Ryan, Debora - Crimes of the Heart (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Read online

  Crimes of the Heart

  Ever since an accident killed her parents and left her older sister with life-altering injuries, Leah Keenan’s life hasn’t been her own. The insurmountable medical bills force her to desperate action. The company she works for is large. Nobody would notice if she skimmed a few thousand here and there to pay outstanding bills, would they?

  The complications Will Dannaker brings are more than Leah needs in her life. Posing as a management intern, he is placed in her care. He isn't an intern; he's a fraud specialist working undercover at his father's company. When Will’s charm fails to penetrate Leah’s shields, he resorts to blackmail to make her go out with him.

  As things grow serious between them, the embezzling spirals out of control. Six million dollars are missing—far more than Leah took—and all the evidence Will gathered points to Leah. Everything blows up when she is arrested, and Will is forced to fight his family to prove his love to Leah.

  Genre: Contemporary, Romantic Suspense

  Length: 59,393 words

  CRIMES OF THE HEART

  Debora Ryan

  ROMANCE

  www.BookStrand.com

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  A SIREN-BOOKSTRAND TITLE

  IMPRINT: Romance

  CRIMES OF THE HEART

  Copyright © 2011 by Debora Ryan

  E-book ISBN: 1-61034-264-X

  First E-book Publication: March 2011

  Cover design by Jinger Heaston

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2011 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  For Laurie, one of strongest, most stubborn women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I love you and I miss you.

  CRIMES OF THE HEART

  DEBORA RYAN

  Copyright © 2011

  Chapter 1

  Leah Keenan’s second-hand suit clung to her chest and back underneath her jacket, and her slip bunched uncomfortably around her waist. The wire under her bra poked into her rib. Knowing her luck, it had most likely poked through the frayed material and set its sights on skewering her skin. Now that she had arrived home, she could change into something more comfortable.

  Sticking one hand into her massive shoulder bag, she felt around for her keys. A pencil point pricked the sensitive skin on the back of her hand, and some grainy substances made their way under her fingernails, but her hand found no metal.

  Dropping her briefcase to the ground, she shifted her bag so that she could see inside. The cool temperature wouldn’t have been so bad if the humidity hadn’t been so high. Such a disparity wore on Leah’s nerves and increased her impatience. She shook the bag until she heard the keychain break free from its hiding spot. Sunlight glinted from steel, assuring the next foray’s success.

  She jiggled the key in the lock of the heavy security door. It had never fit quite right. Leah shook her head sadly. Her last apartment had been so much nicer. All of the keys fit and worked, and so had her neighbors. The door finally opened, and Leah pushed at it resentfully.

  Leah looked at the row of aluminum boxes that lined the wall next to the entrance. Reluctantly, she fumbled for her mailbox key and removed the letters without looking at them. She wrinkled her nose at the funky odor of the brown, indoor-outdoor carpet and ignored the smell of abandonment and loneliness that permeated the rest of the air.

  Upstairs in her apartment, she closed the door and turned the three deadbolts before sliding the two chains across the door. She hadn’t installed all the security. That honor belonged to the previous tenant, who harbored thousands of dollars worth of electronic equipment. Leah couldn’t afford all that stuff. The only electronic equipment she owned was the stereo her parents had bought her as a gift fifteen years earlier and the alarm clock next to her bed. She had no TV, no computer, no cell phone. Nothing in her apartment indicated the nineteen nineties had ever happened.

  Even the furniture was from the eighties. The sofa and the old, beat up coffee table, the only furniture in her living room, had been among the few items that failed to sell when she was forced to auction off all of her parents’ belongings. Anticipating the judge would order an auction, she had spirited out her mother’s bone china and the small kitchen table that her father had made for her mother on their first wedding anniversary.

  Leah kicked off her shoes and peeled her clothes away from her skin. The shades and blinds were already closed. Opening them would reveal the decaying brick of the next building over, and she could do without that depressing sight. She put some leftover macaroni and cheese into the microwave to heat up while she took a quick dip in the shower and changed into ratty shorts and a T-shirt.

  Ironically, she made enough money, at least theoretically, to afford a much nicer place to live. Her old apartment had been twice the size. She had filled it with nice furniture she bought on payment plans. Everything would have been fine if her parents and sister had not been involved in that horrible accident. The cost to keep Cecelia in her current long-term facility had caused Leah to fall behind on most of her bills. Her furniture had been repossessed, as had her car. She had been forced to move to this smaller, cheaper place and to buy a used car for cash.

