Fires of Autumn by Kathryn Le Veque Page A

to go for dinner?”
    She
shrugged, her gaze moving out onto the street, the sidewalk, watching the world
go by as she thought on his question.  Before she could open her mouth, he took
her right hand and tucked it into the crook of his left elbow.  She looked at
him, surprised.
    “Why did
you do that?” she asked.
    He
wouldn’t look at her, the brown eyes scanning the landscape. “Because I figured
you wouldn’t let me hold your hand. This is the next best thing.”
    She
laughed softly. “Are we going to the prom again?”
    “Looks
like it.”
    She
continued to snort. “I’ll have to let you go when we go around the corner. If
anyone from the White House sees us, we’ll have a lot of explaining to do.”
    “So just
let me enjoy it for the next minute, will you?”
    She
squeezed his arm as they walked along. “Want to go to Charlie Palmer Steak
House tonight?”
    He nodded
as he glanced over at her. “Sounds great.”
    She smiled
up at him, aware she was walking very close to him with her arm looped through
his. “Good,” she said. “I’ll be there at six-thirty barring any great world
catastrophe.”
    He just
nodded but there was a strange look on his face.  Casey caught it. “What’s
wrong? Why do you look like that?”
    He
shrugged.  They were nearing the intersection next to the White House so he
took her hand off his elbow, kissed it, and let it go.
    “I was
trying to think of the last time I was out on a date and I really can’t,” he
looked at her as they stopped to wait for the light. “I hope I remember how to
behave.”
    Casey
grinned, although she wasn’t quite over the soft, warm kiss to her hand.  Her
heart was racing because of it.
    “You’ll do
fine,” she told him, stepping off the curb when the light turned green but
noticing he wasn’t following. “What’s wrong?”
    He
remained up on the curb. “Nothing,” he pointed to the West Wing in the
distance. “You should probably walk in without me. I’ll follow in a little
while.”
    She
understood, waving at him as she continued across the street and up onto the
sidewalk on the other side. Colt watched her as she moved down the sidewalk and
headed up to the guard shack near the west wing.  He found himself watching the
way her gorgeous hair reflected the light, the shape of her legs in those sexy
shoes, and realized that he had gotten himself in to a huge amount of trouble. 
    He was
attracted to her more than he should have been and he couldn’t help it. He
didn’t want to help it.  Meade and the others were expecting him to get close
to her and that was his goal, but he had no intention of using her and moving
on.  That was the last thing he wanted to do.   Casey Cleburne was crossing
lines with him and he couldn’t stop any of it.  Part of him felt sick about him
but a greater part of him was giddy with joy.  He hadn’t felt such things in
years.  He was very much looking forward to their date that night.
    Pulling
his cell phone out of his pocket, he made a call.

 
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Casey was
faced with a surprise when she walked back into her office.
    An
enormous bouquet of flowers was on her desk, the vase of cut crystal and
flowers of gorgeous lilies, roses and gladiolas.   The entire arrangement had
to be three feet tall and when she entered her office, Maggie and Lisanne were
there, smelling the flowers and admiring the beauty of the arrangement.  They
whirled on Casey when she entered.
    “Look at
this,” Lisanne was excited. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
    Casey was
a little taken aback.  Startled, she inspected the massive arrangement with a good
deal of curiosity.  There was a big card stuck in a fancy holder and she
plucked it out, looking at all of the flowers as she opened up the card.
    “Good
Lord,” she hissed. “This thing must have set someone back a few hundred
dollars.”
    “Who’s it
from?” Maggie wanted to know.
    Casey
finished opening the envelope and pulled out