Trust Me on This - Jennifer Crusie [39]
“Sometimes I get a little protective of Alec and his aunt because they have so much money,” Dennie went on. “And I am very attracted to Alec, although he’s not really, well, smart.” Her smile deepened. “I like clever men, but Alec has a lot going for him too.”
Yeah, like a lot of money, Bond thought, and cheered up. If Dennie Banks was a gold digger, she’d be a lot easier to handle. “Alec could make a lot of money on this deal,” he told her. “Double his investment easily.”
Dennie leaned a little closer and licked her lips. Greedy, he thought. Greedy with a great mouth. Things are going nicely.
“Could I talk with you tomorrow afternoon?” she asked. “Maybe here in the bar? I’d really like to know all about this investment and the money.”
“Certainly,” he found himself saying.
“And, if it’s all right with you, we just won’t tell Alec about this,” Dennie went on. “He’s just a little jealous, you know?”
“Right.” Bond glanced uneasily over his shoulder. If Prentice was jealous, he didn’t want to get caught moving on something the dweeb was interested in. “Tomorrow.”
Dennie smiled at him and slid off the stool. “Tomorrow,” she said, and moved out of the bar, her sway hypnotic even beneath the severe black dress she was wearing.
Prentice showed up only minutes later, looking a little grim, and Bond had a moment of panic that he’d been seen with Dennie and the deal was off. Then Prentice smiled his usual dweeb smile, and Bond relaxed.
“Hey, thanks for meeting me,” Prentice said, offering Bond a limp handshake. What a wuss. Bond faked a hearty greeting.
“My pleasure, Alec. Sure hated to see you leave like that at dinner.”
“Well, covered with wine, you know.” Prentice fumbled with a coaster and knocked an ashtray off the bar. “Sorry.”
Bond put the ashtray back. “No problem.”
“Sorry about Dennie too,” Prentice said. “Speaks before she thinks sometimes, but a good heart.”
“Fine woman that Dennie,” Bond said. “Glad you could tear yourself away to meet me.”
“She sent you her best,” Prentice said. “Said she jumps to conclusions sometimes. Sorry about all that.” Bond nodded, and the bartender appeared. “Rum and Coke,” Prentice said. “Oh, and make that a diet Coke, please.”
“Make that two,” Bond said, beaming. And then he thought, Getting this guy’s money and his woman will be a piece of cake.
Upstairs in his room, Harry fumed over his third bourbon from the minibar. If anybody was going to put Vic in a condo, it was going to be him, not Donald—
No, he wasn’t. He must be losing his mind. He was not going to put Vic in a condo. He wasn’t going to put Vic anywhere.
Unbidden, images of where he could put Vic rose before him.
Oh, hell, he thought, I should have stayed in Chicago.
Alec called Harry at midnight, as soon as he was finished with Bond.
“It’s sewed up,” he said. “We’re having dinner with Bond tomorrow night to celebrate the deal and that’s when I’ll sign the papers. We’ve got him.”
“Wait till the checks come in tomorrow,” Harry said. “We don’t have him until we have him.”
“You’re right,” Alec said. “You’re always right. You were right about the Banks woman too. She was talking to him at the bar right before I got there. I had to duck out of the way or she’d have seen me. And they were pretty cozy considering she’d just been spitting at him at dinner.”
“I’m sorry,” Harry said, and the regret in his voice knocked Alec off stride.
“Thanks,” he said, after a moment. “No offense, but that’s not like you, Harry. Why aren’t you gloating that you were right?”
“Sometimes being right is lousy,” Harry said. “You okay?”
“Hey, she meant nothing to me,” Alec said. “Get some sleep.”
“Right,” Harry said, as if that were the last thing in the world he’d be doing, and hung up.
“Harry?” Alec said, and then hung up, too, and stretched out on his bed. It was a lonely bed, and he remembered the one he’d been in a couple hours earlier with more regret than he’d thought possible.
So he’d lied to Harry. Dennie mattered. But she was a crook, so it was all just too bad.
Alec rolled over