See You at the Show (32 page)

“Has he said that?”

She threw her head back, picking at the frayed leather of her wrist cuff.
 
“No.”

“Then what you worrying for?”

“I didn’t say I was worried.”
 
She got up, running a hand through her hair.
 
“I’d better get to work.”
 
She leaned over and kissed him quickly.
 
“Look after Cassidy, ok?”

“Stevie?

“What?”

“Just make sure it’s what you really want, ok?
 
It isn’t just Daniel you’re getting, you have to remember that.
 
You’re gonna have to fit into his world and you need to be sure you can do that.”

“I can do it,” she said, with more conviction than she really felt.
 
Because she really didn’t know if she could.
 
But she was going to try.
 
She was going to try hard.
 
Because losing Daniel
Madison
wasn’t an option.

***

“Can I have a word, Daniel?” Angus asked.
 
“In my office.”

“Yes.
 
Of course you can.”

“Close the door.”
 
Angus walked over to his desk, opening the top drawer.

“Is something wrong?” Daniel asked.
 
“Something I should know about?”

“There’s nothing wrong as such, no.
 
Certainly nothing wrong as far as tomorrow is concerned.
 
All we have to do is make sure everything stays just as it is.”

“Why wouldn’t it?”

Angus threw the magazine down in front of Daniel, open at the pages of his naked new girlfriend.
 
Daniel picked it up, looking at the photographs of Stevie.
 
Tattooed and beautiful, and a few years younger than she was now, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
 

“Where did you get this?” he asked, still looking at the magazine.

“It’s not like it’s ever been a secret, Daniel.
 
These have been around for years.
 
It’s all out there; she posed for them quite openly.
 
It was quite easy to get my hands on them.”

“I don’t see what this has got to do with anything.”
 
Daniel put the magazine down on the desk.

Angus leaned forward, looking straight at him.
 
“You still have time, Daniel.
 
You still have time to forget this ridiculous fantasy and start thinking with your head, old chap, come on.
 
She can’t be a Prime Minister’s partner, look at her!”

Daniel leaned forward too, looking Angus straight in the eyes.
 
“I told you never to talk about her like that again.
 
She isn’t some kind of freak, she’s…she’s the woman I love.”

“Come on, Daniel...”

“No!”
 
He stepped back, picking up the magazine again.
 
“She isn’t just some fantasy on a page of a magazine, Angus; she isn’t just some girl I’ve got the hots for because I’m in the middle of some mid-life crisis, like you seem to think.
 
She’s real, and believe me, what you see is what you get.”
 
He held the magazine up in front of Angus.
 
“This – this is her, this is what I get, Angus, what I get to look at, what I get to touch, and if I’m going to be pulled apart because of this, because she’s this beautiful...”

“Samantha was beautiful.
 
She is an incredible woman - elegant, perfect...”

“She isn’t Stevie.”

“She is still your wife.”

“Don’t push me, Angus.
 
I’ve told you where I stand.
 
Stevie is with me and we are both doing our best to keep everything secret but that won’t last forever.
 
She is not going to stay hidden away, I won’t allow it, do you hear me?”

“How much do you want this job, Daniel?”

“You know how much.”

“More than her?”

Daniel laughed, folding up the magazine and putting it in his jacket pocket, walking away from Angus’s desk and over to the window.

“Do you really know her, Daniel?”

“Does she really know
me
?”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Daniel turned round.
 
“Where’s this going, Angus?
 
The polling stations open in less than fifteen hours, I’ve got enough to think about.
 
I’m doing what we agreed, for the good of the party because I want us in Government just as much as you do, so just leave Stevie out of this, ok?
 
And let me be with her in the only way I can be right now.
 
Anything else I can deal with later.”

“I’m just looking out for you, Daniel.
 
I care about you, as a friend.”

Daniel turned back to face the window, checking his watch.
 
He wanted to see her tonight; he
had
to see her tonight, he wanted one last night with her before all the potential madness began.
 
He had so much going on in his head right now and all he wanted to do was escape that for a few hours and be with her, let her take him to that place she always took him to.
 
A place where nobody else could touch them.

Feeling around in his jacket pocket for his ‘phone he ignored Angus and called Stevie.
 
She answered on the second ring.

“Hey, baby.”

“Are you busy?” he asked, turning his back on Angus.
 

“Nope.
 
All quiet this end.”

“I need you, Stevie.”

“You’re getting quite demanding, aren’t you, Mr. Madison?”

“It’s the night before crazy day, sweetheart, and I’m stressed to hell here.”

“Sounds like you need some down and dirty Stevie Stone magic.
 
So, how do you fancy something that’ll get rid of every tiny bit of stress you’ve got?
 
Something that’ll make you forget all about this election shit for a few hours.
 
How does that sound?”

“That sounds perfect.”

“Do you want me naked when you get there?”

“I just want
you,
beautiful.”
 
