Love's Road Home (12 page)

Uh, oh. Tom knew he wasn’t going to like this.

"After working there about six months, I was staying late one night. I didn’t think anyone else in my section had stayed, but it turns out Eric was still in his office. On his way out he noticed I was at my desk. He suggested we have dinner together, and I agreed."

Now Beth looked completely away from him, gazing blindly toward the stage. What was she so ashamed of?

"From there things happened really fast. Like I said, I was bowled over. Eric and I had dinner together almost every night for the next three weeks. By the end of that time, we’d ended up in bed."

Still she refused to look at him.

"Eric said he cared for me, but we had to keep our relationship secret at the office. Company rules and all that." She shrugged a shoulder. "I believed him." Beth finally turned to meet his gaze, her blue eyes full of pain. "I believed him about a lot of things."

He couldn’t take this much longer. Tom reached out to take Beth’s hand, hoping to give comfort and at the same time encourage her to continue talking.

"What did he do to you?"

Another heavy sigh escaped her, but
Bethany
didn’t remove her hand from his grasp. If anything, she seemed to hold on even tighter.

"We were lovers for nearly a year. I thought our relationship was really going somewhere. Especially after I got a promotion and we had more or less equal responsibilities. Technically Eric remained my supervisor, but I’d been given some different projects to handle. A couple small firms and one huge one. JCM, Inc., a hot new cyber-technology firm. It was a multi-million dollar account which, I guess, was supposed to be my ultimate training ground."

Tom presumed it hadn’t exactly worked out that way.

"I took care of the company’s books, but Eric had to double-check everything I did. It really should have irritated him to do that, seeing as he still had his own accounts to manage, but he never complained." A crooked smile briefly broke across her face. "It turns out he was happy with the extra duties."

It was just enough of a comment to lead Tom on. "Why?"

"Because he could learn how I set up my accounts. How I arranged my files—both electronic and hard copies. Where and how to access those files."

Crap.

He hoped this wasn’t heading where he thought it was.

Tom tried to feel his way along. "So Eric somehow mismanaged money in your accounts and you got in trouble for it?"

An unladylike snort was Beth’s reply to that stupid comment.

"I really don’t think the term mismanagement applies when it involves 1.5 million dollars."

Oh.

Double crap.

Beth’s face tightened with anger, an emotion Tom was happy to finally see in her. "The appropriate term is embezzlement. At least, that’s what the SFPD told me when I was arrested."

Her voice got harder as she continued. "It seems Eric, my trustworthy lover, my supposed soul mate, didn’t care for me at all. He only got close to me so he could frame me. He got access to all my files, anything at the office or at home. He probably figured out my computer passwords from personal information I shared. Or maybe I just told him outright. Who knows...I was gullible enough to trust him with other things, so why not security codes, too?"

Tom lifted her hand for a soft kiss, then placed it on his thigh. "You did nothing wrong. He did."

Beth gave him a disbelieving look. "Well, the police and my bosses didn’t see it that way. Eric had manipulated the books in a way that implicated me but not him. He reviewed my work on the account, then he’d generate a report for his superiors. What I didn’t know was that he was modifying my numbers before he sent in his monthly reports. When the discrepancies between our books and
JCM’s
were finally caught, it all came back to me."

"I was shown the reports Eric had sent, and I knew something was wrong. The numbers didn’t look right to me. But when I checked my work files, the numbers matched what was in the reports. The police had their proof, and I had given it to them."

Tom could literally feel Beth’s distress as her short fingernails dug into his thigh. They’d leave a mark even through his jeans.

"I knew right then that Eric had done it. He was the only one who could have. I didn’t care where I was or who saw me. I was in handcuffs, in police custody, in full view of all my co-workers. And I screamed at him."

"‘How could you do this to me? You said you loved me! Why did you do this?’ It didn’t matter what I yelled. He never even looked at me. He just spoke to the police."

Bethany
tugged her hand away, pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself as if she were cold. She spoke softly, carefully, staring off into space again.

"That bastard denied that we were in a relationship. He claimed I tried many times to seduce him, maybe to get him to go along with my embezzling plans." Even in profile, Tom saw her eyes narrow.

"I was humiliated. He painted me as a love-starved psycho as well as a thief."

He could stand it no more. Tom dragged
Bethany
onto his lap and into his arms, placed gentle kisses along her hairline.

"But you’re here now, sweetheart." Another tender kiss, this time on her full lips. "So how did you get cleared?"

Beth’s hand gripped his shirt, pressed warm against his chest. She gave a quick smile, and a look of satisfaction flashed in her expressive eyes. "Eric didn’t know everything, thank God."

"I backed up my files on a CD each month before I sent them to him. It was a habit I acquired in college, and, luckily, I never broke myself of it."

