He reached down and absentmindedly scratched behind Squid’s ears. “The President held a press conference this afternoon. You were the main topic of discussion.”

She’d deliberately avoided listening to the news, and she didn’t want to hear this.

The dog propped his muzzle on Mat’s foot. “Vandervort reassured everyone there was no reason to be alarmed about your safety, that you’d spoken with Mrs. Bush just this afternoon.”

“Uhm.”

“Apparently the special task force of agents looking for you has narrowed their search, and they expect to locate you soon.”

She propped her elbows on her knees and sighed. “They probably will.”

“I don’t know. You seem to have covered your tracks pretty well.”

“They’re the best. Sooner or later, they’ll find me.”

“He blamed your disappearance on the nefarious villains that make up the opposition party.” His mouth twisted in a cynical smile. “He said you’d become increasingly distressed watching your husband’s political opponents put their own narrow interests above the best interests of the American people.”

She gave a soft laugh. “He would say that.”

“So which First Lady are you going to call tomorrow?”

She leaned back. “No more First Ladies. All of their phones will be monitored by now. I’ll have to move on to the Supreme Court or the Cabinet.”

He shook his head. “It’s still hard for me to believe.”

“Then don’t think about it.”

“It’s tough not to.” That flinty note had crept back into his voice. “You should have told me.”

“Why?”

“How can you ask something like that?”

“What would you have done if you were me?”

“I guess I’d have taken control of my life before it got this far.”

That made her angry. “Spoken by someone who knows absolutely nothing.”

“You asked.”

She jumped to her feet. “You’re a jerk, you know that, Mat? Lucy’s right.”

He shot up, too. “You led me on!”

“Well, excuse me for not running up to you in that truck stop and announcing that I was Cornelia Case!”

“That’s not what I’m talking about! You had plenty of time after that to tell me the truth.”

“And end up having you either snarl at me or bow and scrape?”

Outrage flashed in his eyes. “I never bowed and scraped in my life!”

“This morning you told me you’d made coffee! As soon as you knew who I was, you treated me like some kind of houseguest!”

“I told you I made coffee? What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” His eyes were turning the color of storm clouds, but she didn’t care.

“That’s not all, and you know it!”

“No, I don’t know it! And I never bowed and scraped to anybody in my life!”

“Then tell me why we’re sitting out here instead of finishing what we started two nights ago! This is Iowa, Mat! Iowa!”