“She needed a loan of some money and used an antique brooch as collateral.”
A shock wave ran through his body and he only just refrained from swearing out loud and giving too much away. His whole life had been in front of the media. He’d learned not to react. Damn Cassandra!
“What’s your address?” was all he could manage as he grabbed a pen.
Half an hour later, Dominic collected Cassandra’s driving license from the pawnbroker. “I’ll take the brooch, too,” he said, pulling out his checkbook.
The guy shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Dominic saw what this was about. “Don’t worry. I’ll repay you the money for the loan and a thousand more for your inconvenience. How does that sound?” He started writing the check.
“I’m afraid I still can’t do that, Mr. Roth. I have a contract with Mrs. Roth. She’ll have to come and collect it herself. I could lose my dealer’s license if I hand it over to you.”
Dominic stopped writing and gave a cool smile. “I’m glad to see you have integrity,” he said somewhat cynically. He wondered how much integrity the guy would have if he hadn’t been dealing with the Roth family. He rather suspected the man didn’t want any attention from the law enforcement authorities. And that worked out well for all concerned.
He put his checkbook away. “Just hold on to that brooch. I’ll bring my wife back to pick it up shortly. And I’ll still give you an extra thousand for your inconvenience.”
The guy’s eyes lit up. “I won’t let it out of my sight, Mr. Roth.”
Dominic took the driver’s license and left. He had a knot in his gut. What on earth did Cassandra want five thousand dollars for? No, make that ten thousand. That’s what the guy said she’d originally wanted.
It had better be good.
Bloody good.
Cassandra finally made it home again without anyone being the wiser. She’d gone to the bank and deposited the two thousand into Penny’s account, and the remaining three into her own account. She’d made an excuse to Nesta about not feeling well to explain why she hadn’t bought anything. The housekeeper insisted she go lie down while Nicole was taking a late-morning nap.
Feeling exhausted from all the stress, she was more than willing to withdraw to the sanctuary of her bedroom. She’d left a message for Penny on her answering machine, and was just kicking off her shoes and about to stretch out on the bed when Dominic walked in the room.
And threw her driver’s license on the bed!
“I believe this belongs to you,” he said tersely.
She gaped. “I don’t understand. How did you get it?”
“You left it at the pawnbroker’s. The guy called my office on the off chance someone would be there.”
“Oh, no.” She’d totally forgotten about the license.
“Believe me, I said something a bit stronger than that.” He stared at her grimly. “Why, Cassandra? Why do you need money? Don’t you have everything you need right here?”
“I—”
“Do you have a gambling problem?”
She gasped. “Gambling problem? I don’t know how to gamble.”
“You’re gambling our marriage,” he said pointedly. “And Nicole’s future.”
She flinched. “Wh-why do you say that? Do you want a divorce?” Was this the way he’d take Nicole?
He made a dismissive gesture. “No, but if we have to stay married, then I want some semblance of happiness. I don’t want to be checking up on you. I want to be able to trust my wife.”
She expelled a silent sigh of relief that he hadn’t mentioned Nicole again. “You can trust me, Dominic.”
“Can I?” His eyes challenged her. “Why did you pawn your brooch, then?”
“For my sister.”
His jaw clenched. “Don’t start that again.”
“Why not? It’s the truth. Penny needed the money, and I didn’t want to tell her that I had none.”
He seemed to hesitate. “Is this really the truth?”
“Yes. Penny’s husband lost his job. They needed money to make their house payments by Monday or lose the house. I couldn’t let that happen.” She deliberately didn’t say she’d only put in the two thousand, otherwise he’d have to ask why not the full five.
Suspicion furrowed his brow. “So why did you ask for ten thousand?”
She hid her inward gasp. Damn the pawnbroker’s big mouth. “I thought I’d take the full worth just in case I needed it before Liam’s estate was finalized.”
“You won’t. You’re my wife now. Anything you need, charge to me.” He frowned. “Actually, you’ll need cash for yourself occasionally, so give me your bank account details and I’ll put some money in there for you.”
Fear caught in her throat. She didn’t want to give him her bank details, or even think about him getting the details elsewhere. It might kick-start him into thinking he should investigate her previous transactions. Clearly he hadn’t done that before now, despite knowing Liam had paid her a large monthly allowance, but if he doubted her anytime in the future, what was to stop him? Privacy issues wouldn’t matter to him if he suspected anything amiss.
“There’s no need to put anything in my account. I’ll be fine once Liam’s estate is settled.”
His face closed up. “I’m still paying you an allowance. You’re my wife.”
