“You’re pregnant. We’re having a child together. Tell me what you want. How do you see this playing out? Do you want me to stay away? Be involved? Do you think we should get married? What do you think would work best for you?”
What worked best for her was a man who genuinely loved her. One who couldn’t picture life without her. A man who longed to have a family with her and grow old with her. She wanted passionate declarations, not rational lists of possibilities.
The semi-proposal hurt the worst, she admitted. Getting married for the sake of the baby crushed nearly every romantic dream she had.
As she looked at him, she saw caring in his eyes. A little worry—maybe for her, maybe for himself. Affection. But he was still Josh Golden, perfect, worship-worthy, not for lesser mortals such as herself.
Even as she thought she could tell him the truth, that she was completely in love with him, she dismissed the idea. Why make him feel bad? It wasn’t as if he was going to love her back.
“I’m sure we can come to some kind of an agreement,” she said.
“What does that mean?”
“Just what I said. Do you want to be part of the baby’s life? I’m open to that. I’m staying here in Fool’s Gold. While you’ll probably be racing all over the world, this is your home base. So when you’re in town, we’ll have a schedule or something.”
He frowned. “And that’s what you want?”
“It seems the most rational approach.”
“Nothing more?”
She tried not to flinch. What did he expect her to tell him?
“What more did you have in mind?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Something.”
“When you get it figured out, let me know. We’ll talk about it.”
He studied her. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“I have no idea.”
“There’s something.”
She gazed at him, willing her expression to stay neutral. If he guessed how she felt, he would feel sorry for her. Worse, he might try to make things better by offering a crumb or two of attention. Not exactly the road to happiness.
Finally he stood. “I guess we have time to figure it out.”
She nodded.
He hesitated for a second, then left.
When she was alone, she breathed out a sigh of relief. One conversation down, who knows how many left to endure. She told herself it would get easier and hoped she was telling the truth.
But before she could turn back to her computer, Bernie hurried in. Her normally calm expression was tense.
“You won’t believe it,” she began. “I don’t believe it.”
“What are we talking about?” Charity asked.
“The money. The missing money.” Bernie put her hands on her hips. “I found it.”
Charity blinked at her. “You’re kidding.”
“No. Well, I found most of it. Some has already been spent, but most of it is sitting in an offshore account. It wasn’t easy to trace, but I’m good at what I do. I’m just so pissed.”
Charity almost didn’t want to ask. “Who took it?”
“It’s always the person you least expect. I should know that by now. But once again I was sucked in by a friendly smile and an offer to help.”
“Who?” Charity repeated.
“Robert.”
She stood and stared at Bernie. “No. I don’t believe it.” Robert? Quiet Robert who lived alone and cared way too much about the Civil War? “He’s the one who figured out the money was missing and reported it.”
“I know. He was angry about the money, too. Always talking about how whoever took it was stealing from the good people of Fool’s Gold. I bought it. Hell, I even went to dinner with him.”
“Me, too,” Charity murmured, unable to take it in. Robert? Not possible. “You’re sure?”
“There’s a paper trail leading right back to him. I found it through dumb luck, which annoys me. There are money transfers, withdrawals. He’s good, I’ll give him that. Just not good enough.”
“What happens now?”
Bernie rolled her eyes. “I’ve already called your police chief to take him into custody while I notify state authorities. She’ll be here any second. I’m just so mad. He had me completely fooled.”
“He had all of us fooled,” Charity said, still not able to believe it. “Is he going to jail?”
“For a really long time. I have to go make those calls.”
“Do you need me to do anything?” Charity asked.
“Just don’t tell anyone I thought he was a nice guy.”
“You and me, both.”
After Bernie left, Charity tried to go back to work, but she couldn’t think. Robert the thief? The information proved that once again she was a horrible judge of character. She’d been convinced his only flaws were that he was a little boring and kind of a mama’s boy. Instead he’d stolen millions of dollars, spearheaded the investigation, most likely to keep attention off himself, and had fooled an entire town.
She was furious. Beyond furious. She’d actually felt bad about not wanting to go out with him. Talk about a new level of stupid!
She stood and crossed to her window, where she saw the police cars pull up. In a matter of a minute or two, Robert would be in custody.
Still pissed, she went down the hall and entered Robert’s office. He glanced up and smiled.