She nodded, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she considered this. “Yeah, but it’s not the same. They might vote on what the organization does in general, but the head guy can veto anything. That’s the way it is.”
When he didn’t speak up again, she turned her eyes on him.
“Don’t you think it’s strange?”
Noah shrugged. “Maybe they like their privacy.”
Jane huffed. “Any man who wants that much privacy has something to hide.”
“How do you know it’s a man?” Noah shot back so quickly and sharply that Jane stared at him in surprise. He cleared his throat. “All I’m saying is that women are notorious for being the sorts of people who run these types of charities. And if the head is ashe, then it would be understandable why she wouldn’t want to have her face plastered everywhere.”
“Okay, I’ll bite. Why is it understandable they would run a charity hiding behind a trust?”
“Privacy.”
She stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to expound.
He shrugged again and shifted in his saddle. “Would you want your face plastered everywhere? Would you want people to know who you are while you’re just walking down the street? There haven’t been any pictures of the head person, and I’m sure that’s for a good reason. People like that don’t want their private and business lives mixed, right?”
“Maybe,” she hedged. Then she frowned.
Noah laughed. “What’s so wrong about that?”
Her eyes flicked to him again, and her shoulders slumped. “Well, I thought it would be really cool if we could get the head of the organization to make an appearance. You know, like a coming out party—so everyone who’s been involved in this charity can meet the guy behind it all.”
“And how were you thinking you’d do that?” His question was so quiet that she wasn’t even sure she’d heard it.
The blush that crawled up her neck made it clear to Noah that she’d already attempted something. And she dragged her attention from him to stare at her hands. She dug herfingernails into the reins she was tightly gripping. This was so embarrassing. She should have thought about it better. Heck, she should have asked Noah’s opinion before she’d sent that email.
“Jane?” Noah drawled. “You already did something, didn’t you?” There was an edge to his voice that she couldn’t quite place. It didn’t make sense, but she didn’t exactly have time to figure out what it was.
She swallowed hard and forced an embarrassed smile as she glanced up at him. “I sent an email.”
His brows creased. “Okay?”
This time, she sighed then squirmed some more. “I sent an email to the secretary person who handles the emails for the board. I requested the attendance of the head honcho him… or herself.” Her blush deepened. “Iknow, it was stupid. But I thought if I could get them there, then it would make this event that much better. I wanted to let everyone who’s been involved with this charity know that they’re appreciated.” Her voice cracked, and she shut her eyes. “I’m such an idiot.”
Jane had expected Noah to argue with her—to tell her that she wasn’t an idiot at all. She had thought he would tell her there was no harm in asking—because really, there wasn’t.
But he didn’t do that.
A cold sort of sensation settled in the pit of her stomach as she met his eyes again. There was a smidge of pity in their depths—something she definitely hadn’t been expecting.
She let out a groan and covered her face with her hands. If Noah didn’t think she’d be successful with this, then she definitely wouldn’t. He was an optimistic guy by nature.
“It’ll be okay,” he murmured. “You weren’t considering all the angles. Maybe they’ll send more of the board to this one.”
Her phone buzzed with a notification. She’d turned on the sound so she could hear when she got a response to her email. Granted, she hadn’t expected to hear back today. The distinct ding for her email made her gut swirl in anticipation. It was probably just an email from one of the vendors for the gala.
She pulled her phone from her jacket pocket and opened up the notification.
Her hands shook, and the blood drained from her face before flushing even hotter to the edges of her limbs. Jane’s head snapped up, and she beamed at Noah before turning her phone around. “They said they’d ensure he attends.”
Noah’s expression remained stonelike. He didn’t react like she’d hoped. Was he upset that she’d been successful in this? Did he think she’d done something wrong? Jane felt sick to her stomach as she slowly lowered the phone and stared at the screen. They didn’t mention his name, but they did refer to him as a he. The email also stated that several members of the board would be in attendance, and that they were looking forward to what she’d planned thus far.
She chewed on her lower lip as she peeked at Noah once more from beneath her lashes. He was quiet. Perhaps he wasn’t angry, but there was something that had rubbed him the wrong way about her announcement.
Maybe he was just being a sore loser.
