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Chapters (51)
  1. Cover
  2. Books by Elizabeth Camden
  3. Title Page
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty-One
  25. Twenty-Two
  26. Twenty-Three
  27. Twenty-Four
  28. Twenty-Five
  29. Twenty-Six
  30. Twenty-Seven
  31. Twenty-Eight
  32. Twenty-Nine
  33. Thirty
  34. Thirty-One
  35. Thirty-Two
  36. Thirty-Three
  37. Thirty-Four
  38. Thirty-Five
  39. Thirty-Six
  40. Thirty-Seven
  41. Thirty-Eight
  42. Thirty-Nine
  43. Forty
  44. Forty-One
  45. Forty-Two
  46. Historical Note
  47. Questions for Discussion
  48. In 2020, look forCaroline Delacroix’sstory in
  49. About the Author
  50. Back Ads
  51. Back Cover

Roy gazed into space. “I can’t even imagine such a thing. Is it interesting?”

Her heart turned over. How much her parents had sacrificed to send her and Elaine here. In the past six months, she’d started to take these marvels for granted, but Roy certainly didn’t. As soon as the wedding was over, she’d be sure her parents saw the mastodon and anything else they wanted to experience in this wonderful city.

She could only hope that by then, she would have shaken off this despondent sense of feeling like a flightless bird at the same time Elaine had found her wings.

Thirty-Four

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Gray rarely took the time to read The Washington Post first thing in the morning. Early morning hours were his most productive time, so he couldn’t explain his compulsion to sit in his parlor and open the newspaper. The story that jumped out at him was a two-page spread.

Family of Saboteurs, Socialites, and Spies

The article was a kick in the gut. He battled a tightness in his chest as he read the article, a direct assault on his motives for undermining the misbranded Magruder applesauce. It painted the applesauce story as a carefully orchestrated takedown of his business rival, using the auspices of Good Housekeeping to carry out a personal vendetta.

Fury made it hard to see straight. He had to set the newspaper down and draw a few breaths while his vision cleared. He’d never trusted Dickie Shuster. The man would stab his mother in the back if it would make for a juicy story.

Gray forced his ire down as he picked up the newspaper to keep reading, but it only got worse as Dickie turned his attention to Caroline and Luke.

Luke Delacroix is currently incarcerated in a Cuban jail, awaiting trial for espionage and consorting with the enemy. While there have always been traitors skulking in our nation, rarely do those villains have siblings who work within arm’s length of the American president. Caroline Delacroix is the personal secretary to our country’s first lady, meaning she spends most of her time inside the White House, possibly wielding undue influence over the infirm Mrs. McKinley.

He didn’t care about the rehashing of his feud with the Magruders, but something needed to be done to quell the damage to Caroline, and it needed to be done fast. This was the first time news of Luke’s arrest had reached the general public, and it was going to devastate Caroline. They’d always known that sooner or later this story might leak, but he’d hoped for more time.

Less than an hour later, Gray was at the White House, sitting in the garden behind the house while Caroline read the article, her face white and lips tense. She didn’t deserve to be punished for Luke’s actions.