‘Accept it,’ rasped Adam abruptly, his stance one of aggression.
Paul gave a shaky sigh. ‘Eve made me her business adviser with power of attorney.’
‘Adviser is the relevant word in that statement,’ the other man cut in harshly.
The bruise on Paul’s cheek stood out lividly against his pallor. ‘Eve is not business-minded——’
‘And you think you are?’ Adam derided scornfully.
Eve’s feelings of nervousness had turned to panic as the conversation developed; there was a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she was dreading, but already able to guess, what was coming next.
Paul’s head was back challengingly. ‘I have merely invested Eve’s money for her.’
‘In one get-rich-quick scheme after another—and they have all failed,’ Adam cut in grimly. ‘Would you like to tell Eve how much of her fortune she has left?’
Eve sat down on the chair behind her, her legs suddenly too weak to support her, her eyes like huge turquoise in her pale face as she stared up at a Paul who was beginning to seem like a stranger to her.
His mouth tightened. ‘This latest venture I’m entering into with Dudley Graves should recoup——’
‘It should, but it won’t,’ Adam bit out. ‘You’re a loser at business, Lester, can’t you see that? You may want to be a big financier, but you don’t have what it takes. And you don’t have any of Eve’s hard-earned cash left, either!’
She swallowed hard. ‘None of it?’
‘Eve, I’ve been investing for our future,’ Paul turned to her pleadingly.
‘None of it?’ she repeated dully.
‘A few thousand, that will be enough to recoup——’
‘I thought you loved me,’ she spoke over him as if she didn’t hear him. ‘I thought you were marrying me because you loved me——’
‘Of course I am,’ he told her dismissively, coming down on his haunches in front of her. ‘Those losses are only a temporary setback, Eve,’ he tried to take her hands in his, but she pulled back sharply. ‘Dudley assures me that——’
‘I don’t care what Dudley assures you,’ her voice rose shrilly, ‘you had no right to use my money. No right!’
He straightened indignantly. ‘As your lawyer, the man you were going to marry——’
‘You should have taken her instructions, not used her money where you pleased without even discussing it with her,’ Adam rasped.
Light blue eyes narrowed on him furiously. ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’
‘Legally, no,’ Eve’s grandmother conceded harshly as she stood up to come to Eve’s side, Eve still too numbed to respond, ‘but morally you have done everything that is wrong.’
‘Evelyn, you don’t understand …’
‘Don’t talk to me as if I’m senile,’ she snapped, the termagant of Eve’s childhood back in full force. ‘I understand perfectly. You’re no better than a lying swindler; you took advantage of your privileged position as the family lawyer and Eve’s affection for you. I never was completely sure of you when you took over from your father two years ago,’ she murmured hardily. ‘I never thought you were the man he was.’
‘He was old-fashioned——’
‘He was a gentleman!’ Eve’s grandmother stormed. ‘A man to be trusted. Something you obviously are not. I don’t believe there’s any need, but I intend doing it anyway, to inform you that in future I will be taking my legal matters to a more trustworthy lawyer. And I believe you might find a few of your other clients doing the same when they hear how you conduct your affairs.’ Her hand still rested comfortingly on Eve’s shoulder, some of her strength passing down into her.
Paul looked furious at the statement. ‘I’ll have you in court on a libel charge.’
‘For telling the truth?’ she scorned, shaking her head. ‘Whichever way a case like that went, your reputation would never recover.’
‘Eve——’
‘Don’t touch me!’ she warned stiffly, feeling as if she were about to break into a thousand pieces, would do so if the appealing hand Paul had reached out to her should make contact. ‘Just tell me one thing,’ she bit out shakily. ‘Was it ever me you loved, or was it always the money and the prestige you thought it could give you?’