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friend as good as Charles.
    Charles chided her gently for her growing and obvious ner vousness as he drove rapidly down the road that led to
the Carlisle estate. "Don't worry so. You're
old news," he reminded her. "There's the local political scandal to
latch onto now."
    "What political scandal?" she asked. "And
how do you know about it when you've been out of
town?"
    "Because our lieutenant governor has been participating
in a conference on the problems of inner cities in
Memphis. I sat next to him on the flight home," he said smugly. Keeping
his eyes on the road, he leaned toward her.
"It seems that the attorney general intervened in a criminal case for a friend. The criminal he got paroled was serving time for armed robbery, but when he
got out, he went right home and killed his
ex-wife for testifying against him and is now back
in prison. But the wheels of political change are going to roll over the governor's fair-haired boy."
    "Oh, my goodness," she burst out. "But he
was only doing a kindness. How could he know...?"
    "He couldn't, and he isn't really
to blame, but the opposition

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    Beloved
    Diana Palmer
    189

party is going to use it to crucify him. I understand his resignation is forthcoming momentarily."
    "What a shame," Tira said honestly. "He's done a wonderful job. I met him at one of the charity benefits earlier this year and thought how lucky we were to have elected someone so
capable to the position! Now, if he resigns, I
guess the governor will have to temporarily
appoint someone to finish his term."
    “ No doubt he will."
    "Maybe he'll slide out of it.
Lots of politicians do."
    "Not this time, I'm afraid," Charles said.
"He's made some bitter enemies
since he took office. They'll love the opportunity to settle the score."
    She recalled that Simon had antagonized plenty of people
when he held the office of state attorney general.
But it would have taken more than a scandal to unseat him. He had a clever
habit of turning weapons against their wielders.
    She closed her eyes and ground her teeth as she realized
how pitiful she was about him, still. Everything reminded her of
Simon. She hadn't wanted to come tonight,
either, but the alternative was to stay home and let the whole city know what a
coward she was. She had to hold her
head up high and pretend that everything was fine, when her whole world was lying in shards around her feet.
    She hadn't tried to kill herself, but one particularly
lurid news paper account said she had, and added that it had been over
former attorney general Simon Hart, who'd
rejected her. It was in a news paper
published by a relative of Jill Sinclair, a woman who'd been a rival of Tira's for
Simon during the past few years. Tira had been even more humiliated at that particular
story, but when she'd phoned the reporter who wrote it, he denied any knowledge
of Jill Sinclair. Still, she was
certain dear Jill had a hand in it.
    Tira shuddered, realizing that Simon must have seen the story, too. He'd know what a fool she'd been over him, which was
just one more humiliation. Living that down wasn't
going to be easy. But she did have Charles beside her.
And he had his own ordeal to face, because his sister-in-law would certainly be
present.
    A valet came to park the car for Charles, who was torn
between escorting Tira inside or
accompanying the elegantly dressed young man
assigned to the car placement to make sure he didn't put a scratch on "Big Red."
    "Go ahead," Tira said
with amused resignation. "I'll wait on the steps for you."
    "You're such a doll," he murmured and made a
kissing motion toward her. "How many women in
the world would understand a man's passion for
his car? Here, son, I'll just ride down with you to the parking lot."
    The valet seemed torn between shock and
indignation.
    "He's in love with it!" Tira called to the young man. "He can't help
himself. Just humor him!"
    The valet broke into a wide grin and climbed under the
steering wheel.
    It was unfortunate that while she