by Debra Dixon
“But I never said anything like that to them!” Diana wailed, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “They just shouted questions at me, pushed me into the shrimp pâté, then took off.”
“So that’s how it happened,” Adam murmured as he watched consternation pull her forehead into a frown. He turned to the other man. “Obviously they didn’t give her a chance to fully explain when they crowded around her earlier.”
“So I realize. Who are you?”
Adam almost laughed at Diana’s look of anticipation. He wondered if she was just realizing she’d never asked “Sir Morbid” his real name. “Adam Roberts.”
Diana smiled.
“Adam Roberts …” Griegson said musingly. “Are you the new production manager with Peach Computers?”
“Not me. I barely know where a computer’s ‘on’ switch is.” He returned Diana’s smile. “I’m an architect, and just a guest of a guest today. Who are you?”
Griegson raised his brows as if insulted by the question. “I’m Jim Griegson, and I write the ‘Last Byte’ column for CompuWorld magazine.”
Adam’s smile widened as Griegson then gave him a dismissive nod and turned back to Diana. “Well, you’d better remember whatever it was you didn’t say, Diana, because they’ll be back.”
She rolled her eyes. “Wonderful. Ill just have to tell them it was all a mistake.”
Griegson wagged a finger at her. “They’ll never believe you didn’t accidentally spill the beans. After nine years in this business you really ought to know how to handle the press. You old college hackers fall apart once the companies let you loose on the world.”
“That’s very funny coming from an old hacker like you, Jim. So what do I say to them?”
He grinned. “You don’t have to tell them anything … if you give me the exclusive that you will be doing software for the Omega.”
“But I—”
“You’ll tell him nothing,” Adam broke in, deciding she’d been badgered enough by Griegson. This was probably how she’d gotten into trouble with the other reporters. In her naïveté she would no doubt say something she didn’t mean to—again. “What you will do, Ms. Windsor, is get the hell out of here. Then you don’t have to say anything at all to anybody.”
“But—”
“No buts.” He took off his suit jacket and draped it around her shoulders. It fell to the middle of her thighs. “There. No one will notice you’ve given new meaning to the term doggie bag. Let’s go.”
Taking her elbow, Adam began to lead her away from the table. Griegson blocked them.
“Here we go again,” Diana muttered to Adam.
“Diana,” Griegson began in a soothing voice, “wait a minute. I really do want to help you. I can calm down the others and make sure they don’t start any false rumors. My column may contain occasional ‘rumors,’ but you know they’re only facts leaked by the companies themselves. All I’m asking in return for the favor is that you answer a few of my questions. It will be good publicity for you.”
Not giving Diana a chance to reply. Adam said, “I’ll bet many a sucker has heard that before. But it is up to Ms. Windsor to decide who she will—or won’t—talk to.”
“Who the hell are you? Her bodyguard?” Griegson asked indignantly.
“It certainly looks that way,” Diana said without rancor.
“And, as your new bodyguard, I suggest we get moving,” Adam said, noticing several reporters closing in on them from the left. “The rest of the press is heading back this way.”
“Bandits at two o’clock,” Diana said, pointing out two more on their right.
“Surrounded by the Indians!” Griegson said gleefully, and began laughing.
One glance at Diana’s worried face, and Adam knew she’d be scalped by those “Indians.” He wondered what Sir Morbid would do to rescue the princess from fire-breathing dragons, then realized there was only one answer to that question.
He pushed Diana away from him and “accidentally” bumped into Griegson. With a loud squawk Griegson tripped, and banged into the buffet table. The buffet table, in turn, shuddered backward several feet across the marble floor. Unfortunately several plates and glasses decided to stay where they were. As they crashed on the floor, drawing everyone’s attention, Adam stepped over to Diana and took her arm again. Her mouth was open in an O of astonishment.
“Let’s go!” he ordered, pulling her away from Griegson.
Coming out of her shock, she half-ran with him past the rest of the surprised reporters and behind the buffet table to the nearest exit. In the ensuing commotion, nobody tried to Stop them.
“Thank you,” Diana said breathlessly as the double steel doors banged shut behind them. “I think.”
“Believe me, you’re welcome,” Adam said, staring down the long, cinder-brick-lined corridor.
“I’m not very good with reporters,” she admitted. “And I have no idea where we are. I came in through the hotel lobby to the reception.”
Adam nodded, having used the same entrance. In the distance he could hear voices and the clatter of dishes. “This way sounds like the kitchen,” he said. “We ought to be able to get out through there.”
“But I really should say good-bye to a few people.”
He turned to her in shock. “After what I just went through to rescue you?”
