Perfect (Second Opportunities 2)

Paul spent every weekend in Keaton, staying first at the local motel and then, at her parents' invitation, at their house, and the entire town gossiped that the FBI agent who'd come to Keaton to arrest Julie Mathison had fallen in love with her instead. But Julie refused to consider that possibility. She refused because facing it would have forced her to tell him he was wasting his time, when she wanted to keep seeing him. She had to keep seeing him, because Paul could make her laugh. And because he reminded her of Zack. And so they went out as a foursome with Ted and Katherine, and he took her home afterward and kissed her good night with slowly increasing ardor. It was during his sixth weekend in Keaton that his patience and restraint began to fray. They'd gone to a local movie with Ted and Katherine, and Julie had invited all three of them to her house for coffee. After Ted and Katherine left, Paul had caught her hands and pulled her to her feet.

"I had a wonderful weekend," he said and teasingly added, "even if you did make me play football with a bunch of handicapped kids who ran me ragged."

She smiled at that and his face softened. "I love it when you smile at me," he whispered. "And just to make sure you smile whenever you think of me, I bought you something." Reaching into his pocket, he extracted a flat, velvet box, and put it into her hands, watching as Julie opened the box. In it was a small gold clown with tiny sapphire eyes that was suspended from a long, beautiful chain. When Julie carefully removed the chain, she noticed the clown's arms and legs jiggled, and she laughed. "He's beautiful," she said, "and funny."

"Good. Let's take this chain off and try him on," he said, noticing the slender chain beneath her collar. Julie clutched involuntarily at it, but it was too late. Paul had already pulled it out and seen the wedding band Zack had in his pocket in Mexico.

Swearing under his breath, he caught her shoulders. "Why?" he demanded, making a visible effort not to shake her. "Why are you torturing yourself by wearing this? You did the right thing when you turned him in!"

"I know," Julie said.

"Then let him go, damnit! He's in prison and he'll be there for the rest of his life. You have your life—a life that should be filled with a husband and children. What you need," he said, his voice softening as his hands slid down her arms, "is a man who'll take you to bed and make you forget that you ever went to bed with him. I know you did, Julie," he said when her eyes snapped to his. "And it doesn't matter."

She put up her chin and said with quiet dignity, "When it stops mattering to me, then I'll be ready for someone else. Not before."

Caught between frustration and amusement, Paul touched his thumb to her chin. "God, you're stubborn. What would you do," he said half-seriously, "if I went back to Dallas and never came back?"

"I'd miss you a lot."

"I suppose you think I'll settle for that for now," he said irritably because it was true.

In answer she gave him a plucky smile and nodded, "You're crazy about my mother's cooking."

Chuckling, he drew her into his arms. "I'm crazy about you. I'll see you next weekend."

Chapter 65

"There must be some mistake," Emily said as she looked from her husband to his accountant. "My father would never buy stock or invest money in anything Tony Austin touched, not if he knew Tony was involved."

"The facts prove otherwise, Miss McDaniels," Edwin Fairchild said mildly. "Over the last five years, he's invested over $4 million of your trust fund in TA Productions, which was owned by Mr. Austin. It was all quite aboveboard. I assure you, although it certainly was unprofitable and ill-advised on your father's part, since Austin apparently used the money exclusively to pay his living expenses. I'm not implying there was any wrongdoing on your father's part," he assured her when she continued to frown at him. "Your father purchased stock for you in TA Productions, and the stock is in your name. My only reason for bringing this up at this time is that as your new financial advisor, I think it's time to sell the stock back to Austin's heirs if they'll buy it or else give it to them for a penny a share, so that we can take a loss on your next joint tax return."

Emily struggled to put her thoughts into coherent order. "What did my father say about all these bad investments in TA Productions?"

"It's not my place to discuss it with him or question his judgment. He's handled your trust fund since you were a child, I understand, and how he chose to invest the money for you has been exclusively his province. All that is rightfully between you and him. The only reason I'm involved now is that I've handled your husband's financial matters for years and since you're now married, there are questions of joint income tax returns and so forth."

"My father couldn't possibly have realized that Tony Austin was TA Productions," Emily stated firmly.

Fairchild's white eyebrows rose at what he clearly thought was incorrect. "If that is what you prefer to believe."

"It's not a question of what I prefer to believe," she said with a ragged laugh, "it's just that my father being tricked into buying stock in Tony's company is utterly … Machiavellian. He despised the man."

"I can't see how he would have been tricked," her husband told her in a carefully neutral voice, knowing how sensitive she was about her father. "Edwin and I discussed this earlier on the phone today, and it's clear your father had to have purchased the stock directly from Austin."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because TA isn't traded on the stock exchange. As Edwin mentioned a few minutes ago, it's a privately held company, and the only way to buy stock would have been from Austin or his representative."

Emily looked from her husband to his accountant. "Did he have any representatives?"

Edwin Fairchild shook his head and put on his glasses, perusing a photocopy of some document. "He certainly never paid anyone to represent him or work for him in any capacity. According to TA's corporate charter, which is a matter of public record in Sacramento, Austin was the only officer, director, and shareholder. I checked some sources of mine, and he was also the only employee." Removing his glasses, he glanced at the heavy gold Rolex on his wrist and said, "I see it's already after six o'clock. I didn't mean to keep you so late, but we've gone over everything that needed to be discussed. If you intend to try to sell the TA stock back to Austin's heirs, the sooner you approach them the better, otherwise they'll very likely be all wrapped up in probate court proceedings. As soon as you let me know whether you intend to keep or sell the stock, I'll be able to finish your tax liability projection for the next year."