A HIGH STAKES SEDUCTION (18 page)

He growled in frustration. Just this morning life had looked so rosy and promising. He’d missed having Constance in his bed last night due to preexisting plans with an old friend, but he’d consoled himself with the prospect of having her there for many years to come.

Not anymore. It had literally never crossed his mind that she would find something amiss. He knew the books of this casino way better than he knew the backs of his hands, and he’d vouch for them with his life. The financial affairs of the tribal members were also his concern, and he’d been pretty confident about them, too.

But Don? Apparently the smoke the media was fanning had come from a fire somewhere, and who knew what else that slippery old devil might be up to. His hand itched to pick up his phone and call his uncle, but he held the urge in check. He owed Constance that much.

But no more.

* * *

Tears blurred Constance’s eyes by the time she hurried across the parking lot to her car. She climbed in and slammed the door, started the ignition with trembling fingers, and pulled out of the parking lot as fast as she could. She felt like a traitor here, which was ridiculous since she had no personal allegiance to the New Dawn casino. She shouldn’t have any personal feelings for its founder, either.

The problem was that she did. Hearing that he’d discussed seducing her with his uncle should kill them stone dead. Was she a fool to believe John’s denial? She wanted to believe him. And she remembered only too well how wonderful she’d felt with John’s arms around her. How she’d come alive in his bed, letting herself explore a sensual and passionate side she’d never dared admit to before.

It would be very hard to just bury all those feelings again, even if the relationship had been in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong man.

She needed to call the BIA as soon as possible, just in case John did succumb to the temptation to warn his uncle. She couldn’t afford to have word get out that she’d spoken to him about her findings. Nicola Moore had told her to get in touch at any time of the day or night if she had something important to report. She pulled into the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant and dialed Nicola Moore’s cell number.

When Nicola answered, Constance got right to the point. “I’m sorry to call you on the weekend, but I’ve found a discrepancy.” She kept her voice as calm as she could. “It might be nothing—” she swallowed “—but I’ve done all the research I can reasonably do into the situation from my end.”

She told Moore about Don’s reported gambling and its absence from his tax return. She’d only looked at one year, but she knew that this probably wasn’t an isolated issue. From here on out it would be a matter for the IRS to investigate further. Her work was done, and she should feel a sense of pride and accomplishment in it, yet somehow she felt just the opposite.

“Good work. This will give us a foothold for further investigation.”

“I didn’t find any irregularities in the financials for the casino itself, just for this one executive.” She wanted to limit the damage she’d cause to the New Dawn’s reputation. Not that it should be any of her business.

“We’ve had our eye on Don Fairweather for some time. It’s hard to understand why John Fairweather lets him play a substantial role in the company when he has a shady past.”

“He’s not directly involved in the financial operations at all. He books the bands and handles PR.” Constance heard herself speaking quickly, defending John’s choice to employ his uncle, and cursed herself for standing up for him. Obviously, she still cared about him. She’d let herself believe that he had real feelings for her, and now she felt foolish for being so gullible. She couldn’t get away fast enough. She knew that John felt strongly about including all members of the family—and by extension the Nissequot tribe—and managing them appropriately. She also knew he couldn’t control their personal choices.

“So I’m done here, right? It would be really awkward for me to hang around after making these accusations.” She realized that didn’t sound professional. In reality it had been awkward all along to have people know she was there looking for trouble. But she truly couldn’t stand it if she had to see John again now that she knew the truth about his involvement with her.

“Yes, we’ll have our legal team take it from here. Just forward all the relevant paperwork to me and I’ll be in touch if I need anything further. Good work.”

Heart heavy, Constance gathered her belongings from her hotel room and immediately began the long, lonely drive back to Ohio. Back to her former life of quiet work in her gray office and quiet evenings at home with her parents.

No kisses waited for her. No strong arms. No fiery passion to bring her body to life.

