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and although she was reluctant to interrupt him , it suddenly occurred to her that the two of them were alone in mrs.[SEP]freiberger and his forearms . |
thankfully-at least , she tried to convince herself that she was thankful of the fact-mr.[SEP]freiberger declined her invitation . |
after glancing briefly over her shoulder , she said , i 'll , uh , i 'll have mr.[SEP]tooley , the groundskeeper , see to the , uh , the spleen . |
possibly even several weeks , depending on the state of mr.[SEP]kimball 's files . |
she sipped her tea again , then said mildly , mr.[SEP]kimball 's files are a complete mess . |
why certainly , mr.[SEP]freiberger , she cut him off . |
so what 's the deal with mr.[SEP]kimball 's sister and iqs ? |
and just what , exactly , is it that you do for mr.[SEP]kimball , miss rigby ? |
but there was more than mr.[SEP]freiberger 's amazing facility with computers that bothered lily . |
when she remembered that he was still awaiting a response to his question about what she did for schuyler-and how could he have possibly made such an inquiry sound so blatantly sexual ?[SEP]she lifted one shoulder and let it drop in what she hoped looked like a careless gesture . |
i run things for mr.[SEP]kimball here , she said simply . |
once again , he 'd made a simple word like position sound sexually charged , and it finally , finally hit lily that mr.[SEP]freiberger thought she played a much different role in schuyler 's life than social secretary . |
she narrowed her eyes at mr.[SEP]freiberger 's tone of voice . |
and she congratulated herself for not slapping mr.[SEP]freiberger silly during all his adolescent commentary . |
and speaking of my work for mr.[SEP]kimball , she said , i really should be getting back to it . |
somehow , though , she was beginning to suspect that mr.[SEP]freiberger 's stay at ashling was going to result in a lot more than a simple discovery of some minor income tax infraction . |
the headmistress of her school has been trying to arrange a meeting with mr.[SEP]kimball for some time now , but they can never seem to get their schedules to coincide . |
did chloe tell you that mr.[SEP]kimball is her father ? |
her gaze remained steady and unflinching as she said , yes , well , mr.[SEP]kimball does n't necessarily agree with her on that particular assumption . |
what i think in that regard , mr.[SEP]freiberger , is not important . |
whatever is or is not , mr.[SEP]kimball has taken on the care and feeding of chloe until a time when she is able to manage those things herself . |
as you undoubtedly heard me tell chloe , mr.[SEP]kimball will be returning to ashling tonight by dinner time . |
chapter six deep down inside , lily had been hoping that leonard freiberger-what on earth had his parents been thinking to name him that ?[SEP]would decline her invitation to remain at ashling for dinner . |
and where common workers like mr.[SEP]freiberger were concerned ... heavens , schuyler would just as soon entertain a rabid badger as he would a laboring drone for kimball technologies . |
unfortunately , she was no closer to an answer to that question now , as she considered her options for appropriate dinner wear , than she had been when she 'd issued the invitation to mr.[SEP]freiberger some hours before . |
the table , lily noted as she approached it , was set with very fine china for eight instead of the customary six-a population of less than one quarter its capacity-and she was n't much surprised to realize that someone else , in addition to mr.[SEP]freiberger , would be joining them tonight . |
lily 's own thoughts were interrupted by the quiet summons , and she spun quickly around to find mr.[SEP]freiberger standing framed by the entrance to the dining room . |
no , what mr.[SEP]freiberger appeared to be , she decided upon further inspection , was rather sexily mussed , as if he 'd just tumbled out of bed after a raucous and very satisfying experience . |
good evening , mr.[SEP]freiberger , she hastened to greet him , before the image in her head could proceed any further and become more graphic . |
just like that , a very graphic image exploded in her brain , so graphic that she saw quite clearly what mr.[SEP]freiberger was n't wearing , and who he had tumbled before leaving his imaginary bed . |
ever since he had shown up on ashling 's doorstep , mr.[SEP]freiberger had played fast and loose with lily 's libido , and she could n't for the life of her figure out why . |
oh , certainly , beneath all that goodbye , mr.[SEP]chips bookishness , there was an odd kind of sexual heat burning and churning , but still . |
