Trisha looked doubtful. “I’ll have to work with the IT guys and see if that’s even possible. You’re talking about finding a few dozen data entries in a list of possibly millions. All our records are on computer.”
“I think it’s more than a few dozen entries,” Skye told her. “I think there are probably a few hundred. I think someone hacked into our system and planted a lot of false information.”
Trisha nodded. “There are checks made out to you. Lots of them, in huge amounts.”
Skye hadn’t thought it could get worse, but she’d been wrong. “What?”
“Nearly a million dollars.”
“No. That’s not true. I don’t even take a salary. I’m the one who put in the money to start the foundation. I don’t take a penny.”
Trisha wouldn’t look at her. “A few people have hinted that you’ve been having investment trouble. That you needed the cash to cover some debts.”
“That’s not possible,” Skye said, getting angry and having nowhere to put her temper. “My portfolio is extremely healthy. I live at Glory’s Gate, where I have virtually no expenses. My car is two years old, I don’t buy jewelry or horses or even take vacations beyond Erin and I going to Disney World.”
She shouldn’t have to explain herself. Not that it would matter. Once the rumors started, people would believe what they wanted to believe.
“I’m just sharing the talk I hear.” Trisha finally looked at her. “This is getting out of hand.”
“I know,” Skye said, wishing she had an answer. “We’re risking our tax-exempt status. Worse, we’ll have to divert money from the food programs to deal with this. I want the IT guys on this for however long it takes. I want to find out how this happened. I want proof that we’re being set up by someone with a personal vendetta.”
“We’re a nonprofit. Why would someone want to hurt us?”
Skye wasn’t willing to tell her just yet. So far only her sisters and Dana knew about Garth and his plans for revenge against the family. While she was desperate for advice, she needed it to come from someone who wasn’t closely tied to her business. Someone who could look at all sides of things.
“We have to solve the problem,” Skye said.
“All right. I’ll get on it. I’ll do what I can from my end.” Trisha collected her paperwork. “You’re going to lose some people over this. Not just supporters, but staff.”
Not exactly news, Skye thought sadly. “Will I lose you?”
“No. I was there when it started. I understand the dream, and I know you, Skye. I know you wouldn’t do this.”
“Thanks for that.”
She appreciated the support but wondered how long it would be until Garth turned everyone away from her.
SKYE WAS STILL UPSET when she left for home that afternoon. She hated problems with no solutions and so far she hadn’t figured out how to fix this one. About two miles before the turnoff to Glory’s Gate, she saw a truck coming in the opposite direction.
She recognized the vehicle and the driver. Mitch.
They hadn’t seen each other since the night he’d been drunk in the barn, when he’d infuriated and disappointed her in equal measures. She knew the changes in him were because of what had happened to him. What she didn’t know was if they were permanent. Would the man she’d known and loved ever make an appearance or was the bitter bully the new and not-improved Mitch?
As her car drew closer, she saw him slow. Instinctively she did the same, rolling down her window as they came to a stop in the middle of the quiet road.
“Hey,” he said through his open window. “You’re home early.”
He looked good, she thought, taking in the dark hair and eyes and wishing nothing about his appearance got to her.
“It was a really bad day,” she said. “I needed to get away.”
“What happened?”
She eyed his concerned expression suspiciously. “Why do you want to know? Are we speaking now? Or is this just some trick to get me to open up to you so you can use it against me later?” She held up her left hand. “You know what? I don’t care. I’m tired of being your emotional punching bag. You’ve turned into a real bastard, Mitch Cassidy, and I’m done feeling bad about what happened before. Yes, we had a relationship. Yes, it ended badly and while I take responsibility for that, I refuse to spend the rest of my life being punished. You’re not the judge and jury in this. You’re just one voting member on a committee of two.”
She thought he’d take off, dust flying, wheels spinning. Or that he might get cold and sarcastic. He surprised her by smiling.
“You do have a burr up your butt, don’t you?”
She pressed her lips together. “Yes, I do. And for good reason.”
He rested one arm on the door. “I’m sorry for my part in it.”
“You’re just saying that.”
“No, I really mean it. I don’t remember what all happened the last time we were together. I was pretty drunk. But I’m sure I was a jerk and I’m sorry.”
She wanted to believe him. She wanted things to be good between them. Not romantically—she wasn’t foolish enough to think they could go there anymore—but as friends. She’d missed him for nearly nine years. It was horrible having him back and being so distant.
“You’ve tricked me before,” she told him. “You’ve acted all nice and then turned on me.”
“I want to keep you guessing.”
“You’re doing a good job of it.”
He reached across the space between his truck and her car. If she’d stretched out her arm, they might have touched. “Want to talk about whatever is bothering you?” he asked. “I promise to listen and not trick you in any way.”
There was so much going on lately. So much that she couldn’t control and that scared her. “I could lose the foundation,” she said.
“What? Why? Are you running out of money?”
“No. That would be easy to fix. We have funding. At least for now. It’s worse than that. It looks like someone is planting evidence that we’re spending millions on bonuses and vacations. It’s not true, but even the rumor could shut us down.”
