Savannah swung around to find Dianne at the door, looking perfectly settled in, as though she’d been there awhile.
Savannah didn’t like Dianne Walker. She was, in her opinion, the epitome of unconscionable wealth and waste. Her life was an endless string of social engagements, and though she lent her name to numerous causes, the only one she worked actively for was her own beautification. Savannah couldn’t call her Susan’s friend, because friends didn’t stab friends in the back, which was what Dianne had done when Susan and Dirk had split.
Why Susan allowed the woman in her house was a mystery to Savannah, but then, admittedly, Savannah was not up on the latest gossip. She would ask Susan later. In the meanwhile, she had to deal with Dianne and her eavesdropping.
“Megan will be just fine,” she said, and prayed it was true. “She’s a strong woman.”
“Slightly out of her league, though, don’t you think?”
“Excuse me?”
“We both know where she came from. She’s had enough trouble adjusting to our kind of life without something like this happening.”
Any indulgence Savannah had felt earlier was gone. “Something like thiswould shake any one of us. Forget the fact of the kidnapping. Have you ever been raped, Dianne?”
Dianne arched an elegant brow. “I’ve been forced to have sex when I didn’t want to, so yes, I’ve been raped.”
“Ever been raped by two men, repeatedly?”
“I remember an orgy in Puerto Vallarta—”
“I’m not talking about orgies. I’m talking about two men, total strangers who violently break into your home, take you to some filthy place you’ve never seen before, and rape you without letting you know when it will end and whether you’ll be alive when it does. Have you ever experienced that, Dianne?”
“No, but I’d know how to handle it if it happened. A woman is never powerless where a man is concerned. Even submission can buy her points. And that’s what it’s about—points. You give me this and I’ll give you that.”
“We’re talking irrational, violent men here.”
“Men are men. Each has his weakness. Any man can be bought.”
“What a sick view of the world.”
One fur-draped shoulder rose and fell in a negligent shrug. “It’s a realistic one.”
“No. I can guarantee that if you’d been in Megan’s shoes, you’d have been as traumatized as she was.”
“I doubt that.”
Savannah stepped past her on the way to find Susan. “If I were a malicious person, Dianne, I’d wish the experience on you just to see. But I’m not that cruel.”
Dianne followed her into the hall. “And that’s your weakness, Savannah. You’re too good. You don’t have enough of the bitch in you.”
“Thank God.”
“You do fine in your job. You don’t have to be a bitch there, just a disciplined technocrat. With the law behind you, you can be firm.”
“Suse!” Savannah called from the bottom of the stairs. “Step on it, Suse!”
Dianne looked pensively up the stairs. “Susie’s a little too soft, too, but she’s doing better. She wasn’t demanding enough with Dirk. She let him get away with hell, especially when it came to his secretary. But she’s learning. She walked through the party last night like she didn’t give a damn about the men there, so of course, that sparked their interest. Even Dirk was looking twice. I don’t know why she left so early. She was barely tipsy.”
Tight-lipped, Savannah stared at her. “What was Dirk doing with his secretary?” For her efforts at self-control, she earned a droll look from Dianne.
“Must I spell it out? You’re notthatnaive, Savannah, are you?”
“How long did it go on?”
“A year or two. When the stupid girl wrote Susan a letter, Susan couldn’t ignore it any longer.” Dianne eyed her askance. “You knew about the letter, didn’t you?”
She hadn’t known about the letter, any more than she’d known about the secretary. She had known about Dirk’s infidelity, but there had never been a name and face attached. She hurt for Susan, and hurt for herself. She wondered why Susan hadn’t told her.
