A line appeared between Karima’s brows as she frowned with confusion. After a beat she gave another trill of laughter. “Oh. No, I did not mean—” She laughed a little more, then wiped her eyes. “Pardon me. No, I was not suggesting you use your female charms in the bedroom. Although, there are, of course, the network executives.” Karima sighed. “The men in New York, they like to date the female staff in Washington and Chicago. Bureaus they can visit away from their wives. Do you golf? They like to take the girls to ‘corporate golf tournaments.’ This way they can expense it.” She winked. “And Bibb would be powerless to stop it.” For a moment Karima studied Natalie. “But no. I do not think you have what it takes to make it that way.”

Where Natalie should have felt indignation and pride, she was instead overcome by a gaping vacuum of insecurity. She forced a laugh and said, “I guess I don’t really have the looks for that. Or the lingerie.”

Karima smiled. “I was thinking more you don’t have the stomach for it. I wouldn’t worry about the looks. Several of the men in the restaurant got cricks in their neck watching you when you walked in.” She shook her head. “No, it is better the other way. You rely on our network.”

“Your network?” Karima made it sound like a spy organization.

“Of women. In this town, the women help one another,” Karima confided with a smile.

Bibb must not have gotten that memo, Natalie thought.

“Of course, not all of them,” Karima added, as if reading Natalie’s mind. “Your Bibb for example. She doesn’t play well with other women. She only helps herself. But others...” Karima pointed across the room to a woman with a neck like a goose and short salt-and-pepper bobbed hair. “You see over there? That is Helen Cay.”

Helen Cay needed no introduction to Natalie. She was one of the most respected political reporters in town.

“Seven years ago, she was hired from radio to cover Congress for network TV, but the executives in New York refused to put her on air. They said she was too ugly. Of course they knew what she looked like when they’d hired her.” Karima made a gesture to convey the absurdity of this world. “The female senators she’d been covering for years saw what was happening and started feeding her stories, turning down interviews with anyone else. Left with no choice, the network eventually put Helen on air. Now they say she will get the Sunday show as soon as the anchor chair opens up.”