Free Another Notch in the Beltway by L. A. Long Page A

chuisle
. I can’t help it. Love and anger flow from one’s first language. Both such strong emotions, I think.”
    She looked deeply into his eyes, “What are you trying to tell me?”
    â€œAh, the lass is very perceptive. I’m obviously not angry with you, so I guess that leaves love. I’m falling in love with you, Lenore, hard and fast.” He continued to look into her fascinating eyes, facets of rich blues and greens coming together, then floating apart again, almost like a kaleidoscope. “I’ve scared you, haven’t I?”
    Deflecting the question, she said, “
A chuisle
means love and
mo chuisle
means my love.”
    â€œYes, you catch on quickly. I’ll have to watch my cussing; you’ll be giving it back to me in no time.”
    They both laughed to defuse the tension, sexual and otherwise.

Chapter Fifteen
    Wednesday morning, Lenore looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and frowned. She didn’t know what look she was going for, but she was thinking severe and serious. Somehow she wasn’t getting there. No, her lips were full and bee-stung and her face was flushed an innocent pink. The activity that gave her the rosy glow was anything but innocent.
    She turned sideways; even her breasts looked larger and firmer. She’d read in a health magazine that when a woman’s breasts were stroked or kissed, blood flow dilated the arteries and caused them to increase in size by up to 25 percent, at least temporarily. Until this instant, she never had reason to think about whether it was true.
    Lenore glanced up and saw Michael Patrick leaning casually on the doorframe.
    â€œYes?”
    â€œYou look sexy,
mo chuisle
, even a brown burlap sack wouldn’t take the glow away and the sparkle out of your eyes. Why would you want it to? Haven’t you ever heard the best revenge is looking good?”
    He was grinning at her, merriment dancing in those clear eyes. Eyes sky blue, unlike those of her son’s sperm donor, which were ice blue and cold as his heart. Lenore mentally shook those thoughts from her mind; MP didn’t deserve the comparison. Instead she quipped, “So I should go looking like a well-satisfied woman?”
    â€œIndeed.”
    She laughed as she slid into a conservative, navy-blue pinstripe suit and two-inch-heeled navy pumps. Glancing up, she observed MP donning a gray wool blazer. “Are you going somewhere?”
    â€œWith you, lass.”
    â€œMichael Patrick, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
    â€œI do. I won’t go into your meeting, but I will be waiting for you when you leave.”
    She was about to argue but stopped. Why shouldn’t he be there? He’d distract her from her disturbing thoughts on her way to the meeting and maybe save her from whatever emotional state she’d be in after.
    ****
    An hour later, Lenore and MP were in Attorney Connor Walker’s office. Lenore had arranged to arrive a half-hour early to discuss the situation, as she’d taken to calling it, with him. There had never been reason to before. Her attorney in Michigan had set up the financial arrangements with Maxwell’s camp, and she had invested the funds over the years, sometimes with the advice of a financial advisor but usually on her own. She trusted financial advisors about as much as she trusted politicians. Connor took care of all her business dealings, and another member of his firm dealt with her estate planning.
    â€œYou’re nervous,
a chuisle
,” MP said, taking her hand.
    â€œI suppose the cold, clammy, dead fish-like feel of my flesh was the giveaway.”
    â€œThat sounds like something Amanda might say.”
    â€œMaybe, but I said it and wasn’t thinking about Amanda. What would Cass say to her in response?”
    That response would have to wait because Walker’s admin came to escort her back.
    They exchanged pleasantries and got down to