"If Irene said that, she's toast, but I know she didn't."

"Okay, okay, she said she would have to recruit three or four people to match what you do with the kids each week."

"That's better."

"She also said that a lot of your efforts lately have gone into planning and raising money for an indoor riding facility."

"We're getting there."

"Gabe, take this job for me and you are there."

Gabe felt his pulse leap. Sooner or later, the new stables and riding arena were going to happen, but at the moment they were still little more than an ambitious dream.

"You would do that?" he asked.

"The day you set foot in the White House medical office, an anonymous angel will donate fifty thousand dollars to Lariat. If that isn't enough to finish the job, I know another angel or two who will want to help."

Another volley of skipped heartbeats. Bake sales and silent auctions could only take things so far, so fast, and other Lariat projects had all but tapped out their regular boosters. Fund-raising for this dream had been surprisingly slow, and there were at least a dozen boys and girls on the waiting list who could be brought on board along with the staff to deal with them, the moment the arena and stables were finished.

Gabe paced across the kitchen and back. He had no doubt that if Drew Stoddard promised money for Lariat, money there would be.

"I can't believe," Gabe said, "that with a machine as efficient as this Magnus working for you, you're worried about getting elected."

"Well I am worried. This campaign's going to be a marathon. Brad Dunleavy is a warrior, who has already served a term as president. Our two parties are poised and ready to claw one another to shreds. Control of both houses of Congress could hang on a single seat. But you know what, Gabe? I just heard what I was saying about arranging for your project to be funded if you come to D.C., and I'm taking it all back. You don't deserve to have me sit here bribing you. That was Magnus's idea, but now that I've done it I don't like the way it sounds and I don't like the way I feel. After all you've been through and the way you've bounced back, and all the people you've helped, you just don't deserve it. So I give you my word that regardless of what you decide about coming to Washington, the money you need will be here for you and all the kids you serve."

Gabe knew he was surrounded—outflanked, outmaneuvered. No wonder the man had never lost an election. Was the sudden commitment to fund Lariat's expansion irrespective of Gabe's decision part of Magnus Lattimore's carefully designed strategy, or was Drew being legitimately spontaneous and sincere? And most important, did it really matter?

How can you tell a politician is lying? His lips are moving!