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Every hour that passed made her more and more sad as she realized he wasn’t the least bit interested in even pretending to want the baby He was going to walk away He would probably pay child support, maybe offer to take the kid for a day here or there, but that would be it

The death of her drea to ad up at hi that she could never be in the same room as hietting over hiine

"Charity?"

"Come in," she said

He stepped inside and closed her door, then ave her a crooked s sickness or anything?"

"Not yet"

He gazed into her eyes "Tell nant We’re having a child together Tellout? Do you want et married? What do you think would work best for you?"

What worked best for her was a enuinely loved her One who couldn’t picture life without her A row old with her She wanted passionate declarations, not rational lists of possibilities

The se married for the sake of the baby crushed nearly every ro in his eyes A little worry--maybe for her, maybe for himself Affection But he was still Josh Golden, perfect, worship-worthy, not for lesser ht she could tell him the truth, that she was completely in love with him, she dismissed the idea Whyto love her back

"I’reement," she said

"What does that mean?"

"Just what I said Do you want to be part of the baby’s life? I’ here in Fool’s Gold While you’ll probably be racing all over the world, this is your home base So when you’re in toe’ll have a schedule or so"

He frowned "And that’s what you want?"

"It see more?"

She tried not to flinch What did he expect her to tell him?

"What more did you have in et it figured out, let me know We’ll talk about it"

He studied her "What aren’t you telling azed at hiuessed how she felt, he would feel sorry for her Worse, hea crumb or two of attention Not exactly the road to happiness

Finally he stood "I guess we have tiure it out"

She nodded

He hesitated for a second, then left

When she was alone, she breathed out a sigh of relief One conversation doho kno et easier and hoped she was telling the truth

But before she could turn back to her computer, Bernie hurried in Her normally calan "I don’t believe it"

"What are we talking about?" Charity asked

"Themoney" Bernie put her hands on her hips "I found it"

Charity blinked at her "You’re kidding"

"No Well, I found most of it So in an offshore account It wasn’t easy to trace, but I’ood at what I do I’m just so pissed"

Charity almost didn’t want to ask "Who took it?"

"It’s always the person you least expect I should know that by now But once again I was sucked in by a friendly smile and an offer to help"

"Who?" Charity repeated

"Robert"

She stood and stared at Bernie "No I don’t believe it" Robert? Quiet Robert who lived alone and cared way too ured out the ry about theabout hohoever took it was stealing froht it Hell, I even went to dinner with him"

"Me, too," Charity murmured, unable to take it in Robert? Not possible "You’re sure?"

"There’s a paper trail leading right back to hih dumb luck, which annoys ive hih"

"What happens now?"

Bernie rolled her eyes "I’ve already called your police chief to take him into custody while I notify state authorities She’ll be here any second I’m just so mad He had me completely fooled"

"He had all of us fooled," Charity said, still not able to believe it "Is he going to jail?"

"For a really long tio ?" Charity asked

"Just don’t tell anyone I thought he was a nice guy"

"You and o back to work, but she couldn’t think Robert the thief? The infore of character She’d been convinced his only flaere that he was a little boring and kind of a mama’s boy Instead he’d stolen ation, most likely to keep attention off himself, and had fooled an entire town

She was furious Beyond furious She’d actually felt bad about not wanting to go out with him Talk about a new level of stupid!

She stood and crossed to her here she saw the police cars pull up In a matter of a minute or two, Robert would be in custody

Still pissed, she went down the hall and entered Robert’s office He glanced up and s?"

"Not well for you Did you really steal that money?"

His expression twisted a little There was a second of confusion, followed by surprise, then an annoyingly s look