Page 28 of Nefarious
Val blew on her coffee and bit back the venom the phrasing of that question always brought up her throat. She had no intention of confiding in Noelle. “Working there wasn’t the same anymore. The soul of the company left with Dane. I realized I had no reason to stay, and Dane had such nice things to say about the ethical culture at Fleetwood. It seemed like a great place to restart.”
“Dane praised the ethical culture of Fleetwood?” Noelle’s eyebrow rose almost imperceptibly.
“Well, yes. You don’t believe all those nasty things Geraldo said about him?”
The memory of Dane’s thumb and forefinger pinching her nipple in her sitting room the night before flashed before her eyes.
Noelle scoffed. “Val, you don’t think I’ve forgotten everything you yourself said about him? And Geraldo couldn’t force Dane out of his position for unfounded charges.” Her intonation gave away a hint of doubt.
“No?” Val picked at the edge of a napkin, shredding it into a tiny dusting of powder. “Then what reason did you have for going along with the decision to target Dane?”
“Are you telling me we were all duped by unfounded accusations? Were you as well?”
“Have you never had reason to mistrust Geraldo?”
Noelle narrowed an eye. “I’ve had reason to mistrust many people.”
“Think about it. Dane had a sterling reputation. His contributions to the technology were enough to balance against a personal attack. What proof did Geraldo produce?”
“To be honest, I don’t recall any. Dane agreed to the terms of his departure before we began to investigate. I confess I was relieved.”
“And with Dane gone, Geraldo quietly became a majority shareholder. Do you think that was by accident? The takeover might not have been hostile, but as you may recall, it wasn’t gentle.”
“You make a compelling case. I knew Geraldo had a personal ax to grind, but I thought Dane would fight back if he were innocent of the charges. I suppose there may have been other reasons he wanted to leave.”
Val bit her lip. Was Noelle looking for excuses to defend Dane now that he was casting a spell on her? She tucked that possibility away to share with him later. That could speed things along nicely. And the sooner Noelle was out of the way, the sooner she could give into the base desire Dane had ignited the night before.
But that wasn’t why she’d corralled Noelle here today. “Come now. We’re talking about Geraldo. He’ll lie, cheat, manipulate, or coerce to get what he wants.”
“Should I assume you’re working to undermine him and get your company back?”
Wouldn’t she like to know. “Why would I waste my time on that now?” Val paused and gave the appearance of entertaining a new thought. “Unless you have some compelling evidence against him.”
Noelle held up her hands in surrender. “Not I. I was merely curious.”
Disappointing. Dane might be able to help extricate whatever secret Noelle wasn’t sharing.
“So, you and Dane?”
“No. That is definitely not happening.”
“And yet, you had a date?”
“It wasn’t a date. I made sure to let him know that.”
Val winced but pretended to cover it.
“What?” Noelle leaned in.
Val needed to choose her words carefully now that she had the other woman on the hook. “Oh, nothing. You know men. Such touchy egos.”
“Yeah, and?”
Val shrugged as though she relayed nothing more than a universal truth. “And well, Dane won’t keep pursuing a woman who shoots him down cold.”Ludicrous lies, but what the hell.“But that’s probably for the best since you’re not interested in him. You let him down easy after all. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
Maybe she could convince Noelle that Dane was a delicate bird with a broken wing. Hilarious. But Noelle had never been difficult to manipulate.
“Are you afraid I’m going to hurthim?” Noelle’s eyes rolled. “You’ll have to forgive me if I’m a wee bit skeptical of his soft side.”
