Trust Me on This - Jennifer Crusie [31]
“I actually went to hear Janice Meredith,” Dennie said. “But I stayed to hear yours when I saw your name in the program. Alec had told me so much about you, and obviously he hadn’t exaggerated.”
“Alec told you about my research?” Victoria asked, flabbergasted.
“Certainly. He’s very proud of you,” Dennie said.
Alec opened his mouth to comment, and Dennie kicked him under the table. “Ouch,” he said, and glared at her.
“I notice you’ve done a lot of work on Shakespeare and pop literature.” Dennie leaned forward, and Victoria did too. “I also thought your article on Much Ado as a forties screwball comedy was fascinating.”
“That article was in Signs two years ago.” Victoria looked at Dennie in disbelief.
“I know,” Dennie said. “I read it this afternoon at the library.”
Attagirl, Alec thought, and then remembered she was one of the bad guys.
Victoria transferred her gaze to Alec. “Since when do you date women who go to libraries?”
“Hey,” Alec said. “I have taste. I know a winner when I see one.” He smiled goofily at Dennie. “Right, honey?”
Dennie ignored him to concentrate on Victoria’s publishing history while Victoria nattered on about nothing. Bond and Donald listened politely and then began to talk quietly to themselves.
Alec shifted in his chair. Something was very wrong. If Dennie was on Bond’s team, she should be working the conversation around to real estate by now. Hell, if she hadn’t been there, Bond could have brought it up; that had to be what he was talking about with Donald now. After all, that’s why they were all having dinner together. Alec bowed to no one in his respect for Dennie’s deviousness, but for the life of him, he couldn’t see how she was going to move the conversation from feminist literary criticism to Florida oceanfront property.
After another fifteen minutes and the salad, it became obvious that she wasn’t.
“So, Brian,” Alec said, breaking into Dennie’s discussion of Thelma & Louise as the nineties version of The Awakening. “My aunt tells me you have some pretty exciting land deals cooking. Tell me about it. I’m always interested in a good investment, especially real estate.” He flashed his standard goofy grin. “Can’t go wrong with real estate.”
“What?” Dennie said, momentarily thrown off stride.
“Well,” Bond said modestly, “I wouldn’t want to exaggerate the possibilities, but—”
“Absolutely phenomenal,” Donald pronounced. “Alec, you really should get a piece of this.”
“You think so?” Alec said, trying to look slow but interested at the same time. God bless Donald for suggesting it.
“Think how cute it would be,” Victoria cooed. “We could get adjacent lots. Like the Kennedy compound.”
“The Prentice compound,” Alec said. “I like it. Tell me more, Brian.”
Brian told him more all through dinner. Victoria grew girlishly excited, Donald remained proprietarily pleased, and Alec did his best to become cautiously enthusiastic.
What he didn’t notice in time was that Dennie was losing her temper.
“Let me get this straight,” she said to Bond finally as the dessert plates were being set before them. “You’re selling oceanfront property that the EPA says cannot be developed, but you’re sure that they’ll reverse that decision after a little political pressure?”
Bond shrugged urbanely. “You have to understand Washington, my dear. The Beltway does things differently.”
“Oh, absolutely,” Donald said.
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Dennie said, and Alec jerked around to face her, appalled.
“Dennie!” he said, and Victoria chimed in with, “Dennie, dear!” but she plunged on, ignoring them both.
“Al Gore is in Washington,” she told Bond, disdain palpable in her voice. “Have you read his book? The only thing he’s more protective of than endangered coastline is Tipper’s butt. There’s no way—”
In desperation, Alec knocked his glass of wine into her lap, but he forgot Dennie’s reflexes. Her hand shot out to block it, the glass overbalanced, and the dark red wine splashed down his pale blue shirtfront instead.
Alec stood up. “Well, gotta go,” he said, blotting