Knight (Political Royalty Book 1)

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

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H
AVEN GRAHAM STARED AT THE posed
politician and his family
photo on the table beside her and wondered what possessed her to take a meeting with the spoiled, Southern pretty boy who wanted to be king.

Fresh off her senatorial win in Virginia, she could have taken her pick of candidates, so why Walker? Except she knew why. Senator William Shepherd Walker, Shep as his friends called him, was the golden son of one of the largest political dynasties in the United States. He had the looks, the money, and the name and if she’d read the trail of cloak-and-dagger bread crumbs his chief of staff had laid out for her, he wanted to be president. She wanted to run a presidential campaign, and he had the bones in place to actually win.

She was hot shit for the moment, but politics moved fast and the hottest commodity in town could go cold in an instant. One wrong move and she’d end up as nothing more than a footnote to someone else’s career. The Walker name had the kind of staying power that built legacies. If she helped him get elected, it would change everything. It was the Holy Grail, Blackbeard’s treasure and the lost library of Alexandria all rolled into one once in a lifetime opportunity. One she couldn’t and didn’t want to pass up. Not even if the candidate ended up being a vapid trust fund baby.
Please don’t let that be true
.

Maybe he wasn’t who she thought. The senator’s alternate agriculture system didn’t exactly fit his family’s
let them eat cake
party line. Just because his father, the governor, had a legacy that seemed intent on taking civil rights, women’s rights, and progressive social advances backward didn’t automatically make the son misogynistic. Although that felt more like trying to justify what she wanted than reality. There was a reason people used the phrase the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The fact that it was a golden apple from a big ass tree shouldn’t matter, but it did.

She glanced at her phone, wondering how long the Honorable Governor Walker intended to keep her waiting and why they needed secrecy so much they’d flown her to the Governor’s Mansion in South Carolina instead of meeting at the senator’s office in DC. If anything, it added to the daddy’s boy impression she’d been trying so hard to ignore. Political dynasty or not, if she worked to make someone president, she wanted it to be someone she could at least respect. Given the circumstances, it wasn’t a deal breaker but she could hope.

The huge white paneled door opened and a pretty young woman emerged, still smiling over her shoulder at someone or something in the room behind her. She wore a short straight skirt, four-inch heels, and a floral blouse more suited to an afternoon tea than the halls of power. With her ample cleavage and her full lips shining with rose-colored gloss, she looked like classy sex. Fairly or unfairly, Haven added philanderer to the list of the governor’s faults.

“Ms. Graham, Governor Walker will see you now.” The woman’s drawl added an extra syllable to Haven’s name and sounded deeper than the ones she’d gotten used to in Virginia.

“Thank you,” she said, smoothing a hand over her charcoal-gray pants and ivory silk blouse, still holding up after the flight from Dulles and the ride in from the airport.

The other woman held the door for her and Haven entered a room with a style reminiscent of an upscale gentleman’s club and overlaid with the lingering scent of cigars. The chair behind the governor’s desk sat empty, but it only took a moment to pick the man out of the group clustered around the small seating area. Even nearing seventy, the silver-haired man had the good looks that had helped win him the office and that seemed at odds with his hard living reputation. He smiled at her, and she could see why he’d won every election he’d ever run for. He looked like a kind father who knew the answers to all the problems and would be more than happy to take care of them. Voters ate that paternalistic shit up with Walker’s silver spoon and washed it down with their mint juleps.

It was the senator, however, who stepped forward to meet her, his hand extended. She’d seen pictures of the man who’d become one of the youngest men ever elected to the state congress before winning two terms in the US Senate. Pictures didn’t do him justice. Senator Walker took her hand in both of his, trapping her in his warmth while his gaze locked on to hers. Then he hit her with a smile that knocked even a cynic like her sideways a step.

“Ms. Graham, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Come sit,” he said, ushering her to the sofa in the center of the seating area. “You must be tired from your flight. Can I offer you something to drink?”

The young woman stepped forward, eager to fill the senator’s request, and Haven reconsidered whether philanderer belonged on the father or the son’s list. Hell, knowing what she did about most politicians, it probably fit both.

“Nothing for me, thank you.” The hour and a half long flight on the Walker’s private jet hardly exhausted her.

“Emily, would you send for a pitcher of sweet tea,” said the governor, reaching for Haven’s hand. “Be sure to have them send up a glass for Miss Graham, in case she changes her mind.”

The woman scurried off and the governor turned his attention back to Haven while she fought the urge to pull her hand from his. His handshake felt like more of a caress than good manners, and it bordered on uncomfortable.

“You’ve already spoken with Travis Davidson, my chief of staff,” said Senator Walker, deftly positioning himself between Haven and his father in a move that seemed born out of years of practice.

A short man with a slight paunch that came from too much time spent sitting behind a desk leaned over to shake her hand. “It’s a pleasure,” he said, the drawl softening his words.

“Abigail Moore,” said the senator, motioning to a woman with soft brown hair, sitting to his right. “Abby has been with me since my first run for the state congress. She started out as a phone volunteer and has become invaluable to my family.”

