A Deeper Dimension (11 page)

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.

Alex was a very big man, but he could move with a surprisingly deceptive speed, and he was at the door before Diana was. “What time?” he repeated softly, leaning against the door and effectively blocking her only exit.

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I tell you, I’m not going!”

He continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “I’m going to be visiting my parents on Sunday morning, so will one o’clock be all right with you?”

“I won’t be home.”

“Where will you be?”

“Nowhere you know.”

“Give me directions.”

“Will you just give up?” she sighed.

“No, I won’t! Why don’t you want to go on the picnic?”

“You never asked!” Diana shouted at him. She whirled away from him, talking in angry tones. “I will not be taken for granted, nor will I be railroaded into something as if my wishes don’t matter! I mean more to me than that!”

Alex had raised his voice before, just like Diana, but now he seemed suddenly calmer. “I thought I had asked last night.”

“You mean you tried to manipulate me last night in front of Grace and Owen so that I would say yes,” she accused him. “Did it ever occur to you that a simple question might have got you a lot farther?”

He grinned charmingly, “All right. Sit down over there. Go on, sit!” She reluctantly moved over to the easy chair that Alex pointed to, wondering what he was up to now. When she had sat down, he came over to the chair and knelt beside it. He took her hand and asked with a serious expression on his face, “Diana, will you go on a picnic with me on Sunday, please, with whipped cream and nuts on top?”

She saw the twin devils dancing in his eyes and snatched her hand away. She tried to keep a straight face, but a bubble of laughter popped up and gurgled out before she could stop it. She looked away and then back again. He still had that same puppy dog look on his face as he waited for her reply. She couldn’t take it any more.

“All right!” she howled with laughter as she pushed him away from the chair. “Just get that silly look off of your face, will you?”

Alex chuckled smugly, “At least it gets me what I want.” He stood up lithely as he laughed. “Shall I call you on Saturday to get directions to your apartment?”

“That will be fine,” she told him. “I’ll be home all evening. Do you have my number?”

“Yes, I still have it from when I called you from Pittsburgh,” he replied. “I’ll see you Sunday then?”

“Yes. Talk to you later.” She walked out of the door. As she passed Carrie, she gave a casual wave, secretly wondering how much Carrie had heard of their shouting. She shrugged. It didn’t really matter.

As she drove home, she began to get very depressed. Alex had talked and charmed her into something that she knew that she should steer clear of. She thought about him on the way through the streets. His charm was a special kind of charm that wasn’t fake or obscene. He was simply a considerate and thoughtful person, who happened to be quite handsome. No wonder all the ladies love him, Diana thought wryly. All those kisses on the side of the cheek and forehead, that was just him, appreciating someone else. I’m the one who’s acting abnormally, she told herself. I’m the one who’s reacting too strongly. If I take it casually, then it will stay casual. So easily said!

Diana was not used to physical contact. She had never had any warmth or affection shown to her and she didn’t know how to take it. No loving parent had cuddled her or stroked her fondly, and in the area of physical affection, she was frozen. No wonder Alex threw her off her stride with his unaffected show of emotions and feelings! He was in a whole different league. It was a way of living that fascinated her and yet frightened her, for she didn’t understand it. In Alex, she glimpsed a world alien to that which she had always known. While deep down in the secret places of her heart she acknowledged that her past experience of life had not been exactly satisfying or happy, she could not accept that his was better. And yet…

“Every time I get around him, I start losing all my resolve not to see him outside of business contact!” Diana hit the steering wheel with one hand as she muttered angrily.

She spent the weekend in an agony of indecisiveness. On the one hand she didn’t want to go on the picnic, but on the other hand, she couldn’t bring herself to call Alex and tell him. When he called she merely gave him directions how to get to her apartment. She realised that if she tried to back out, he would simply bulldoze her into coming. She would just have to see to it that she didn’t go out with him again. She asked Alex if there was something she could bring for the picnic and he replied no. “I’ll bring everything we’ll need,” he told her. “How does baked chicken sound?”

“It sounds delicious,” she assured him.

“Good. See you tomorrow.” He rang off quickly, and Diana replaced the receiver thoughtfully. Now she really was committed to the picnic. She couldn’t very well back out now.

She tidied up the apartment Sunday morning and then looked outside. It was a very bright and warm day for the beginning of September, but there was a definite change from the warmth of the summer. Now, when a stray cloud passed overhead, the wind blew chill. She changed into an old worn pair of jeans that hugged her figure, and a warm turtleneck sweater, cream coloured and wooly. The door bell rang and she went to answer it. It was Alex.

“Hi,” said Diana without any surprise. “Would you like to come in?” As she spoke, she eyed him approvingly. He had on a tight pair of dark jeans that flared slightly below the knee. A grey shirt was tucked in at the waist with a black cardigan sweater over it. His hair was windblown and there was a trace of red along his cheekbones.

“Not now, thanks, unless you’re not ready,” he replied. She shook her head.

“All I have to do is lock the door,” she grinned, and ran back into the apartment to grab her key on the dresser. Shoving it in her pocket as she walked, she jiggled the doorknob to make sure the lock was latched, then slammed the door hard. As she turned towards the car, Alex tested the door to see if it locked.

“All set?”

“Yep,” she said. They went down the steps and Diana stopped short as she saw the black Porsche by the kerb. “I didn’t know you had two cars,” she remarked with surprise. His other car was a light blue Mercedes, very proper.

“This one is my fun car.” Alex patted the hood of the Porsche as he walked her to the passenger side and opened the door. “The other one I use strictly for business.” There was a sun-roof on the car that was open.

Diana pointed to it and laughed, “So that’s why you look so ruffled up!”

He chuckled, “I never can resist opening up the top when I drive. It really gets depressing when winter comes! Like it?” He climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Like it!” she exclaimed. “Just try to keep me from stealing it!” He laughed, and turned the key in the ignition. They took off from the kerb with the engine at a muted roar, and Diana knew that when she got home, she would have to tell Terry all about it.

Alex drove smoothly and well, heading for a main highway. Soon Diana was quite lost, not having lived in New York very long, and all she knew was that they were headed roughly north.

“Where are we going?” She had to shout a little to be heard.

“To a little wood that I know of up here,” he named a place that was lost in the wind. “Do you know it?”

“No. I don’t know New York well yet.”

“You wouldn’t know of this place unless you were taken there or unless you were a member of the club. It’s very private.”

It’s very exclusive, you mean, Diana thought, but kept quiet. She was just going to sit back and enjoy herself, and not make waves. After travelling for about half an hour, Alex signalled to turn right and turned down a small one-lane road. There were two signs on either side of the lane, saying, “Private, No Trespassers. Poachers will be Prosecuted”.