He drew back his arm. “Come on. Follow me back to my place. We’ll talk and figure out how to make this better.”
She stared at him, wishing she knew if he really meant it.
“Give me a chance, Skye. Not because I deserve it but because you want to.”
She wanted a lot of things where he was concerned. “That’s not playing fair,” she whispered.
“I’m not playing. I mean it. Come on. We’ll find a solution together.”
He drove past her, turned around and waited until she put her car in Drive and continued down the road to the entrance to the Cassidy spread. She parked next to him and waited while he got his crutches.
“How bad was the hangover?” she asked as they walked toward his office in the barn.
“I’ve never felt that crappy in my life,” he told her. “Not even after the surgery removing my leg.”
“Good. Maybe you’ll learn something.”
He opened the door to his office and grinned at her. “You’re assuming I’m that smart.”
“You can be.”
“On a good day.”
There was a worn cloth sofa against the wall opposite the desk. Skye set her purse on the coffee table and settled in a corner. After kicking off her shoes, she angled toward him.
“It’s a mess,” she said. “Everything is confusing and complicated.”
“It wouldn’t be a quality problem if it wasn’t.”
“You’re not taking this seriously.”
He sat down and put his crutches on the floor. “Tell me more about what’s going on.”
Trisha had asked nearly the same question, but Skye hadn’t felt right telling her. Mitch was different—they’d known each other nearly all their lives and they were connected in a way that time and distance couldn’t break.
“Jed has a bastard son none of
us knew about.”
Mitch reminded himself that he wasn’t supposed to know about Garth Duncan or his relationship with the Titans.
“When did you find this out?”
“A few months ago. Apparently all this happened before Jed married Lexi’s mother. The woman he got involved with is named Kathy. She works in the pet store in town. She’s…” Skye looked at him. “Something happened to her. She’s mentally challenged. We don’t know if it was a car accident or what and it must have happened after their affair. But we don’t have any details. Jed swears he set her and Garth up with plenty of money, but people get angry for all sorts of reasons.”
Mitch hadn’t known about Garth’s mother. Was that the reason the man was out for revenge? Did the reason matter?
“How did you find out about him?” he asked.
“Lexi’s fiancé Cruz first made the connection. Lexi had borrowed money to expand her spa business. It was a great loan with excellent terms and only one tiny detail. The note was callable. At any time, Lexi could have to repay it back with only a few weeks’ notice. Garth was the lender and he called the note.”
Skye leaned her head against the back of the sofa. Her long, wavy auburn hair tumbled down the ratty fabric, making it difficult for him to pay attention to what she was saying.
“Next a couple of Jed’s racehorses tested positive for drugs.”
“No way,” Mitch said, drawn back into the conversation. “Your old man thinks he runs the world, but he would never dope a horse.”
“I know. Then the D.A. got a tip that we were using the foundation to launder money, so that was a mess. Lexi managed to fix her business and Jed can’t be hurt by very much. The D.A. investigated and we were cleared of all charges. Still, it was a lot of negative publicity.”
Garth had game, Mitch thought, both respecting the other man’s thoroughness and feeling guilty for agreeing to spy for him. It didn’t sound like Garth needed any help. Plus, this was Skye. Did Mitch really want to hurt her?
Not on a good day.
“There have been other things,” Skye said, sounding defeated. “A former client sued Lexi. It turned out she’d been working for Garth and had a huge crush on him. When Lexi pointed out that filing a lawsuit under false pretenses was illegal, the woman disappeared.”
Mitch remembered the recent headlines. “The rumors about mad cow?”
“We’re guessing that’s Garth. Now he’s after the foundation again. Somehow, someone got into our computer program. Financial records have been changed. They’re showing big bonuses paid to senior staff, but we don’t pay bonuses. They’re also showing that I wrote a lot of checks to myself and someone’s started rumors that I’m covering some bad investments.” She cleared her throat. “None of it’s true, but no one will care about that. Successful nonprofits survive because of their reputations. If we lose that, we could lose everything.”
He felt even worse than before. “Are you sure this is all Garth?”
“Yes. He said he was going to take us down. What we don’t know is why now. Did something happen to trigger him? Does he just now have enough influence and money? He’s thought this through. He has connections, money, means and plenty of motivation. We don’t know where the next blow will come from or how to stop him.”
“What does Jed say?”
“Nothing. Lexi tried to talk to him, but he blew her off. He says he’s handling it. Cruz suspects that Jed might even be proud of what Garth is doing. After all, Garth is Jed’s son. I don’t understand that. If Garth is angry, he should talk to us directly. I run a foundation that feeds hungry children. That’s all we do. Every dollar we have to spend on legal fees or an investigation over false charges is a dollar not going to a kid’s dinner.”
Okay, now Mitch knew he was officially jerk of the month. He’d thought Garth had some mild interest in screwing with Jed. But this was different. This bordered on evil.
“Are you sure there’s no way someone at the foundation has been playing fast and loose with the money?” he asked.
“We’ll find out soon enough,” she said with a sigh. “I’m starting an internal investigation. My CFO is bringing in some of the computer guys to pinpoint the charges in the system. Once we have that, we’ll figure out where it came from. I’m guessing Garth has paid someone to hack into our system. We have the usual protections, but they obviously weren’t enough.”
