“They weren’t recommendations, really. I just looked at the reports and mentioned my thoughts on them,” Alice assured. Her head was swimming. Why hadn’t Dylan told her he’d made such sweeping decisions based on ideas she’d murmured to him in bed one night after making love?
“I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” Stalwalter said, leaning toward her and speaking more kindly. “Just know that Dylan Fall is quite taken with your unique skills, and it’s not easy to impress him. That’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You should be proud.”
Alice took a nervous sip of her ice water, willing her scalding cheeks to cool. Stalwalter’s words had mortified her. Was he insinuating he knew Dylan and her were lovers? Are those the skills to which he referred?
No, surely not, the voice of rationality said, dimming her panic. Dylan would never expose her in such a way.
She glanced at Thad, who wore a part-puzzled, part-concerned expression. Stalwalter might not have drawn the conclusion that Dylan was insinuating she was his personal plaything.
But she had a sinking sensation that Thad had.
“ALICE, can I talk to you? Privately?” Thad added pointedly in a tense whisper.
The dinner was over. Dessert and coffee were being cleared following a short speech by Mary Spear, the Durand vice president of international operations. Alice nodded reluctantly. Even thou
gh she was dreading what Thad was going to say, it was best just to get it over with. She needed to assure Thad that whatever he was suspecting about Dylan being untrustworthy wasn’t true.
Sure . . . Alice had been having her doubts about their relationship, but that was about her issues with intimacy, wasn’t it? Other people shouldn’t mistrust Dylan.
Thad sprung up and immediately pulled her chair back when she started to stand. He took her hand and swept her in front of him. Against Alice’s intentions, their shared actions appeared graceful, a natural action between a familiar couple. She glanced furtively at the head table. Dylan was listening to the man on the left of him, but his gazed tracked her.
Great.
She sighed in mounting frustration and led Thad out of the dining room. Lots of people had gotten up at this point. They were stretching their legs with a stroll on the terrace or in the gardens, milling around in groups talking, and using the restrooms. Not wanting to be overheard, Alice led Thad to the hushed, empty grand foyer. Alice caught a brief glimpse of herself in a gilt mirror as she turned to face Thad. The magnificent crystal chandelier blazed with light tonight, revealing some of the emerging red highlights in her hair.
“What is it?” she asked him, unable to stop herself from sounding short. Her arms folded above her waist in a defensive gesture.
“We never got to finish our conversation yesterday in the woods.”
“I think we did. I heard you saying that you don’t think Dylan is trustworthy. That’s your opinion.”
“Don’t you want to know why I think that?”
“You misunderstood about Stalwalter in there, Thad,” she said, pointing to the dining room.
“You looked as surprised as I did when Stalwalter started going on about stuff Fall had told him about you!”
“I was surprised, but how does Fall using my input for the VitaThirst campaign make him untrustworthy? He obviously gave me credit for it.” Although it might have been nice if he’d told me he was bragging about me to Durand bigwigs.
“There’s more about Fall, Alice. My father is a lot more familiar with the workings of Durand Enterprises than he’d let on before I came here,” Thad began, glancing around the large open entryway, his manner edgy. He referred to Judge Schaefer. From what Alice had gathered so far, Thad’s dad was a very influential and well-connected man. According to Thad, it was Judge Schaefer who had determined Thad would be a high-powered businessman, and not the teacher and coach that Thad himself aspired to be. In Alice’s opinion, Judge Schaefer sounded like an uptight tool.
“There’s more to Fall’s assuming leadership of Durand and the surrounding consequences than I realized when we talked before,” Thad said in a muted tone. “Sebastian Kehoe had a right to be sharp with us for assuming that Fall was made the head of Durand Enterprises because he was related to Alan or Lynn Durand. There were those on the Durand board at the time that felt that Fall had undue influence on Alan Durand, especially at the end of Durand’s life when he was so sick.”
“Who thought that? Kehoe, no doubt,” Alice said, rolling her eyes. “It’s pretty clear Kehoe is jealous of Dylan.”
“Not just Kehoe,” Thad whispered heatedly. “I saw you talking to Dr. Gates before dinner. Sidney Gates, the psychiatrist?”
“Yeah,” Alice said, shifting uneasily in her heels.
“Sidney Gates voiced his doubts about Fall’s fitness as CEO at the time, as well.”
Alice’s folded arms collapsed, falling at her sides. She couldn’t believe that. Weren’t Sidney and Dylan close? She shook her head.
“No. That can’t be right. Besides, even if Kehoe or Gates had doubts about Dylan’s worthiness to be the CEO after Alan Durand died, they’ve been proven wrong. In spades. You know as well as I do that Durand Enterprises is more diverse and financially robust under Dylan’s regime than it was under Durand’s management, which was brilliant in and of itself.”
“Maybe so, but there’s more, Alice,” Thad said, holding her stare. “There are those at Durand who feel that Dylan’s interest in you isn’t . . .”
Alice waited tensely, holding her breath when Thad trailed off. Her heart had sunk to the vicinity of her navel at the words those at Durand. Had Dylan’s and her secret been discovered and was now generally known? Or did Thad just mean that Dylan’s exclusive hiring of her, his high praise of her to people like Stalwalter, and his brief but notable attention toward her at the previous house party at Castle Durand had set some Durand higher-ups on edge? It was obvious Thad was struggling to be tactful, but Alice wasn’t all that sympathetic.