Page 46 of The Money Man
Clearly, Myron wasn’t a completely clueless techno-geek. He was aware of what the boundaries of information sharing were and he wasn’t worried about offending her by protecting company secrets. It reminded her of how he’d been transformed from nerd to, well, charismatic nerd during his presentation at the hotel.
“So I guess you’re not going to buy another copy of the software,” he said, heading toward the conference room again.
“Sorry to take away the prospective commission but hopefully, you’ll get a lot more sales from partnering with KRG.”
When they walked into the conference room, Derek was fuming, and Ted was leaning forward, stabbing at the conference table with his index finger as he made an emphatic point.
As soon as he saw Alice, Derek stood. “Thank you for your time, Ted, Myron.” He nodded to them in turn. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to make a deal here.”
“Sorry to make you travel all the way to Texas for nothing,” Ted said, but he looked more pleased than remorseful. “I don’t think Myron here understood what you were after.”
Myron flinched. “I regret that, sir.”
Ted waved his apology away. “Above your pay grade, Myron. No harm, no foul.” He reached across the table to shake hands with Derek. “At least let Myron take you to lunch since you missed out on the tour.”
“That’s a generous offer,” Derek said, making an obvious effort to be cordial. “However, we’re going to head back to New York.” Alice could almost hear him add the word “empty-handed,” even though he didn’t say it aloud. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was royally miffed about not making a deal with BalanceTrakR.
“Nice to meet you, Alice,” Ted said in what was clearly a dismissal.
Myron ushered them out to the reception area, also shaking hands with Derek. “I wish we could do business together. I know KRG has great influence with its clients.” He turned to Alice and she could swear that she saw disdain flicker across his face. “Thank you for recommending us so strongly.” He gave her hand a slightly damp squeeze. “You have my number. Feel free to call with any questions you or your clients might have in the future.”
As the elevator doors closed, Alice said, “Well, that was—”
Derek banded his fingers around her wrist, so she turned to see his warning frown. But she hadn’t forgotten to be discreet.
“I guess your meeting with Ted didn’t go so well,” she said to reassure Derek.
“His terms were entirely one-sided. And nonnegotiable,” Derek said, letting his irritation show.
“You’d think they’d want the kind of backing KRG could give them. Although it’s a larger operation than I expected.”
“Ted’s got an ego. He thinks they can reach all the clients they want without us.”
Derek still held her wrist. She wasn’t sure if he’d forgotten until he brushed his fingertips right over her pulse point, sending a flare of delight dancing up her arm. Was that some kind of signal about their fake conversation? If so, she couldn’t think clearly enough to interpret it.
So she just nodded and remained silent until the elevator disgorged them in the lobby. Derek released her wrist, making her wish the descent had been longer. She resisted the impulse to lay the fingers of her other hand where his had been.
As they walked toward the door, she couldn’t help comparing the shabbiness of the building with the polished elegance of KRG’s headquarters. And she was very grateful to be leaving it behind.
Chapter 12
As soon as the limo pulled away from the curb, Alice slumped in her seat. “Phew, I’m glad that’s over.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that. I wanted to strangle Ted when he sent you off alone with Barsky,” Derek said, giving her shoulder a brief, comforting squeeze. “How rough was it?”
The pressure of his hand made her insides melt like warm marshmallows. “Rough?” She pulled her scattered thoughts back together. “Oh, not really. My attempt at espionage didn’t work, though.”
“Espionage? You weren’t supposed to be spying here.” His brows drew down with disapproval.
“Well, I figured I’d ask a few questions since that seemed normal within the context of our visit but I didn’t get a thing out of Myron. For a computer nerd, he’s pretty clued in about confidentiality.”
“What kind of questions?”
“Nothing that would raise any red flags.” Although Myron’s reactions had seemed slightly off-kilter. But she couldn’t put her finger on why so she didn’t mention it. “I asked to meet the coders who developed the bank and credit card integration to give them my compliments. Myron shot that down. I expressed some surprise about the number of help desk staff and was told there were more in other rooms. I wondered how many copies of the software they’d sold. I didn’t really expect him to tell me that.”
Derek looked increasingly unhappy with each question she repeated. “The idea was to get you out of their crosshairs,” he snapped. “Why couldn’t you just smile and nod?”
She smirked at his grumpiness. “Because I didn’t think that would be in character as a consultant to consultants.”
