Irresistible Greeks Collection. Кэрол Мортимер

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СКАЧАТЬ chance of that,’ he admitted.

      ‘So, where’s my apology?’ Erin demanded truculently to mask the effect of her dry mouth and quickened heartbeat because, no matter how furious he made her, she could still not remain impervious to his stunning good looks, a reality that mortified her. ‘It’s taking you long enough!’

      ‘I was trying to come up with the right words.’

      ‘Even if you swallowed a dictionary, it wouldn’t help you!’

      Lean strong face taut, Cristo sprang out of his seat. ‘I am sincerely sorry that I ever entertained the suspicion that you had stolen from me, koukla mou.’

      ‘You didn’t just entertain it,’ she objected. ‘You fell for it hook, line and sinker!’

      ‘My security team are even at this moment checking into this Will Grimes angle. I can’t understand why a private detective would have been interested in you.’ Indeed, having thought deeply about that particular issue, Cristo could only think that someone he knew had hired a detective in an apparent effort to disgrace Erin. But who would have wasted their money on such a pursuit and what had been the motivation? It still made no sense to him. Erin had not been his wife or fiancée? Why would anyone have wanted to harm her and, through her, him?

      Erin tilted her chin, eyes glinting pure lavender. ‘Seems I wasn’t paranoid, after all. I’m still waiting on that apology too.’

      His strong jaw line hardened, dark eyes gleaming. ‘And you’ll be waiting a long time because you’re not getting a second. If you hadn’t been so direct about your expectations I might have soft-pedalled for the sake of peace, but now I’ll be equally direct: you brought that theft accusation down on your own head!’

      Erin stared at him aghast, totally wrong-footed by that condemnation coming at her out of the blue when she had expected a grovelling apology. Really? Well, possibly not of the grovelling variety, but, yes, she had assumed he would be embarrassed by his misjudgement and eager to soothe her wounded feelings. Now, deprived of that development and outraged by his attitude, Erin leapt out of her seat to face him. ‘And how do you work that out?’

      ‘As far as I was aware Sally Jennings was an exemplary long-term employee with no strikes against her and no reason to lie. Had I known she had already been caught thieving at work I would have known to take a closer look at her activities,’ Cristo shot back at her levelly.

      Erin stiffened, feeling she was on weaker ground when it came to the decision she had once made over Sally and defying the reflection. ‘Sally was going through a divorce and she has two autistic sons. At the time, I believed she needed compassionate handling rather than punishment.’

      Cristo expelled his breath in a hiss, his brilliant eyes cracking like whips. ‘Compassion? If I’d known then how you mishandled her dishonesty I would have sacked you for incompetence!’

      ‘Incompetence?’ Erin bleated incredulously, rage jumping up and down inside her like a gushing fountain suddenly switched on.

      ‘Yes, incompetence,’ Cristo confirmed with succinct bite. ‘How would you feel about a manager who left a thief in a position of power in your business and chose not to warn anyone about her dangerous little weakness?’

      ‘I dealt with the situation as I saw fit back then. Looking back, I can see I was too trusting—’

      ‘Correction … bloody naïve!’ Cristo shot back at her witheringly. ‘I didn’t hire you to be compassionate. Plenty of people lead tough lives but few of them steal. I hired you to take care of part of my business and that was your sole responsibility. Listening to sob stories and letting a clever calculating woman get off scot-free with her crimes was no part of your job description!’

      It took enormous will power but Erin managed to restrain her temper and the urge to snap back at him because she knew that he was making valid points. ‘It’s not a decision I would make now. Unfortunately I liked Sally and believed she was a wonderful worker. I was naïve—I’ll admit that—’

      ‘Why the hell didn’t you consult me about it or at least approach someone with more experience for their opinion on what to do about her?’ Cristo demanded angrily. ‘At the very least, once you knew Sally was a thief, all her activities at work should have been checked out thoroughly and she should have been moved to a position where she had no access to products, account books or money.’

      As he made those cogent decrees Erin lifted her head high, refusing to go into retreat. ‘You’re right but I thought I could deal with the situation on my own. I didn’t want you to think that I couldn’t cope. But I was hugely overworked and stressed at the time. I notice the current manager has a deputy and I saw at least two administrators in the general office. I didn’t have anyone but Sally to rely on.’

      ‘Then you should have asked for more help,’ Cristo fielded without hesitation.

      ‘My biggest mistake was accepting a position from someone I was involved with. I was too proud, too busy trying to impress you about what a great job I was doing. I didn’t have enough experienced staff around me and those that were there kept their distance because I was too close to the boss. I was very focused on building the business, bringing in more custom, increasing productivity. It made me far too dependent on Sally for support. I can see that now,’ Erin concluded that honest statement curtly.

      ‘At least you can now see what that inappropriate decision cost you. Sally didn’t hesitate when it came to setting you up to take the blame for her acts of fraud or when she got the chance to reap financial benefits from her disloyalty,’ Cristo pointed out.

      ‘Don’t forget that Sally Jennings fooled you as well. The role she played was very convincing,’ Erin reminded him tightly. ‘You didn’t smell a rat in her performance either.’

      ‘But I would have done had you tipped me off about her stealing. Right, we’ve aired this for long enough, subject closed,’ Cristo pronounced decisively.

      ‘Now that you’ve had your say and blamed me for everything?’ Erin countered tautly, amethyst eyes dark and unwittingly vulnerable, for that word, ‘incompetence’, had cut deep as a knife. ‘Was it too much for me to expect that after knowing me for a year you would question the idea that I might have been filling my pockets at your expense?’

      ‘After certain suspicions had been awakened and the man I saw in your hotel-room bed I will concede that I was predisposed to think the worst of you,’ Cristo derided, compressing his wide sensual mouth into a tough line. ‘What’s that cliché about the easiest explanation usually being the right one? In this case, the easiest explanation was the wrong one.’

      Erin sank back down in her seat. ‘Am I finally getting a clean slate on the score of the one-night stand with the toy boy?’ she asked grittily. ‘Tom’s brother, Dennis, was only nineteen back then.’

      ‘That’s not quite so clear cut. My suspicions in that quarter were first awakened by other indications, which I will discuss with you when we get to the island,’ he added as her triangular face tensed into a frown of bemusement. ‘I am sincerely sorry that I misjudged you and that I didn’t dig a little deeper three years back.’

      Erin said nothing. What other evidence of her infidelity did he imagine he had? She hadn’t a clue what he was talking about and had no time for more mysteries. In addition her mind was being bombarded with thoughts after that heated exchange of views. He had shot her down in flames СКАЧАТЬ