Fancy Free

by Shelley Munro

  Ben produced a copy of the Sloan Gazette and handed it over. “Ms. Knowall’s column.”

  “What page?” James glanced at Alice’s ashen face. “Do you have another copy?”

  Katarina handed her copy to Alice. “Page three.”

  James flipped over to page three and stared in shock. Ms. Knowall had a full page spread instead of her normal column, and she’d used the entire page to report on Fancy Free, its manager and new owner. The article covered private stuff that most people wouldn’t know about him and pictures taken outside his house. Last night.

  “I feel sick.” Alice appeared numb. She glanced at him before turning back to study the photos on the page, the photos of them having sex on the car hood.

  “Alice, I forgive you,” Steven said.

  Harriet sniffed loudly, showing what she thought of his magnanimous offer.

  “It doesn’t matter. We can work something out,” Steven added. “No one will see this two-bit paper.”

  “Don’t say another word,” Alice snapped.

  James snorted in contempt. The man just kept digging himself a deeper hole.

  “Is any of that true?” Joseph’s grizzled gray brows arched to punctuate his question.

  Alice stood abruptly drawing everyone’s attention. “Yes, it’s all true. But I have no idea what Ms. Knowall hopes to gain by my public embarrassment or why she’s determined to blacken my name. And I don’t care. I have work to do and a fete to attend.”

  Pride filled James when she walked out, head held high. She wasn’t apologizing for spending time with him. She wasn’t ashamed of his profession or lack of one. A smile played across his lips. Alice didn’t judge people or assign them with labels. No, that wasn’t her style as he was learning.

  “Where is she going?” Steven demanded.

  The oldies gave him the look that said he was a worthless sack of shit and didn’t deserve Alice while James suppressed a curse. The man really was clueless. James unclenched his fists, shook his head and followed Alice. No wonder she’d decided to stay in Sloan. She’d have been a fool to think Steven equated security.

  She stalked down the passage in front of him, her head held high, looking neither left nor right and walked into her office. The slam of the door was the only hint of a temper she displayed.

  James grinned. What a woman. He paused outside her door, hand hovering at the doorknob, before he decided he’d wait. Give her time to cool down about Ms. Knowall’s article. And meantime, he intended to confront the author because he knew who had written that article and why. This time Ms. Knowall had gone too far and given herself away.

  * * * * *

  James strode past the kitchen window and entered the rear door of the house without a polite knock. It was like time traveling back to his teenage years. The house hadn’t changed. The same beige carpet and fussy décor, the scent of lavender furniture polish, a vase of flowers on the sideboard. Each surface in the kitchen gleamed with not a thing out of place.

  “Hello, Mother,” he said.

  “Ah, I thought you might come to your senses.” Satisfaction coated her voice and seeped into her expression. Some might call it smug.

  “Yes, I have.” James felt a sense of hurt and wondered why he cared. Thoughts of Alice floated into his mind. They had more in common than he’d realized. Much more.

  “I’ll call Melissa. You can start at the law firm next week. You’ll need a few days to organize some suits and cut your hair.”

  “For the last time, I’m not going into law. I don’t enjoy it and I only qualified to please you and Dad.”

  “Not… Then why are you here?” Suddenly his mother seemed old and unsure of herself. Probably a temporary situation, but in that moment, he knew his mother loved him even if it were misguided. They’d probably never see eye-to-eye about the way he chose to live his life. It didn’t matter. James realized they argued so much because they were so alike. In his own way, he was just as determined.

  “I want you to stop picking on Alice. She doesn’t deserve her name blackened along with her reputation.”

  “But—”

  “No.” James held up his right hand to emphasize his order. “You tell Ms. Knowall to lay off Alice or else I’ll take steps to ensure she never works in this town again.”

  His mother’s face paled before she rallied. “She’s not good enough for you. I thought I recognized her name. Her father is the man who ripped off all his customers and would have continued with it if he hadn’t declared bankruptcy.”