She suddenly realized she could get around this. All she had to do was open a new bank account—and pray that Dominic didn’t ever investigate and discover it. Heck, if he investigated her she was a goner, anyway.
She managed to look calm. “Then thank you.”
“What does your brother-in-law do?”
The question startled her. “Er…he’s a forklift driver.”
“I’ll make sure he gets a job.”
Her eyes widened. “You would?”
“He’s family now.”
Her heart really began to melt now. He would do that for people he didn’t know? “Thank you, Dominic. Thank you so much.”
“It’s no problem.” He paused. “Give me your sister’s bank details and I’ll transfer the money tonight.”
She stared in grateful surprise. How had she thought this man hard-hearted? She had to clear her throat before she could speak. “I’ve already put the money straight into her account, so thank you for the offer, but it’s not needed now.”
“Give me her details, anyway. I’ll put in some extra.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Just give me the details.”
“Okay, but I’ll repay you as soon as I get money from the estate.”
“Keep the money.”
“But—”
“Keep it.”
She closed her mouth, her mind racing ahead. Thankfully, she still had three thousand to pay the nursing home to hold them at bay.
“Now…” he said. “We have to get your brooch back. I gather it’s a family heirloom.”
“Yes. It is.” He seemed to be waiting for more. “I…er…would never part with it normally, but I knew I’d be able to get it back once I repaid the loan.”
There was a pause. “I apologize for not believing you last night.”
She inclined her head. “Thank you.”
“Come on, I’ll drive us. Nesta can mind Nicole.” He watched as she put on her shoes. “I see you didn’t use my driver. I checked,” he added, before she could ask how he knew.
“I caught a cab. But I didn’t take Nicole with me,” she quickly assured him.
“What did I tell you about—”
“Dominic, it’s not like anyone expected me to be going out in a cab, least of all to a local ‘Pawnbroker and Money Lender’ I’d found online.”
“I suppose not.” His eyes held hers, a growing admiration in their depths. “You’re a good sister,” he said brusquely.
Cassandra was pleased, but she couldn’t help but wonder. How long would his admiration last if he found out that Liam had paid her to have his baby?
After lunch, Nesta asked if she could have the rest of the weekend off. Her daughter was sick with a migraine, and she needed her to look after the grandchildren. Cassandra assured her that she could handle everything, including the delivery of the Christmas tree the next morning.
“But what about the dinner tomorrow night?” Nesta asked, fretting. “I might not be back until late.”
“It’ll be fine, Nesta. Take as long as you need.” An idea flashed through her mind. “Hey, I can do the cooking.”
“You?”
Cassandra almost laughed at the surprise in the housekeeper’s voice. “It’s been ages since I cooked a meal. It’ll be a nice change for me.”
In fact, the thought of cooking for her in-laws excited her a little, unlike the dinner parties she’d arranged for Liam. Those dinners hadn’t resonated with her like cooking for a family did. And perhaps now this could be a small start to Laura and Michael making peace with her. She could only hope.
But Dominic vetoed the idea that evening as they ate the casserole Nesta had already prepared. “There’s no need for you to cook,” he argued. “We can organize someone to come in tomorrow night. Even if Nesta’s back, she can still have the night off.”
“But I like cooking,” she said with disappointment. She’d already decided on a menu of vegetables with poached salmon and a summer trifle. “You do?”
She almost laughed. Did everyone think she was incapable of doing any manual work? “Yes, and afterward I’ll just throw everything in the dishwasher and leave the rest for Nesta to clean up the next day.”
He frowned, then, “Okay, but if Nesta’s away longer than this, I’ll be phoning the employment agencies.”
“Temporarily, right?” she said, hoping he wasn’t thinking what she thought he was thinking.
He looked slightly taken aback. “You think I’d fire Nesta because she took some time off?”
“No, I just…” She pulled a face. “All right, so for a moment I did think that. And that’s your own fault. I can never anticipate what you’re going to do next.”
His lips twisted wryly. “That’s a good one coming from you. You’re the most contradictory person I know.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Will you now?” he said with a surprising dash of humor.
Something lightened inside her. “You expected me not to take it as a compliment?” she asked, hearing herself flirting with him.
“I never expect the expected from you,” he said, his eyes deepening…darkening…imperceptibly drawing her toward him. Tiny shivers of anticipation rolled down her spine.
And then the oven timer started beeping.
She jumped up, her cheeks growing hot. “That’s the peach pie.” Twirling away, she hoped he would reach out, pull her into his arms and kiss her, then say, “Hurry back,” only he didn’t.