Oh, how she wanted that too. Her stomach clenched, however, at the thought of her brother stumbling upon them.
Phillip covered her hand with his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You are safe with me, Fyre.” He tipped her head so he could look her in the eye. “Tell me you know this.”
“I know.”
His smile was sad when he bent closer and gave her a tender kiss. “I cannot wait until you mean that.”
Flushing, she pulled back from him and turned her attention to the books she needed to look at. Instantly, she frowned, cocked her head and skimmed over the latest entries once more.
“What is it?”
She tapped the third line down on that page. “From here down, this is not my writing. I did not make these notations.”
“What?” His roar shook the space between them.
Fyre didn’t flinch. She wasn’t scared. At least, not this time.
He shoved away from the desk and went to the door. Meanwhile, Fyre reached over the desk and grabbed another of his books. The same thing—there were discrepancies.
“Well?”
She glanced up at his growl. He stood there with Keating, both men scowling.
“Well what, my lord?”
Thankfully she had enough sense to address him properly when there were others in the room.
“What about the other books?”
“Same thing, my lord. Looks as if the changing began after last week’s entries were made.”
“Why was there no mention of this when you were here last time?”
“These changes were done since I was here last, my lord. On all the books, the dates they started the changes are around the same time, but if you check each book”—she slid one toward him—“you can see there is a page that was cut out. This is why the writing is close to mine, they had some practice and came in to fill it best they could.”
Fyre figured they had to practice on the actual ledger to make sure they could get the right look on the different paper.
“Keating?”
“No one has been in your study, my lord. Not other than you and Miss Gwen.”
“So no one has come in to clean?” Phillip lifted an eyebrow.
“Of course they have cleaned, my lord.”
“Then there have been others in here. I am not saying it was a staff member, but I am saying more people than myself and Miss Gwen have been in here. It was not either of us who cut out a page or tried to copy her handwriting back into the books.”
“As you say, my lord.”
Fyre bit her tongue when all she wanted to do was yell that she was innocent. It appeared that Phillip was on her side, believing her, but she was the outsider when it came to Phillip and his staff.
“Gather the staff, Keating. I want to speak to everyone about this. Come get me the moment they are gathered. I do not care what they are doing.”
The butler nodded and slipped out.
Fyre shook her head and started to get up from the chair. She had no desire to sit through this and subject herself to what was coming.
“No, no, love. You are not running. I know you did not do this. But someone is trying to set you up and make me believe you did. Can you tell what they got information wise? I know Elonne had mentioned that people were snooping and that is what I believe this is. Someone trying to find out things about my businesses. And trying to set you up to make it look as if you are not capable of doing your job.”
She wanted to throw up what she’d eaten earlier. Fyre wanted to be anywhere but here. “You think you know who it is.”
He grinned at her and dragged his finger along her cheek.
“I think it is your wannabe boyfriend. If I fire you, he has more access to getting what he wants. You.” His gray eyes grew tumultuous. “And he has another think coming if he believes his prank is going to drive a wedge between us.” He captured her chin and took possession of her mouth. “I am not letting you go.”
The dance her stomach did was just as intense as it had been the first time, yet she wasn’t avoiding it or pretending it didn’t exist. Her lips followed him as he started to move away, demanding more. And he gave it to her with a low growl.
She curved her fingers into the papers on the desk, uncovering the courage to take what she wanted, and she knew this was a man she would fight for.
Chapter Fourteen
Phillip was not in a good mood. He still wasn’t sure who it was that was trying to steal his information. Sure, he had a thought. Albie Caulfield. But he had no proof.
Yet.
After speaking with his staff, he laid the situation out. If the perpetrator was one of them and they came clean now, he would show clemency. If he found out after he left the room they were a participant, he would do his worst to them and their family.