Daniel pushed a hand through his hair, sighing heavily.
 
“I just want you.”

“Hey, are you alright?
 
You sound tired.”

“I’m fine, really.
 
But yeah, I’m tired.”
 
He turned round, leaning back against the window, looking straight at Angus.
 
“I just need to see you.
 
I need to be with you.”

“Then you got me, baby.
 
I take it the babysitters’ll be round soon then?”

He couldn’t help smiling at the way she described the security men who made sure she stayed Daniel Madison’s hidden secret.
 
It was part of why he loved her, her ability to just get through any situation in her own inimitable way.
 
He only hoped she had the ability to get through what could be happening next.

“I’ll give them a call, yes.
 
And I’ll be home soon, ok?
 
I’ll be home very soon.”

He ended the call and slipped the ‘phone back into his pocket.

“Was that for my benefit?” Angus asked, sitting down on the edge of his desk, folding his arms.

Daniel didn’t answer his question.
 
“We see what happens tomorrow.
 
We give everything enough time to settle down, but then I’m going public.”

“Daniel...”

“She will not stay hidden away like something I’m ashamed of, Angus.
 
So we let everything settle down but then, that’s it.
 
No more hiding.”

“I’m really not going to be able to change your mind, am I?”

Daniel just looked at him before walking out of his office.

Angus threw his head back and sighed.
 
This wasn’t how things were supposed to have played out but it looked as though he had no other option left.
 
If he couldn’t talk any sense into him then it was time to move forward, and let Samantha Madison know just what it was she was actually up against.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Good morning
Britain
’s sexiest soon-to-be Prime Minister.”

Daniel opened his eyes and smiled at her.
 
It was six 0’ clock in the morning and the only word he could think of to describe her was stunning, as she leaned back against the bedroom wall, totally naked except for a pair of extremely high heeled, thigh-high boots, and he felt himself reacting to the sight of her almost immediately.
 

He sat up, not taking his eyes off her.
 
“Tell me this isn’t a dream.”

“It’s no dream, Mr. Madison.
 
I just want to make sure none of that stress from yesterday is left hanging around, that’s all.
 
Not today.”
         

“You did a marvellous job of getting rid of it all last night.”

“No harm in a little extra work though, huh?” she smiled, walking over to the bed and climbing astride him.

He put his hands on her hips, his fingers stroking up over the curve of her waist then back down to her thighs.
 
“And what’s with the heels?
 
I thought you didn’t do heels?”

“I don’t do a lot of things, Daniel, but I’m willing to go there if it means turning you on.”

“Oh, you’re doing that alright.”

“Yeah, so I see,” she smiled, feeling him hard against her, running her fingers lightly up and down him.

In a few hours time this man could be running the country she’d called home for over half her life, and that both scared and excited her because nobody knew what that meant for the two of them.
 
But whatever happened, she was head over heels in love with Daniel Madison.
 
Nobody could take that away from her.
 
Nobody could change that.
 
Even though, sometimes, on the days when she felt she couldn’t deal with it all, she wanted it to go away so badly.
 

“So, you wanna play for a little while?
 
Before you have to leave me alone for yet another day.”
 
But it wasn’t just another day, was it?
 
It was the most important day of his life.
 

He smiled too, stroking her inner thighs as he kissed her gently.
 
She tasted of peppermint toothpaste, her lips parting slightly as they moved against his and he felt himself falling, deeper and deeper under her spell.
 
Every inch of him ached for her and that feeling only got worse for every day he had to be away from her, but he didn’t want to think about that right now.
 
In less than an hour he was going to begin that journey that could take him where he’d always wanted to be – Number Ten Downing Street.
 
But was any of it really worth it if she couldn’t be with him?
 

“You’re thinking again, baby,” she whispered, her mouth resting on his.
 
“Stop thinking, for a few minutes just stop thinking, and get inside me.”

Straight talking Stevie Stone.
 
Who was he to ignore her instructions?
 

She sat up slightly and pulled the covers away from him, lowering herself back down onto him and he closed his eyes, letting her take over, letting her put him right where she wanted him, taking him to heaven and back, making him forget just how this whole day could end.
 
And that’s what he needed.
 
Stevie Stone.
 
His escape.
 
His real-life fantasy.
 
His life.
 
And if he
did
become the new Prime Minister in the early hours of tomorrow morning then she was coming with him all the way.
 
His mind was made up.
 
And the rest of the world was just going to have to deal with it.

***

Samantha sat in front of the laptop in her small but well-designed office, staring at the images on the screen in front of her.
 
Images Angus had told her she’d needed to look at.
 
So,
this
was what Daniel had left her for?
 
This woman with the tattoos and the messed-up white blonde hair, this was what he’d left her for?
 
Angus had told her it was true, he’d said she was the reason Daniel had ended their marriage - because he’d become infatuated with this girl who was ten years his junior, a female roadie and sound engineer.
 
Somebody he would never usually have even looked twice at.