Someone To Believe In by Kathryn Shay Page B

You?”
    “These allocations should be decided by the
people who will get the social agency money.”
    Clay started to say more when the door opened
and hit the wall with a thud.
    “Sorry I’m late.” Gazes flew to the entry
    “Ah, Councilman Lawson. Glad you could make
it.” Friedman addressed the rest of them. “When he got wind of
this committee, Eric called and asked to be part of it. As a
lawyer, with his background in juvenile crime, it seemed
appropriate.”
    Lawson crossed to Bailey and sat down close
to her. She inched back and shot a surreptitious glance at Clay. He
scowled at Lawson’s proprietary gesture. She scowled back at
him.
    After the introductions were completed, the
governor clicked into his Power Point presentation. “The three
objectives of this committee and the outcomes are listed here.
Take a minute to read them, then I’ll tell you how we’ll go about
achieving them.”
    Bailey read the objectives.
     
    1. To assess current community-based
programs.
    2. To compile crime prevention research.
    3. To explore a variety of intervention
services for gang members and at-risk youth that might receive
government money.
     
    “For expediency’s sake,” the governor began
once everyone had time to read the objectives, “I’ve broken you
into subcommittees according to the above. I’d like you to get
together a couple of times before our next full task force meeting,
and come back with a report on the headway you made. Let’s split
into groups now and take a few minutes to brainstorm some places to
start, then set a time for your subcommittee to get together.”
    Bailey peered up at the screen. Sure enough,
she was grouped with Sister Marion, Ned the cop, and the senator.
The governor had obviously given his choice of participants and
subcommittees a lot of thought. Their task was to assess current
community-based programs.
    From the corner of her eye, Bailey saw Clay
peruse the screen. Then his gaze swung directly to her. The look
was hot and heavy—a lot like his mouth had been. It took her a
minute to realize she’d raised her hand to her lips, was touching
them. His eyes narrowed possessively on the gesture. Oh, hell.
    The meeting broke up, and Bailey wanted
desperately to get out of the room without a confrontation with
Clay. She didn’t know what she was feeling. Unfortunately, Eric was
at her elbow when she reached the door. “Hey, wait up.”
    “I’m in a hurry.”
    “To get away from the good senator, I’ll
bet.”
    “Eric, don’t put—”
    “Excuse me.” Clay’s deep voice raised goose
flesh on her still sensitized skin. “I was wondering if I might
speak to you, Ms. O’Neil.” He nodded to Eric. “Lawson.” Bailey
noticed his address was even cooler than usual. She wondered if he
knew about Jon showing up for Eric’s get-together.
    “I’m trying to have a word with her myself.”
Eric’s blue eyes gleamed as he regarded Clay. “By the way, Senator,
did Bailey tell you how much she enjoyed meeting your son at my
campaign organizational session?”
     
     
    CLAY PUNCHED IN the number of her cell. After
two rings, she answered in that husky voice of hers, that tonight,
ran along his nerve endings. “Bailey O’Neil.”
    “It’s me, Clay.”
    A long intake of breath. “Hi.” Her tone was
conciliatory. She didn’t bite his head off, as he half expected.
“How did you get this number?” When he didn’t respond, she said,
“Like you get addresses? And emails?”
    “The governor. I told him we’d forgotten to
exchange numbers for our subcommittee. He obviously felt it was
safe to give it to me.”
    “Goes to show how much he knows.”
    He chuckled.
    “I’m glad you called. You left so quickly
after Eric dropped that bomb.”
    “Yeah, well, my son and my greatest enemy
working in collusion on an opponent’s campaign made me speechless.”
And hurt, but he didn’t voice that.
    “It wasn’t a campaign meeting. It was just a
pre-session to see how much