Spy in a Little Black Dress - By Maxine Kenneth Page 0,110

state of affairs seemed to be an occupational hazard for a single woman CIA agent sent to glamorous foreign locales where exciting male colleagues awaited her.

Now Jackie was back home at Merrywood with that familiar ache in her heart, and her fear of ending up the spinster headmistress at Miss Porter’s, her old finishing school, nagged with a vengeance. But instead of being able to look for a beau, Jackie would have to focus on courting Jack Kennedy, not as a possible suitor, but strictly to complete the unfinished business of her assignment: to woo him to befriend the CIA.

A whole year had passed since Jackie had to break her first date with Jack to go off to New Orleans, but Charlie Bartlett had assured her that Jack was eager to see her again. “He’s just so busy campaigning for the Senate that he scarcely has time for anything else,” Charlie had said. He had time for a fling with a showgirl in Havana, Jackie thought, but she kept that observation to herself.

Jackie mulled over possible ploys she could use to get to see Jack again. She could simply call him up and ask him to Sunday dinner at Merrywood, but that seemed too forward. She could drum up some social event like a charity ball and ask him to be her escort, but again, she thought that was sticking her neck out too far. It had to be an invitation that didn’t have any romantic connotations, something practical that would serve his purposes as a senatorial candidate, but what would that be? Of course, Jackie thought as the idea hit her. She would ask to interview him for her column as the Times-Herald’s Inquiring Camera Girl. She would assure him that it would be a positive piece and good publicity for his campaign. How could he refuse?

Wearing a chic Coco Chanel suit and midheel Gucci pumps that added no more height than necessary, Jackie strode down the marble lobby of the Cannon House Office Building and took the elevator to the third floor. When she came to Jack’s office near the end of the long hall, she paused outside the mahogany door, stared at the words JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY, MEMBER OF CONGRESS engraved on the brass nameplate, and gathered her nerve.

Inside, she was expecting to see a receptionist at the desk in the waiting room, but no one was there. It was noontime, and Jackie assumed that the receptionist had gone out for lunch, so she walked into an inner office, thinking that the secretary would escort her in to see Jack. But the secretary, whose name, Jackie had learned, was Mary Barelli Gallagher, wasn’t there either. Actually, having impersonated Mary in her frantic phone call at the Europa, Jackie was relieved not to have to face the real Mary in person.

Jack’s office door was closed, so Jackie coughed loudly to make her presence known. Within minutes, the door opened and a young woman emerged, her hair disheveled, her lipstick smeared, and her clothes in disarray.

The woman blinked at Jackie, ran a hand through her hair, tucked her blouse back into her skirt, and quickly sat down behind the desk. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” she said with a guilty smile. “Congressman Kennedy’s secretary and receptionist are on their lunch breaks, and I’m filling in. May I help you?”

Jackie smiled back and tried to keep the wry amusement out of her voice. “I’m Jacqueline Bouvier from the Times-Herald. I have an appointment to interview Congressman Kennedy for my column.”

The girl glanced at a notepad on the desk. “Oh yes, Miss Bouvier,” she said, nodding. She picked up the phone, announced Jackie, waited a moment, and then pointed to the door to Jack’s office. “Go right in. He’s expecting you.”

Jack rose from behind his desk when he saw Jackie and flashed a big, shiny grin at her. He looked thinner than she had remembered and held a hand on his back as if it pained him. Apparently, the back problem that Charlie Bartlett had told her about was a chronic one, but it did nothing to dim Jack’s aura of incandescent charisma that had enthralled everyone at the dinner party the night she first met him. That allure was still in full force, and he was still dazzlingly handsome.

“So nice to see you again, Jackie,” he said warmly. “You look lovely. Have a seat.”

He waited for Jackie to settle into an armchair facing his desk before he sat back down