A Soldier's Secret by RaeAnne Thayne

Author:RaeAnne Thayne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2008-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Could the woman make him feel any more guilty, however unwittingly?

As Max listened to Anna’s story of fraud and betrayal by the former store manager of her Lincoln City store, shame coalesced in his gut.

She talked about how she had been lied to for months, how she had ignored warning signs and hadn’t trusted her gut.

How was Max going to tell her he had lied about his identity?

He had a strong suspicion her past experience with this charlatan wasn’t going to make her the forgiving sort when he came clean.

“So here we are six months later,” she finally said. “Everything is such a disaster. My business is in shambles, I’ve got suppliers coming out of the woodwork with invoices I thought had been paid months ago and worse, at least two dozen of my customers had their credit and debit cards used fraudulently. It’s been a months-long nightmare and I have no idea when I’ll ever be able to wake up.”

Max remembered his speculation when he read the sketchy information online about the trial that maybe she had been involved in the fraud, a partner who was letting her manager take the fall while she reaped the benefits.

The thought of that now was laughable and he was sorry he had even entertained the idea. She sounded sick about the trial, about the fraud, especially about her customers who had suffered.

“You said this Fletcher jerk has been charged?”

“Oh, yes. That’s part of the joy of this whole thing, out there in the public eye for everyone to see what an idiot I’ve been.”

“It’s not your fault the guy was a scumbag thief.”

“No. But it is my fault I hired the scumbag thief to mind my store and gave him access to the personal information of all my customers and vendors who trusted me to protect that. It’s my fault I didn’t supervise things as closely as I should have, which allowed him more room and freedom to stick his fingers in as many pies as he could find.”

“That’s a lot of weight for you to bear.”

“My name is the one on the business license. It’s my responsibility.”

“When will the trial wrap up?”

“This week, I think. Closing arguments start tomorrow and I’m hoping for a quick verdict soon after that. I’ll just be so glad when it’s over.”

“That bad?”

She shrugged and tried to downplay it but he saw the truth in her eyes. “Every day when I walk in the courtroom, I feel like they ought to hand me a dunce cap and a sign to hang around my neck—World’s Biggest Idiot.”

“You’ve sat through the entire trial?”

“Every minute of it. Grayson Fletcher stole from me, he stole from customers, he stole from my vendors. He took my reputation and I want to make sure he pays for it.”

He had seen seasoned war veterans who didn’t have the kind of grit she possessed in order to walk into that courtroom each day. He was astonished at the soft tenderness seeping through him, at his fierce desire to take her hand and assure her everything would be okay.

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