Sara Craven - When The Devil Drives

Why the hell was she worrying about something as trivial as the way he’d treated her as a widow in mourning, when he was now threatening her and her entire family with total humiliation and ruin?

While she’d thought herself safe in the States, Cal Blackstone had been busy ensnaring Simon in a web of financial dependency, both personal and professional. Then he’d sat back and waited, like the spider, for the unsuspecting fly to return …

But that was defeatist talk, she told herself in self-reproach. After all, if the fly struggled hard enough, even the strongest web could be broken.

She was halfway through a dinner she had no interest in eating when Simon eventually came in. He looked tired and anxious, and for a moment she was tempted to leave him in the peace he so clearly needed at least until the morning.

She let him talk for a while about Fiona and the labour pains which had so unaccountably subsided while he ate his meal.

Then she said quietly, ‘Don’t you want to know what happened this afternoon?’

He shrugged, his face adopting a faintly martyred expression. ‘I suppose so. To be honest, Jo, although his letter threw me when it arrived, I’ve been thinking about it while I’ve been hanging around at the nursing home, and, frankly, I don’t know what all the fuss is about. Things at work are picking up slowly. He’ll get his money back, and he’ll just have to be patient, that’s all. I hope you told him so.’

She picked up the coffee-pot and filled two cups with infinite care.

‘I didn’t actually get the chance,’ she said. ‘He didn’t come here to talk about work. It was your other debts he was concerned with. The ones you ran up at the casino, and the race-track.’

She watched him go white. There was a long, painful silence. Then he said very rapidly, ‘He told you that, but he had no right. He said there was no hurry. He knew I’d pay it all off if he just gave me time.’

‘How?’ She looked at Simon’s guilty, miserable face and knew that the question was unanswerable.

She nerved herself to go on. ‘He—he did mention the Craft Company in one context. He talked about the books—the accounts.’

‘What about them?’ Simon’s gaze was fixed on the polished dining table.

‘He said something about an independent audit,’ Joanna said, and stopped appalled as Simon’s cup dropped from his hand, spilling coffee everywhere.

‘Can he do that?’ The blue eyes were scared, imploring. ‘Can he, Jo?’

‘Is there some reason why he shouldn’t?’ She tried to speak evenly, but her voice trembled as she realised she had to face, to come to terms with the unthinkable.

He didn’t reply, just picked up his table napkin and began blotting up the coffee as if it were the most important thing in the world.

She said, ‘It’s true, then. There’s money missing, and you’re responsible.’

‘Whose bloody company is it anyway?’ he said, his tone mutinous, defensive.

‘Not yours to that extent. Simon, are you crazy?’

‘I had to do something. Fiona was miserable, and needed a break. She had her heart set on St Lucia. She’s never known what it is to be short of cash—she doesn’t understand.’

Joanna closed her eyes for a moment, trying to visualise Fiona’s reaction to the news that her husband had made them bankrupt and homeless. But her imagination balked at the very idea.

‘Go on,’ she said, with infinite weariness. ‘So you embezzled money from the Craft Company to take Fiona on an expensive holiday.’

‘I did not embezzle it!’ Simon’s face was flushed now with anger. ‘I borrowed it.’

‘With Philip’s knowledge and permission?’

‘I didn’t think it was necessary to mention it to him. After all, it was only a couple of thousand or so on temporary loan. I fully intended to pay it back. One damned good win at blackjack was all I needed.’

‘But you didn’t win.’

‘No, I started losing really badly. I kept telling myself my luck would change, but it didn’t. It just kept getting worse.’

‘Then why on earth didn’t you stop?’

‘I couldn’t,’ he said simply. ‘I had to go on trying to win.’

Joanna ran the tip of her tongue round her dry lips. ‘Did you borrow any more money?’ she asked carefully.

‘Some,’ he muttered. ‘I’d have been all right—I know I would—if bloody Blackstone hadn’t barred me from the casino. How the hell was I supposed to recoup my losses if I wasn’t allowed to play?’ He gave her a petulant look. ‘I still don’t see why he found it necessary to drag you into all this. I thought we had a gentlemen’s agreement about it.’

‘Cal Blackstone,’ she said quietly, ‘is no gentleman. Tell me, Si, and I want the truth—is there any hope that you’ll be able to repay at least the—loan from the firm?’

There was a pause, then he shook his head. ‘I can’t. Philip and I are both drawing minimum salaries at the moment. And I’ve had so much extra expense with the baby coming. The nursing home fees cost a fortune for a start.’ His expression became alarmed. ‘Blackstone won’t really insist on this audit, will he? I mean—I can explain to old Phil, and I’m sure he’d understand, but I’d rather not.’

Joanna murmured something non-committal, but in her heart she wasn’t at all convinced that old Phil would be quite so amenable to the news that some of their slender profits had been illegally squandered on gambling, and vacations in the West Indies.

‘So what does Blackstone want?’ Simon demanded apprehensively.

Joanna hesitated. ‘I’m not altogether sure,’ she prevaricated. ‘Now that I know his—allegations are true, I have to get back to him—work something out.’

‘Oh, goody.’ Simon’s voice was heavily sarcastic. ‘I didn’t realise that you two were so much in each other’s confidence. Yesterday you couldn’t stand the sound of his name. Today you’ve got your heads together, deciding what to do for the best about poor misguided Simon. Does he get his knuckles rapped, or just stand in the corner?’

Joanna bit her lip. ‘That kind of attitude doesn’t help.’

‘And having my private affairs chewed over behind my back isn’t totally acceptable either,’ Simon retorted furiously. ‘You should have refused to listen—referred him straight to me, instead of meddling in what doesn’t concern you.’

Joanna held on to her temper with an effort. ‘If you’re charged with embezzlement, it will concern me very closely,’ she said evenly. ‘It will concern us all. And imagine the effect it could have on Daddy.’

‘Oh, yes, let’s.’ Simon’s face was stony. ‘Look, everyone, Simon’s been a naughty boy. And Joanna’s the blue-eyed girl who’s going to put everything right. Well, bloody good luck to you!’ He glared at her. ‘What a pity you didn’t stay here and pitch in after Martin died, instead of swanning off to the States. Things might have been different then.’ He scraped his chair back and rose. ‘I’m going back to the nursing home to stay with Fiona. Have your high-level conference with Blackstone, sister dear, and get everything sorted. Feel free to let me know some time what’s been decided for me.’

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