wasn’t at the forefront of his. Not now, maybe not ever.
“Blood might be thicker than water but there’s no way I’d ever condone such a thing. Jason can’t be behind this. It’s just not like him. Besides, he only holds a minor position in accounting and he wouldn’t have access to be able to do this.”
He had to admire her loyalty to her brother. Will’s digging had discovered that Jason had a none-too-smooth history, going back to when he was just a teen. While his records had been sealed by the courts because of his age at the time, money had a convenient way of finding people with a truth to tell. Jason Cole’s habit of petty theft as a teenager could easily have escalated over the years into something far more sophisticated. And yet, despite everything, Margaret still believed he wasn’t involved with this current situation. Well, he hated to shatter her illusions, but the truth was there in the report. The numbers didn’t lie. He pressed home his advantage.
“But you have higher clearances, don’t you?”
“Not for this kind of thing and even if I did, I would never share that information with anyone. Not even my brother.”
She was so puffed up with righteous indignation and outrage he was tempted to tell her he believed her. But any softness would remove the leverage he needed right now.
“I’m very glad to hear it. The fact remains, however, that your brother is most definitely involved. All our evidence points to him. However, there is a chance he may not be prosecuted over this.”
“A chance? What chance?”
Will took a deep breath. This had to go right so he needed to choose his words very carefully, indeed.
“I have a proposition that will protect your brother’s position here and ensure news of his activity won’t get out, nor will it be permanently recorded on his file should he leave to work for another company.”
He saw the hope flare in her eyes and felt a momentary pang of regret that he had to manipulate her in this way. A pang he rapidly quashed.
“What is it? What do we need to do? Seriously, we’ll do anything to protect Jason’s position here.”
“It’s not so much what the two of you can do, although he’ll definitely have to clean up his act. It’s more to do with what you can do.”
“Me? I don’t understand.”
“Your appointment as my executive assistant is a two-pronged affair. On the one hand, I need someone with your acumen and your experience to be my right hand while I’m here.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “On the other, I need someone—you, specifically—to pose as my fiancée.”
“Your what?” she gasped, shooting to her feet, her shock clearly visible on her mobile features.
“You heard me.”
“Your fiancée? Are you crazy? That’s just ridiculous. We don’t even know one another.”
“Ah, but we do.”
He crossed the room in a few long strides, coming to halt directly in front of her. The light scent she wore, something floral and innocent and totally at odds with the sensual creature he knew lingered under her proper exterior, wafted on the air between them. Will lifted his hand and traced one finger along the enticing fullness of her lower lip.
“Let me enlighten you.”
He didn’t give her so much as a split second to react. He closed the short distance between her lips and his. The instant his mouth touched hers he knew he’d been right to pursue this course of action. A powerful thrill pulled through him as her lips opened beneath the coaxing pressure of his, as her taste invaded his senses and held him in her thrall. It was all he could do not to lift his hands to her hair and free it from that appalling knot and drive his fingers through its silky length.
Reason fought for supremacy and he wrenched his lips from hers in a force of will that surprised even him.
“See? We do know each other, and I believe we could be quite—” he paused again for effect “—convincing together.”
Margaret took a couple of steps back from him. She shook from head to toe. Desire? Fear? Perhaps a combination of both he decided, watching the play of emotions across her face.
“No.” She shook her head vehemently. “No, I will not do it. It’s just wrong.”
“Then you leave me no choice.” “No choice? In what?”
“In ensuring that a recommendation is made that formal charges be laid against your brother.”
Two
“That’s blackmail!”
Her heart hammered in her chest as the finality of William Tanner’s words sank in. Surely he couldn’t be serious?
“I prefer to call it a basis for negotiation,” he said smoothly, as if he did this sort of thing every day.
Who knew? Maybe he did. All Maggie knew was that her usually well-ordered world had suddenly been tilted off its axis. Jason had been on the straight and narrow for years. The trouble he’d gotten into as a teen now well and truly behind him. Surely he can’t have been so stupid as to dip into company funds?
She went on the attack. “You’re mad. You can’t do this to me—to us!”
“If by ‘us,’ you’re referring to your brother and yourself, rest assured, I can and I am. Margaret, your brother took a risk when he started playing in the big boy’s league. Embezzlement is never a good look on a résumé. Sure, this is only a beginning, but who is to say he wouldn’t get more daring if I hadn’t picked this up in our audit?”
Maggie watched William in horror. She processed his words as quickly as she’d processed the information in the damning report on her brother’s activities. Whether Jason was guilty or not, it was doubtful that he’d escape from this without some serious scars. The last judge he’d stood before in court had made it quite clear that he was being given one final opportunity to clean up his act—and he had. She didn’t want to even consider what might happen if he went before the courts again.
If what William said was true, then it was just as well that Jason be stopped now. But, in her heart of hearts, she didn’t want to believe a word of it.
“No, he wouldn’t. He promised—” She cut off her words before she gave Mr. Tanner any further ammunition to use against her brother.
“Margaret, please, sit down. Clearly this news has come as a shock, and why wouldn’t it? I understand you campaigned quite hard for your brother to be given the position he now occupies.”
The innuendo in his voice left its mark. He’d already intimated that she could be linked to the fraudulent activity. As innocent as she knew she was, mud had a habit of sticking. She wouldn’t have a position here for long if there was any suspicion she was involved, especially not with the corporate restructuring that was rumored to be in the works. Rafe Cameron’s determined takeover of Worth Industries, and almost instant rebranding to Cameron Enterprises, had left everyone feeling a little precarious with respect to their jobs.
