“That's different so don’t bring it up,” Ursula scolded. “Those are your students and they don’t count. We want real babies.”
Anya knew exactly what she meant. Like so many other women it was her dream to one day find that special man to love and cherish. And yes, she did want babies of her very own.
But Rafe Kent? She’d only just met him but there was no denying that spark between them. If she ever dared feed that fire she knew it would erupt into a blaze.
But Rafe was not the ‘settling down’ kind. She could tell. She had the distinct feeling he would be a dangerous one to like.
CHAPTER FOUR
Rafe could have kicked himself. The minute Ransom called him he should have known something was up. His older brother had a nose for this sort of thing. From miles away he could smell something fishy.
Now that he was back in his motel room with no hazel-eyed honey to distract him he’d pulled out his laptop and gone online to do his daily check on the business. Everything looked good until he read the e-mail from Bert Cameron, his chief financial officer. What surprised him wasn’t that he was getting an email from Bert but that he hadn’t copied his superior, the chief executive officer and, for Bert, that was way out of character. The man was a stickler for following office protocol to the letter so what was different all of a sudden?
Rafe clicked on the link to open up the e-mail. “Mr. Kent, it is important that I bring a matter to your attention, one of great sensitivity. I do not wish to relay this information by e-mail. I would appreciate your calling me at your earliest.”
Immediately, Rafe reached for his phone. Right then it was late morning in the United States, a good time to call Bert.
His employee picked up on the third ring. “Cameron here. How may I help you?”
“Bert, it’s Rafe. I got your message. What’s up?”
“Rafe.” Bert sounded surprised. “Your call came in as an unknown number. I’m in office right now but could you call me back in ten minutes?”
“Ten minutes,” Rafe said and, none too pleased, he hung up the phone. After sending him a cryptic e-mail like that Bert was keeping him in suspense?
When he called back minutes later the CFO sounded more relaxed. “I’m downstairs, just outside the lobby,” he said. “I didn’t want to talk while I was in my office. Walls have ears, you know.”
“Yeah,” Rafe said, his tone abrupt. “What’s going on?”
“You’re not going to like this, Rafe, but I’ve been getting some strange requests from Michael lately.”
Rafe frowned. “Requests like what?”
“Like the other day,” Bert said, “he asked me to write a check to a company I’d never heard of.”
“I assume an invoice was presented,” Rafe countered. “You could have used that information to check if the company was legit.”
“That’s the thing,” Bert said, his voice tinged with concern. “I found all the usual stuff – location, type of business, directors. What I didn’t expect to find was Michael’s name tucked away in an inconspicuous list of advisors."
Rafe’s frown deepened. “You're sure it was Michael Allen, our CEO?”
“The same. I thought I’d made a mistake but when I dug deeper I found out it was our guy.” He made a clucking sound into the phone. “Talk about a conflict of interest.”
“Are you sure about this?” The last thing Rafe wanted to do was to accuse a man wrongly. On the other hand, if Michael Allen was taking advantage of his position, using it to fill the coffers of his own company, he’d have to put a stop to it immediately. He wasn’t running his business to fill another man’s pockets.
“I’m sure about this one instance,” Bert told him. “Now as far as checks I’ve been writing over the past year or two, I don’t know, but this situation makes me wonder if he sneaked anything else in.” He sighed. “Now I’m not sure what to do about this payment.”
When Rafe spoke his voice was brittle and firm. “Stall him,” he said. “Tell him the check should be in next week’s batch. Let’s give ourselves time to look into this further.”
“I’m on it, Rafe. I’ll gather all the relevant data from the past two years and present them to you within a week.”
“Good. And good looking out for the business, Bert. I owe you one.”
When Rafe hung up the phone he shook his head, still stunned at what he’d just learned. So his team wasn’t as trustworthy as he’d thought. This was definitely not something he would be sharing with Ransom any time soon. He was in no mood for lectures and ‘I told you so's’.”
He was just closing his laptop when there was a rap at the door. He got up off the bed and walked across the room then opened up to find Lion lounging against the doorjamb and Khalil looking retro in a colorful nineteen-seventies dashiki shirt.
Rafe couldn’t help but chuckle. “Where’d you find that getup?”
“Don’t you worry about that,” Khalil said, pushing past him and walking into the room. “How come you didn’t report to us when you got back from your lunch date?”
Rafe could have been offended at Khalil's nosy enquiry but he let it slide. Even if Rafe slammed him it would roll off the guy like water off a duck’s back.
Lion on the other hand, was concerned with something totally different. “Did you bring back anything? Dessert? A doggy bag? I’m starving.”
Rafe folded his arms and shook his head but there was a grin on his lips. “So if I don’t show up you don’t eat?”
Lion shrugged. “I can’t help it if I’m always broke.”
“Yes, you can help it,” Rafe responded, not swerved by his declaration. “If you wouldn’t waste all your cash on cigarettes you’d be good.”
“Yeah, I know.” Lion looked unapologetic. “So what are you saying about the food? Got any?”
“Of course I don’t. Does it look like I have anything?” He waited, letting Lion scan the room. It was only when the man’s face fell that he relented. “I’ve still got the car. Come on. We’ll go to Kiefert and I’ll get you guys some chow.”
It was while they were eating that Khalil used the opportunity to ply Rafe with questions. “So what’s your new lady love like? She’s nice, right? She doesn’t look like the stuck up type.”