The worst part was that somehow her mind—or her body—couldn’t accept that it was all over. She kept waiting for the phone to ring. For John to say that he’d known all along she was there for a reason, that it didn’t make any difference that she’d done her job, even if it meant his family member would get in trouble.

Part of her still believed that what they’d shared was real. They’d had such great conversations, and experienced so much intimacy. Surely even if he’d started out to soften her up for business reasons, it had developed into something more. Or was it all in her head?

They hadn’t even said goodbye. The last thing he’d said to her was, “I understand.” But did he?

Would he have preferred for her to lie to her boss? To lie to the BIA? Then his little plan would have really paid off. She would have proved that she’d really loved him. Lucky thing she was not the kind of person who would ever do that. If she had nothing else left, at least she had her integrity, and of that she was fiercely proud.

* * *

At the office that Monday, her boss, Lucinda Waldron, was all smiles. “Well done, Constance. This was a tough assignment and once again you’ve proven yourself to be one of our rising stars. And it’s a real bonus that you don’t have a family to worry about. It’s hard to find an employee who doesn’t mind spending some time away from home. I have an interesting assignment coming up in Omaha that I think you’d be perfect for. I should know more details in a day or two.”

“Great.” She managed a smile. Omaha? And why not? As her boss pointed out, she had no life and no obligations. Not even a pet to worry about. They could ship her all over the country to ferret through companies’ books and no one would even care except her parents, who would have to do their own dishes after dinner.

In her office she looked through her in-box with a heavy heart. All the employee expense reports for the last three months were in there. She was chosen to go through them, as she was considered the most trustworthy and least indulgent employee. Lynn had told her that just the idea that Constance Allen would be checking their expenses kept people from putting frivolous items on there.

Great.

“I’ve found the perfect man for you.” Lynn peeped around her door.

“Shh! Someone will hear you.” She didn’t want to chat about men and dating. The whole thing seemed like a really bad idea. Obviously her judgment was questionable at best and who knew what might happen if she started putting herself in the way of available men so soon after John.

“It’s not a crime to date, you know. Do you remember Lance from corporate?”

“I’d never date a coworker.” And mostly she remembered Lance’s receding chin. Which wasn’t fair, really, as he had always been perfectly nice to her.

“You won’t have to. He offered his resignation. He’s going to KPMG.”

“Which likely means he’ll be moving to a different city. Long distance would never work.”

“Why not? Better than not dating at all. Besides, you could always move.”

“Leave Cleveland? What would my parents do?”

“I’m sure they’d survive.”

“I’m not attracted to him.”

“You barely know him. You have to give someone a chance. You might have amazing chemistry.”

She looked right at Lynn. “Are you attracted to him?”

Lynn bit her lip and thought for a moment. “No. But I figured you’d want someone stable and quiet and...”

“Boring? What if I want someone wild and dangerous and exciting?” She leaned back in her chair. “What if I want someone totally different from me, who can help shake me out of my dull and rigid existence and make me look at the world with fresh eyes?”

Lynn stared at her. “Do you?”

She adjusted her glasses. “I don’t want to date anyone.” There was no way she could even consider looking at another man while John’s handsome face hovered in her consciousness. And while his betrayal echoed in her heart. She still could hardly believe their whole affair had been planned from the start. “I have too many other things going on.”

“Like reorganizing your bookshelf?”

“There’s a church fund-raiser to plan.”

“There’s always a church fund-raiser to plan. I’m not going to let you waste your life anymore. It’s time you burst out of your shell.” Lynn winked and walked away.

Constance sank back in her chair. If only Lynn knew that she’d already left her shell and would never be happy in it again.

Ten

J
ohn walked into Don’s rather lavish office and threw the newspapers down on his desk. “See what you’ve done?” Stories about the tax evasion had leaked to the press—or been planted.

“It’s a load of bull.”

“So you didn’t gamble and win that money?” He crossed his arms and waited for a response.

“I don’t remember.”

“That won’t cut it.”

“It’s worked for some American presidents I could name.”

