The Next Right Thing (Harlequin Superromance) Read Online Free

a certain, uh, investigative task.”
    “But she’s not returning your calls, right?” She slowly stirred her straw—made of organic paper, no doubt—in her milkshake.
    “Right.”
    “What’s her name?”
    He paused. “Cammie.”
    Those blue eyes widened. “Wasn’t she the detective who sat in that weird little office next to the supply room at your firm?”
    “She was my lead private investigator, yes. And her desk was in the alcove next to the supply room. She was gone a lot conducting investigations in the field and pulling court files, so she didn’t need a full-blown office per se.”
    “You sound defensive.”
    “Probably because you sound like a prosecutor.”
    She made a huffing noise. “There you go again. No way in this lifetime or the next I’ll ever be a lawyer. Back to your voice-messaging skills. Tell Cammie what you want. All you ever say is, ‘This is Marc again. Please call me at...’ and you leave your number.”
    He wondered if she was this dictatorial with her mother, but knew better than to ask. “Can’t.”
    Emily, fishing a strawberry out of the glass, flashed him a why-not? look.
    “Because...I once put her on probation for investigating the person I’m asking her to investigate again.”
    Emily frowned. “Is this about your former fiancée Gwen?”
    “Yes.”
    “I was never clear what came down between you two.”
    He’d never been clear, either. Anything Gwen wanted, she got. She’d asked to be his bookkeeper so she could earn her own money. At the time it had surprised him that she wanted to work an eight-to-five job. But later, after learning she’d siphoned thirty grand from his law firm, he wasn’t so surprised. She’d used him, stolen from his clients.
    He wrote her a letter, officially terminating the engagement and her employment, and emailed it to her...but it bounced back. Email address unknown. She’d disconnected her cell-phone service, as well. The way she disappeared, leaving no trace, led him to believe she’d planned this all along.
    The same day he’d sent her the email the Colorado Attorney Disciplinary Agency initiated an investigation into Marc’s clients’ missing funds, focusing on him as the culprit of the fraud. As soon as he’d discovered the missing funds, he’d made restitution from his own pocket. But the damage had already been done. The missing money wasn’t as important as the principle involved. A client’s funds are inviolate. Although Marc had no knowledge of Gwen’s theft, he was responsible. Because his father—the other Hamilton in Hamilton & Hamilton—was in prison for stealing clients’ funds years ago, The Denver Post ran the story titled Like Father, Like Son.
    Great advertising.
    Marc had hired several local P.I.’s to find Gwen, but they kept hitting dead ends. She’d once made a reference to Southern California, and after combing the investigators’ reports, he learned she possibly had relatives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Because the latter was where he’d heard that Cammie had moved to live with her uncle, he wanted to hire her to conduct surveillances, knock on doors, do whatever it took to find Gwen. Also, Southern California wasn’t far from Vegas, so Cammie could easily travel there, too. She was a pro, the best P.I. he’d ever worked with, and now his best, if not only, chance to help him find Gwen and make her accountable for her theft.
    “I mean, I’m not clear about the details,” Emily continued, “but I know the major stuff. Mom told me you could lose your law license over something Gwen did.”
    He took a moment to gather his thoughts and suppress his anger. He’d specifically asked Bethann to not discuss this situation with their daughter.
    “Not lose it,” he finally said, keeping his voice even, “just have it suspended.”
    “And Cammie could help you keep your license.”
    He nodded. “But let’s skip the specifics, all right?”
    Emily shrugged. “Okay to ask how long she worked for