  “Alice is a qualified accountant,” James snapped. “She’s too good for me, which is why I’m leaving town as soon as she fulfils the terms of the will.”

  “You’re leaving?” his mother asked.

  “Isn’t that what Ms. Knowall wants? Haven’t you and your nom de plume been angling for me to leave all along?” His eyes narrowed on his mother, not holding back on his irritation. He’d suspected all along but hadn’t cared enough to call her on it until she’d blackened Alice’s name along with his.

  His mother tottered over to the table and drew out a chair. She sank down, her face so pale that James started to worry.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Do you intend to tell everyone?”

  “It all depends on what you do next. Most of Sloan citizens enjoy your column, but that’s because you usually write in a clever way that isn’t offensive. You’ve stepped over the line with Alice. And skulking about in the shadows to snap photos isn’t on. I’m not a kid. I don’t need you to supervise my love life.”

  “So what are you going to do? You won’t tell people about Ms. Knowall. You wouldn’t.”

  “Try me. I will keep seeing Alice while I’m in Sloan. The minute Ms. Knowall starts on more veiled references to Alice, I’m writing a letter to the editor of the Gazette to let everyone know her real identity. And you will apologize to Alice in person. Clear?”

  “Yes.” His mother nodded, albeit grudgingly.

  James narrowed his gaze as a nasty thought occurred. “And while you’re at it, Ms. Knowall should write a column featuring Esmeralda Bates and her daughter Melissa. Spread it around a little.” And maybe it would knock his sister off the pedestal she lived on, take away her air of superiority because he’d bet Melissa didn’t know what their mother had been up to. “Deal?”

  His mother grimaced before nodding. “I will do as you ask.”

  “But you still don’t agree about the way I choose to live my life.”

  “Couldn’t you—”

  “No.” He glared at his mother and she looked away first, seeming to shrivel a little at his stern expression. “I intend to live my life the way I choose.”

  “But you’re making a mistake.” She swallowed hard but lifted her chin to meet his gaze.

  “Possibly. But it’s my mistake to make.” James left the house the same way he’d entered, his mood immeasurably better. If his mother thought he wouldn’t act, she didn’t know him as well as she should.

  * * * * *

  Her carefully planned, secure life was falling down around her ears. Ms. Knowall had splashed details of her private life across page three of the Sloan Gazette. A lot of it was innuendo with enough truth in the story plus accompanying photos to bring acute embarrassment. Steven had turned up, treating her like a commodity in front of everyone and worst of all, James would leave very soon. He mightn’t be marriage material, he mightn’t be the perfect man to give her security, yet he was the man she’d fallen in love with. Talk about a mess. Alice brushed away a tear from her eyes and bit her bottom lip hard to keep more tears at bay.

  Alice picked up a pile of budget printouts and slapped them on the desk in front of her. She sat on her blue fabric swivel chair and tried not to let the sense of helplessness overwhelm her. Although she’d taken a step forward today with James inviting her to move in with him, he still intended to leave and her savings were nil since she’d used them to prop up the company.

  She had no
thing. No money, no reputation and no man.

  Nothing.

  Her gaze fell upon the printouts and her thoughts narrowed to one thing. Her godmother had left her Fancy Free for a reason. She’d trusted Alice to do the right thing for the company and that didn’t include letting it fail.

  Time for her to start returning the trust her godmother had given her. She started going through the figures, manually checking totals and percentages instead of relying on the spreadsheet program to do the calculations for her. Alice took her responsibilities seriously. She might ultimately fail, but damned if she’d go down without a fight.

  Two hours later, she thought she’d worked out the problem with the budgets. As she’d expected, someone had altered the formulas in the spreadsheet, which had thrown everything out, resulting in the bottom profit line appearing far less than it actually was. No wonder the bank manager had balked at loaning them more. Alice packed up the evidence in a folder and went searching for James.

  Rita sat at her desk and Alice studied her with new eyes. She’d never have guessed that Alicia and she were lovers. Somehow, that had to be the key to why she’d attempted sabotage.