  She turned on her stereo and slipped an old Neil Diamond record onto the record player. She smiled sadly as the familiar strains of “Forever in Blue Jeans” filled the small space. This was something she and her mother used to listen to together. Padding to the kitchen in her bare feet, Leah sat at the table and inhaled her dinner while pawing through the mail. She picked up a larger envelope from Sunshine Acres, the home where Cece was staying. It lacked the bright colors and stickers that identified it as an overdue bill, so she felt fairly safe in opening it.

  The papers inside unfolded to reveal a printed ‘thank you’ for prompt payment, while at the same time notifying her that the deadline for the next payment was rapidly approaching. She sighed. There was no money in her checking account, and she wasn’t due to be paid until the end of the month. Thankfully, she had anticipated this. She opened up her purse and pulled
out a wad of cash. Carefully, she counted it out. Two thousand dollars exactly. It perfectly matched the amount due. A twinge of guilt pinched her conscience, but she quickly brushed it aside. They would never miss the money.

  Leah tucked the money into the return envelope and sealed it. The phone rang, startling her. She looked around guiltily. She wasn’t the kind of person anyone would ever suspect of stealing. She wouldn’t have suspected herself, either, except that she had no choice. She couldn’t let Cece go back to that state-run facility. It might be financially easier for her, but Leah wouldn’t be able to live with herself. Not after finding bruises on Cece’s body, sure signs of abuse.

  Holding her hand to her heart, she reached behind her and answered the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “I bet you’re sitting all alone in that gross little apartment of yours eating cold leftover mac and cheese and doing nothing,” the voice said.

  Leah laughed. It was Anne, her best friend. “I warmed it up.”

  A dramatic sigh came from the other end of the line. “You have one hour.”

  “One hour for what?” Leah asked, trepidation settling like a stone in her stomach.

  “To get ready. You sit home too much. We’re going out tonight.”

  “Annie,” Leah begged, “tonight’s not good. I have to get up early to go see Cece tomorrow.” Not to mention the fact that Leah didn’t have money for cover or drinks or whatever else Anne wanted to do. Anne knew about Cecelia, but she had no idea about the financial strain the cost of her care put on Leah.

  “We’ll come home early,” Anne said. “I promise.”

  Leah did want to get out, but she knew she couldn’t afford it. There was also the fact that Anne was completely and magnetically gorgeous. She wasn’t jealous of her friend, but she did get tired of having to entertain ‘the friend’ of the guy in which Anne took an interest. Anne would have done the same for Leah in a heartbeat, but the need had never arisen. Leah was very attractive in her own right, but next to Anne’s dazzling blonde tresses, angel face, and petite figure, Leah’s reddish-brown locks and curvier figure frequently went unnoticed.

  “Dancing, Leah,” Anne cajoled. “You need to get out.”

  “I thought you had a date tonight,” Leah suddenly remembered.

  “I dumped him. He was a jerk. I have a knack for finding the losers and the morons in any crowd.” Anne laughed sadly. “Come on, Lee. Let’s have a girls’ night out. I need my best friend as much as you need yours.”

  Leah sighed. “You’re a drama queen, you know that?”

  A squeal came through the receiver. “I’ll pick you up in an hour. Wear that little black dress I gave you for your birthday. You look amazing in it.”

  A half hour later, Leah stood in her towel studying the contents of her tiny closet. Two skimpy black straps on each side of the dress held the sweetheart neckline in place. Leah wondered if she could get away with a strapless bra. Anne’s breasts weren’t nearly as large as Leah’s, so she didn’t consider these matters when buying clothes.

  The fabric clung to Leah’s body in all the right places. Anne had a keen eye in that regard. The skirt barely fell to mid-thigh. Leah felt like she wore a long T-shirt and nothing else. She slipped it over her head and tugged the dress as far down as it would go without revealing too much of her chest. Though she wrestled a pair of nylons up her legs, Leah still felt more prepared to go to bed than to go out.

  Her phone rang as she finished putting the final touches on her makeup. “Hello?”

  It was Anne. “Are you going to come down here or do I have to come up and drag you out? I know your neighbors won’t call the police if I do.”

  “I’ll be down in a second.”

  The club Anne had chosen wasn’t far from Leah’s apartment. A crowd spilled from the doors, each person waiting to pay their cover and have their purses searched.

  The place hadn’t been around long. The entranceway led into an open area where a bar sat nestled in a sea of tables. Music came from a room beyond. Leah nodded appreciatively at the beat. She and Anne went directly to the dance floor. Men ogled for the first song and bothered during the second. Leah turned her back on the throng of men gathering around Anne and moved away.

  Tension melted from her shoulders, stolen by the rhythm of the guitar and the heavy pounding of the percussion. For the first time that day, Leah forgot her worries.

