The Marriage Agenda (15 page)

He hadn’t any other choice.

Chapter Twenty

Chloe steered her piece-of-crap car into a parking spot near Belleville Lake, grateful the old girl had made the forty-five minute drive without leaving a trail of pieces on the road behind her. She needed time to think, and she wasn’t going to get it at her old apartment or at Lila’s or anywhere else that bred familiarity. For a person seeking solace, the state park was as good a place as any. Though the recreation area entertained a lot of traffic, it wasn’t typically packed on a weekday afternoon—there were enough people there that she wouldn’t draw attention, and that’s all that really mattered. Toby would probably have a fit if he knew she’d let the old beast out of the garage—keeping up the Hamilton image absolutely required her to drive shiny late-model things—but she didn’t feel right taking the car Knox had bought her. Not when she’d just wrecked what was left of his family by exposing his father.

Her heart felt as if it had landed in a million pieces, but she’d done the right thing. She’d rather live alone with her conscience than carry the burden of a lie.

She’d just dug into her grilled chicken salad—courtesy of a fast food drive-through—when her phone vibrated. She hit ignore, then checked her missed calls. Six of them, all from her editor. According to the timestamps, the calls had been coming in since minutes after she’d left the meeting room where she had been handed a bunch of empty accolades to go alongside her pink slip, both courtesy of the publisher, Harry Olander. The calls had been easy enough to ignore. She hadn’t even noticed the vibrations from the phone while on the road.

She’d just set down the device when another call came in. It was her editor—or her former editor. Chloe was sorely tempted to ignore her for a seventh time, but curiosity got the better of her. Besides, it wasn’t as if she had anything left to lose.

She answered. “Sorry, Beth,” she said in lieu of a greeting, “the story wasn’t what I thought it was.” Not a shred of untruth there. “I’m sorry if I let you down.”

“What are you talking about? Why the hell didn’t you mention this story during the meeting?”

Beth sounded as if she’d just opened the door to find freaking Publisher’s Clearing House standing on her front porch with an oversize cardboard check. ”What story?”

“The one that just made your career. If it pans out, that is, but all things considered…”

Chloe sat up straight, spilling her salad in the process. “What things?
What story
?”

“The story on Rex Hamilton. I’ve got to say, I never saw this coming. You’ve got balls the likes of which I’ve never seen…and I’ve seen plenty.” The woman sounded giddy.
Giddy.

Panic made a shrill sound when it traveled at the speed of light. “Beth, I’m not kidding. What the hell are you talking about?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know. Olander got a call after you left. The memo came through the door, and he shot out of his chair as though he was being chased. Left us all sitting there, wondering when the last time was he’d let anything interrupt a meeting. While I was waiting for him to return, I found your story in my email.”

Chloe’s story. Beth had Chloe’s story? “Beth, you have to tell me how you got that file.”

“In my inbox, like I get the rest of them. What’s going on?”

“Who sent it to you?” Chloe’s pulse thundered in her ears.

“You did.” Beth sounded puzzled, not that Chloe could blame her.

“Can you double check that?”

“Yes, hang on.” The sound of clacking keys drifted through the phone line. “You’ve got me worried. Is this info legit?”

“Yes, it’s legit. Beth, listen to me. You cannot run that story.”

“Not a chance. Olander’s already seen it.”

Chloe’s heart sank. Beth was right. There was no way in hell Olander would drop a story that guaranteed national exposure. “How did he see it?” she whispered.

“Direct email. The time stamp is 12:46 this afternoon, and it was sent to me with a copy to Olander. I’m assuming that’s why he hightailed it out of the meeting, then came flying back the same way. He was moving so fast, hollerin’ the whole while ‘stop the presses,’ that he lost his toupee in the corridor. I’ve been here over ten years, and I’ve never seen anyone do that. I didn’t know people actually
said
that.”

This isn’t happening.
“Is it running tomorrow?”

“If he can verify it, it will. Olander is practically humping the printing press to get it out there, but he’s smart enough to fact-check first. He’s got a whole team of people on it, not one of whom knows what’s going on with the rest, but he’s not going to sit on it. He doesn’t want anything to leak ahead of time.”

