Josh relaxed. “It’s a mistake. There’s nothing wrong with my credit cards, but thank you, anyway.” He paid the amount due. They grabbed their bags and headed up to the room.
Tory figured tomorrow Josh could get things straightened out.
It wasn’t until they got back to Iron Springs that Josh discovered it wasn’t just his credit cards that were a problem. His bank accounts had been cleaned out and his loan on the ranch was now in foreclosure.
And Tory knew exactly who to blame.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Tory knew what to do to straighten out Josh’s accounts—Damon had done the same thing to her.
After she had left Phoenix and moved to Houston, Damon had immediately begun to harass her. He must have had a friend who knew how to hack into computer systems because he managed to destroy her credit, run up her cards, and empty her bank accounts.
He had even been brazen enough to admit he’d done it, though she never had any proof. He just wanted her to come home, he’d said. He’d make everything right if she just came back to him.
In those early days, she hadn’t yet accepted reality, hadn’t realized her life, as she knew it, was over. Back then, she’d been determined not to let him win.
She had managed to undo the identity theft and clean up her bank accounts and credit cards, but Damon’s harassment had only gotten worse, until she’d finally been forced to leave Houston.
At least she knew what to do for Josh.
Working in his converted bedroom-office, Tory leaned back in the chair in front of his computer and rubbed the ache in her neck. She’d been sitting there for hours, either on the Internet or the phone, determined to fix the mess she had brought down on Josh’s head.
She heard his footfalls as he walked into the office, turned to see him standing there in a pair of worn jeans and a snug-fitting dark blue T-shirt. A zing of sexual awareness slipped through her, sending a flush into her cheeks that made her freckles stand out. She hoped he wouldn’t notice.
“How’s it going?” he asked, coming up to look over her shoulder.
“I made a list of everything you gave me, your bank accounts, IRAs, stocks, and bonds. Location, numbers, amounts, anything pertinent. The ranch is your only mortgage. I’m not quite sure what to do about stopping the foreclosure, but I’ll figure it out.”
He smiled. “I know you will. I wouldn’t have had a clue how to fix this. You’re a handy lady to know.”
Guilt swept through her. “If I hadn’t driven up in front of your barn, you wouldn’t be having this problem.”
Josh drew her up from the chair. “I don’t even want to think about what might have happened if you hadn’t driven up in front of my barn. Bridger could have found you. He could have—” He broke off at the look on her face.
“Sorry. I’m glad you’re here, that’s all.” He kissed her softly and eased her back down in the chair.
As soon as they’d figured out his accounts had been hacked, Tory had called the credit card companies and had Josh give them notice of the theft. Acting that quickly, there was a fifty dollar limit per card, no matter how high the fraudulent charges.
Josh would be okay there, except for the hassle of getting new cards and giving the new numbers to accounts that billed directly to the card, like Amazon and the feed store and the mercantile in town.
As Josh’s representative, she had phoned the bank. There was something called the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, which protected consumers, again with a fifty dollar liability charge. The money stolen out of Josh’s bank accounts would be replaced.
Next she phoned in a fraud alert to the credit reporting companies so no one could make purchases using his name and Social Security number. A report would come back showing any problems, and there would be a freeze on opening new accounts.
“You’ll need to change all of your passwords,” she said. Josh groaned, but Tory just smiled. “Sorry, but you’re going to have to come up with something a little more sophisticated than ‘river ranch one.’”
Instead of laughing, his features hardened. “I can’t believe that guy. I’d like to stomp his balls into a grease spot on the pavement.”
Tory’s eyes went wide. Josh rarely said things like that. Then she grinned. “Yeah, me too.”
Josh laughed. She noticed him doing that more often.
“We still need to call the Social Security hotline,” she said. “And the utility companies, just to make sure he hasn’t screwed things up there. And you’ll have to get a new driver’s license.” She sighed. “At least it only cost you a couple of hundred bucks.”
“Yeah, thanks to you.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to call the police?”