  Anne caught Leah’s eye and motioned to the other room. Leah nodded, understanding that her friend was going to have a drink with probably another loser. Leah didn’t wonder at the fact that Annie’s track record with men was a mess. If this is where she found them, then what did she really expect?

  Leah lost herself in the music for a while. Any time someone approached her, she turned away, ignoring them completely. Later, she emerged, thirsty for some water. Before she could pull money from where she had pinned it in the hem of her dress, an arm slid past her and slapped money on the counter.

  “A beautiful woman like you should never have to pay for her own drink.” The voice was deep and melodic. Leah followed the lean, muscular arm to the face. The refusal on her lips died when her eyes met his. Long, dark lashes framed the deep brown pools in which she felt herself drowning. With effort, she forced herself to look away, to take in the rest of his features. Her eyes roamed over the sharp planes of his face, taking in the tanned skin and sun-streaked strands of dark brown hair that fell over his forehead.

  Boldly, Leah’s eyes flickered up and down the length of him. She estimated him at somewhere over six feet tall. His appearance and demeanor labeled him as someone who spent a lot of time outdoors. Briefly, she wondered what he looked like without a shirt. She blushed slightly at the thought because his gaze slid from her chest back to her eyes at the same time her eyes rejoined his, and she realized he was probably wondering the same thing about her.

  He handed her the glass from the bar. “I’m Will.”

  Against her better judgment, she responded. “Leah.”

  “Leah,” he said, trying out the name. The way he said the word sent a pleasant chill down her spine. “Leah, tell me you’re not here with someone else.” His tone teased, but Leah heard the hope underneath.

  “I’m here with a friend,” she said solemnly. “She’s around here somewhere.”

  Will visibly relaxed. He inclined his head to indicate a table near the wall. “Would you like to sit with me while you drink that?”

  She nodded, and his hand fell to her back, guiding her to the abandoned table. He took her drink and set it down before pulling out a chair. Leah wasn’t sure if he actually had manners or if he staged a show for her benefit. That was only one of the things she hated about meeting people at a place like this.

  He moved the other chair closer so they could talk without straining to hear each other over the music and the din of a thousand conversations. “I haven’t seen you here before,” he said. “Are you new in town?”

  Leah smiled. “No. I’ve lived here all my life. I don’t frequent clubs.”

  He rested his elbows on the table and reached for her hand. “Why not?”

  His fingers were long, warm and strong. “It’s not my thing.”

  “You don’t appear to be uncomfortable here.” He sniffed at her drink. “Water?”

  “Yes.”

  “You don’t drink?”

  “I have somewhere to be in the morning,” she explained. “Early in the morning.”

  He arched a dark brow, and a delicious grin lifted the corner of his mouth. “It must be fate, then.”

  This was getting ridiculous. She bit anyway. “Fate?”

  “Yes, fate. I’ll bet coming here wasn’t your idea.”

  She shook her head.

  “But you’re here.”

  “It appears so.”

  “That means you’re being a good friend to someone. That’s why I’m here.”

  “Because you’re a good friend?”

  “Yes. I also h
ave an early morning appointment tomorrow.”

  Leah’s lips twisted wryly. The more he fished for things they had in common, the more she realized they didn’t have many. “Let me guess. Golf?”

  He smiled fully, wiping the jaded feeling from Leah’s chest and making her heart beat faster. “As a matter of fact, I golf with my dad almost every Saturday. We’ve done it since I was about five years old. What about you?”

  “I spend Saturdays with my sister.”

  “Shopping?”

  “Sometimes.” It depended on Cece’s state of mind on any given day. If she was agitated, then taking her away from Sunshine Acres was a mistake. If it was one of her calm days, then the outing was usually fun. “Sometimes we just hang out at her place. She likes to garden.”

  “It’s April in Michigan. What gardening can possibly be done now?”

  Leah laughed. “Apparently more than you think. But she has a greenhouse, so she gardens year-round.”

  “What about you?”

  “I hate anything that involves dirt,” Leah said. “But I do it anyway.”

  He turned her hand over and traced lines along her palm. “How long does this date with your sister typically last?”

  “Why?”

  “I thought if you were free in the evening…” His words trailed off, and his attention wandered suddenly. Leah looked to see where it had gone. When she figured it out, she felt her features hardened, but Will failed to notice. “Excuse me,” he murmured. Leah doubted he heard her reply, which was little more than a grunt.

  Will had spotted Anne. Leah watched as he moved toward her friend and extended his hand in greeting. Rolling her eyes, she rose to her feet. Without attracting Will’s attention, she tapped her wrist at Anne and motioned that she was leaving.