Mirror Image

she shook her head no. “If you behave now, when Daddy gets here tonight, I’ll let him wake you up to give you your surprise. Okay?”
    “I want some ice cream.”
    “I’m sorry,” Avery said shaking her head no. “Bad behavior doesn’t get rewarded. Understand Mommy?”
    Mandy nodded regretfully. Avery eased her off her lap. “Now, let’s go take a bath and put your pajamas on so you and Grandma can go to bed. The faster you go to sleep, the sooner Daddy will get here.”
    Twenty minutes later, Avery tucked her in. Mandy was so tired, she was almost asleep by the time her head hit the pillow. Avery was also exhausted. The incident had sapped her stamina. She was in no frame of mind to quarrel with Zee, whose compact body was quaking with disapproval.
    “Tate will hear about the spanking,” she said.
    “Good. I believe he should.”
    She was on her way into the connecting room when the telephone rang. It was Tate. “Are you coming, or what?” he demanded without preamble.
    “Yes, I’m coming. I had a problem with Mandy, but she’s in bed now. I’ll get a cab and be there—”
    “I’m downstairs in the lobby. Be quick.”
    She did the best she could in five minutes’ time, which was all she dared allow herself. The results weren’t spectacular, but good enough to make Tate do a double take as she stepped off the elevator.
    The two-piece suit was smart and sassy. The sapphire blue silk enhanced her own vibrant coloring. The curl in her hair had been sacrificed to the humidity, so she’d opted for a sophisticated, dramatic effect and capped it off with a pair of bold, gold earrings.
    “What the hell’s going on?” Tate asked as he ushered her toward the revolving door. “Dad said Mandy was upset.”
    “Upset, my foot. Mandy was being an absolute terror.”
    “Why?”
    “She’s three years old, that’s why. She’d been cooped up in a car all day. I understood why she was behaving the way she was, but understanding only stretches so far. I hate to spoil Zee’s surprise, but I spanked her.”
    They had reached the car parked beneath the porte cochere. He paused with his hand on the passenger door handle. “What happened?”
    “It got her attention. It also worked.”
    He studied her resolute expression for a moment, then bobbed his head and brusquely ordered, “Get in.”
    He quickly tipped the doorman who’d been keeping an eye on the car, got behind the wheel, and drove cautiously out into the street. The windshield wipers clacked vigorously, but fought a losing battle against the heavy rainfall.
    Tate headed north on Main Street, rounded the distinctive Tarrant County Courthouse, then drove across the Trinity River Bridge toward north Fort Worth, where cowboys and cutthroats had made history in its celebrated stockyards.
    “Why did you come to get me?” she asked as the car streaked through the stormy night. “I could have taken a cab.”
    “I wasn’t doing anything except hanging around backstage anyway. I thought the time would be better spent doing taxi duty.”
    “What did Dirk and Ralph say about you leaving?”
    “Nothing. They didn’t know.”
    “What!”
    “By the time they figure out I’m not there, it’ll be too late for them to do anything about it. Anyway, I was goddamn tired of them editing my speech.”
    He was driving imprudently fast, but she didn’t call that to his attention. He seemed in no mood to listen to criticism. His disposition seemed black all around. “Why were we summoned to join you?” she asked, hoping to find the root of his querulousness.
    “Have you been following the polls?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then you know that a change of strategy is called for. According to my advisers, desperation measures must be taken. We embarked on this trip to pump up enthusiasm, gain support. Instead, I’ve lost three points since we started.”
    “Nelson said something about your maverick image.”
    He swore beneath his breath. “That’s how they think I’m coming across.”
    “They?”
    “Who else? Dirk and Ralph. They thought the bulwark of a family standing behind me would convince voters that I’m not a hothead. A family man projects a more stable image. Shit, I don’t know. They go on and on till I don’t even hear them anymore.”
    He wheeled into the parking lot of Billy Bob’s Texas. Touted as the world’s largest honky-tonk, complete with an indoor rodeo arena, it had been leased by Tate’s election committee for the night. Several