“Nope. I was afraid you’d find a way to beat it out of them and refuse to come.”

“What’s the occasion?”

“State dinner for the prime minister of Canada.”

As they were sucked into the crowd, Sam’s stomach hurt worse than it had in weeks.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his lips brushing her temple.

“Stomach.”

He swore under his breath and directed her to a bench outside the security area. “I shouldn’t have forced this on you. I’m sorry. I just figured once you were here you’d love it, but if you had to think about it, you’d freak. I’m sorry.”

Brushing her fingers over his hair, she leaned in to kiss him. “You handled me just right. I will think this is very cool, and yes, I would’ve freaked if I had known where we were going.”

Clutching her hand, he said, “Then what’s wrong? Why do you still look so worried?”

“It’s just that all these people, even the president and first lady. They know. About me. About what happened years ago.”

“Sam, honey, no one will be thinking about that tonight. I promise you. Let’s just go in there and act like we belong there. Can we do that?”

“I guess so.”

“We don’t have to. If you don’t feel up to it, we’ll go somewhere else and have dinner just the two of us.”

“You can’t diss the president of the United States,” she said with a droll smile.

“Oh no? Watch me.”

“Thank you for being willing to bolt, but that’s not necessary.” She stood up and held out a hand to him. “Let’s go, Senator. Duty calls.”

He flashed her that one-in-a-million smile, and her nerves disappeared. As long as he was right there with her, she could get through anything. Even a state dinner at the freaking White House.

Hours later, they had been wined and dined and dazzled by the pomp, the ceremony, the sheer magic of the White House. Sam had to admit that she was glad she’d come, even if this was so not her scene. It was something she’d remember always.

And now, as a reward for her astounding patience with the formal aspects of the evening’s program, she had Nick’s arms tight around her as they moved together on the crowded dance floor.

She looked up at him. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“I know. Can we do it a little later?”

“As long as we do it tonight, that’s fine.”

“Oh, we’ll do it, all right.”

Laughing, she poked him in the belly. “Do you ever think about anything else?”

“Not really and definitely not since the first second I saw you in that dress.”