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That was why it was imperative that Regan get access to the Palm Cove advertising accounts before his auditors did. Bad enough that Michael had stolen from his employer through a fictitious printing company, but Regan had no desire to be tarred with the same dishonest brush if she was discovered trying to repay the money he had embezzled all those months ago.
She had believed Cindy when the other woman had sobbed that she hadn’t known about the thefts. Cindy had willingly helped him cheat on his wife but she hadn’t known—or evidently been bright enough to ask—how he had managed to finance his dual lifestyle. She had been horrified when, a few weeks ago, she had stumbled on the evidence of his activities, along with a stash of money, hidden in her garage. Afraid of the consequences to herself and her son if she went to the police, she had flung herself on the mercy of Michael’s ‘clever’ wife, who knew the ins and outs of the law and surely wouldn’t want to endure a public scandal, or condemn her husband’s natural child to grow up in poverty, under the shadow of his father’s crime…?
The child that should have been Regan’s…
She was sick with shame at the way that Michael had abused Sir Frank’s personal and professional trust. He would never have been in a position to do either if Regan hadn’t introduced the two men. Sir Frank put great stock in his reputation for integrity and honest dealing, and she knew what a deleterious effect the belated discovery of embezzlement would have on his pride, not to mention his pocket, if it was uncovered by a close audit during the sale of his company. Determined that would never happen, Regan had used the information on the hidden disk to tot up the exact amount of Michael’s theft and worked out a way to pay it back, hopefully without anyone ever knowing it had been gone. It had taken all the cash that Cindy had found, plus every spare cent that Regan could rake up from the sale of her former home and possessions, to get enough to square the accounts. All she needed now was the time and opportunity to put her plan into action.
‘This isn’t the bar!’ she said, suddenly realising that Joshua had opened a door and was dragging her into an empty room.
A lamp shone on the desk, and twin pendant lights hanging from the high ceiling revealed the button-backed leather chairs and walls of bookshelves of the library.
She spun around as Joshua backed against the door, closing it with a definitive click. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’
‘I thought you might like a little more privacy for this discussion.’
‘Then you thought wrong! We have nothing more to discuss.’
‘On the contrary. We have a great deal to settle.’ He folded his arms across his chest. ‘First up, you can stop flirting with my brother.’
Her jaw dropped. ‘I was not flirting!’
‘I can read body language as well as the next man…you were leaning into him as he talked, giving him a close-up of those sultry little smiles and big violet eyes—’
‘We were having a conversation. It was difficult to hear him over the music. Anyway, I didn’t know he was your brother—’
‘Ignorance is no defence in law, as you should know better than most. Stay away from Chris. Second: how much?’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘How much were you going to demand from me to keep your mouth shut?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about! You’re being deliberately insulting—’
‘And you’re being deliberately obtuse. It won’t work. You’re a very bright lady, as Frank was at such pains to point out to me. Keen to make the most of your abilities. An eager opportunist. So…how much?’
Her slender bosom heaved. ‘You think I’m here to blackmail you?’
His eyes flickered down to the rippling white silk and back up to her blazing eyes. ‘It’s a reasonable assumption. You found out who I was—who I’m engaged to—and figured that you were in a perfect position to threaten to disrupt my wedding plans unless I agreed to pay you soothing amounts of cash.’
That was the height of irony, considering what she had come up here to do, but she couldn’t help the guilty blush that stained her throat and cheeks as she launched on the offensive.
‘What a very active imagination you must have!’ she scoffed. ‘I suppose you think that I somehow pushed Hazel down that hill in order to get myself invited up here…’
He tilted his head against the door, exposing the scars above his Nehru collar. ‘You know exactly how imaginative I can be, Eve,’ he drawled in a rusty voice that scratched at her frayed nerves. ‘But, no, I don’t think you were behind Hazel’s accident. As I said, you’re an opportunist—you take an existing situation and turn it to your advantage.’
‘Well, I’m sorry to disappoint your paranoid fantasies, but I had no idea who you were until a few minutes ago,’ she gritted. ‘And now that I do know it makes not one iota of difference to me. I have no interest in you either as Adam or as Joshua Wade.’
To her fury, he grinned. ‘You were interested in me every which way that night in the apartment…’
‘I treat all my one-night stands like that!’
‘That must make for an extremely exhausting social life…and an extremely expensive one.’ He unfolded his arms to lightly adjust his cufflinks, one after the other, watching her pupils contract nervously. ‘You left a gift on my pillow but you didn’t take mine to you. Was it your intention to make me feel like a toyboy?’
She felt a wicked surge of angry satisfaction and sleeked her hair back behind her ears like a fastidious little cat. ‘Oh, dear, how demeaning for you,’ she sympathised.
His eyes slitted. ‘Actually, I found the thought rather…stimulating.’ He pushed off the door and came softly towards her. ‘Didn’t you like the bracelet? I know you looked at it while I was in the shower.’
If it was a guess then her expression as she backed away from him on unsteady legs would have been all he needed to confirm its accuracy. Her brief burst of triumph dwindled to renewed panic as he continued.
