Page 41 of A Lone Star Love Affair
“Dylan, stop and think. Both Sydney and Tony were shocked when they heard about it. Tony said his dad had never done anything that dishonest before. I haven’t spoken to Sydney, but Tony believed me when I said I didn’t think you had.”
“So that’s why the urgent dinner tonight.”
“Yes. Now don’t be angry with Sydney.”
He blinked and sat in silence. Their dinners were placed on the table, a chicken salad for Isabel, a hamburger for Dylan. She began to eat, trying to give Dylan a chance to think about what she had told him.
“I feel so relieved that you are the person I think you are and Sydney will be, too,” Isabelle said finally. “Tony said she has been heartbroken lately and he’s worried about her. I’m going to see him when I leave you. He’ll call Sydney to tell her.”
“I’ll tell her myself. That does it. I’m going to see her tonight if I have to knock down her door.”
Isabelle smiled. “I’m sure she’ll see you. She doesn’t know I’m with you. That was Tony’s plan to find out the truth. He promised Sydney he wouldn’t talk to you.”
“She was probably afraid of what he’d do. I know how I would have felt if it had been my sister.” He set down his glass of water. “Isabelle, do you mind finishing dinner on your own? I’ll buy your dinner and you can take your time to eat. I’m not hungry at all now. I’m going to see Sydney.”
“You don’t want me to break the news first?”
“No.”
“Dylan, someone has already warned me to beware of Tony because of his family. Sydney is a Ryder, too.”
“She’d never do anything dishonest like her father telling her I accepted the money he offered to stop seeing her when that wasn’t true. She’s ethical and truthful. She’s not as driven as the men in the family.”
“I’m sure that’s true.”
“Thanks. Thanks for having so much faith in me and for telling me. I never would have known otherwise.”
“Go, Dylan. See if you can find her.”
“I’ll find her,” he said, and left bills on the table to more than cover both dinners. He was gone before she could protest. She watched him hurry across the restaurant and disappear outside.
She called Tony and made arrangements to meet him right away. Her appetite had vanished, too, and she didn’t care to linger and eat alone.
When she entered the lot and parked where they agreed to meet, Tony drove up behind her car, reached across to hold open the door. “Get in,” he said.
As soon as she had closed the car door, he drove off. “Where are we going?” she asked. “I thought we were going to have a drink here and talk. Mainly talk. I don’t need a drink unless it’s tea.”
“I know a better, quieter place. I’ve missed being with you. Tell me about Dylan.”
“Dylan was shocked. He has not taken a dime from your dad.”
“Oh, damn. I’m glad for Sydney’s sake.” Tony inhaled deeply, unclenching his fists on the steering wheel. After a few moments of silence, he said, “I feel like a kid again, disappointed to discover my parent isn’t perfect and the giant I thought he was.”
“You dad is human, a man accustomed to getting his way. You, Sydney and Dylan have thwarted him and he lashed out. I’m not defending him, because I think such meddling is despicable,” Isabelle answered, turning slightly in the seat to look at Tony.
“You’re still lumping us in together. I can hear it in your voice.”
“Tony, you’re accustomed to getting your way. Have a reputation as a ruthless businessman,” she said, not mentioning that he had tried everything to manipulate her into an affair with him. “You’re his son. The acorn never falls far from the tree sort of thing.”
“Dammit, Isabelle, I haven’t ever crossed the line like that to meddle in personal lives or to lie to get what I want. I’ve bluffed in poker and in business deals, I’ll admit, but that’s different than what my father did to his child. I’ve never done anything dishonest like that.” He glanced at her while they waited at a red light in a busy intersection. When she didn’t reply, he shook his head. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
He had to return his attention to the road as the light changed to green.
“It depends on how far you went with it. Poker—that’s part of the game and that’s nothing. In business, that could mean anything from a harmless exaggeration to something that was totally misleading.”
“Ask around. I may have a reputation as ruthless, but I think I also have one as being honest. Where I get the ruthless reputation is for what I’m doing at Morris, trying to streamline and update an old company. That doesn’t always sit well with those who have worked there a long time.”
“Tony, the main thing here is that Dylan knew nothing about this. He’s gone to see Sydney now.”
