Everybody agreed that that would be fun, so they headed down the wide staircase while Alex went to speak to the hostess at the front desk in the foyer. They had just found a small table near the corner in the crowded room with a clear view of the dance floor when Alex came up. He pulled a chair around to Diana’s side and sat down. She pretended a nonchalance that she was nowhere near feeling as she sensed the strong leg so close to hers. Alex shifted closer to the small table and in doing so, came in contact with her leg. She glanced at him swiftly, almost absentmindedly, catching a wicked gleam in his very bright eyes that surprised her. That devil! she thought. He’s doing it on purpose.
Just then, a cocktail waitress came up to the table and in the minor bustle of ordering drinks all around, Diana had turned to the waitress and in doing so, had shifted the barest fraction of an inch away from the contact with Alex.
Glancing at him quickly while he was talking to Owen on his right, she was discomfited to see a small slight smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth as if he couldn’t help it. She was certain that he knew that she had moved away on purpose.
While Owen and Alex talked, Grace started to ask her about herself. She replied with monosyllables when questioned about her private life, but when Grace enquired about her past school life, Diana’s face lit up and she answered eagerly. She had always loved school and the learning processes. They talked about the special bond that sometimes occurred between a teacher and a student. Grace then told her that she had been a teacher before she became too weak to handle the work load. “I still keep in touch with some of my students,” Grace said, a thread of affection running through her voice as she recalled her special people.
A hand touched Diana’s back and she jumped a little in surprise. Alex and Owen had gradually stopped talking and had listened to the women as they carried on their conversation. Now, Alex said with a smile, “We have just enough time for one dance before we go upstairs, Diana. Shall we?” He stood and waited, ultimately giving her no choice.
She chuckled resignedly as she stood swiftly. Just one dance could do no harm, she thought. Nothing much could happen that she would not be able to control in one dance—except her own emotions. As Alex’s arm curled around her waist, she felt a strange sensation in the pit of her abdomen, like a muscle contracting. He pulled her towards him and held her lightly as they began the first steps of the dance. Diana could feel the solid, tight muscles in Alex’s shoulder where she rested her hand and again felt the impact of the sheer male strength of the man. She stared off unseeingly over his shoulder.
He held her away from him a little to see her expression a bit better. He smiled to see the unfocused look in her eyes. “Penny for them,” he said softly.
“Hmm?” Her eyes turned to him. She had heard him well enough but she wanted a little time to collect her thoughts. She couldn’t very well tell him that she was thinking about how good he felt against her so close. At that thought, her cheeks reddened, and Alex’s grin widened.
“Your thoughts,” he supplied helpfully. “Penny for them.” They swung around and around the dance floor. Diana shook her head.
“Do you mean to tell me that my intelligent, quick-thinking young right-hand ‘man’ doesn’t have a thought in her beautiful little head?” he taunted in derision. A smile broke out over Diana’s face and it was like a flower opening into full bloom. He held his breath unconsciously as he watched her.
“No, it doesn’t!” she informed him smartly. “It means that your intelligent, quick-thinking, resourceful and witty right-hand person isn’t going to tell you what thoughts she has in her wonderful and beautiful head!” His laughter rolled out over the heads of the other dancers, and heads turned to the tall attractive couple that was so obviously having a good time.
He asked her, “What do you think of Owen’s wife?”
She replied seriously, “I think she’s everything that her name implies. She does have an inherent grace in everything she does. She seems to be kindness in itself.”
“She is,” Alex said soberly, his voice deepening as he became serious too. “Grace never complains, no matter how bad her asthma gets and no matter how tired and drained she becomes. It was quite a blow to her when she had to quit her job. She loved to teach so much.”
Diana moved one fingernail over the outline of the seam on Alex’s jacket absentmindedly as she listened. She said suddenly, “I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t work, if I was unable to be creative in the way that I want to be, if I were so—stifled.” She shivered. Days, she thought, endless, endless days marching on, never changing, never anything new or challenging, always the same monotonous thing. Depression. Frustration. Horror at the thought of being forced to such inactivity made her close her eyes.
Alex said gently, “But Grace is so different from you, Diana. She told me once that she really doesn’t mind staying home so much. It’s the children that she misses. No, Grace is like a gentle summer rain that eases and soothes the mind on a quiet night. You, Diana, are like a prairie fire, swift-moving and intensely creative with constantly new and innovative ideas. You are colourful, and you need outside stimulus to stay colourful. I can admire Grace for her courage and strength in the way she handles her confinement, but you…” he touched her face with one gentle finger, “…you I would only pity, just like I would a wild bird in a cage.”
The music stopped and his hand fell away. Diana saw in her mind’s eye a tiny wild thing beating itself frantically against the bars of a cage, bruising itself on the hard metal. Alex put a gentle hand under her elbow and guided her back to the table, talking harmless light conversation that needed no reply or response, until they reached the table where Owen and Grace sat.
Grace’s eyes were bright. “That looked like so much fun!” she said happily. “It was almost as much fun as if I’d danced it myself!” Diana looked at her but could not reply.
