Trent held Chynna close, burying his face in her hair and breathing her light, delicious scent. He didn't want to explain. He only wanted to make love to this woman who was beginning to mean so much to him.
"We hired Melinda as a temp," he said at last, stroking her hair, "because she'd had experience in legal offices and my assistant was out on maternity leave. It turned out your sister wasn't really well suited for this job. I blame myself in that I didn't pick up on that right away and transfer her to another department. I was gone a lot during that period, and she was left on her own too much. And when I got back from one trip, a colleague contacted me and told me she'd tried to extort money from him in my name."
Chynna's heart sank and she pulled out of his arms and sat back, watching him as best she could through her tears. "Oh, Trent!"
"If you like, I can show you the evidence."
"No." She shook her head. It wasn't as if Melinda hadn't been in trouble before. She'd made it a practice to live very close to the edge ever since Chynna could remember. "I believe you."
"At any rate, I didn't want to call the police, so I offered her a deal. If she would leave Kane Haley without a fuss, I would get her a position with a friend of mine who does legal aid work with immigrant groups. I got her to agree to work for him for peanuts for eight months, during which time I would be keeping an eye on her, and as long as all went well, I would keep the police out of it."
Chynna winced. "She hates that job."
"I know. That's why she sent you to get the agreement so that she could destroy it and not have the threat of arrest hanging over her any longer. Then she could quit." He grinned. "But as I've told her a number of times, this work she's doing is going to benefit her in the long run. It will give her valuable work experience."
Chynna closed her eyes. Trent was a good and decent man, the best, probably, that she'd ever known. And she…she was the one who wasn't good enough for their relationship. She was the liar, the cheat, the one who came from a family who used others instead of treating them like real people with real feelings.
Trent's mother's original instinct had been the right one. Chynna wasn't good enough for her son. Her sigh came from deep within her soul. It was time this charade was ended.
Reaching out, she took his hand and looked directly into his crystal blue eyes. "Trent," she said, a catch in her voice, "our engagement has to end."
He stared at her, alarmed. "Why?" he asked softly.
"Because it's a sham." She squeezed his hand tightly. "And I can't face you any longer, knowing what I know now about what Melinda has done."
His face hardened into an emotionless mask. "That has nothing to do with you and me."
"Don't you see? It has everything to do with us." Dropping his hand, she rose. "We wouldn't have even met if it hadn't been for Melinda. And then to find out she'd done something so awful… This would always be hanging over us."
Turning resolutely toward the door, she glanced back and winced. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "So sorry." And she was gone.
Trent watched her walk away, listened to the door close, and thought to himself, Well, here it is. The breakup.
Every relationship got to this point sooner or later. The only difference was, it was usually him walking away.
"It was bound to happen," he told himself stoically. "This is what always happens. It's just the way things are meant to be. Story over. The end."
