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himself in bed with a naked sensuous beauty. Matt was sure there undoubtedly would have been an entirely different outcome than the hapless scene that had just been enacted.
    He groaned. No, it really couldn't get any worse than this.

    Three
    Still feeling nauseated, Matt picked up his clothes and put on most of them before opening the door to his brother. Luke Minteer rushed inside. At thirty, he had the Minteer coloring, dark hair and blue eyes, but his height came from his mother's side, the Hylands. He was five foot ten, the shortest of the four Minteer brothers, a fact he accepted with good humor most of the time.
    Six years ago, when he'd first won the state senate seat. Matt had made Luke his chief administrative aide. He planned to do the same when he went to Congress in D.C.
    *'Are you okay?" Luke frowned with concern as he studied his older brother.
    '*No." Matt made his way back to the bed and sat down on the edge. ''I'm not."
    Luke crossed the room to sit down beside him. *'Matt, I'm sorry I wasn't there last night. Maybe if I had been, I could have done something to stop it. Damn, I feel terrible about this!"

    Matt went rigid. Obviously his brother had found out that he'd gone to bed with Kristina McClure. He sighed. The last thing he needed was a lecture from his little brother. Because even though Luke, who had a law degree, had proven himself an invaluable counsel, he was still four years younger—which made him a kid brother in certain situations. Such as this one.
    *'Look, save the lecture, Luke. I know it was out of character for me, but we're both consenting adults and—"
    "Consenting? Huh? What are you talking about?" Luke interrupted, staring at him.
    ''About Kristina and me, of course," Matt growled.
    "Kristina?" Luke's eyes widened as comprehension dawned. "You brought a woman up here?" He looked around the room. "Where is she? Who is she?"
    "She's not here now," Matt declared, stating the obvious. "Her name was—is—Kristina McClure." He imparted the information, reluctant but resigned. Luke was like himself when it came to ferreting out facts. Neither would quit badgering until they got them all. "She's a lobbyist for PITA," he added.
    Luke's reaction was predictably on target. "You went to bed with a lobbyist?" He jumped up and began to pace the room, squawking his disapproval.
    "Luke, sit down," Matt demanded. "All that motion is making my headache worse."
    "The entire party leadership has a headache this morning," Luke said grimly. "Matt, brace yourself. I have a helluva story to tell you. Have you ever heard of a group called WINDS? It's an acronym for Windmills for Near and Distant States."
    "WINDS." Matt frowned thoughtfully. "Aren't they that bunch of lunatics who are committed to the idea that windmills will fulfill the country's energy needs? They want to begin their project in western Pennsylvania and have targeted the Johnstown area to build the first windmill farms."

    Matt smiled for the first time that morning. *'They came to my office a few months ago, I reviewed their proposition and poHteiy sent them on their way. Their idea was a real howler! Windmill farms in western Pennsylvania! The terrain is all wrong, it's mountainous, all steep hills and valleys, and what wind there is is pretty well blocked by the trees—tens of thousands of them! But WINDS didn't burden themselves with facts and statistics. They'd already decided that since windmills work in places Uke the Netherlands and parts of the Southwest, they can work anywhere, damn the terrain and the trees and anything else. The whole idea was sheer insanity."
    ''You can say that again," agreed Luke. ''Nobody in Harrisburg took WINDS seriously. They've been kicked out of everybody's office, from the governor on down." He paused and cleared his throat. "So they decided to take matters into their own hands. Matt, all the waiters working the ballroom last night were WINDS members. The manager hired them, knowing nothing of