Her face was inches from his, and he couldn’t look away. There was a quiet magnetism humming between them. It was exhilarating and perfectly comfortable at the same time. He leaned forward a fraction of an inch, and she closed the distance between them.

Never had a kiss felt so easy and natural. She smiled against his lips, and he deepened the kiss.

“I hope I’m not breaking some sort of Secret Service rules,” she said as she pulled back a little, excitement glinting in her eyes.

“I never break the rules.”

“Never?”

“I’m tedious that way. So no, we aren’t breaking the rules.”

“Good. Then kiss me again.”

He did, and it felt like the most perfect thing in the world. In his entire life he’d only courted two women. One was the daughter of his minister, which involved nothing more than some awkward holding of hands, and the relationship ended quickly when she fell in love with an accountant. His other relationship was more heartfelt, but the dressmaker from Chicago threw him over because she found him too serious.

Caroline felt different. Their attraction felt both natural and exhilarating. All except that one, niggling detail.

He pulled back, and the question popped out. “Why were you meeting with a criminal attorney?”

Her face chilled, and her chin rose a fraction of an inch. “Back to that, are we?”

“You clearly have the trust of the president,” he said. “I’m not looking to expose any personal embarrassments, but I need to know of potential security flaws.”

She looked exasperated. “I’m not a security threat. I have a reputation for enjoying a party and a fine wardrobe, but I’m actually quite tame in the rest of my conduct. You already know my one and only vice.”

The cigarettes. “How’s the abstinence going?”

“Sixteen days,” she said proudly.

“Good for you.”

“I almost gave in to temptation once, but do you see that man with the muttonchops talking to the papal nuncio? He’s the postmaster general, and every time he visits, the stink of tobacco is so bad that I can smell it from yards away. All I had to do was summon his image to kill the urge.”

She continued pointing out stories about the various people mingling in the room below, but it didn’t escape his attention that she had smoothly diverted the conversation from her attorney. Again.

He let her but moved a few inches away from her on the step. Kissing her had probably been a mistake. She was smart and attractive, but he couldn’t trust her. Wilkie had promised the results of the investigation into Caroline by the end of the week, and then he’d nail down what it was she was trying to hide.

Ten