A Billionaire's Redemption - By Cindy Dees Page 0,39
people beyond the cluster of attacking women had turned to listen.
Willa spoke in an urgent undertone. “Mother, this isn’t the place to have this conversation.”
“Where else are we going to have it?” Minnie screeched. “You’re too busy shacking up with the man who tried to ruin your father. You traitorous little slut—”
A sharp voice cut across Minnie’s tirade. “That will be enough.” Gabe’s arm went around Willa’s shoulders, and he pulled her tight against his side.
“Who are you to—” Jackie Carver started.
Gabe glared around the circle of women furiously enough to quiet them all. “Minnie, you know better than to mix alcohol and your medications. You’re going to regret everything you said in the morning, but at least you’ve got an excuse for your atrocious behavior. As for the rest of you, what’s your excuse for acting like white-trash gossips?”
Shocked silence was his only answer.
He spoke grimly. “Senator Merris didn’t ask for her father to be murdered, nor did she ask to be brutally attacked. I’ve seen the evidence, and there’s no question she’s telling the truth about Ward. I also happened to be present when the governor called her to inform her of her father’s request to appoint Willa to his senate seat in the event of his death. That was entirely John Merris’s doing, not Willa’s. The lot of you should be ashamed of yourselves for acting like a pack of gutter jackals.”
And with that scornful observation, he hustled Willa past the staring women and toward the exit. By the time they reached the long staircase, she’d started to shiver, and by the time they reached the top of the stairs, she was shaking uncontrollably. Her own mother? What poison had people been spouting in Minnie’s ear to make her turn on her daughter like that?
“Just a little farther, baby,” he murmured. “Be strong for me.”
A valet held out her wrap, and Gabe grabbed it with his free hand without ever breaking stride as he hurried her to the door.
As they stepped outside, a shockingly bright light illuminated, making Willa lurch against Gabe’s side. A female voice called from the darkness beyond the spotlight, “There she is! Senator Merris, what do you have to say about the health hazards of oil fracking?”
Gabe swore under his breath beside her, then muttered to her, “That’s Paula Craddock. Don’t answer.”
“Thanks. I had that one figured out,” Willa muttered back. Why were an investigative reporter and a camera crew waiting outside this non-political fund-raiser?
As if the reporter’s call had been a cue, a crowd of people rushed forward to line the sidewalk Willa and Gabe had to traverse to reach the curb and his vehicle. There were maybe thirty people, but they all wielded cardboard signs and commenced chanting loudly, “Stop the freaking fracking!”
The signs were lurid, claiming that fracking killed kids, that oil companies were satanic and that the government had been bought off by frackers. At the end of the gauntlet of protesters waited Paula Craddock, microphone in hand.
“Looks like you’re going to have to make a statement,” Gabe mumbled. “Want me to handle this?”
“Are they here to yell at you because you own an oil company or to yell at me because I’m a politician?” she responded.
“Since no one knew I was coming to this shindig, and I wasn’t on the guest list, I’m guessing they came for the good senator. But I can tell Paula to go suck an egg if you’d like.”
“That’s okay.” She threw him a wry look as they ducked under the waving signs. “I lived in the shadow of my father for a long time. I learned a thing or two about handling hostile reporters and angry mobs.”
“Are you saying your old man had a talent for attracting both?” Gabe retorted drily.
She snorted in amusement. “Perchance.”
“Senator Merris, your father used his position to protect oil companies from taking any responsibility for the environmental and health carnage of fracking in Texas. Do you plan to do the same?”
“Congress is not in session at the moment, and no major legislation will come up for a vote regarding fracking between now and next January, so I’m not going to have an opportunity to take any stand on the matter. But thank you for asking. I’m so glad you came to cover the Annual Scholarship Ball and Auction. Let me take you inside and introduce you to the event chairwoman. Her name is Jacquelyn Carver. She’ll be thrilled to meet you and tell you all about the event.”