“Well, you aren’t one, and you aren’t senile either, so you’d better hire a lawyer and figure out what the two of you are going to say. The New Dawn is not going under the bus with you, Don. You know how I feel about following the rules. We’re under way more scrutiny than the average business and I don’t condone any activity that could even be seen as bending the rules.”

“Sometimes you need to redefine a rule.”

“Now is not one of those times. Since you aren’t denying that you’ve gambled and failed to declare it, I have no choice but to terminate your position.”

Don rose to his feet, frowning. “Are you kicking me out of the tribe, too?”

“This is business, Don, purely business. You’ll always be family, but I can’t have you working at the New Dawn while you’re under investigation for breaking the law.”

“Is it a paid leave of absence?”

John clenched his hand into a fist. “Is this my hand or is it a deadly weapon?”

“All right, all right. I can’t believe you’re just kicking me out. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?”

“If you were declaring your innocence, I might feel differently, but you’re not. I trusted you, Don. You’ve been my confidant and right-hand man at almost every phase of this project. I can’t believe you’d risk it all to save yourself a few pennies you can well afford to part with.”

“I’ll pay whatever I owe.”

“You know it won’t be as easy as that. They’re going to dig into your papers going back years.”

His uncle’s face darkened. “That won’t be good. I told you I didn’t want you to give her my returns.”

“You didn’t tell me it’s because they were fraudulent.”

“I didn’t write any lies on them. I may have just not told the whole truth.”

John suppressed a curse. “All this could have been easily avoided if you just did what you were supposed to do.” Despite his anger, John felt a twinge of sorrow for Don. Why were some people constitutionally unable to play by the rules? “If you think a law is wrong then you can work to change it. You can’t just ignore it.”

Don shoved some items from his drawer—expensive Cross pens, technological gadgets—into his leather briefcase. “Everything’s easy for you. You’ve always been the golden boy.”

“I’ve worked my ass off for everything I’ve achieved and I’m not going to let you throw it all away.” John wanted to take Don by the scruff of the neck and hurl him down the hallway, but he restrained himself. He also wanted to cuss his uncle out for ruining all his elaborate plans to keep Constance in his life, but he knew better than to clue Don in to that secret.

Don looked up from his desk and peered at him. “Shame you didn’t use your charm to run Constance Allen off the property as I suggested.”

“Charm usually has the opposite effect.”

“Not on a sexless automaton like that one. A calculator in a suit.”

John’s hands were forming fists again without his permission. “You keep your thoughts on Ms. Allen to yourself.”

“Oh, did I touch a nerve? I suppose you’ve seen more of what’s under that suit than I gave you credit for. What if I tell the press about that, huh?”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t I?”

“There’s nothing to tell,” he growled. “Just get out of here before I throw you out.” Fury churned in his gut. Now that Constance had overturned Don’s applecart, there was basically no way he could invite her into the family without it causing a major rift. Not that she’d want to come, anyway. He’d promised her all would be aboveboard, only to be proved wrong by his own flesh and blood. And now she thought he’d seduced her in a deliberate ploy to interfere with her investigation.

“I can see you have feelings for her.” Don hoisted his bag onto his shoulder.

“I don’t. Except that I’m mad she wouldn’t let me deal with this myself. I could have made you declare all your back taxes without dragging the law into this.”

A knock on the door made them both turn. “Mr. Fairweather.” Angie, one of the desk clerks, appeared. “The police are here.”

“I knew they’d turn up sooner or later.” John shoved a hand through his hair. “Why not just send them up?”

* * *

“I’m so glad you’re back home, dear.” Constance peeled carrots while her mom chopped chicken breast for a pie. She’d been home for three days and they’d all settled back into their dull, familiar routine as if she’d never left. “Maybe you can talk some sense into your father about eating better. His cholesterol still isn’t down where it should be and he keeps insisting on eggs and sausage for breakfast in the morning. He’s even making it himself when I refuse.”