“Ms. Graham, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” said Haven, taking her offered hand.

The woman was pretty but in a subdued way. Haven had a feeling that if she wanted to, the other woman could sink into the background, watching everything that went on around her. The fact that she was still around after three campaigns and a move to DC spoke volumes about her tenacity and the ability to make herself relevant to the senator. The way she bloomed under his praise said more.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here,” said the senator.

“I assumed it’s because you intend to run for president and need someone to handle your campaign.” No reason to dance around the elephant in the room. She had to make up her mind about the Walkers and get back to the city in time to meet Justin for dinner. Her longtime friend, assistant, and serial monogamist met a man he was crazy about and wanted Haven’s opinion. They had reservations at Key, the hottest new restaurant on Capitol Hill. Justin had to pull a tapestry’s worth of strings to get them into the place. It wasn’t worth her hide to be late.

Abby sucked in a breath and sat up straighter, but Governor Walker laughed. “I told you she was the one,” he said, like he’d picked her out of a catalog.

“I’m thinking about it,” said Senator Walker, leaning forward, his fingers steepled in front of him.

His dark-eyed gaze studied her, and she found herself concentrating not to squirm. She had no trouble understanding why he’d been voted one of the Hill’s hottest young congressmen. The cut of his suit jacket emphasized the broad expanse of his shoulders in a way that didn’t happen off the rack and the barest hint of stubble on his square jaw made her palm itch.

That’s not what caught her attention. He was a married politician, and she had no intention of ever going down that road. But the way he looked at her felt so compelling. Before the meeting, she’d watched videos of him working the crowds at the town halls held when he ran for the Senate. She’d seen the charisma even through the screen. It was nothing compared to the real thing. The way he looked at her made her feel like the only other person in the room.

Regardless of their policies, all the best ones had it—Clinton, Obama, the second Bush—but it was something that couldn’t be taught. And it was the difference between credentials and winning. A candidate could have the deepest resume in the field, but that rarely earned them enough support to beat the kind of natural charisma that dragged people out of their houses in the rain to cast their votes. Walker had it. In spades.

“If you haven’t decided, why am I here?” she asked, taking her power back before she did something asinine, like beg him to run.

“To help me decide.” He leaned back, breaking eye contact. It felt as if someone had turned off a spotlight, and she could see again.

“My son has been approached by the head of the party and the Speaker of the House, telling him this is his year,” said the governor, with just enough condescension in his voice to let her know she should be impressed. “I don’t understand his hesitation. You’re here to remove it.”

Haven glanced from father to son, waiting to see how the senator responded. It was Davidson who spoke first.

“Money won’t be a problem. The large donors are just waiting for the word from us. We can self-fund to fill in the gaps if the need arises but I doubt it’ll come to that.”

Haven doubted it too. The senator’s personal fortune ran into the tens of millions. His patent for the biofuel system he’d invented the year he graduated from college was worth tens of millions in its own right. Aqua Biofarms, the company he’d sold before his first run, netted him millions more. The Walkers had made their money in real estate at the turn of the century and unlike a handful of the other super-rich families, subsequent generations added to the till instead of depleting it. The family was worth billions, but for a standard-bearer like Shepherd Walker, the party loyalists would come out of the woodwork, waving their checkbooks. If Walker ran, funding the campaign wouldn’t be a problem.

Haven glanced at Ms. Moore to see if she’d speak, but she imagined the woman rarely offered an opinion. Watching the room and Walker with just a smidge of hero worship seemed more her style.

“Why do you want to be president?” she asked. In Haven’s experience, politicians were some of the vainest, most self-possessed, insecure people she’d ever met. They also had a laser-beam focus that, if properly directed, could accomplish amazing things.

“The same reason I started Aqua Biofarms. To make things easier for people. To help us grow past where we are so our kids and grandkids can have a better future,” said Walker, pinning her with his gaze. The corner of his mouth turned up in the barest hint of a grin. “To make the world a better place.”

––––––––

“W
HAT DO YOU think?” asked Shep after Ms. Graham had left to fly back to the city.

Haven. Ms. Graham didn’t suit her. Maybe it had been a mistake to drag her the whole way to South Carolina, but despite the disagreements Shep had always had with his father, he valued the older man’s opinion. The man was a political titan. And having the meeting at his father’s office minimized some of the speculation. He didn’t want to feed talk about a run until he knew for certain it was what he wanted. It was bad enough that the buzz had already started on the Hill. The Governor’s Mansion sat far enough away from the political epicenter for most people to notice a random meeting.

“I don’t know what you’re waiting for,” said the senior Walker. “Hire the woman and let’s get on with this thing. It’s time, Shep.”

Pride rang clear in his father’s voice, and Shepherd smiled at the older man. “I appreciate your enthusiasm. I really do, but I need to be sure. If I do this, I’m going to have to resign my seat. And do it in a way that keeps the Democrats from winning it back.”