Alex said smoothly, “It was fun, Grace. Diana and I enjoyed it very much.” He looked around. “Would you like to go on up now, or would you like another drink first?”
Everybody decided to go on up to dinner, so there was a bustle for several minutes as they went up to the main floor for the meal. Diana ended up seated across from Alex, with Grace and Owen seated at opposite ends. The meal as things progressed was delightful and temptingly arranged, cooked to perfection. Talk flowed freely and lightly around the table. Alex and Owen had Grace and Diana laughing so hard that they were near to choking and had to beg the two men to kindly shut up until they had finished their meal. It was not until after dinner, when the coffee was being served, that Owen brought up something that had been in the back of Diana’s mind all evening.
“So, Alex,” he stared into his coffee as he spoke, “what do you think Payne will do now?”
Alex’s face darkened and Diana saw a glimpse of the fury that he had tried so hard to keep suppressed. “I don’t know. He probably has his spies that have informed him that we have our Philadelphia foundry back in working condition. He’s got to know that now he’s got no chance. I have armed security guards at both foundries both day and night…you know, I could kill that bastard with my bare hands.” It was said lightly, almost conversationally, as if he had been discussing something so minor as the weather, but she looked down at Alex’s big hands and thought of the strength in them and shivered. Remembering the frustrated anger she had felt herself over the past month or so, she had no doubt that she probably would want to help him murder Payne.
Tension was in the air and Diana made an effort to ease things a bit. “So,” she said brightly, “when do we take out contract on him?” She put one elbow on the table and gestured with her hand. Everyone had looked at her in surprise. She continued, “I know this fellow, he’s really good with knives, a little expensive, but I’m sure we could work something out…?” She looked around the table enquiringly. Grace had begun to laugh helplessly at the ridiculous look on Diana’s face, and one eyelid dropped drolly as she turned
to Alex. Owen chuckled and Alex after a moment was prodded into a smile, albeit a reluctant one. She was pleased to see the glow of rage in Alex’s eyes fade away and he relaxed in his chair.
Diana looked pleased. Things had mellowed out nicely and Grace started to chatter about something else when some instinct made her look to Alex. He was watching her closely, one eyebrow cocked ever so slightly with a crooked smile twisting one side of his mouth. She lifted her eyebrows back at him and gave a tiny shrug as if to say, “What else could I have done?” His shoulders shook faintly, and although his face was serious, she knew he was laughing. She turned her attention back to Grace.
They broke the dinner party up early since the next day was Friday, meaning work for Diana, Alex and Owen. Everyone walked out to the parking lot together, still talking, reluctant to end what had been a pleasant evening. Grace said to Diana, “You simply must come and see me some time soon, dear. I’ve enjoyed this evening so much.”
Diana promised warmly, “I’d love to come and see you some time! What time is best for you? Weekends are the easiest for me.”
Grace looked pleased. “Weekends are just fine, dear. Is Sunday afternoon too soon?”
Alex interrupted the conversation smoothly. “Diana is going on a picnic with me on Sunday afternoon, so she won’t be able to make it this week, Grace.”
Diana looked indignant. She cocked one eyebrow at Grace as she drawled, “That is the first I’ve heard of it!” Grace started to laugh.
Alex grinned. “Don’t you remember promising me a few weeks ago that when all the Philadelphia mess was cleared away, we would go on a picnic?” he asked, a deceptively innocent look in his eyes. She distrusted that look immediately.
“We never set a date and you know it!” she retorted, putting one hand on her hip as she shook her head.
Grace put in: “Next Sunday afternoon would be just fine with me, Diana. It doesn’t have to be this week.”
“There,” he said, looking smug. “See, now you have no choice in the matter.”
They said goodnight to the Bradshaws and Alex walked her to her car. She looked at him after unlocking her car door and there was an obstinate line to her jaw that he had never seen before.
She said softly, “We’ll see if I have a choice or not about that picnic.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Oh, good!” he exclaimed. “I just love a fight!” She opened her mouth to argue that she had not been fighting and he held up a hand. “Not now, you’ll spoil what’s been a good evening. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
“I don’t want to talk about it tomorrow!” she protested. “And I don’t want to go on the picnic either, so we might as well just drop the whole—”
She couldn’t talk any more, for he had clapped his hand over her mouth and was bundling her into her car swiftly. “Tomorrow,” he promised in her ear before slamming the door on her ejaculations.
“I was not fighting!” she muttered just after the door slammed. She saw rather than heard Alex begin to laugh, and turned her head away. Now she really was determined not to go with him on that picnic!
Chapter Five
Friday morning dawned with a cheerful glow and Diana, feeling very refreshed after an extra hour of sleep, met it with a smile. It was a wonderful lack of tension that made her feel so exuberant, forcing her to acknowledge with a rueful twist of the mouth how much Alex’s absence and the consequent load of responsibility had affected her. Those weeks had been a veritable juggling act for both Diana and Alex. She juggled contracts and prospective buyers, and he had to deal with his workers, the repairs done at the Philadelphia foundry, the insurance companies, and the extra contract load that Diana threw at him as soon as she had the terms negotiated. Looking back, she wondered at the terrific strain that both she and Alex had worked under.
