What The Heart Knows (21 page)

He
had obviously changed his mind. Who knew why. Maybe men like him
didn't need reasons. Maybe he was used to different women in every
town. Used to making declarations that he had no intentions to keep.

She
couldn't blame him. If she had a life like his, that's exactly what
she would do. Different man in every port. Just fun sport sex. No
second thoughts. No regrets.

She
shouldn't have fought it for so long. They could have had a fun
little tryst right from day one. Maybe then she wouldn't feel like
she had missed out on so much more than she had got.

“What
are you doing?” Dane asked, his voice low and deep.

Emily
looked up to see him standing in the doorway looking down at her with
a smirk. Tall and dark and sexy and he wanted her. While she was
practically crying into some rich city guy's sweatshirt. “Nothing,”
she said, balling up the sweatshirt and getting onto her feet. “Just
cleaning out this room so we can fill it.”

Dane
nodded, despite knowing there was something going on. He wasn't going
to press the issue. That wasn't their thing. “I didn't get a
chance to tell you earlier as she were pushing me out of your room
and up here.”

Emily
turned back to her straightening, not bothering to look over at him.
“What?”

“Someone
came by your room earlier.”

“And?”
she asked, rolling her eyes. Why did she have to eke things out of
him?

Dane
cleared his throat. “A man came to your room earlier,” he
clarified, watching as she stilled and straightened, turning to face
him. His lips went into a firm line, nodding his head. “Yeah,”
he said. “I thought so.” He took a deep breath, looking
out into the hallway, then stepping into the room and closing the
door behind him. “Really, Red?” he asked, smiling. “Your
new boss?”

“Oh
fuck off,” Emily said, hurling a spare towel at him. “I'm
sure all those women you bedded weren't cliches.”

Dane
smiled widely, revealing one overly sharp eye booth. “Anyway,”
he said, tossing the towel back at her. “he handed me some
paperwork and told me to tell you it was your proof.” He
watched her face fall slightly. “Proof of what?”

Emily
took a deep breath, trying to ignore how quickly her heart was
beating. “He found proof that someone is stealing from the
inn.”

“Like...
what? Stuff out of the rooms?”

“No
like... falsifying documents and stealing money out of the bottom
line.”

“Jesus,”
he said, shaking his head. “these people have been here
forever.”

“I
know.”

“Do
you know who?”

“No,”
Emily said, feeling unbelievably sad. Because she knew what was in
her future. She knew she would be spending the next few days and
weeks watching what everyone was doing, second guessing things she
never would have thought about before. She would be looking at her
friends and trying to figure out which one was being disloyal to her.

“That
sucks, Emmy,” Dane said, shrugging a shoulder.

“Yeah.”

“And
he just... took off?” Dane asked, watching as Emily swept dust
off the nightstand.

“Yup.”

“How
convenient,” he said, sounding angry for her. “He gets to
go back to his life and you're stuck here trying to deal with this
shit? What a dick.”

Emily
made a huffing sound. “Whatever. It's better this way. I don't
have to deal with him sticking his nose where it doesn't belong.”

“Sure,
Red,” Dane said, not sounding convinced. “Look... if you
need any help with any of the stealing stuff... let me know, okay?”

Emily
paused for her hectic cleaning for a second to send him a small
smile. “Thanks, Dane. I appreciate it.”

He
nodded once at her and moved out the door, leaving it open.

Emily
collected the linens and moved down the stairs into the laundry.

–

She
slipped into her old schedule with surprising ease. Devon and Meggie
sent her sideways glances which she pretended to not see. Looks of
sympathy. Or curiosity. Looks she didn't need. She was fine. She was
back to focusing on work like she was always supposed to. It didn't
matter that he was gone. Since he hadn't really even been there for
that long to begin with.

There
were bigger things to focus on. Like who the thief was.

It
had taken her all of thirty seconds to discount Meggie as a possible
suspect. She didn't have access to the office and she couldn't pick a
lock to save her life. She was notorious for locking herself out of
her house and was probably the only reason the eighty-year old
locksmith in town managed to stay in business. Devon seemed an
equally unlikely culprit seeing as he was already filthy rich. Which
left the options much more limited.

There
was Alec. With his love of horses, his sexy man bun, and somewhat
anti-social personality. The few servers they employed for the
dining room. And the two cleaning ladies. All people she had worked
side by side with on multiple occasions. Often daily.

She
kept a running tally in her head of things that might be red flags.
The new diamond earring in one of the server's ears. Supposedly a
gift from a girlfriend. Maria, one of the cleaning ladies, was known
for dropping a lot of money getting her hair and nails done weekly.
Everyone had always attributed it to her husband's spoiling her, but
thanks to James, she now needed to look at it with more scrutiny.

Six
days into knowing about the theft and she still hadn't weeded anyone
out. Everyone had their small splurges. But ones that could easily be
explained. Nothing ostentatious.

And
then Alec drove up to the inn, beeping a horn until they all rushed
out to see what all the fuss was about.

There
he was, leaning against the side of a pristine cherry red
nineteen-sixty-seven Pontiac GTO.

