“Did you actually meet Gianni Barbera?”

That cooled me off a bit.  Oh, boy.  How much should I tell him?  ”Yes, he sat next to me at dinner.”

“What’s your opinion?”
           
“It’s my opinion that we have plenty of time to talk about this later.”
           
“Harriet!”     
           
Oo-kay, let’s see if I’ve learned anything about acting.  ”He was charming, polished, and polite but distant, which I took to mean he didn’t suspect any threat.  And in my humble opinion, he’s the primary decision maker.”
           
Will hesitated a beat.  ”Okay, that fits with what I know.  Now, what aren’t you telling me?”
           
“What makes you think I’m not telling you everything?”
           
He kissed me again and let his hands rove, getting me all heated up on purpose.  He knew how to break down my defenses.  God, he’s good.
           
My resistance dwindled.  ”Oh, well, all right.  I didn’t score high marks with the fly-on-the-wall thing.”  No big surprise there.  I told him about my confrontation with the tablecloth.
           
He groaned, but didn’t say anything or criticize.  Maybe I would get off easy.
           
“What else?”
           
Jeez.  I needed to brush up on my fibbing skills.  ”There’s nothing else...hmm, except that I guess I flirted with him a little.  But only to get information for you.”

“And?”

“And what?”  Didn’t this guy ever give up?  I added obnoxiously persistent to my mental list of his qualities.
           
“Out with it.  You know you’re a rotten liar.”  He didn’t sound angry, merely relentless in his pursuit of knowledge.
           
“We-ell...he sort of looked up my skirt.”
           
“Jesus, Harriet!”
           
That reaction made me all defensive.  I rolled out of his arms and sat up.  ”It’s not like it sounds.  It wasn’t in private or anything.  It happened in front of everybody.”
           
A long heavy silence ensued.  ”Shit!”
           
I punched him lightly on the shoulder.  ”Will, stop it.  It’s nothing like you’re implying.  Everyone in the room looked up my skirt.  I was trying to get off the dining table.”
           
He heaved a resigned sigh.  ”You’re way off base if you think that’s going to help.  What were you doing on the table?”
           
“Standing, of course.  And nobody could really see anything except my pantyhose and thong.”
           
He flopped on his back and flung his forearm over his eyes.  ”Lord, give me strength.”
           
“Do you want to hear the rest of this or not?”
           
“Am I going to hate it?”
           
“You shouldn’t.  And talking about this now was your bright idea.”
           
I blew out an exasperated breath and told him about the argument over the burial of the ashes in the family tomb, and how I’d stopped it.  
           
“Harriet Ruby, you are something else.”  He didn’t take his arm away from his face.  ”I’m glad I wasn’t there.  I can’t take the stress.”