Oh, God.
Chloe sank lower in her seat. She’d had no intention of ever submitting that story. She’d written it for Knox—so he could be the first to see the truth. Chloe had gotten to it before any other reporter because she had an insider advantage, but she’d known the story would come out eventually. Rex hadn’t hidden his trail as well as he thought he had—especially in light of that last affair, which connected one too many dots. She’d known the truth would destroy Knox, and she hadn’t wanted to be the one to break the story.

She couldn’t do that to him.

And then the truth hit her.
He’d done it to himself.

“Chloe?”

“The memo Olander got during the meeting…do you know what it said?”

“Everyone in the meeting knows. He left it on the conference table when he flew out of there.”

Chloe gritted her teeth. “What did it say?”

“Don’t quote me, but it was something like ‘Knox Hamilton is offering an exclusive. Holding on line two.’”

She took a deep, unsettled breath. He really
had
done it to himself. But why? “Look, I’ve got to go. If the press date changes, let me know.” She ended the call over Beth’s protests and stared through the windshield, picking absently at the spilled contents of her salad. Knox was going to kill her, but she knew what she had to do next. Before she lost her nerve, she scrolled through the contacts in her cell until she found the one she needed. She tapped the screen. The phone rang only once before the call was answered.

“Toby, it’s Chloe. We need to talk.”

…

Katherine Hamilton’s expression was absolutely unreadable. It had been that way the whole time Knox told her about her husband’s latest misdeeds, and when he got to the part about the story breaking, the only shift in her countenance was the slight lift of one of her eyebrows.

Knox pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand and reached for his coffee with the other. Five in the morning was mighty damn early—especially for this kind of news—but his mother had been off at some charity thing the night before and hadn’t returned his call…not that it mattered. He wouldn’t have told her this over the phone.

Your husband is a bigger cheat than anyone knew. Oh, and he’s also a felon.
Environmentalism was all the rage. The fact that Rex’s cash influence would have led to pollution of an environmentally sensitive area was just the icing on the fucking cake.

Knox had told her everything.

Almost.

“There’s one more thing.”

“There’s
more
?” His mother looked as tired as he’d ever seen her. He didn’t doubt she’d be fine in an hour—she had that way about her—and for the first time, the thought pissed him off. Why couldn’t she be real? Maybe if she hadn’t perfected the art of pretending the bad stuff didn’t exist, she’d have had a chance at being happy. He thought of Chloe and wished his mother would take a page from her book. Maybe if she’d just once threatened to rip Rex’s balls off and fucking meant it, he’d have thought twice about what he’d done. Knox didn’t blame his mother one bit, but dammit, why did she have to
take
it?

Chloe wouldn’t. She’d never know his mother’s unhappiness, because she’d have his nuts in a sling before she let him do that to her.

He drained his coffee cup, buying time before he answered. “Chloe broke the story.”

His mother didn’t flinch. She simply stood and turned toward the window, through which reflected the shimmering blue of the brightly lit swimming pool. Knox had grown up with that view beyond his mother’s breakfast table. Funny how it hadn’t changed in so many years, even as it seemed everything else had.

“Chloe broke it,” he repeated. “But she didn’t send it to the paper. I did.”

She spun, and for the first time in his life he saw a break in that famous façade. “
You?
You destroyed our family?”

“No, Mother. Not me, and not Chloe.
Rex
did that.”

“You could have warned us,” she fired back. “Given us some time for damage control—”

“No. You don’t get it, do you?
He broke the law.
”

“I don’t know where you got your morals, growing up under your father’s example as you have, but people who do everything by the letter of the law seldom get anywhere.”

“Those may be your rules, Mother, but they’re not mine.”

She shook her head. “Don’t be so sure. The higher the stakes, the more loosely people tend to hold their ideals.” She paused, raising an eyebrow. “Take Chloe, for example.”

“What about her?”

“I’m not stupid, Knox. The timing of your marriage was suspect, at best. I saw the poll results.”

A dark, cold knot formed in Knox’s chest. The polls hadn’t changed how he felt about Chloe…just what he’d done about it. “I didn’t choose her because of the election,” he said firmly.

“I hope that’s true,” his mother said, her voice softening. “Because when you hit send on that story, you did more than ruin what was left of your father’s legacy. You cost yourself the race.”