and she could n't help but wonder just what mr.[SEP]freiberger planned to do once he got under her hood . |
and even if she did have time , she was in no position , thank you very much , to take on someone of mr.[SEP]freiberger 's evident ... um ... prowess . |
kimball , mr.[SEP]freiberger stated formally , dipping his head first toward schuyler 's mother in greeting . |
i 'm afraid i 'm not well at all , mr.[SEP]freiberger , miranda said in a much-put-upon voice . |
she could n't stop what she knew would come next , however , and steeled herself for mr.[SEP]freiberger 's inescapable query , followed by miranda 's insipid reply . |
to his credit , mr.[SEP]freiberger only arched his eyebrows in mild surprise . |
forgive me , mrs.[SEP]kimball , but i was under the impression that montgomery clift was , uh ... somewhat incapacitated these days . |
oh , no , mr.[SEP]freiberger , miranda assured him . |
after only a slight hesitation on his part , god bless the man , mr.[SEP]freiberger replied , and you do n't consider death an incapacitation ? |
and i believe , lily interjected quickly , before miranda could start off on the whole astral plane thing , you 've already made the acquaintance of mr.[SEP]kimball 's sister , jane . |
he 's one-forty-two , janey continued with a quick gesture toward mr.[SEP]freiberger , using the same tone of voice she might use if stating that he were currently covered with slugs . |
i would think not , seeing as how mr.[SEP]kimball prefers swimming and tennis over brute force athletics . |
evidently , there have been some problems with some of your files or something , and mr.[SEP]freiberger is trying to get it all straightened out . |
are n't you going to say hello to mr.[SEP]kimball , chloe ? |
but she covered the distance necessary to greet her host-who replied with a benign hello , mrs.[SEP]puddleduck -then she hastened over to the bar to pour herself what looked like ... a double stoli straight up . |
for a moment , leo suspected that chloe was going to stand firm and reply that hell , no , she was n't going to say hello to mr.[SEP]kimball , why the hell should she ? |
i 'll have mrs.[SEP]skolnik take care of it first thing tomorrow . |
that 's going to be rather difficult , do n't you think , mrs.[SEP]beecham , with you trying to crush my windpipe and all . |
uh , i think by 'sentinel , ' mrs.[SEP]beecham would be referring to me . |
beecham interrupted , you told me mr.[SEP]kimball would rather skip na**d in the surf with an oversize version of bermuda fun barbie than be bothered with whatever problems chloe was having at school . |
certainly what she 'd told mrs.[SEP]beecham was true . |
still , there was no reason to go broadcasting it to every tom , dick , and mrs.[SEP]caroline beecham , was there ? |
that 's exactly correct , mrs.[SEP]beecham , he lied . |
schuyler closed his eyes and waited to hear what mrs.[SEP]beecham 's response would be , though why he cared , he honestly could n't have said . |
schuyler waited , hoping , for some reason , that mrs.[SEP]beecham would reply that her iq was nothing out of the ordinary , that she only knew about evapotranspiration because she was an avid gardener . |
as she did every night , caroline beecham awoke from sleep at precisely 3:22 a.m.[SEP]to find that she lay curled in a tiny ball , in her tiny bed , in her tiny bedroom , in her tiny apartment . |
had she truly snatched up schuyler kimball-schuyler kimball ![SEP]by the throat and threatened him ? |
the glowing red letters on her clock read 3:24 now , and she felt her heart rate slow some in response to the realization that she had survived 3:22 a.m.[SEP]for one more night . |
there could be any number of reasons for that-and , having finally met mr.[SEP]kimball , caroline could easily conceive of one really big reason-but that did n't mean she was ready to give up on chloe . |
miss rigby 's announcement from directly behind her made caroline flinch , simply because , for an instant , she had completely forgotten that she and mr.[SEP]kimball were n't alone in the room-or in the universe , for that matter . |
evidently , she thought , as mr.[SEP]kimball flicked a hasty-and indifferent-glance in her direction before turning away , she had succeeded well in that this morning , at least . |
a flicker of something-surprise ?[SEP]lit his eyes for a moment , then dimmed again . |
your ward , mr.[SEP]kimball , she said , moving a few more slow steps forward , until she , too , could lean a careless shoulder against the bookcase , albeit a shelf lower than where he 'd settled his own , is an extremely gifted young woman . |
