The Cold Hand of Malice Read Online Free Page A

a godsend. Apart from anything else, it got Moira out of the house, because she was the one who took care of the initial on-site assessment and evaluation. It was her job to work with the client, record his needs, make recommendations, and provide Trevor with the information and working sketches from which he would design the system.
    Often working together far into the evening in order to meet the deadline Simon had set, it was almost inevitable that they would end up in bed together. Simon was such a breath of fresh air after the claustrophobic atmosphere at home – and he could be so damned charming when he put his mind to it.
    It was all over in a matter of weeks. It was just sex – that’s all it was. No regrets on either side. Except, a small voice whispered as Moira stared blankly at the envelope in her hand, that wasn’t quite true, was it? Not if she were honest. Even now, there were times when he would give her one of those sidelong looks from those dark eyes of his, and her heart would beat a little faster, and she would shiver as if he’d touched her. She’d felt guilty about the affair, brief as it had been; she’d even thought long and hard about confessing all to Trevor, but thankfully she hadn’t. It would have been the end of their marriage, and she didn’t want that. Trevor might not be the most exciting man in the world, but he was a good man, and she loved him.
    As for Simon, Moira had always marvelled at the way he drifted in and out of relationships as casually as he might drop in and out of a restaurant for lunch. He was like a magnet; women were attracted to him – they couldn’t seem to help themselves – even though most of them soon realized there was no depth to him and he would always be moving on.
    Until Laura, of course. Simon had met his match there. Moira had watched from the sidelines as their relationship developed, intrigued by the way Laura had taken control from the very beginning, first of Simon himself, and then his business.
    ‘And now she has it all,’ Moira murmured to herself as she moistened a stamp and stuck it on the envelope.
    There could be little doubt that, despite Simon’s unique talents and hard work, his company, Holbrook Micro-Engineering Laboratories, would have gone under if Laura hadn’t come along at just the right time. Investing so much money had been a huge gamble on her part, but one that had paid off. Paid off for Moira and Trevor as well, because Simon was so pleased with the new security system that he had steered more business in their direction.
    But it wasn’t just the money. Without Laura’s business acumen, her background as a forensic auditor, and her contacts in both private and government circles, chances were the company would still have gone under. Simon Holbrook might be a genius in his field of micro-technology, but without the ability to market what he had to offer, the business was bound to fail.
    Laura had literally taken charge, and Simon had been only too happy to leave the marketing and sales side of the business to her while he went back to the bench to get on with what he and his hand-picked team did best: developing new, miniaturized products and modifying old ones.
    The results spoke for themselves. In the short span of two years, the company was not only well on its way to recovery, but Simon’s name and the work he was doing had appeared in at least two high-tech journals recently. Laura’s doing, no doubt, thought Moira, but she had to admire the woman’s drive and dedication to her work, even if she didn’t like her.
    Laura was a beautiful woman, and Simon was an attractive man, so Moira had never doubted for a moment that the two of them had been sleeping together from time to time, but it had taken everyone completely by surprise when he’d announced, quite casually last October, that they were married.
    Simon? Married? Surprised? Gobsmacked would be closer to the mark!
    Moira had always thought that if anyone