That was when it hit him. He didn’t care.

Love isn’t worth it. Not for anyone, Chloe. Not even you.

He’d been wrong. So wrong. He’d thought his career was what mattered, but he’d hit send on that damned email knowing full well what the consequences to his campaign were.

He’d done it for her.

He could walk away from the election. Hell, he could walk away from his career. But he couldn’t walk away from Chloe.

He just had to find her and let her know.

Chapter Twenty-One

Chloe had seriously underestimated what the hell she was doing. Her initial plan had seemed simple enough: arrange a small press conference, tell the world how Knox Hamilton was honest to a fault, and escape before she had a chance to put her foot in her mouth. She’d hoped by speaking early on the day the news broke, the buzz would be so intently focused on her story that the press would fail to notice her speaking engagement, but she hadn’t counted on how quickly word would spread.

She should have known.

Instead of a small handful of reporters she more or less knew, she found herself in front of a crowd predominately filled with strangers. And for all she worried over how she would start her little speech, she hadn’t considered she wouldn’t be given a chance to start anything in the barrage of questions flying her way. She couldn’t think, and she sure as hell couldn’t tell one question from the next. They hadn’t even given her a chance to say anything, and she had no idea how she was going to string two words together to form a thought in the face of all that yelling.

How did Knox deal with this all the time?

He had an obligation to be polite. She didn’t. Screw ’em. She put her fingers in her mouth and released a shrill wolf whistle directly into the microphone.

Everyone froze. Silence, at last.

And she was too annoyed to be nervous.

It was now or never.

“As you have doubtlessly heard,” she announced, “Senator Rex Hamilton was exposed this morning for a number of crimes that took place while he was in office. I am not here to discuss those details, all of which you’ll find in today’s edition of the
Washington Tribune
.” She paused, trying to keep the emotion from her voice. “I am here to tell you how the story broke.”

At least a dozen cameras stared blankly at her. No one said a word.

Chloe cleared her throat. “Once the illegal activity stemming from Senator Hamilton’s office was confirmed, I did write the story. But when I got to the end, I couldn’t give it to the paper. I couldn’t do that to…my husband. I couldn’t, but he could. Knox broke the story to the press. Not me.”

She took a deep breath. “The fact that Knox found the story and sent it in himself will tell you everything you need to know about his character. He believes in the truth so much, he was willing to sacrifice his career. I once told him he was too honest to be a politician, but I think he’s proven exactly the opposite. An honest politician is exactly what we all need. That’s exactly the man you want representing you in office.”

Her words were met with silence. She’d said what she needed to say, and she thought this was the part where they’d start yelling questions at her. That’s what happened to everyone else, at least. This was just…awkward.

Then a voice rang out. “Do you have any proof Mr. Hamilton did this?”

“She doesn’t need it.” The answer came from behind her. She turned, shocked at the sound of Knox’s voice. “Ms. Lochlan is correct. I sent the story to her editor.”

He didn’t spare her a glance as he addressed the crowd, which had quickly forgotten her. A small uproar sounded as the assembled reporters all tried to talk over one another.
Him
, they shouted questions at.

Knox silenced them with a raised palm that worked every bit as well as her deafening whistle. “My father isn’t above the law. You put your trust in him, and he abused the privilege of his office. Maybe he’ll talk his way out of it, or maybe he’ll find himself in a jail cell, but the bottom line is the public had a right to know.”

A bunch of questions were shouted, but one came through more clearly than the rest. “You intentionally exposed your father?”

Knox nodded, once again holding out his hands to draw silence. “Yes, but he’s also my senator. What you saw was not idle gossip. It is confirmed fact, and once I knew what had been going on, I had two choices: expose it or be a part of the cover-up. I refuse to do the latter.”

Chloe’s heart sank. She hadn’t realized it, but she’d put him exactly in that position. She’d just wanted to give him a chance to prepare for the inevitable, but what she had actually done was give him an impossible choice—one that had ruined his dreams of restoring honor to the family name. Even if he won that or any other election, the Hamilton name would for a long time be remembered not for greatness, but for scandal.

She had done that to him.

Knox, I’m so sorry.

Every eye in the place was glued on him. Every eye but hers. She had cost him everything he wanted, and for what?