my ward , mrs.[SEP]beecham , is a troubled kid whose mother should have done better by her , he replied . |
finally , ignoring his invitation for her to beat it , she said , i have been working with gifted children for nearly twelve years , mr.[SEP]kimball , ever since earning my master 's degree in child development . |
such intensity on mr.[SEP]kimball 's part , such focus , such utter fixation ... |
look , he said softly , a bit wearily , i 'll grant you that chloe is brighter than the average child , but- her iq is off the charts , mr.[SEP]kimball , caroline interrupted him . |
if you could put einstein , mozart , and da vinci in one person , mr.[SEP]kimball , you would end up with chloe sandusky . |
when i was a boy , mrs.[SEP]beecham , he interrupted her , no one saw any potential in me at all . |
still , she thought , chloe was at a far greater risk than mr.[SEP]kimball ever had been . |
as rigid and distant as mr.[SEP]kimball had come across , she had n't expected him to be like this when grilled about his feelings for his ... ward . |
the main reason she regretted it was because , the split second after she uttered it , that lunge she had been expecting earlier on mr.[SEP]kimball 's part did in fact materialize . |
one minute , caroline beecham-mrs.[SEP]caroline beecham , he reminded himself brutally-had been accusing him of being a stupid bastard , and the next , he had been looking to make her pay for it . |
she 's a nice woman , schuyler , she said resolutely , not bothering to identify mrs.[SEP]beecham with anything other than a pronoun . |
and caroline beecham , he thought further-mrs.[SEP]caroline beecham-was proving to be far more interesting than he had planned . |
holding fast to the memory of mrs.[SEP]caroline beecham 's near capitulation , schuyler went back to his books . |
lily had no idea what that something might be , but mrs.[SEP]beecham was clearly going through a rough time of it . |
lily made a mental note to call mrs.[SEP]beecham herself and arrange for a meeting with her at the school later this week . |
and then , suddenly , somehow-she really , truly , honestly did n't mean to-she found herself going to her closet and pulling out the philadelphia telephone directory , and flipping through the white pages until she located f.[SEP]or , more specifically , until she located fr . |
and then she was overcome once again by the feeling that mr.[SEP]freiberger had been trying to hide something during his brief sojourn at ashling . |
and she certainly would n't worry about mr.[SEP]leonard freiberger and what he had been up to during his time at ashling . |
her gaze darted away as she said , it depends on what 's going on with mr.[SEP]kimball and kimball technologies . |
i mean , come on , miss rigby , just how much of mr.[SEP]kimball 's business do you actually handle , anyway ? |
why do i get the feeling , mr.[SEP]freiberger , that you do n't think i 'm particularly bright ? |
that you believe my job for mr.[SEP]kimball does n't require much ... thinking . |
and in spite of your miscalculations , mr.[SEP]freiberger-or perhaps in light of them , she amended easily , you might be surprised how much weekend work i have to do for mr . |
but his grudge was interrupted by a booming remark from charlton heston man , who demanded , do assure me , mr.[SEP]friday , that you have n't been standing up straight like that when you 've been at mr. |
friday , that you have n't been standing up straight like that when you 've been at mr.[SEP]kimball 's estate . |
nice glasses , mr.[SEP]friday , versace man piped up cheerfully . |
have you tried mr.[SEP]kimball 's laptop ? |
oh , please , mr.[SEP]friday , versace man said . |
but just so you know , mr.[SEP]friday , cohiba man added with a substantial puff of fragrant smoke , you 're on a timer now . |
but miss rigby has been with mr.[SEP]kimball for a long time , and is privy to other areas of his life . |
you never know , mr.[SEP]friday , cohiba man added in a voice that was rife with speculation . |
chloe had n't shown up at school-again-and mrs.[SEP]puddleduck was complaining about her salary-again-and miranda was wandering through the garden with claude rains-again-and janey was in a snit-again . |
the last thing mr.[SEP]freiberger needed to hear was her breaking into a rousing chorus of , you 're just a hunka hunka burnin ' love . |
i tried to find mr.[SEP]tooley , to see if he might take care of it , but he seems to have left the grounds . |
lily 's breath caught in her throat as she felt mr.[SEP]freiberger step up behind her , his entire body shadowing hers-and then some . |