Capitol Offense (Texas Heroines in Peril) Read Online Free

wants you
to be his date tonight at the Headliners party, but the problem is
his schedule won't allow him to pick you up--nothing new I know.
But, he did want me to make sure you didn't mind meeting him
there."
    "Of course not." Jim was always so
thoughtful, she thought with affection.
    "Good. And I don't suppose I need to tell
you to remain mute on the snooping reporters' questions about
wedding bells, do I?"
    "It galls me they bring up a subject like
that when his wife hasn't been dead a year."
    "I know. If only they had seen his grief
first hand as we did. But he's doing much better now--with your
help. I wouldn't be surprised if you aren't the next first lady of
Texas."
    "You're embarrassing me. Really, there's
been nothing between us." She rose. "I hope I don't see you again
until tonight. I'll be out of my office this morning researching
that day care speech."
    Back in her office, she could not help
thinking about what Richard had said. She had thought Jim Chambers'
partiality toward her was out of professional respect. When she
joined his staff he took a great deal of time with her, teaching
her his particular style of speech-making along with his goals,
both legislative and political.
    Now she rarely had to consult him before
drafting a speech. She knew when to use chronological order. She
knew when pathos could be used effectively. She knew how to please
him as well as the Texans who had set him up as a demigod.
    Now that she thought about
it, there had been romantic gestures on Jim's part. He was never
too busy to think of her feelings. And whenever he was out of town
he called her on the pretext of discussing a speech. On her
birthday he had treated the staff to a lunch at her favorite
restaurant, a Mexican one in the barrio of East Austin, and he had
sent her a dozen yellow roses, saying she was his "Yellow Rose of
Texas."
    Until today, she had never admitted a
romance could be possible between herself and Jim Chambers. She
pushed those thoughts out of her mind. Even back when his wife was
still alive. Lacy had dismissed any gestures he made toward her.
Especially when his wife had been alive. After all, he's a
politician, she told herself. It's his job to make each person feel
special, each agenda important.
    What about the time, she now wondered, when
she first started working for Jim and he called her into his office
and asked her to stand beside him as he looked out over the tree
tops of the Capitol grounds. He had put his arm around her and
spoke solemnly. "We can rule this land, make it a better
place."
    Feeling uncomfortable with
his arm around her, she watched him as his gaze fell on the
Governor's Mansion across the street. "What we're going to do is
bigger than Texas," he had said. Why had she felt the we was not the
politician's verbal rhetoric? Had he meant we as in him and me? she wondered.
But what about his wife?
    The frumpy Mrs. Chambers was no longer an
obstacle. She was dead.
     

Chapter 4
     
    Scanning through her files on day care
programs was of little help in composing the speech, but the day
care section of the appropriations bill gave Lacy an idea. Five
million dollars had been allocated for establishment of a day care
center serving children of migrant farm workers. The federal
government had matched the state's money, each of them providing
two and a half million. The program was being initiated in
Schneiderburg, Jim's old senatorial district.
    Since Schneiderburg was less than a two-hour
drive away, Lacy decided to drive there and talk to the program
director and the children. She could take slides for a slide
presentation.
    Schneiderburg was the county seat of
Schneiderburg County. The population of the entire county was not
as large as that of most county seats. Most or its residents were
white, but several hundred migrant farm workers made their home
there during harvesting season.
    If the city was famous for citrus fruit, it
was even more famous for giving the state Jim Chambers. And