Lady President by Linda Owen

Author:Linda Owen [Owen, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781631922923
Published: 2014-12-10T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 31

The next morning a mob of reporters swarmed into the Press Briefing Room in the West Wing. Seated in blue theater seats that faced the podium, they chattered among themselves, waiting for the press conference to begin. In the hall, peeping through the opened door, Stephanie postponed her entrance until everyone found a seat.

Tony came along out of curiosity. He could have watched the gathering on TV, but he wanted to be there to assist Emilia through any awkward moments. He squeezed past Roberta Gibbs and her aides, closer to the alleged sisters.

“I’m going to field their questions before I introduce you,” Stephanie told her twin. “It’ll be about fifteen minutes.”

Samantha nodded. “I’m going to sit down.” She strolled into the adjoining Press Staff Room, empty now of journalists.

No one seemed to hear her. Adam dotingly fixed Stephanie’s collar. “Finding Samantha is just what we needed,” he said. “It’s going to give you lots of favorable publicity.”

Tony stood nearby and watched them. In other circumstances, Stephanie and Adam would be a nice-looking couple. There was a spark between them that no one could miss.

Tony wasn’t concerned. He had long ago come to grips with their affection for each other. Any other husband would be jealous to see Adam putting his hands on his wife. But not Tony. He felt nothing, except a slight irritation at being ignored.

Bored, he whirled around and strode towards the door. He intended to go to the Oval Office for a highball, but he spied Samantha sitting alone, squirming nervously in her chair. He darted just inside the door.

“Don’t worry. All you have to do is smile.” He glanced back into the corridor to see Stephanie and Roberta deep in conversation. His absence had not been noticed.

“Did you see my blue contacts?” Samantha asked. “I look in the mirror now and I see this woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. I don’t recognize me.”

Tony squeezed her hand. “You look beautiful. Just do what you did at the airport.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “How’d you come up with that stuff yesterday about old man Taylor—and about being wounded in the hand?”

“It just came to me.”

“It was brilliant. Listen, they’re planning on giving you a blood test—”

“It worked out fine.” Samantha stopped talking as an agitated Dr. Pierce scurried past the door. “She must be here about the DNA test results. I wonder what’s wrong.”

Trouble lines surfaced on Tony’s brow. “You gave them your blood?”

“I was smart about it. I got her to take a hair sample.” Her smile became a smirk. “I had Stephanie’s brush from the mansion in my purse.”

Bedlam broke out in the corridor. By the time Tony and Samantha rejoined the others, Dr. Pierce was crying. Stephanie, whimpering, dropped a copy of Scoop onto the floor. “Why does she hate me?”

“I don’t know how you put up with Cheri Eastley. I’m going to sue her,” Dr. Pierce said through gritted teeth. She swung around, eyes blazing, and stared at Tony.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.