Heating Up the Holidays 3-Story Bundle(106)

“Nora, wait. Embezzlement. Embezzlement. I should have said that—”

“Oh, Jesus, don’t do that! I was thinking rape, assault, battery, serial murder of girls in shower stalls, where you scalp them and hang the scalps from your shower rod and—” Embezzlement. “Is embezzlement a felony?”

He pulled his shirt on, and his face popped out, grim.

“What they suspect me of is, yes. They suspect me of embezzling more than three hundred thousand dollars from the organization I work for.”

Three hundred thousand dollars. That was quite a hunk of change. Not murder or rape or assault, but a serious crime.

“Did you?”

She was surprised by how calm she felt, now that the painful adrenaline rush of a few moments ago had passed.

He’d looked away from her, into a far corner of the room, and there was a struggle behind his expression as he said, “No. But it’s messy. That’s why I’m taking the leave of absence. It wasn’t voluntary. I was suspended without pay. I had the best access, and the time frame of when I bought this house is suspicious. For a while my lawyer’s primary focus was on clearing me, but we’ve shifted to working on my defense, because he’s pretty sure I’m going to be charged, by the beginning of January at the latest. Unless they find another logical suspect.”

He said it matter-of-factly, but she saw in his eyes that this was the source of the sadness. There was nothing matter-of-fact in his feelings about the situation.

She felt a rising sense of outrage on his behalf.

You don’t know he didn’t do it.

—He said he didn’t.

You’re too trusting.

—Bugger off, Henry.

“You have a good lawyer, right?”

“An excellent lawyer, but … the way the money was taken, it’s called vendor fraud. We have a lot of programs, and we pay many vendors, and someone managed to create a large number of invented vendors. I’m the most logical someone.”

“But you didn’t do it.”

“Without knowing who did do it, it’s hard to clear suspicion from me. So it will probably go to trial.”

“But they’ll get you off, right?”

“It’s possible—my lawyer says probable, even, that they won’t get a conviction, if I’m lucky—but the point is, I would understand if this turned you off. I’m damaged goods. No job, the possibility of a criminal conviction, jail time. I’m low on funds. I’m going to look for other work, but my name’s been in the local papers, so I don’t know if I can even get it. Your friends would tell you to run the other way. Stat.”

Nora tried to imagine what Rachel would say. Back away from the possible criminal, Nora. Turn and run now. Don’t look back. Yeah, that was about right.

But she didn’t. Couldn’t. She’d known before he’d told her, as soon as she’d known there was something he wanted to tell her, that very little he could say would make her turn and run.

Probably Henry was right. She was too trusting. Too lacking in all the skills necessary for self-preservation.

In too deep, too fast.

In, for better or for worse.

She shook her head. “Well. That sucks. A lot. For you.”

“For you, too.”

“Does it?”

“ ‘Mom, I’m dating this guy. He’s charged with embezzling three hundred thousand dollars from an organization that feeds kids.’ ‘Oh, hon, that’s great!’ ”

“I’d say, ‘Mom, I’m dating this guy. He’s been falsely accused of embezzlement, but he’s innocent.’ ”

“Would you?”

“Of course I would.”

He closed his eyes, and Nora couldn’t figure out the look on his face for a moment, until she realized he was trying to keep some emotion in check.

“Miles?”

“Give me a minute.”

She did, and when he opened his eyes again, he said, “At the New Year’s party? I was on the rebound, too. Or something like that. My fiancée had just dumped me. Because she found out about the investigation.”

“Oh, God, Miles.”

“So … I might have … I didn’t … I wouldn’t have taken it for granted that you’d stand up for me, that’s all.”

His fiancée. The woman he’d been planning to marry. Someone who should have stood by him no matter what.

“At least you found that out about her,” she said.

“I thank God for that every day. Also, I wouldn’t have been single on New Year’s if she hadn’t left me. And I probably wouldn’t have been quite so—”

He stopped.

“I told you that you were a f*ck-you to Henry,” she said. “You can hardly say anything more obnoxious than that.”

“I was going to say that I was ‘hard up’ that night.”

She hooted with laughter. “Okay, yeah, that’s pretty bad.”

“I was,” he said. “I was a mess. Angry, sad, all kinds of bad. The worst. Probably capable of wreaking havoc.”

“But you didn’t.”

“No.”

“You danced with me.”

“Yes.”