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“Are we sure of that?”
“Yes,” Darcy growled.
Hilliard’s dubious expression irritated Darcy even more. “Do we know how the company got the USDA contract?” he asked.
“I didn’t even know they had such a contract until five minutes ago!” Darcy yelled.
“Chances are that they were awarded it through the regular bidding process,” Fitz said soothingly. “I’ll investigate.”
Caroline smiled sourly. “Even if it was all above board, a lot of people won’t believe it.”
Bing put his head in his hands. “This sucks! We’ve tried so hard to avoid this kind of thing.”
“Yeah,” Darcy sighed. After his predecessor’s attempts to use the office of president to enrich himself and his family, Darcy had made a special point of ensuring his administration avoided any hint of impropriety. An incident like this could paint him as hypocritical—a bandwagon the press would jump onto very quickly.
Bing slammed his fist on the fireplace mantel. “This is crazy! They’re just friends. Her aunt and uncle were with her, and she spent the night in her own guest room alone. We can at least get those facts out there, even if a lot of people won’t believe it.”
Hilliard gave Darcy a sharp look. “Is that true?”
Darcy rubbed his face with his hands, wishing for just a moment that he could issue such a denial. But then he wouldn’t wish away the previous night for the world. Nor was he about to start lying to the American people. “No,” he said to Hilliard.
Bing’s head jerked back. “But she went to her room, and you went to—!”
“It doesn’t matter,” Fitz said with a sympathetic glance at Darcy. “If Darcy can’t deny they slept together, then the details are irrelevant to you and me and the American people. That’s between Darcy and Elizabeth.”
Bing nodded, but Caroline looked like she had smelled something disgusting.
Hilliard sighed. “Unfortunately, it’s not. Not when you’re president.”
Darcy stared at the nautical painting over the fireplace. How had things gone so wrong so quickly? “It was one night,” he said to himself. “Just one night.” Couldn’t the universe grant him one night to call his own with a woman he cared about? “Was that too much to ask?”
Hilliard stared at him blankly. “You’re the president,” he said as if that answered the question.
Darcy muttered curses under his breath. He’d been right all along. He couldn’t date in the White House. Only a fool would think otherwise.
“Can we release some kind of statement in response?” Bing asked.
Hilliard settled back into his chair. “We’ll have to eventually, but I don’t think we’re quite ready. I’ve got Preston back at the White House monitoring the press coverage. We’ll see what the other networks and papers say.” He turned to Darcy. “And, sir, you’ll need to sit down with me and give me the history of your interactions with Ms. Bennet.”
Darcy massaged his forehead, wondering how much detail he would have to go into. “Yeah, okay.”
Hilliard nodded briskly. “And we’ll need to fly more staff out here, unless you’d like to return to Washington…?”
“No.” He’d just arrived at Pemberley!
“All right. We can set up a crisis team in the guest house.” He glanced down to scribble in a notebook.
A crisis team. I need a crisis team to handle my love life. Kind of an apt metaphor, actually.
Caroline was examining her nails. “What you really need is a team to take out the trash.” Everyone ignored her.
“How bad do you think it’ll get?” Fitz asked.
Hilliard scrunched up his face. “It’s hard to say. We’ll try to spin it; hopefully the press will pick up on our version of events. But with the allegations of an improperly awarded contract and coercion…” He shook his head. “That’s the kind of juicy story the media loves. Even if they don’t think all the allegations are credible, they’ll hop on the bandwagon because those headlines bring in viewers.” He blew out a breath. “We really won’t know the extent of the damage until the weekly approval polls.”
Bing continued to pace, twisting his watch on his wrist. “We’ve been able to turn other attacks to our advantage. There’s got to be a bright side to this.”
There was a long silence before Hilliard cleared his throat. “Well, fewer people will think the president is gay.” Darcy glared at him. “Okay, it’s a dim bright side, but still…”