She had been so exhausted that she barely took the trouble to eat an evening meal before falling into bed. She wondered if he had felt the same way. He had apparently thrived on the extra work load. How had he felt in the evenings? Had he been too tired to want to eat, or had he taken the time to go out, and if he did go out, with whom did he go…? She shied away from that thought like a cat jumping from hot bricks. She pretended with a fine show of disdain that she didn’t want to know.
She dressed simply for the day, wearing a thin summer dress with tiny red and blue stripes running vertically on the white material. It was sleeveless and had a thin belt as its only accessory. Diana loved its comfortable fit. She checked the time quickly and hurried out of the apartment.
At the office, she spent a moment talking with Carrie before she went into the other room. She told Carrie about how enjoyable the evening had been with the Bradshaws and how much she had liked Grace. Then, bringing the discussion to a quick end, she hurried on into the inner room.
Alex was seated behind his desk when she entered and only briefly looked up. Handing her a pile of papers, he merely said, “These came in this morning, see what you can do with them.” Diana took them silently and sat down to work.
They spent the whole morning working in almost complete silence, a companionable sort of quiet that was meshed with a thinking concentration. Diana immersed herself in the wording of the contract proposals and was genuinely surprised when Alex stretched hugely in his chair and said, “Lunchtime, slave.”
She stuck her tongue out at him before asking pertly, “How much time do I get to eat—fifteen minutes?”
He eyed her lazily. “If you’re lucky.” He ran his hand through his hair, a sure sign that he was concentrating on something hard. “I wish I didn’t have to go to that business lunch this afternoon. I wish I could send somebody in my place…” A gleam entered his eyes as his head swivelled towards her.
She immediately scrambled up, grabbed her handbag and headed for the door, chattering the whole while. “I sure hope you find someone to send, of course you know I would if I could, but I have this luncheon date with a juicy, junky hamburger and I’d be really disappointed if I couldn’t make the date…” She was out of the door and gone, still hearing the echo of Alex’s shout of laughter as she escaped down the hall.
When she made it back after lunch, it was to find the office empty and dark. Turning on the lights, she sat down to work on the papers left over from the morning. Unable to keep her eyes away from the desk clock on Alex’s desk, she kept track of the minute hand as it crept slowly around in a circle. When he finally walked into the office, the clock showed two o’clock.
“Hi,” she said simply, finishing a mark on her paper before she looked up. Alex had a curious expression on his face as he walked around his desk and sat down. “What’s happened?”
“Payne has raised his prices for steel up back to normal,” he replied, putting his elbows on the desk top and resting his fingers against his mouth. “I guess that’s one way to signal defeat.”
Diana mulled over Alex’s words for a minute. She had a vague feeling of anticlimax, almost a feeling of disappointment. “That’s it?” She spread her hands as she asked incredulously, “All that unbelievable tension, all those frantically busy working days, all that tension, and now it’s all over?”
“Apparently,” he muttered almost to himself. “I don’t trust that son of a bitch, though. I’d sure like to know what he’s thinking right now.”
“Is there anything else he could do?”
He looked at her with a sardonic curl of the lips. “Nothing legally. That’s what has me worried.”
“And you do have guards at both of the foundries, so there’s nothing that he could do there,” Diana thought out loud. She glanced at him quickly and then away. “Are you going to keep your lower prices?” She might as well have said, “Are you going to break him?” Both she and Alex knew what she had meant. Diana looked down at her desk, dreading the reply. There was silence for a moment.
Alex had clenched his fingers tightly and his face seemed to be all angles as he said harshly, “I don’t know.” She understood his dilemma
. Here was the man that Alex could have cheerfully killed in a good fight, but the dirtiest thing he could have done was give up. Now it would look like a coldblooded act of murder with Payne as the victim. There was no way that they could pin the guilt for the arson on Payne, for he had been too clever covering up that evidence. Mason Steel had kept quiet about the whole thing and Payne could easily plead ignorance of the whole thing. Alex was caught between the desire to break the man he hated, and the prudence of backing down. Diana felt suddenly very weary of the whole mess.
“Well, I think he deserves the worst you can give him,” she declared indignantly. “I wouldn’t blame you a bit if you did keep the lower prices, even for a little while, just for spite. I would!”
He smiled a little. “You know just what to say at the right time, don’t you? Well, I’ll think about it over the weekend. Maybe I can divorce myself from my anger enough to make a decision then.”
They slowly got back to work, each involved with heavy thoughts. The afternoon passed as silently as the morning had. Diana, with one eye on the clock, started to quietly stack her finished work around five-thirty, and tidied her desk for the weekend. Putting the shoulder strap of her bag over one shoulder, she started to rise when Alex spoke without looking up.
“When would you like me to pick you up on Sunday?” She felt foolishly surprised. She’d rather hoped that he had forgotten about the picnic by now.
“I’m not going on Sunday,” she said stiffly. “See you later.” And she headed for the door.
A Deeper Dimension: A Vintage Contemporary Romance Page 8
