Breath of Scandal(131)

She became very conscious of how close behind her Dillon was standing, how near her shoulders were to his hips. Mere inches separated their hands on the ropes. His scent mingled with myriad others, but she could distinguish it.

"What I was going to say," she said breathlessly, "is that your lack of an active social life must have something to do with losing your wife and child."

His mustache resettled into place. He lowered his hands and moved away from the swing, keeping his broad back to her. "How'd you know about that?"

"I knew days after I met you in L.A."

"Leave it to you to check out everything, " he said tightly, spinning around to confront her.

"TexTile was vitally important to me. I couldn't afford to make any bad choices. I checked you out as thoroughly as I could."

Angrily he stared down at her for several moments, then his shoulders gradually relaxed. "I guess it doesn't matter one way or another that you know."

"What happened?" she asked gently. "Why ask? You already know. "Only the basic facts."

He plucked a twig from the tree and twirled it between his fingers. "We were living in Tallahassee. I was working for this slimy son of a bitch who assigned me a job out of town. I commuted home only on weekends. Debra hated the arrangement. I hated it even worse. At the time, we had no choice.

"She was getting depressed, so we planned a special weekend. I got home on a cold, wet Friday night. She had planned a big evening for us. " His voice became monotonal as he walked Jade through the house and told her what he had discovered on the bed in the master bedroom.

"They looked so perfect," he rasped. "There was no mess, no blood, no . . . " He made a gesture of misapprehension. "I thought they were asleep."

"What did you do?"

His eyes turned cold. "For one thing, I beat the shit out of the man who had kept me away from my family." "Good.-

"Then I stayed drunk for several months, shut myself off from everything, even the 'Companionship' you mentioned before. Once I resumed, I nailed any woman who said yes. Fat, skinny, ugly, pretty, old, young. It didn't matter, you know?" Jade shook her head. "Well, maybe You have to be a man to understand that."

"Maybe. "

"Anyway, I moved around a lot, stayed a loner until you offered me this job." He speared her with his eyes. "This is the first time in seven years I've got something to live for. I owe you thanks for that, Jade."

"You don't owe me anything except hard work for the money I pay you. So far I haven't been disappointed." He dropped the twig to the ground and dusted off his



hands. "I should have been at home with them."

"Why? So you could die in your sleep, too? Would that have made things better?"



366



Sandra Brown

- Breath of Scandal



367

"I should have checked the furnace."

"And she shouldn't have turned it on before it was checked. "

"Don't be argumentative."

"Then don't talk crazy, Dillon. It was a tragic accident; no one's to blame. You can't go through your life trying to atone for something that wasn't your fault." She gazed at him for a moment. "Hearing you talk about it explains a lot. I knew the TexTile job was important to you. I didn't realize until now how much."

"I look on it as a second chance. I don't want to blow it." He slid down the trunk of the tree until he was sitting on his heels. "So now you know what motivates me. What about you?"

"A fantastic salary. Position and respect in a man's world. "

-Hmm. With all that going for you, why'd you come back to Palmetto?"

"Because GSS needed the community and the community needed this plant. As observant as you are, it can't have escaped your notice how depressed the economy is. Some of the people living around here still don't have indoor plumbing. They subsist on whatever food they can grow.

"TexTile is going to employ hundreds of people. Before we are even operational, I'm going to organize workshops and classes to teach necessary skills. Those who are hired will be paid a percentage of their salary even while they're in training. The plant will have daycare facilities so that more than one parent can work. There will be-"

"That's bullshit, Jade."

Her mouth went slack with astonishment. "What?"

"I said that's bullshit. It ail sounds terrific. On the surface, you're drenched in altruism," he said, coming to his feet. "But if I dug deep enough, I'd find the real reason you want to build your plant here, and it isn't compassion for the poor and economically oppressed."

Straddling her legs with his, he gripped the ropes of the swing and stood in front of her, talking down into her upturned face.

"It has something to do with your fon-ner best friend and the sheriff she's married to, who might or might not be Graham's father. Mixed up in there somewhere are the Patchetts. There's no love lost between you and the bigwigs of this town."

"It's getting late. I've got to go."

She stood up, even though it meant making heart-stopping contact with the front of his body. She ducked beneath one of his arms and almost made good her escape before he caught her hand and brought her around.