Encounters with John Wayne Ch. 27

Then Wayne said, “Now, if it’s all right with you, may I borrow your office for a few minutes so that I can say ‘good bye’ to her?” Diana’s boss stood up and said that would be fine with him—it was close to lunch time, so he would just go to lunch and they could take as long as they wanted as he headed out the door and closed it behind him. Wayne turned toward Diana again as he hadn’t looked at her since he’d dictated his demands to her boss. She looked to be on the verge of tears, and he was afraid that she was upset because now someone else, her own boss, knew about them and she had wanted to keep this “thing” between them secret from the beginning.

He moved to her and pulled her against him to hold her; she wrapped her arms around his torso as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and back and she laid her head against his upper chest. He bent his head down and kissed the top of her head and said softly, “I’m so sorry, Diana. I didn’t stop to think that anyone could walk in the door and find us together. Will you forgive me?”

She sniffled slightly and cleared her throat, then said, “I’m not upset about that. I know him well enough to know that he’s only worried about making sure that a big star like you get what you want so he can produce your movies. Now that he knows I didn’t do anything to jeopardize this deal, he won’t be mad at me because he knows I’m the best assistant he’s ever had. I just hope now that he knows about what happened between us, that he doesn’t get the big idea that maybe I can entice some other big stars for him!” she said sarcastically as a joke and laughed softly.

Wayne started to get upset on her last statement until he heard her laugh, then he knew she was joking, but he brought his right hand up to her chin and forced her to look up at him as he said in his deep, gravelly voice with a sexy grin, “You better not or I’ll beat the shit out your boss and whoever he tries to get you to entice!”