“Oh, yes. Just a sip of hot milk, and then I was asleep within minutes.”
“Good, real good.”
Fucking liar.
She was a liar, but not a very good one. He’d make her squirm some more before going in for the kill.
“Say, Kendall, you don’t happen to have a twin sister by any chance, do you?”
“No…no…Mr. Buchanan, I’m an only child. I thought you already knew that from my résumé.”
“Yeah, I knew that, honey, but I just thought I’d ask.”
Obviously ruffled by his line of questioning, he watched her fan a hand in front of her face.
“Too hot for you?”
“A little.”
“Shouldn’t be. The air-conditioning is working just fine. The whole building was serviced only last week.”
She nervously cleared her throat again. “It’s probably just the remnants of my migraine.”
“Is that so?” This had gone on long enough, and he wanted to know what the fuck was happening within the financial department of his company. “Let me cut to the chase, honey. As your boss, I ask you a question, and you answer it truthfully. How does that grab you?”
The woman was riddled with anxiety, because this time her delicately manicured fingers massaged her throat with nervy stroking movements.
“What were you doing in this very building at eight o’clock on Friday evening? The very same night you were supposedly tucked up in bed, with the mother of all migraines.”
“I–I–I was in bed.”
More lies.
Anger finally getting the better of him, he leaned forward and smashed his fist down on the mahogany desk hard, causing her beautiful eyes to fly wide open with fear. “Enough. You’ve just lied to me. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can do it again.”
Although her beauty still shone through, the corners of her full, sexy mouth were now noticeably dropped. Her obvious vulnerability only added to her allure. Truth be known, seeing her this way turned him on.
“Don’t you think we have security cameras here at Buchanan Enterprises, Ms. Van Heusen?” He deliberately used her formal name, leaving her in no doubt how serious the situation had become. “My head of security has enhanced images of you on his CCTV system.”
She tried to force a smile, but it didn’t convince him one little bit. “Oh, that, yes, yes I’m sorry. I forgot to mention that I suddenly felt better and decided to come into the office and finish off some accounts that needed my attention.”
He looked skyward and spread his hands wide as though searching for divine inspiration. “So, the migraine miraculously disappeared then?”
“Yes, sir, I know it sounds unbelievable but—”
He banged his fist on the desk again. “It sounds unbelievable because it is.”
With the gravity of the situation finally getting to her, she lowered her head and steepled her hands over her nose and mouth, and he saw she was starting to hyperventilate. “I don’t want to say anymore, Mr. Buchanan. I can’t.”
He had her. She was starting to crack. “You don’t want to say anymore, Ms. Van Heusen? Well in that case, you listen while I do all the talking.”
He rose abruptly from the desk, making her eyes widen again, before circling around behind her. He’d come up the hard way, and he wasn’t averse to using intimidation as a tool to get what he wanted. He noticed she trembled, and when he placed his hands on her shoulders, he felt her stiffen.
Fucking hell, she wore that same perfume—the one that turned him on so much. He was still angry that she’d taken something that belonged to him, but he was also sexually aroused by her mere presence, too. He’d been pissed that she’d cancelled their dinner date at the last moment, because he felt they shared a connection. He’d hoped for a wonderful meal together, followed by wonderful sex. Was that too much for a man to ask?
Anyway, that was ancient history, because right now, he had other priorities to attend.
Mac squeezed her shoulders, unnecessarily hard, making her gasp with the pain. “Do not speak unless to confirm what I am saying.”
She silently nodded, and he had to resist the urge to bend down and kiss the top of her head before running his fingers through her honeyed blonde locks.
Mmm, surely there was no better aphrodisiac than pain and pleasure.
Fuck, it was lucky he stood behind her, because his hard-on raged incessantly in his pants. “You entered the building at precisely 8:23 p.m. Your security pass confirms this.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, Mr. Buchanan.”
“You then made your way to the financial department where the iris recognition system logged you into the secure area at precisely 8:36 p.m.” He squeezed her shoulders tighter still and lowered his head slightly in order to imbibe every last vestige of her beautiful feminine scent.
“The trail goes slightly dead here, Ms. Van Heusen.” He then hunkered down even more and whispered in her perfect shell-like ear. “But, one thing I’ve learned in life is to never give up. Yeah, Mac Buchanan doesn’t know how to quit.”
He whispered in her ear again, this time his lips actually caressing the delicate bony structure. “So do you know what I did next, Ms. Van Heusen?”
With her breathing heavy, she shook her head. “No, sir.”
“I dug, and then I dug a little deeper, and then a little deeper still, until…”
“No, please don’t say anymore.” He saw the first tears welling in her frightened eyes, and he knew he was close to cracking her defenses wide open. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t want to but—”
“Quiet. Spare me the amateur dramatics. I’m too jaded and world weary to be impressed by your feminine frailty. The simple fact, Ms. Van Heusen, is that you stole one million dollars from my company. Oh, yes, you were clever, very clever. You hid the transaction within a mass of dreary internal transfers, and if my head of security hadn’t alerted me to your irregular arrival on Friday night, your deception would probably have remained undiscovered for months, possibly years.”
He’d spent the whole morning following the digital trail she’d left behind, until he’d finally hit the jackpot. Kendall Van Heusen came from a good family, and he wanted to know why his sexy employee needed a million dollars so desperately that she had to steal it from him. He’d find out, and in the process, he’d find out more about the lady herself.
Without warning, he violently shook her shoulders, causing her head to rock wildly back and forth. “Why? You will tell me why you stole from me.”
The tears started to flow now, and she sobbed. “I can’t tell you, sir. Please don’t make me.”
“Jesus Christ, as head of my financial department, don’t I pay you enough? Three hundred thousand bucks a year ain’t exactly minimum wage.” He shook her again before pulling her to her feet. Angry, and becoming sexually aroused, he stared into her beautiful eyes, clinically observing the frightened girl that hid behind them.
“You will tell me the reason. Are you in debt?”
She shook her head and almost like a naughty child submissively lowered her gaze.
Nothing would stop him from finding out the reason, and using appreciable force, he grabbed hold of her chin and squeezed it tightly with his fingers. Angling her face to his, he forced her to look at him once more.
“Was it merely greed then, Ms. Van Heusen, that caused you to bite the hand that feeds you?”
“No. No. No.”
“I’m not convinced. A beautiful woman such as yourself likes beautiful things. The finest jewelry.” He inhaled her exotic scent again. “Expensive perfume. Designer clothes. A Mercedes Benz, a Bentley even. A new apartment. All these things cost money, and you don’t act like a woman who’s prepared to go without.”
With a burst of energy that caught him off guard, she wrenched herself from him, clawing his hand from her face. He’d left red marks, but she deserved his bitterness and disappointment. Kendall had stolen a million bucks of his money. How the fuck was he supposed to react, give the girl a raise?
With her breathing still heavy and the tears flowing freely now, she backed away from him. “Do you really think I’m so shallow that I’m only interested in material things?”
“You’ve stolen a shitload of money from me, lady. What the hell am I supposed to think? That you’ve given the money to charity. That you’ve used it to help all the starving kids in Africa? Go on, I dare you, tell me that’s what you’ve done with my fucking money.” He banged the flat of his hand against his chest to emphasize his displeasure.
When she didn’t answer immediately, he realized she wasn’t as benevolent as she tried to portray herself. Or, maybe she was? As he intensely scrutinized the downcast individual before him for any solution to the puzzle, he wondered if in his haste to get to the truth he’d misjudged her. Perhaps his anger had clouded his reason. Although a long shot, there was one area he hadn’t touched upon yet.