came to a halt and leveled a serious gaze at her, taking a moment to turn her question over in his mind. It was the second time she had brought up the subject of ethics. Was it a window into her hidden agenda? Something to do with her reason for being there? If it was, he hadn’t put it together with a motive yet.
Bryce finally answered her question. “I have a high regard for honesty in everything, not just business.” He continued down the sidewalk toward the restaurant.
Paige suffered a quick stab of apprehension as they walked along in silence. Was his answer really a warning aimed specifically at her? Did Bryce suspect she had been lying to him, or was it just a matter of her own guilt bothering her? In spite of the deception she had orchestrated, she was not usually a dishonest person. She shuddered at the contradiction between her actions and her beliefs.
“So…you feel that all business transactions should be conducted with total honesty and in a highly ethical manner?”
“Don’t you?”
“That’s a very admirable sentiment, but don’t you find that occasionally it’s just not possible? That sometimes you need to bend the rules a bit in order to get what you want?”
“Rules have the occasional exception,” he told her, “but I prefer to trust that most people are honest and ethical.”
“Hypothetically speaking, what would you do if you found yourself involved in a deal and discovered your trust had been misplaced, that the person you were dealing with was unethical and unprincipled?”
Bryce stopped walking again, stared her square in the eyes and gave a straightforward reply. “I’d break off the negotiations.” Without waiting for her response, he proceeded down the street.
Paige rushed to catch up with him. It was a conversation she was grateful to have ended, even though it was one she had started. There was something about his words that made her regret bringing up the topic of ethics and trust. Bryce Lexington was beginning to seem a little less like the villain she had painted him and more like someone she would like to know. And if the way he made her heart pound and the blood race through her veins was any indication, she wanted to know him intimately…very intimately.
She pursed her lips as she tried to get her thoughts back in order. She needed to reaffirm her dedication to her goal. The truth of what really happened between her father and Bryce rested somewhere with Bryce Lexington and she had to find it. Just because he said the right words didn’t mean he really lived his life that way.
She clenched her jaw. She didn’t believe those words, either. She couldn’t trust what he said without some kind of proof. She couldn’t trust him. No one who had achieved his level of success did it by always being honest and forthright regardless of his attempt to convince her it was true. She would find the proof she needed and would force him to take care of her father’s employees. She would find that chink in his armor no matter what it took to do it.
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