Chapter 43 Sweet Sensation

• Brynne was kissing my hand this time. I felt warmth flush all throughout my body and tried to hold onto the wonderfulness of the sensation while it lasted, because her gesture made me far too emotional to speak.
• "I never knew that my dad went to Senator Oakley and basically blackmailed him. He was livid that he'd nearly lost me and blamed Lance Oakley for every- thing. My dad wanted to press charges but realized I was in no shape to with- stand a trial and probably never would be. And the added bonus of my mother telling him to leave it alone, and allow me to heal in peace, convinced him to let the idea of a formal prosecution go. But Daddy still wanted retribution of some form. Senator Oakley just wanted all the ugly to go far, far away from his political career, so he forced his son to enlist in the army and solved his biggest problem when Lance was shipped off to Iraq. Then he arranged for my acceptance at the University of London when the time came that I was well enough to leave New Mexico and go off to college. We decided on London mostly because it was so far away from home and the art was here. I could speak the language and Aunt Marie lived here already, so I wouldn't be completely on my own in a foreign country without at least some family."
• "So the senator has known exactly where you were all these years?" The situation sucked, was much bigger than I ever imagined, and the risks to Brynne could be enormous.. "I never knew that part until last week," she whispered. "I thought I got in on my own merits."