Lattimore led Gabe by the arm across the Red Room and introduced him to the second interesting and attractive woman he had met in just an hour. Lily Sexton had a dazzling, ageless aura, starting from her pure silver hair, cut elegantly short. Her face, virtually unlined, was sharp and intelligent, highlighted by piercing blue-green eyes. Her black tuxedo was perfectly tailored to her tall, slender figure, and just above the top button of her jacket, where a shirt would have been, had she been wearing one, rested a spectacular turquoise pendant on a silver chain.

Protruding from beneath her pants were top-of-the-line alligator cowboy boots. The stylish western look made a clear statement about the woman's willingness to fly in the face of fashion, but Gabe guessed that, with the addition of the inlaid turquoise ring and earrings that matched her necklace, the price of her outfit came to as much or more than that of many of the evening gowns in the room.

"Excuse me if I'm out of line," Gabe said after Lattimore had completed the introduction and moved on, "but Magnus told me you were one of Carol's college professors. I don't know exactly how old the First Lady is, but I have trouble doing the math around that relationship."

"Why, thank you, Dr. Singleton," Lily said with an easy drawl—maybe Arizona, Gabe thought. "What a flattering thing to say. But I'm afraid my friend Magnus hasn't got his facts quite right. I was a graduate assistant of Carol's, not a professor. We've been dear friends since the day we met. There's not much more than five or six years' difference in our ages. She would have made a terrific scientist, but she had other plans."

"The dilemma of Carol Stoddard," he said, "test tubes, Bunsen burners, and white mice, or the chance to marry an absolutely brilliant war hero, hunk of a man, and change the world for the better. Hmmmm. Let . . . me . . . think."

"Believe me," she said, "if a man like Drew Stoddard had dropped into my life, I would have made the same choice Carol did. Actually, somewhere along the way, a few men did come along with enough going for them to marry, but none of them ended up having Drew's staying power. . . . So, Doctor, how has your Washington medical experience been so far?"

"A few visiting dignitaries have been sent to the clinic for various bumps and bruises and upset stomachs, but thankfully, the First Patient hasn't dialed my number except to tell me that there were a lot of people anxious to meet me tonight and so I'd better show up."

"Oh yes, speaking as one of those people, congratulations."

"Thanks. You're the one deserving of congratulations, though. Magnus tells me you are destined for a cabinet post."

"If we win."

"We're going to win."

"In that case, I'll be the first Secretary of Science and Technology."