  “Hi, Rita. Is James in his office?”

  “Yes, I think he’s on the phone.”

  “I’ll just go in and wait for him to finish his call.” Alice held her head high. She refused to cower on account of Ms. Knowall’s article.

  Rita merely nodded and Alice walked past her, tapped briefly on the door and entered James’ office. She took a seat and waited for him to finish.

  While she waited, Alice thought about her godmother’s will. She couldn’t remember if Rita had received a bequest or not. The reading of the will had been so surreal—she didn’t remember much of the day. James might know and failing that, the lawyer would tell her.

  James concluded his call and hung up. His blue eyes held sympathy and a lot more that she was frightened to attempt to decipher. When it came to James, terror and anxiety stopped her assumptions. He was still going to leave. That hadn’t changed.

  “You okay?”

  Alice shrugged and went with the truth. “I feel a bit battered and bloody. I’m sure it will pass.”

  “You want to go out for a coffee?”

  Alice shuddered inwardly even though she knew showing her face in public would help the gossip die down more quickly than if she acted the hermit. “All right. I have time before I need to go to Lindy’s and help with the fete. I need to show you something first.” She opened the folder and produced her budget printouts. “Someone has fiddled with the formulas. It’s been done very cleverly and isn’t obvious unless you sit down with a calculator and check everything manually.”

  “But only three of us have looked at the budgets.”

  “Yes. I was sure this had nothing to do with the dog and the clown.” A tremble rippled down her spine at the verbalization. Nothing had happened for a while and hopefully it would stay that way. “I’m sure they’re just cult members who want to scare me.”

  “I’ll get Rita to come in and explain herself,” James said in a tight voice.

  “Wait,” Alice said. “What did Alicia leave Rita in her will?”

  “Their house.”

  “So there’s no reason Rita would feel slighted?” It was the only thing that made sense to Alice.

  James scowled and tapped his pen on the printouts in front of him. “I don’t know. Let’s confront her. Damned if I want to see Fancy Free fail because of dirty tactics.”

  “I’ll ask her to come into the office.” Alice stood and opened the door. “Rita, can you come into the office please?”

  Rita’s welcoming smile faded. For an instant she looked like an animal caught in vehicle headlights but rallied quickly. “I was just about to go to the bank.”

  “This won’t take long,” Alice said firmly. “James is waiting.”

  Silently, Rita stood and entered the office. Alice followed and shut the door, indicating she should sit. Once Rita sat, she dropped into a seat beside her.

  Their admin assistant looked from James to Alice and back, her expression holding a touch of defiance. “What’s all this about?”

  “I think you know.” Tension sounded in Alice’s voice.

  “The budgets. Rita, what’s going on?” James spoke curtly and Alice knew he was determined to resolve the matter.

  Rita’s chin shot upward, her dark eyes glittering with challenge. “I haven’t done anything.”

  “That’s not true,” Alice snapped. “Someone amended the budgets before they were sent to the bank. James didn’t do it. I didn’t do it, so that leaves you.”

  “So what if I did?” Rita responded sharply, abandoning all pretense. She tossed her head in a gesture of defiance.

  “Why?” James demanded. “What the hell are you playing at?”

  All the fight seemed to seep out of Rita and she suddenly looked her age with lines bracketing her mouth and gray circles beneath her eyes. “It was my idea to start Fancy Free. Alicia supplied the money. I thought she would leave the company to me when she died.” Rita paused to sniff and glowered at Alice. “She left the company to you.”

  “I knew you helped Alicia at the start. Surely the company means as much to you as it did to her.” James’ face never softened as he spoke, remaining unyielding and stern. “Did you interfere with the orders? And leak details of the X-100 to the opposition?”

  Alice looked at the older woman and knew, just knew she lay at the bottom of all of Fancy Free’s problems. She shook her head in pure disbelief. “All of this because Alicia didn’t leave you the company. For greed.”