Diana groaned at the idiotic words that had just emerged from her mouth. She’d only been thinking of several people with whom she hadn’t yet spoken. Somehow she wasn’t managing to look like a mature, normal woman with this man. Shrugging, she said, “I guess we did say our good-byes, didn’t we?”
“Damn straight we did.”
Adam knew he should have curbed the impatience in his voice, but an unreasonable anger was building up inside him. He’d made a complete fool of himself in there by bumping the reporter into the buffet table. He’d never done anything like that before. His brother would probably disown him for humiliation by association. When Dan had asked him to come along with him today, Adam had only thought it would be interesting to see how a reception for a computer was conducted. If only he’d known what kind of trouble he’d be getting into.…
Damn his curiosity! He never should have approached Diana in the first place. He just couldn’t understand his attraction to her, or his urge to protect her. Maybe agreeing to be this Sir Morbid—whoever he was—had brought out an old-fashioned streak of chivalry in him. Modem men didn’t go around rescuing women on first meetings. The whole thing was so damned bizarre.
Suddenly Diana started to chuckle. “What you did to poor Jim Griegson! I know at least a dozen company presidents in there who are probably wishing they’d been the one to push him into the table. Jim’s announced quite a few projects and rumors in his column that they’d love to strangle him for. Not all company ‘leaks’ are from top management, and most of Jim’s aren’t.”
“I take it he’s not a popular guy,” Adam said, beginning to feel a little less angry. After all, none of what had happened was Diana’s fault.
“Jim’s extremely popular,” she corrected him. “Everyone reads his column first in CompuWorld every week. They just hate to see themselves in his hot seat. I know I do.”
“After what just happened, you’ll probably be feeling the flames in his next column,” Adam said with a wry smile.
“Along with himself falling into the buffet table.” She chuckled. “I doubt he’ll even mention it.”
“Good.”
“Well, I guess we should get going,” she prompted.
He nodded. As they continued down the corridor, he told himself Diana was just a naive programmer who’d never gotten used to the publicity her work generated. She really had needed rescuing today, and he’d been stuck as rescuer. No big deal. After all, it was only one rescue.
In the kitchen they found their way blocked again.
“Sorry. Can’t go through here,” a burly waiter said as he stood in the center of the aisle. The chefs and a
ssistants glanced in their direction, but returned to their work when they saw someone was dealing with the intruders.
“Give us a break, pal,” Adam said in frustration. Not again, he thought.
“Sorry.”
Adam ground his teeth together in aggravation. Then an idea popped into his head. He leaned forward and said in a low voice. “You’d really be doing Ms. Streep a favor by letting her out through the kitchen. The reporters out there saw through her disguise and now they’re on to her. She has to get to a producers’ meeting right away.”
“Ms. Streep?” the waiter said with a gasp. “You mean Meryl Streep, the actress?” He peered intently at Diana.
Adam smothered a grin when she looked as surprised as the waiter. Diana certainly didn’t know how to give an Academy Award performance.
“She’ll be staying here while they film her latest picture in San Francisco,” Adam added, hoping the waiter would believe him. “I’m sure the hotel’s management would appreciate your helping us out.”
Evidently the mention of the management was the deciding factor for the waiter. With a final, somewhat puzzled glance at Diana, he stepped aside and said, “Just go straight through and turn right. The door will let you out in the back parking lot.”
“Thank you,” Diana murmured as they hurried past the man.
“You’re welcome, Miss … Streep,” the waiter called out.
Dragging Diana with him, Adam started running. He was positive he wouldn’t be able to contain his laughter until they were out of hearing distance. Diana was already giggling.
When the second set of double steel doors they’d encountered that day clanged shut behind them, Adam halted their escape run. He collapsed back against the doors, laughing.
“Meryl Streep!” Diana said, leaning next to him against the doors. “You really ought to warn a person before you turn her into a movie star.” Considering her less-than-spectacular performance since she’d met Adam, she hoped she hadn’t scared him away. Aside from needing his face, she really liked him. Vowing to act her age with him from now on, she continued, “I was so shocked when you said ‘Ms. Streep,’ I thought I’d give it all away!”
“You almost did with that look on your face,” he said, chuckling. “Fortunately the thought of getting into trouble with higher-ups meant more to that guy than letting a couple go through the kitchen.”
“You know, this was exactly like the adventure games I do. You had to figure out logically how to get us past one blockade, and then the next. It even had a touch of a maze when we went down the corridor, made a turn, and ran up against another obstacle in the form of a waiter. And you got us past that one too.”
With a charming grin she added, “You’re going to make one heck of a Sir Morbid.”
Adam groaned to himself as her smile triggered very unknightly urgings inside him. Diana might think he’d make a great Sir Morbid, but he had the uneasy feeling that he was going to have one hell of a time with his sword.
