Close Your Eyes (19 page)

Megan
couldn’t agree with his reasoning, but
had
neither
the
reason
,
nor right
to keep
pressing. Instead
,
she smiled and tried to focus on something different
, eagerly
leav
ing
the touchy subject of love and relationships.

Given their history and level of closeness,
they had
plenty of other
things to talk about
.
She was relieved when the
conversation steered into a much safer direction.
Matt
had her in stitches with descriptions of some of the people he
had
met in the States,
and
his good
-
natured jibes
carried no
spitefulness or real nastiness.

The music stopped again
,
and this time
,
they paused
. They had ended
up in the other end of the room, next to the exit.

‘I wonder where
Ry
is
?’
She turned to look at
the large double
-
winged door she
’d seen
him disappear through
with his grandfather
earlier
. They
had
been away for quite a while
.
She started to worry
, her sense of guilt
at
ha
ving so much fun with
Matt
taking over.

‘Don’t worry, he’ll be here any minute
.
’

She was startled by the hard edge
of
Matt
’s smile
, but i
t was gone before she could figure out what
had
upset him
. H
is
usual
happy expression
was
firmly in place.

‘Grandpa had some difficulties with his upcoming horse show,
Meg
.
’
Matt’s
strawberry
-
blond hair
glistened
in the sparkling light of the chandelier. ‘He doesn’t want to talk about it, but I know there was a problem with his manager.’

‘What happened?’
S
he was glad for the distraction
. A
ny conversation
was
better than their
very
personal moment before.

‘Well, it turns out he had been cleaning us out for years
.
’
Matt
’s face
was
carved out of stone
. ‘
Not
a huge amount or anything, but still enough to send
G
randpa reeling. I think it’s mostly the
betrayal of his
trust that hit him
worst.
The man had been working for us for twenty years
,
and
G
randpa considered him almost a part of our family, if you know what I mean.’

She could hardly believe that. The patriarch of the
Harper
clan didn’t strike her as a man who fraternized with his employees
. His
aloof nature
made
it really hard to
imagine
.

‘Turns out, he
’s
been pocketing some of the profits for years, adding to his not too shabby salary
,
’
Matt
continued, his voice hardening. ‘Grandpa might not be the most e
nthus
iastic
boss, but he plays fair
,
and I know for a fact he paid him a pretty hefty amount, plus extras.’

‘It must have been very
disappointing
to find out he was stealing
.
’
Megan felt
sorry for the old man. Loyalty seemed to be very high on his list, according to Ry
an
,
anyway. He expected a lot from his employees,
because
he gave his duties his hundred and fifty percent each and every day. In return
,
employees
could expect steady pay, decent and respectful treatment
,
and
the
trust of the
ir prestigious employer.

‘It was
.
’
Matt
nodded, sighing. ‘
His
reports had some discrepancies for years, but
G
randpa believed his explanations, never checking
into
what was really going on. It was only when
Ry
finally got a good look at the books and spreadsheets that he raised a red flag. He persuaded
D
ad to hire another
set of
accountant
s
to have a second look
at
the books
and things got ugly from there…’

‘He didn’t mention it to me
.
’
Meg
was
surprised
; she
thought Ry
an
would share
such a dramatic event
with her.

‘He most probably didn’t want to worry you
.
’
Matt
shifted uncomfortably
,
and she had the uncanny feeling there was something he wasn’t telling her
—s
omething important and unpleasant, if she was to judge
by
the creases of worry that had suddenly appeared on his handsome face.

‘All right, hand it over
,
’ she demanded, determined to get to the bottom of it, no
matter
what. ‘I can tell you’re hiding something,
Matt
.
You
can make it easy or difficult, but either way
,
I will find out what is it.’

Her cheeky approach worked
. He
smiled, his blue eyes reluctantly admiring
her
tenacity
.

‘I should have known,
Meg
.’ He sighed again, his golden eyebrows knitted into a straight line. ‘
You
never give
up, do
you?
’

‘Of course not.’ She smiled encouragingly,
praying
that neither
Ry
an
,
n
or Sonia
would
interrupt. This was her moment
,
and any disruption would only serve
as an excuse for
Matt
to slip off the hook and leave her dangling.

‘Well, Burt McConnell, that’s the manager
’
s name
,
’ he
injected, his voice rougher now, ‘was not expecting to be found out for a long time to come.
He got very mad, of course. He had a pretty good deal going, year after year. When
Ry
shook it all up and his perfect plan fell apart, he…
lost it, raging
and
threatening
everyone.’ He looked at her anxiously
,
and finally
,
the pieces in her brain clicked together, forming a rather intimidating picture.

‘
You
mean he threatened
Ry
, don’t you?’
Her lips felt stiff, and she was
suddenly cold all over. ‘
Did
you go to the police,
Matt
? Did your grandpa do anything at all?’

She
knew her voice
had risen
a bit
. A
note of hysteria
crept
into it as she imagined the possibilities. Some bitter, resentful conman held a grudge against Ry
an
. She was worried, and
Matt
’s uncomfortable expression
did
little to calm her down.

‘Of course we did.’ He rushed to soothe her, his blue eyes earnest. ‘
We
filed a report and had the whole team pick apart every lead we had. Burt
was
fired and left, disappearing without a trace.’

‘You mean, your grandfather didn’t pursue any charges against him?’ she
asked
in disbelief, not quite sure she understood. ‘
The
man was stealing his money
,
and he just fired him, without any consequences?’

‘
Grandpa
didn’t want to deal with the mess and the publicity of it all
,
’
Matt patiently explained.
‘
It
would be all over the papers, dragged out and vivisected over and over again. The horse show next month is very important to him
,
and he didn’t want to have anything ruin the joyful occasion. I guess he figured that keeping things quiet and under wraps was worth the money he had lost, anyway. It’s not like he has to watch it too closely,
Meg
.
’