"And the forensics lab found Eric’s fingerprints at my apartment. He tried to blow it off by saying he’d driven me home after work one night, when my car was in the shop." Beth tucked her head under his chin. "But that explanation didn’t fly since they found his prints not only by the door but also on the headboard of my bed. Other private places, too. He couldn’t deny our relationship after that."

Tom stroked his hands up and down Beth’s back, knowing this wasn’t easy for her to share. She let out another deep sigh, causing a firm breast to press into his chest.

"Eric wasn’t able to change the computer’s record of when he altered my files, so the crime lab didn’t have to work too hard to find that evidence. And since my CD copies of the original files also had a computer date stamp, the police really had all the proof they needed to charge him. They released me within a few days, but the trial dragged on for a while. It was a nightmare."

Tom remembered what Detective Halsey had said earlier, and rage flowed through him.
Bethany
had gotten emotionally jerked around, framed for embezzlement, and then had to relive it all when she testified in court. Sharpe’s threats were acidic icing on an already poisonous cake.

"What did that bastard say to you? What did he threaten to do?"

Beth lifted her head. Her gaze traveled over his face as her fingers caressed his clenched jaw. "Don’t worry about it. He called me nasty names, said he was going to get me for this. You know—the usual bluster of a raving lunatic."

Her eyes met his. With all her anger melted away, there was nothing left but a calm, clear sea of pale blue.

"I don’t believe Eric would ever waste his time coming after me. He was caught mostly due to his own carelessness. I really contributed only a small part to the evidence."

"How can you say that? You gave the cops your back-up files. You let them search through all your personal stuff to get his prints, proving he was a liar and had access to your work outside the office. I’d say that was a lot!"

Tom couldn’t believe she wasn’t concerned for her own welfare. But that was okay. He’d worry enough for the both of them.

And he would make sure
Bethany
stayed safe.

Chapter Eight

Beth could tell Tom didn’t believe her. She appreciated the anger and concern she saw in his dark brown eyes, but she didn’t think it was necessary. Eric would only be focused on staying out of prison—not exacting revenge on her.

No, she didn’t want Tom thinking about the past, per se. She was only interested in whether he still wanted a relationship with her despite her past.

She supposed this was the time to find out for sure, now that all her naïveté—or was that stupidity?—was out in the open.

"So … do you think you could find an idiot like me attractive? I mean, how much did that story turn you off?"

Beth lost her nerve, dropping her gaze to where her hand rested against his warm, strong chest. She could feel his heart beating steadily beneath her palm, and she hoped she’d soon have the chance to caress his bare skin at leisure.

Tom would have none of her reticence. He lifted her chin, staring hard into her eyes before slowly moving forward to press a long, lingering kiss on her lips. Her mouth opened beneath his, and his tongue hungrily explored inside.

After what seemed like an endless amount of time, he pulled back, breathing harshly. Beth could only stare at him, disorientated.

"I hope that answers your question. But in case my actions weren’t clear, here are the words." The intensity of his gaze held her in place. "What happened to you in
San Francisco
does not make you an idiot. It doesn’t make you stupid or dishonest or promiscuous, either." He paused. "It makes you human."

Beth forcibly cleared her mind so she could focus on what he was saying to her.

"Did you do anything wrong? Anything criminal?"

She shook her head. "No, but—"

"Did you do anything wrong?" Tom asked again, more insistently.

"No. I didn’t take any money."

He cupped her face in his hands. Spoke softly, but firmly. "Then why would I treat you any different than I did before? Why would I feel any different?"

She absorbed the care and acceptance emanating from him. His reaction to her story floored her, and she fought against the unexpected moisture welling in her eyes.

"The only thing you did was have a lapse in judgment. You got involved with someone, and it turned out bad."

She couldn’t help but give him a look. Oh, please.

"Fine. It turned out really bad," he conceded. "But, in my opinion, that still doesn’t reflect poorly on you. We all have relationships which don’t work out, one way or another, before we find the right person."

Wait, was Tom hinting that he was the right person for her?

She certainly hoped not. She couldn’t, and wouldn’t, go through another disastrous relationship.

Eric had hurt her on purpose, meaning to send her off to prison while he walked away scot-free.

Tom would hurt her, too. He wouldn’t mean to do it. She knew he was a good man, that he cared about her.

But she also knew his planned path in life led in the opposite direction from hers.

Heartbreak was inevitable in the long run, which was why she couldn’t allow herself to care too deeply for the man.

Right, she told herself as Tom leaned down to give her another soft, tender kiss.

Like she wasn’t already way past that point.

•

"Guys, I’ve got good news!"

As George entered the room, Tom turned toward him, expecting to hear a second line relating to car insurance.