  “It wasn’t greed.” Rita eyes spat fire and her mouth set in mulish determination. “It’s the principle. I gave my all for this company and Alicia threw it in my face.”

  “Alicia left you the house. Wasn’t that enough?” James asked.

  Rita stiffened at his challenge. “It’s not about money. I don’t care about the money.” She waved her hand in a dismissive manner, “All I want is a little recognition for my contribution to the company.”

  James stood and prowled over to the window. He stared out for a moment before turning to face them. “Have you done anything else that we don’t know about yet?”

  “Nothing else.” Rita dipped her head in tiredness and defeat, as if she knew her run had ended. “I don’t know how you did it or where the money came from but the overdraft is back under the limit and the bank is happy. You fixed the order that I pretended was canceled.” She covered her eyes with her hands. “I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah, we know. Just go, Rita.” James strode to the door and opened it.

  “Go?” Rita glanced at Alice for clarification.

  “We can’t work with someone we don’t trust,” Alice said.

  “But you can’t do that! Fancy Free is my life. I don’t have anything else.” Anger turned Rita’s face red. Her hands clenched and she cast a look of hatred at them. “Oh, look at you. You’re both judging me, but you don’t understand. I loved Alicia and she treated me like a possession. She didn’t give me any credit for having the idea for Fancy Free. She owed me, dammit!”

  “Goodbye, Rita,” James said in a terse voice. He stood and walked toward her, implacable determination stamped on his face. Alice shivered, fiercely glad his anger wasn’t directed at her.

  Rita met his gaze for an instant before storming from his office. She paused at her desk and opened a drawer.

  James followed. “Don’t bother to clear your desk. We’ll have everything sent round to your house this afternoon.”

  Rita grabbed her handbag and marched from the office, fury apparent in every line of her stiff back. A woman scorned. Alice shivered again. Thank goodness she hadn’t confronted Rita on her own, which had been her initial reaction.

  James prowled up to Alice. “God, I had no idea all that festered under the surface. Rita was the last person I suspected.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It
’s not your fault.” He wrapped his arms around her and drew her close. Alice needed no persuasion to sink against his muscled chest and take the comfort he offered.

  “I feel as though it is,” she murmured.

  “Don’t. Alicia knew exactly what she was doing. She left Fancy Free to you for a reason.”

  “I don’t know why. I don’t even remember her very well since I only saw her a few times when I was a kid.” Alice pulled away so she could look up into his face.

  James smiled and cupped her face with his hands. He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “It seems to me she picked the right person for the job. You paid off the overdraft.”

  “Yes,” Alice whispered, trying not to think about her empty savings account. Her heart blipped in alarm anyway. She’d risked her security for Fancy Free. Maybe she had something of Alicia in her after all.

  “That was a brave thing to do, Alice. And you won’t regret it. Fancy Free is a good, solid company. It might not look like it at the moment, but now that we’ve discovered Rita’s tricks, we should make headway. You’ll get your money back.” James pressed a quick kiss to her lips and pulled away. “We’d better talk to the board members. I’ll call an emergency meeting for tomorrow. They’ve all gone to prepare for the fete.”

  Alice sighed at the loss of his protective heat but nodded at his suggestion. “While you check, I’ll start on Rita’s desk.”

  “We make a good team,” James said before striding away.

  Alice forced her mouth to curl into a smile even though it was the last thing she wanted to do. They did make a good team. Too bad it was only a temporary thing because somewhere along the line, she’d fallen hopelessly in love with the dashing and dangerous James Bates.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Alice?” Steven appeared at the end of the passage when she exited James’ office suite after clearing Rita’s desk. “We need to talk.”

  “I thought you were leaving. I won’t marry you because I don’t love you.”

  “But we’re good together,” he said. “We’re perfect for each other.”

  “No, we’re only good together when I do everything you say and go along with whatever you want. I’m not willing to be your doormat any longer.” Alice said the words without a stutter, without backing down. “No, Steven, I won’t marry you.” A feeling of accomplishment filled her once the words were out in the open.