She shrugged. “I can’t speak to his reasoning. All he said was that he was lonely, and the connection he’d felt with me had been too strong to ignore. He claimed he would have told me the truth down the road—but he also admitted he enjoyed our dinners and the respite they gave him from his problems at home. He said he’d never done anything like that before, and never would again. At the end, he apologized, wished me well—and that was that.”

“No one knew about this liaison?” Doug frowned.

“Liaison isn’t the appropriate word. Friendship would be more accurate. We met for dinner five times. There were never any romantic overtures.”

“Didn’t you think that was odd after five dates?” This from Brent.

“No.” She met his gaze straight on. “I told him up front how I felt about casual intimacy. That I wanted to get to know any man I dated on other levels—intellectual, social, spiritual, emotional—first. He accepted that.”

“And you never heard from him again?”

“No.”

“Did anyone else know about this?” Doug repeated his question.

“I told my sisters and my most recent boyfriend. I guarantee my sisters have kept it to themselves, and my ex-boyfriend would have no reason to spread the story around. As for the man who started all this—I doubt he’d share the embarrassing tale.”

“What about his wife?”

“I’m not confident she was as discreet, based on a look I got once from a woman I met at an educational event, who I later found out knew her. But it’s been a dead subject for years, and my only fault in the situation was trusting this man too much.”

Doug tapped a finger on the table. “What are you planning to say in your blog post today?”

“Exactly what I told both of you—along with a warning to all my listeners who are dating to be careful, because it’s easy to find yourself in a compromising situation if you’re too trusting.”

“Let’s hope they buy your version.”

“It’s not my version. It’s the truth.” Eve lifted her chin—but the show of bravado was nothing more than that. Pure show. If her own boss was having doubts about her moral character, that didn’t bode well for the reaction of strangers.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I’m in your corner, Eve.” Doug touched her shoulder and rose. “I’ll deal with any fallout from advertisers and try to keep knee-jerk reactions at bay while we monitor audience feedback.” He shifted his attention to Brent. “Did you want to talk with me while you’re here?”

“No. I just have to ask Ms. Reilly a few questions.”