Tread Softly by Ann Cristy

she
murmured out loud. She jabbed her pencil at the mirror. She had dealt well with
those politicians. Even Rob Ardmore had said so.
    All at once she put her face in her hands, moaning. Yes,
but what would she do when Rafe didn't want her? Her head jerked up, her
luminous violet eyes glittering with anger. Don't be a fool! she admonished
herself. You can have a life! You can go to Greece and work in the digs. You
were going to be a working archaeologist. You still can.
    She
nodded her head at her image, accepting the nebulous comfort of her arguments.
Then she stood surveying herself in the long mirror. The velvet corduroy suit
in palest orchid with a weskit instead of a jacket and with a deeper orchid
long-sleeve blouse should have had a spring look, but instead it had the
purplish haze of the autumn color of upstate New York after the leaves have
fallen. Her shoes were a champagne suede with a matching shoulder bag. She
left her long hair down, swinging on her shoulders.
    "Well,
well. Is this what the well-dressed interim senator usually wears?" Rafe
drawled from the doorway, both hands at his hips, pushing his suit jacket back
from his body.
    "Do
you like it?" Cady tried to keep the breathiness from her voice, but
Rafe's blue eyes made her dizzy.
    "Very
much. It's the sexiest utilitarian garment I've ever seen, and it makes your
eyes look purple," he observed, reaching for her arm to lead her down the
stairs.
    "Isn't
it unusual to call a gathering of senators on the Hill on Sunday?" Cady
stopped in the doorway leading out to the patio, where a light lunch was
waiting for them.
    "It's not
senators." Rafe smiled at her. "Some lobbyists representing chemical
firms and the nuclear power people want me to pull in my horns about clean
water and air." His lips curled. "I imagine they don't want much...
just that I keep my mouth shut and not support those bills that my wife fought
so hard to keep alive for me." He looked down at her and his face turned
grim for a moment, a hard, faraway look coming into his eyes. "The
lobbyists have enlisted Bruno Trabold's help in bringing me to heel."
    "All
against the environment, of course," Cady observed, recalling the
pressures that had come to bear against her when she had decided that the very
life and

breath
of the planet were being endangered. What had once been an interest became an
absorption when she discovered how careless many were about the atmosphere when
they pursued the dollar.
    "Yes,"
Rafe said, leaning toward her. "You know, Cady, my hearing was never
impaired in the accident, and I listened when you talked about what was being
done to our country in the name of progress. I remember how appalled you were
about the goings-on in our state. I learned a great deal from you, wife."
    She could feel
her face go pink with pleasure at the earnestness in his voice. How lovely to
hear him praise her, to know that he had paid so much attention to what she
said. She thought she might even enjoy this meeting on Capitol Hill.
     
     
CHAPTER FOUR
    The
Capitol was bathed in sunlight, its concrete facade having a pinkish hue that
looked welcoming on the crisp autumn day. As usual, tourists lined the steps of
the many buildings along Constitution Avenue. The sight never failed to delight
Cady. As though Rafe could read her mind, he ordered their driver to slow the vehicle
on the wide, park like avenue.
    When Rafe
noticed people looking at the car with curiosity, he waved to some children,
who waved back. When their parents bent to them and whispered, then pointed to
the car, Rafe asked the chauffeur to stop the limousine.
    Cady knew Rafe
was sincerely interested in people, especially children. She felt a wrench as
she thought of the decision they had made long ago not to have children right
away because they wanted more time with each other. Cady often speculated that she
might have conceived more easily at eighteen, and perhaps if they had had
children at once they might have been able to