“There’s something else.”

Knox sounded so serious, she had to look at him. “For several months last year, I was in a relationship with an incredible woman. She was everything I could ask for. Beautiful—stunning, actually—but she was also smart and funny…and not the least bit concerned with my last name. When you grow up as a Hamilton in that mansion on the hill, that’s not the kind of thing you ever think you’ll find. You don’t even know to wish for it.”

Chloe drew her hand to her chest. Pressed it tightly so it wouldn’t tremble.
What are you doing, Knox?

“And yet there it was. There
she
was. This woman, so pure hearted. A woman without an agenda, if you can believe that.” He smiled, his remark drawing laughter from the crowd. “I had everything…and I pushed her away. I said it was because I didn’t believe in love, but what I was too stupid to admit was that I already knew love.”

Chloe shook from head to toe.

He looked at her. “I pushed her away, and still I wouldn’t admit why. Then my father’s affair broke, and it was my chance to step up and follow my own dreams. To follow not in my father’s footsteps, but my grandfather’s. It was from him I learned what it means to be a good man and a great leader, and I wanted to honor that legacy. I wanted to make a difference. To restore honor to the Hamilton name.”

And I ruined it.

He gave a short laugh—a heartbreaking, self-depreciating sound—and turned back to the reporters. “All I needed, it seemed, was a wife. Someone whose presence in my life would convince the world I was stable and ready to take seriously my ambitions. Originally I said no, I would not orchestrate a marriage for the sake of appearances. I would take my chances. Stand on my own merit. Refuse to live a lie. But then I remembered this woman. The truth is, I hadn’t forgotten her. Not for a minute. So I asked her to marry me. But I couldn’t say I loved her, so I pointed out the obvious, which was if she got close to me, she’d get close to a story—not a bad offer for one of the
Washington Tribune’s
best reporters. I never expected the story would hit so close to home, but it did. And despite the fact that being the reporter behind that story would have made her career, she didn’t hit send. She saved it. She saved
me
, but she deserved more. She deserves recognition for that story.”

He paused and looked at her intently before turning back to his audience.

“When I asked Chloe Lochlan to marry me—Chloe, and no one else—it was because I didn’t want a pretend wife. I didn’t want to live a lie. But in doing so, I told the greatest lie of them all. I told her I couldn’t love her.”

Knox had everyone in attendance completely transfixed by his words. Not a soul moved. Chloe wasn’t sure she could draw breath.

“A woman like her deserves so much more than any man can give, and I’m the last one who should have the chance, but she believed in me once, so I hope that counts for something.” He grinned sheepishly, breaking some of the tension. “I’m afraid I also missed one of the finer points of a proposal, so if you’ll allow me…” Knox stepped away from the microphone and reached in his pocket, pulling out a small box. The type rings came in. Then, in front of the entire world, he lowered himself to one knee and opened the box to reveal a stunning diamond solitaire.

The style he’d said was real—the kind he said she might one day get from a man who loved her.

“Chloe,” he said, “I’ve aspired to be a lot of things in my life, but there’s only one that’s ever really mattered. I want to be your husband—the kind you deserve. I know this is a bit awkward, considering we’re already married, but I love you. I love you so damned much it hurts, but nothing has ever felt so right. I don’t want to live my life without you. Will you let me be a real husband to you? Will you let me love you?”

She blinked. She had to be dreaming. She thought a thousand questions, but there was only one answer. “Yes.”

Flashes went off like crazy, reminding her they had a huge audience, but the only thing that mattered was Knox.
He loved her.

He stood and slid the ring on her finger, having to turn the diamond to the side so it would fit next to the three on her other engagement band “We’ll have to figure this out later,” he said, laughing.

“I can’t believe you did this,” she whispered. “You just gave up everything.”

He turned away from the prying eyes and ears of the crowd. “No, Chloe. I didn’t give up anything. I gained everything.” He kissed her softly. “
Everything.
And I think we need to go home right now. But if it’s okay, we have a stop to make.”

“Why? You think we need to resuscitate Toby?”

“Probably, but that’s not what I meant.” With a wave to the reporters he’d driven into fits, he took her hand and led her outside and to his car. “I want to stop by the florist. I think it’s past time I buy my wife some flowers.”