Mitch had seen Skye in nearly every mood possible, but he’d never heard her sound defeated before.
“Once you have that, you’ll go after him?” he asked.
“Maybe. If we can take it to the authorities. So far we haven’t been able to pin anything on him. The woman he used to file the lawsuit won’t talk. The loan to Lexi, while ruthless, isn’t illegal. When someone tipped off the D.A. about the money laundering at the foundation, it was untraceable. This is our first real chance to get hard evidence. At least I hope it is. Part of me thinks it’s another dead end. That it will just lead to some poor kid in a basement somewhere, working on a contract without having ever met Garth.”
Mitch had to fight to keep from squirming. He wasn’t used to being the bad guy. He’d thought Skye deserved whatever happened, but she didn’t deserve this.
“How can I help?” he asked before he could stop himself. Help? He was supposed to be on Garth’s side.
She looked surprised. “I thought you hated me.”
“I don’t hate you.”
“Then you should be in Hollywood making movies because you had me convinced.”
He didn’t want to talk about that, either. “I had a lot on my mind.”
“You called me names. You acted like a total jerk.”
“I was drunk.”
“It wasn’t the one time.”
He didn’t know what to say. His anger, always so accessible, seemed to have faded away. “You need to give me a break. I have a lot going on.”
She looked away from him and sighed. “It doesn’t matter. You can hate me if you want. I probably deserve it.”
He didn’t want to hear her say that. This wasn’t the Skye he knew. His Skye gave back as good as she got. She stood up to him and flung milk shakes at him. She called him names, took him on and came back for another round.
“I’ll help you with Garth,” he said, willing to commit to anything to see a little fire in her.
She sat up. “Really? You mean it? Jed’s having one of his cocktail parties in a couple of days and Garth is going to be there. Would you come, too? You could keep an eye on him, maybe size him up. I’d like your take on the situation.”
Mitch bit back an oath. He was a lousy spy to begin with—he wouldn’t be much of a double agent. Besides, he was having his doubts about his agreement with Garth.
A cocktail party at Glory’s Gate? He couldn’t imagine a worse night. But he couldn’t refuse Skye. Not when she looked so hopeful.
“I’ll be there.”
“Really?”
She smiled at him as if he’d just handed her the sun, then threw her arms around him.
“Izzy and I are in the most ridiculous fight,” she murmured, her face pressed into his shoulder. “Lexi is busy with Cruz and I’ve been feeling really alone in all this. It means so much that I can count on you.”
His self-worth meter hit an all-time low. Unfamiliar guilt made him feel like an eight-year-old who just knocked a baby bird out of a nest.
“Skye, I don’t know if I can find out anything.”
She pulled back enough to stare into his eyes. “I know. No pressure, I promise. It’s enough to know that you’re willing to try. Despite everything, I’ve always known I could trust you.”
He held in a groan. Not knowing what else to do, he leaned in and kissed her.
MITCH’S MOUTH was warm and familiar. Skye told herself that giving in to him wasn’t a smart idea. That she would probably regret it later, but right now she couldn’t seem to care. With all the confusion in her life, it felt good to have somethin
g solid around and today that was Mitch.
She shifted closer, wanting to feel all of him, even as she parted her mouth to admit him.
She’d expected the kiss to be enticing—she’d always loved kissing Mitch. She hadn’t expected the wave of heat that crashed through her, making it tough to breathe.
Wanting exploded from nowhere. It was as if her insecurities, her fears and all her worries faded into the background. The only thing that mattered this second was never letting go.
He wrapped his arms around her, as if to hold her in place. If she’d been able to speak, she would have told him she wasn’t going anywhere. Not while they were touching and every nerve in her body danced in anticipation.
His mouth claimed hers with a certainty that made her want to give in more. She ran her hands across his shoulders, feeling his strength beneath the soft cotton of his shirt. His tongue played with hers, each stroke sending need rippling through her.
It was like the last time, she thought hazily. Desperate and fast, but without the anger. This time there was only passion.
He drew back a little and kissed his way along her jaw. She went to work on the buttons holding her blouse together. She found herself fumbling a little as he licked his way down her neck.
Sensual shivers caused her skin to pucker. Between her legs she felt heat and swelling. Every part of her wanted to be with him again, to feel him inside of her. She ached for what only he could give her.
She pulled her blouse free of her slacks. He’d already reached behind her and unfastened her bra. The second it came off, he leaned in and took her right nipple in his mouth.
The warm dampness of his mouth made her sigh. The flick of his tongue against her sensitive skin made her gasp. She wanted to take off the rest of her clothes, but she could only hang on as he sucked deeply, pulling her into his mouth.
Fire shot through her, burning down to her belly, making her squirm. Now, she thought frantically. She needed him now.
She didn’t remember it being like this—fast and uncontrolled. Making love with Mitch had always been about connecting. There had been pleasure, but they were just as intent on being together. Now, she wanted what he could do to her and what she could do to him. She wanted him hard, filling her, losing control. She wanted him desperate.
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