Emily
slinked out the back door, rushing behind the buildings on Main
Street so she wouldn't be seen until she got to Eric's garage. She
let herself in through the open doors, finding his body sticking out
from underneath the hood of someone's car. Classic rock was blaring
from a stereo in the back. She walked over, turning down the dial.

“There
are only two people in the world who would dare turn down my music,”
he said, barely lifting out from under the hood. “and one of
those people would be over her getting me half naked by now,”
he said, sounding serious. “What do you need, Em?”

Emily
took a deep breath, feeling sick. Literally sick. Like she might
vomit all over his filthy garage floor. “How much does a
sixty-seven GTO cost?”

Eric
turned to her, a smirk playing at his lips, his gray eyes interested.
He grabbed a rag out of his back pocket, rubbing his hands lazily.
“Never figured you for a muscle car fan.”

“I'm
not,” she said, putting her hand to her rolling stomach.
“Please just tell me.” Put her out of her misery.

“Please?”
Eric asked, his smile fading. “You never say please. Alright,
alright,” he said, holding up his hands when she opened her
mouth to speak. “don't get your panties in a twist. A lot of
factors go into that. But if you need a range... twenty to...
eighty.”

“Thousand.”

“No,
twenty to eighty sheep. They accept livestock as payment still.”

“Ha
ha,” she said, taking a deep breath. Even if the car he had was
at the lowest end... twenty-thousand dollars was nothing to sneeze
at.

“What's
going on, sweetheart?” Eric said, endearments easy on his
practiced tongue. “You look like you're gonna be sick.”

“Nothing,”
Emily said, shaking her head, walking past him. “Thanks Eric.”

“Emmy,”
Eric called, sounding concerned but she was already gone.

There
was no way that with his salary he could afford a car like that. Not
even if he had low living expenses. Not even if he saved for years.

She
wasn't exactly sure what the protocol was supposed to be. Did she
need to compile actual physical proof first? But as she saw him
standing there, alone on the street in front of the inn, she couldn't
wait.

Because
she had been the one to champion his employment when Marion had
wanted to go with one of the kids of a local farmer. She had vouched
for him even though she didn't know him from Adam. True, his drop
dead gorgeousness might have had something to do with it back then,
but she was the only reason he even had a job. And he was fucking
stealing from her now?

“You're
fired,” she said as soon as she was close enough for him to
hear her.

Alec
turned, his mouth quirking upward like she was joking until he saw
her face. “What are you talking about?”

“I
am talking about the termination of your employment. Did you think we
wouldn't find out eventually? Seriously? You're such an asshole. How
could you?” she asked, slamming a hand into his shoulder,
making his back slam into his car.

“Emily
what the fuck?” he asked, grabbing her hand as she tried to hit
him again.

“Answer
me,” she demanded, hitting his shoulder with her other hand.

“When
you ask me a question that makes sense, I will.”

“No...
you know what? Fuck it. You're done. Just go.”

Alec's
face went from confused to devastated in a blink of an eye. He
dropped her hand, his mouth opening and closing. “Emily...”

“You're
fired,” she said again, turning and walking before he saw her
lip starting to quiver.

“Just...”
he called and she stopped walking, but didn't turn to face him. “just
take care of the horses. Please,” he begged, his voice sounding
undeniably defeated.

She
nodded once then ran into the inn, past Devon who jumped up out of
his seat. She held a hand up to stop him, storming up the staircase,
through the hall upstairs and banging on a door so hard it shook in
its jam.

Dane
opened the door quickly, his eyes going big when he saw her. She
shoved past him, into his room, pacing in front of the windows where
she could see Alec getting in his car and pulling slowly away, before
falling down to the floor on a hysterical sob.

“Emmy...
what...”

But
she couldn't hear him, curling her knees up to her chest and crying
inconsolably into them, her body shaking, the tears hot and
insistent.

Because
it felt wrong. It didn't matter how the signs pointed to him. She had
worked closely with him. She had loved him as a friend. And it felt
so incredibly, indescribably wrong for it to be him. To know that she
wouldn't see him around anymore. He wouldn't be there in the stables,
taking care of the horses like precious children. He wouldn't be
there on Thanksgiving, hauling ass and then sharing a meal. He
wouldn't be there anymore.

Because
he had betrayed them.

Was
there any harsher realization in the world than betrayal?

Dane
sat down on the floor next to her, his shoulder brushing hers, his
hand on her knee as she let herself mourn.

Eighteen

James
threw on a new gray pinstripe suit and went into work. It felt
foreign and uncomfortable. But different was good. Different meant
something else to focus on.

He
was in his office before anyone else on the floor showed up. It
looked different in the early morning, all empty. Desks lined either
side of the room, facing the middle where a long line of faxes and
copy machines were situated. It wouldn't be long until the ambitious
staff members with dreams of promotions would show up, eager to find
the next big deal to bring to the boss. Eager to smooth over and
hiccups in current deals.

Toward
the back of the room, a half glass wall sectioned off the office for
the head of acquisitions. And also his office. Even though he really
was never there often enough to warrant a desk. He opened the door,
looking at the desk to the left, covered in paperwork and files. A
neatly stacked amount of chaos. He turned toward the desk at the
right. It was completely empty. Nothing on it at all but the standard
computer monitor, a small stack of EM Corporation stationary, and a
cup of pens.