Chloe rolled her eyes as he opened her door. “They don’t sell flower bushes at the florist. I think you’re going to need to go to a garden center for that.”

He shook his head. “Nah, I think I’m going to splurge on a bouquet. Do you have a favorite?”

“Daisies.”

Twenty minutes later, Knox emerged from a florist with a huge bouquet of cut daisies in one hand.

And a potted miniature rosebush in the other.

…

Knox had taken make-up sex to new levels. Other than answering the door for the pizza they’d ordered, they’d spent the whole day in bed. She probably couldn’t walk if she had to, but she didn’t really have a need. Everything she wanted was right there. “Do you think we can make a daily thing of this? Maybe get it on to your schedule?”

He laughed. “Good luck getting that one by Toby.”

“Can you please not say that name while you’re naked?”

“What? He likes you.”

“Knox?”

“Yes?” He didn’t seem to want an answer. Not with his hands headed into the kind of territory that seldom served as a conversation starter.

“Why did you do it?”

“Because you like it,” he responded, clearly on a different page.

“No, not that.” She swatted at his hand and got a deep, lingering kiss for her trouble.

“I know,” he muttered. “But this is more fun.”

“I’m serious!”

He sighed, but he was smiling. “I sent the story because you earned the right to it. And because I meant what I said out there. Rex betrayed my trust as much as he did anyone else’s.”

“But your name—”

“My name is what it is. It shouldn’t define me—not the way I let it. Having my grandfather’s last name didn’t make Rex a saint, and having Rex’s doesn’t have to make me a bad guy. And at least now when I make it, no one will accuse me of doing so on Rex’s coattails.”

“What about the election?”

“I’ll worry about that later. Right now, you’re looking a little needy.” His punctuated his husky words by closing his mouth on her breast, his erection nudging her belly.

She wriggled against him, drawing her leg over his hip and feasting on the groan he fed her. He was hers. Every inch of him. She couldn’t believe it. By now, the video evidence of his confession had to be all over the internet. If they ever got out of bed, she’d probably watch it a hundred times, waiting for it to sink in that his words were true. “I love you,” she said.

“I love you. With everything I have and then some.” He kissed her, slowly. Sweetly. “While I’m groveling,” he said, “there’s something else I want to tell you.”

“If it’s bad news, you might want to protect yourself before you say anything further.”

He cupped her face, melting her. “I’ll take my chances. I owe you an apology.”

“You sure you don’t want to grab some protection?”

“That depends. Do you have anything in green?”

Oh, the memories. This one made her flush hot. “You had to remind me of that.”

“Why not? It’s a good memory.”

She blew her hair from her face. She probably looked a mess. “You were saying?”

He put his hand over his mouth, unsuccessfully trying to cover a smile. “It’s my mother.”

His
mother
? “First Toby, and now your mother. Is this our bedroom?”

“Okay, you’re right.” He rolled off her and tugged the sheet to her chin. “Now that you’re fully dressed, I’ll talk.”

She rolled her eyes and fell back on the pillow. “Please do. Because I’m absolutely fully dressed.”

He grinned. “And you wear sarcasm so well. Chloe, one reason I was so afraid of marriage was I didn’t want to put any woman in my mother’s position.”

“You’re not your father.”

“And you’re not my mother.”

“Convenient right about now, isn’t it?”

“No, I’m serious. Rex isn’t the reason she spent so much time crying behind closed doors.”

She toyed with his fingers, not quite holding his hand. “From what I’ve heard, I think he deserves at least some of the credit.”

“He does…but so does she. It hit me last night, Chloe, that if my mother had an ounce of you in her, she’d have had Rex’s balls on the mantel by now.”

“That’s a good thing to remember. You know, future reference and all.”

He shook his head. “You’re impossible.”

She adjusted the sheet so she wasn’t quite so dressed. “You married me.”

“Yes, and I’d do it again and again.” Powerful words spoken with his attention pegged on her breasts.

She touched his chin, drawing his attention to her face. “That’s a lovely thought, but you do realize this is something you should only have to do once?”

He laughed. “I don’t know why I worried you’d end up like my mother. And that is my point. I spent so much time worrying I’d be Rex, it never occurred to me you couldn’t be my mother if you tried.”