Risking It All...: A High Stakes Seduction / For the Sake of the Secret Child

“The scandal has certainly livened things up around here, let me tell you. You’re missing all the fun.”

“You know I hate gossip.” She tried to stay out of the petty squabbles around the watercooler.

“I’ll certainly never see Whitlow in the same light again, that’s for sure.”

“Isn’t he a widower? Maybe he was lonely.” Great. Now she was defending a man who’d fooled around with a much younger employee. Of course as a transgressor herself, she could sympathize with him in a way she’d never have been able to imagine even a week ago.

Maybe this whole experience was part of her journey toward greater compassion and understanding. It was pretty humbling, all right. “I have another call coming in.”

“All right. Call Nicola Moore at the BIA before she comes down there looking for you.”

“Will do.” She hung up and grabbed the other call, adrenaline firing because she could see it was John.

“Good morning, gorgeous.”

Heat rose up from her chest. “Good morning yourself. I can’t believe you let me sleep in like that. I’m so embarrassed.”

“You looked so peaceful that I didn’t want to disturb you. I had to get up for a media interview.”

“I saw you doing it.” She didn’t want to say what she’d heard about the accusations against his uncle. It didn’t seem appropriate given their professional relationship. Still, she wanted to hear how he’d describe it. “What were they asking you about?”

He paused for a moment. “Nothing very interesting. The usual stuff.”

So he was going to hide it from her. Surely he’d know she could see it on the news or read it on the internet? “I suppose they’re often hoping to stir up a story. Speaking of which, there’s a sex scandal going on at my office right now. If they had any idea what I was up to I’d be out on my ear.”

“I won’t tell them. It’s none of their business.”

“I suppose not. You’re not sleeping with me to cloud my judgment, are you?” She said it in jest, but once the words were out she realized she wasn’t entirely kidding.

He laughed. “If I was, would it be working?”

“Of course not. I have tremendous integrity.” She was trying to convince herself as much as him.

“Tremendous, huh? That is impressive. And I’d expect nothing less of you. Seriously, though, you should probably know that the media has got a wild hair about my uncle Don. I’m sure it will blow over soon, but they’re trying to find him guilty of something, so you may as well hear it from me and not from the BIA.”

“What do they think he’s done?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think they care. Anything they can cook up will do. Want to get together for lunch? It’s almost noon.”

“Noon?” She gulped. “I can’t. I’m not even at the casino. I’m still at my hotel getting changed. I need to focus completely on work for the rest of the day.”

“And the night?”

“And the night.” She blinked. No sense giving him a chance to make plans that were going to rope her even deeper into this impossible affair. One night with him had been intoxicating enough. Another and she might never regain her sanity. “I really need to concentrate on my work. Last night was...”

“Wonderful.”

“Yes, it was.” She had to admit it. “But I’m here to do a job.” And we both know this is going nowhere.

“That’s true, but I want to make sure you don’t work too fast. I don’t want to lose you any sooner than I have to.”

So he could easily admit that their affair had a built-in end. The little pang of sorrow surprised her. “I do have other projects I need to get back to.”

“It’s a shame your office isn’t local. Why would they hire someone from Ohio to investigate a casino in Massachusetts?”

“I think they do that to encourage impartiality. Since I’m not local, I have no stake in building or maintaining a relationship with the New Dawn casino.”

“Just with its owner.” His voice was silky and seductive.

“That was an accident.”

“A very happy one.”

“As long as no one finds out about it.” And really, how happy could it be when she’d be home alone in a few days, lonely as ever?

“Concealment does not come naturally to me.” She heard frustration in his voice. “In fact, I’m hating this need for secrecy. I much prefer to be frank and up front in my dealings with everyone.”

“But you do understand that my job and my reputation depend on keeping this secret?” Panic gripped her quietly.

“Believe me. I do. And I hold myself entirely responsible for the delicate predicament we find ourselves in.” He paused, and the silence hummed for a moment. “Can I come over to your hotel?”

She sucked in a breath as visions of John’s large form in her tiny hotel room crowded her imagination. “No. I really have to work.”

“Bummer.” He sounded so disappointed that she had to smile.

“I have more calls to return. I’ll see you at the office.”

“I’ll make sure of it.” She could hear the smile in his voice, and it made her chest ache a little. She was really going to miss John. Which was ridiculous. She’d only known him a few days and in many ways he was the most infuriating man she’d ever met.

Yet she still liked him so much. And she liked that he’d told her about the suspicions regarding his uncle. As she dialed the number for Nicola Moore at the BIA, she was pretty sure she’d be hearing Don’s name again.

She was right. Nicola immediately launched into a tirade against him.

“Don Fairweather has been previously investigated for money laundering.”

“Was he convicted?” Constance glanced around her room to see if there was anything else she needed to bring to the office. It crossed her mind that she could bring a change of underwear. She told her mind to get back to business.

“No. It went to trial but the jury apparently didn’t find the prosecutor’s evidence convincing enough.”

“Oh. So he was found innocent.”

“Or they just didn’t look hard enough. I want you to make sure to look in places where no one would expect. There was a case recently at another casino where three of the workers managed to pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars by creating fraudulent receipts from the slot machines to bring to the cashiers. One of them created the receipts, one was the runner between the slot machines and the tills, and the other was the cashier. As you can imagine, it was a neat little racket for a while.”

“How did the casino figure out what was going on?”

“Keen observation.”

“You do realize that I’m a forensic accountant and not a private detective?” She had been told she was doing a routine audit of their books. Now that she was here, it appeared that her contact had definite suspicions, or at least was trying to plant some in her mind. That didn’t sit too well with Constance when she needed to stay objective.