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half listen. She nonchalantly glanced back at the
dark-haired woman who was still intently staring at her.
        
When Marshall took a bite, Allison interjected in a
whisper, “Please don’t look at her too obviously, but I’d like to know who that
woman is—the pretty one with the shoulder length dark hair and coal-gray eyes
at the next table.”
        
Jeff glanced surreptitiously at the woman, and then said, “That’s Sharon Eaton.
She’s a media buyer. We worked with her once recently. She’s one tough cookie.
I’ll say that much.”
         Marshall asked, “Why the sudden interest?”
        
“She’s been staring at me.”
        
“I think I know why.”
        
“Why?”
        
“She’s studying you. I heard before the meeting that she’s expanding her agency—in
direct competition with yours. I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t already
know your entire client list and she’s plotting how to entice some of them over
to her camp.”
        
“How could she possibly know— ”
        
Jeff interrupted quietly. “Word gets around. You know how that is. Everyone
knows you’ve got some A-list local clients.”
        
Allison was stunned to the quick. She could not eat another bite, gulped hard,
and tried to disguise her rising anger by averting her eyes and playing with
her napkin on her lap. An apple chunk had lodged in her throat, so she took a
sip of water and shot another fleeting look at Sharon , but immediately averted her eyes again
because the aggressive upstart was still gawking at her with a penetrating
gaze.
        
Finally, Allison managed to clear her throat and softly ask, “How could that
woman—and you, for that matter—possibly know details about my business? Is my
office bugged?”
        
Jeff laughed. “Nothing as paranoid as that. Just industry gossip. Rumors in this town spread faster than
fire. Be careful of her, Allison. You don’t want to get involved with her. I’d
keep my distance if I were you. She’s surely heard that you’ve got a new
client—what is his name? Elliot? Elden ? Elwood? You know who I mean—the
band singer you’re trying to promote. I’m sure that Sharon knows all about him and she wants a
piece of the pie!”

Chapter Seven
        
       
The keynote speaker began her introductory comments, but Allison scarcely heard
a word the woman said. The shock of the news that Sharon Eaton—a hostile minion
in the local advertising world, or a snake in the grass, as Allison was quick
to peg her—was eyeing her client list to see whom she could steal left her
feeling dizzy. Allison hid her emotions by feigning interest in the keynote
speaker. She appeared to be looking attentively at the woman behind the
lectern, but even though her voice was adequately amplified on the
loudspeakers, Allison could not concentrate on her speech. Her mind simply
reeled over that woman who was sitting at the next table.
        
At one point when the speaker cracked a joke and the entire audience laughed as
one, Allison threw back her head with laughter in such a way that she was able
to turn and look again in Sharon’s direction. Sharon accidentally happened at
that moment—or was she deliberately still eyeing Allison’s every move?—to meet
her glance with a smile. Is she laughing at the speaker, or
was she purposely smiling at me? Allison quickly tried to gauge her gawking. The isolated moment was fleeting,
because Allison did not let her smile linger. She looked back at the speaker as
if she had not noticed Sharon at all.
        
When the luncheon was over, everyone split up into little cliques, but Jeff and
Marshall could see by Allison’s demeanor that she was visibly shaken. She was
not her usual self, asking probing questions about their industry, working the
room, and collecting business cards. Suddenly, she felt like a wolf had invaded
her sheep fold. She stood shock still, appearing to be in the thick of things,
but