Thomas pulled onto the turnpike and almost immediately slowed to a standstill in the morning commutetraffic.
“Shhh,” Alexander soothed. “I’ve got you. I’m not letting you go,Elizabeth.”
She settled closer to him and sighed, falling asleep in hisarms.
Elizabeth couldn’t remember arriving home, taking off her shoes and sweatshirt, or getting into bed, and she had a sneaking suspicion that Alexander had carried her up from the car and tended to her. Now, armed with a few hours of sleep, a shower, and the fresh memory of Alexander’s arms around her, she felt almost steady as she opened her bedroom door and stepped into the livingroom.
Alexander sat on her couch, working on his computer with River on his lap. When he looked up at her and smiled, something in Elizabeth’s bellyflipped.
“Youstayed.”
“That I did. I do not know how much you feed this behemoth, but she seemed quite pleased with me when I filled her bowl. Coffee?” He stood, then deposited River where his ass had been moments before. The cat curled up in the well-warmed space with a single glare before she started cleaningherself.
Elizabeth stared at the travel mug he offered her, uncertain if they’d managed to resolve anything—her memories from the limo were muddy atbest.
As Alexander pressed the mug into her hands, his scent enveloped her, and damn if she didn’t want to lose herself in his strong armsagain.
“Everything will work out, Elizabeth. I have a lawyer on retainer. He’ll be joiningus.”
Backing away, Elizabeth clutched the mug to her chest. “My lawyer didn’t want me to tell you. He warned me…this would happen. I need to call—” Her airway constricted, and she turned, ready to sprint for the bedroom, but Alexander wrapped his arms aroundher.
“Relax, Elizabeth. The lawyer is for you. I have no doubt Fairhaven Exports will sue them for all they’re worth, but we won’t do a bloody thing until you’reprotected.”
“I can’t accept that much from you. This isn’t yourfight—”
He silenced her with a kiss. “Do you really think I care about the amount of money the lawyer is going to cost? Nicholas started looking into the work CPH did for us last year.” Elizabeth stifled a gasp. “I said nothing to him, but Nicholas found discrepancies on his own. He came to me first, and he agreed to keep his findings a secret until we sortedthis.”
He gestured to a garment bag hanging on the back of her front door. “If you need another sign that I’m not giving up on us, I brought your dress for tomorrow’sball.”
“I…uh…don’t know what to say.” A few hours ago, she’d been alone, terrified, convinced she was going to lose everything. Now…could she actually have a chance? Both to survive CPH’s lawsuit and be withAlexander?
Alexander trailed a knuckle along her jaw. “Say you’ll still dance with metomorrow.”
Elizabeth forced a weak smile. “I’ll still dance with youtomorrow.”
The limo ride to an upscale Boston restaurant passed in silence, but Alexander kept his arm around Elizabeth’s shoulders the whole time. Inside the empty restaurant, three men waited for them in a large, circularbooth.
“Elizabeth, please meet Ben Hetherington, my lawyer.” Alexander gestured to a man with salt-and-pepper hair and an easy smile. “Yours too,now.”
Ben offered a firm handshake and a smile. “If anyone from CPH contacts you again, send them right to me. They won’t touchyou.”
“Th-thankyou.”
“And my brother, Nicholas.” Elizabeth turned to a blond man who shared many of Alexander’s features. His eyes were blue rather than green, and he didn’t match his brother for height, but he held himself with the same pride and air ofdominance.
“Nick, please.” He smiled and clasped her hand in both of his. “My brother is quite taken with you. I’m sorry that we’re not meeting under better circumstances, but I’m afraid the seriousness of the situation precludes all the usualpleasantries.
“It’s a pleasure—well, it would have been. If this hadn’t happened,” Elizabethstammered.
Nick angled his head to the last man, a tall, thin, and dour man with a small laptop open on the table in front of him. “This is Paul Foyle. Lead council for FairhavenExports.”
They sat, and Alexander twined his fingers with Elizabeth’s under the table. “What would you like to tell us,Elizabeth?”
She bit her lip. “How much did Fairhaven Exports owe in taxes lastyear?”
“Forty-point-three million,” Nicholas replied. “According to CPH. Though we all know that number iswrong.”
“I didn’t touch your account, but my cube-mate did. One day, she asked me to make copies for her—she’d misplaced her code for the copier.” Elizabeth glanced down at Alexander’s hand on her thigh, blushing. “You don’t get a file in your hands of that magnitude and not take a peek. You owed thirty-seven-point-four million. I remember because my copier code is 37400. Or…was,anyway.”
