The Carrington Affairs (Carrington #1)

Prologue

Searcy, Arkansas

The moment the black SUV pulled up to the gates of the Carrington estate, reporters rushed forward with microphones in hand and cameras rolling.

"Senator Carrington, is it true? Are you and Mrs. Carrington separated?”

"Are you getting divorced?"

"How do you know Poppy Thompson, and what is the nature of your relationship with her?"

"Are you still on the shortlist for a possible cabinet position?”

Questions flew at the car's passengers from every direction. It should have been impossible to hear one over the other. But it wasn’t. Each one was a rock pinging off the side of the car.

Joules had warned them about the media circus camped outside their home for the last few hours.

Honestly, neither was shocked at the reporters waiting to devour them.

In truth, it had been a long time coming.

If they were surprised by anything, it was how long it had taken them to sniff out the story.

To help control the situation, Joules had arranged for two security guards to do crowd control.

At the moment, it did not feel very controlled.

Bennett and Taylor stared straight ahead.

Their lack of response did nothing to deter the horde of journalists who continued their verbal assault.

Rapidly firing questions at the couple, the various news crews jockeyed for the best camera angle.

Each knew they were sitting on the juiciest political scandal in years.

The two security guards finally forced the crowd back just enough for Bennett to pull through the gates and drive up the winding drive to the house. Bennett and Taylor did not say a word until they were inside the garage with the large wooden door closed firmly behind them.

Taylor could already see the sound bites in her head that would soon be playing on every news channel in the country.

Dishing dirt on Arkansas's political golden couple would sell well.

She supposed she should be grateful the questions weren't worse.

They certainly could have been. Right now, the reporters just had a whiff of a scandal.

Little did they know, the truth was even more shocking than any of them yet suspected.

It was all going to come out. At best, they had a day, two at the most, before everybody knew all the gritty, dirty details of their crumbling lives.

Bennett looked over at Taylor, and with his voice full of anguish and shame, he said, "I'm so sorry.

I never meant for any of this to happen.

The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you.

" Nodding her head in agreement, Taylor, feeling overwhelmed and stunned, answered, "I know. Me either.” There had been a time when she would have blamed all of this on him.

Him and his dirty little secrets. But that was before she had her own secrets.

They were both responsible for the dumpster fire their lives had become.

Giving him a look of utter despair, she asked, “What in the hell are we going to do now?”

Shaking his head, Bennett said, "I have no idea." For a man who always had an answer for everything, this time, he had nothing.

Taylor sighed deeply and said, "Me either, but one thing I do know, it will get a lot worse before it gets better."

Twenty-Four Hours Later

Searcy Municipal Airport

Searcy, Arkansas

Bennett Carrington sat inside a hangar at the airport in Searcy, watching his wife Taylor fly away with her fiancé Greer and thinking about how his life had basically imploded in the last forty-eight hours. Sitting inside the borrowed 3 Series BMW, he realized his life had become a shit show.

In February, he had the world on a string.

As the junior senator from Arkansas, his approval ratings were through the roof.

A happily married man with a reputation for being an outstanding family man, he was a leading contender for the vice-presidential spot on Larry Anderson’s presidential campaign.

He and his beautiful wife, Taylor, were excited to begin trying again for a child.

The doctors had given them every hope they would be successful this time.

He had life by the tail, and he knew it.

What a difference five months could make.

During that time, he had seen his marriage crumble, destroyed his political career and reputation, and lost the love of his life to gossip and innuendo.

As he sat alone in the car, Bennett realized he had truly hit rock bottom.

Making up his mind to start reclaiming his life, he fired up the car's engine and roared off with one goal in mind, putting his life back together again, one piece at a time.