job on Congressman Erlich's
staff and joined your father's staff as a full-time
campaign worker."
"You're crazy! I didn't resign from my job and
I'm not going to. I told my father years ago that I'd
help out when I could, but I'd never officially join
any of his campaigns full-time."
"Perhaps you've changed your mind since
then?" Justin suggested, handing her a typewrit-
ten paper from the top of his in-basket.
It was a letter of resignation to Congressman
Nicholas Erlich from her! Stacey gaped at it, then
crumpled it into a ball and threw it on the floor.
"I'm not resigning! And if a copy of this bogus
resignation has already been sent to Nick's office,
I'll just tell him it was one of your overzealous
mistakes."
"Stacey, Nick Erlich is your father's protege in
the House. He understands the necessity of your
presence in your father's presidential campaign.
Perhaps, after the election, you can work in Nick's
office again if you should want to."
"I want to work there now!" she exclaimed,
seething. "I won't have my life disrupted this way,
Justin. If my father chooses to run for president,
that's his decision, but I'm not going to change my
whole life because of it."
"Stacey." He took a step toward her. "Your job
with Nick Erlich no longer exists. It was created for
you at your father's request and abolished the
same way."
A horrible wave of anxiety washed over her. Her
father didn't concern himself with her life. If he
had asked Nick Erlich to create a job on his staff for
her, it was because Justin Marks had suggested it!
She stared at Justin, her eyes reflecting her sud-
den comprehension. "Why?" she whispered.
He moved closer, until he was standing beside
her. He towered over her, and she was breathlessly
aware of his hard, muscular frame just a hand's
length away. "Think back to your college gradua-
tion four years ago, Stacey. You had a liberal arts
degree and no useful job skills. You couldn't even
type! You and Brynn Cassidy were talking of going
to Europe, of working your way around the world."
He smiled faintly. "I couldn't allow that to happen. I
had to know where you were, to know that you
were . . . safe."
"And you arranged that phone call from Nick,
asking me to come up to Capitol Hill for an
interview?"
"Honey, if you were at all savvy politically, you'd
have realized that congressmen don't recruit their
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