Licence to Dream by Anna Jacobs Read Free Book Online Page A

working late and because her mother had had a fall, Christine’s replacement, Nareen, had gone home early, leaving her desk in an unaccustomed mess. He glanced at the bank statement she’d left lying next to a pile of receipts and frowned. Surely they should have more money than that in the business account? He wasn’t the world’s best with figures, but he’d never have let it run so low.
    He got out the previous statements and stared in shock at a series of withdrawals, quite major sums. He hadn’t authorised these!
    Phil came through the door, whistling and stopped to look at him questioningly. ‘You look grim. Lost your wallet or something?’
    Ben tapped the piece of paper. ‘I think someone’s hacked into our bank account. I’m going to call the police and – ’ He reached out for the phone.
    Phil snatched it out of his hand. ‘Don’t!’
    The two men stared at one another, then Phil scowled. ‘I borrowed the money. I had some big expenses.’
    ‘For the business?’
    Silence, then, ‘No. Personal.’
    ‘You took money out of the business for your own expenses?’
    Phil shrugged. ‘Borrowed. Don’t worry, I’ll pay it back.’
    ‘Too right you will. Tomorrow.’
    ‘I can’t manage it by tomorrow.’
    ‘When can you manage it?’
    ‘End of the month. Most of it, anyway.’
    More than anything else, Ben wanted to sack him. Or call in the police. He’d been uneasy for a while about Phil’s business practices, even though they were doing well, getting more contracts than ever. But the man was Sandy’s cousin, and because of that, Ben had given him more leeway than he normally would.
    ‘If you don’t manage to repay it by the end of the month, I’m going to your father.’ He trusted Sandy’s uncle Rod absolutely.
    ‘No need to do that! I’ll find the money somehow. I don’t want my father saying “Told you so”.’
    ‘Very well. But tomorrow we’re going to make this a two-signature bank account. Plus, I’m taking your company credit card away.’
    ‘The hell you are! How do you expect me to entertain clients?’
    ‘You can pay your own way then claim the money back. I won’t refuse to sign for anything reasonable. And while we’re discussing finances, you’re doing altogether too much entertaining of clients. Cut it back by about fifty per cent. We’re not a big company. We can’t afford to treat people so lavishly.’
    ‘I’ve brought in some big accounts and I’ve got even bigger ones lined up. We have to treat them well. There are a lot of companies who’d be paying me fat bonuses for doing that sort of thing.’
    ‘You can always quit and go to one of them. Anyway, I already told you: we can’t cope with any more big contracts at the moment.’
    ‘We can always hire more staff.’
    ‘There aren’t a lot of experienced people around.’
    ‘How experienced do you need to be to dig holes in the dirt?’
    ‘More than you realise, clearly. Maybe you should come and work on a few projects, dig a few holes yourself, find out what goes on.’
    Phil glared at him, seemed to be struggling to calm down. ‘OK. I’ll pay my own expenses and claim them back from now on. But I’m not into gardening.’
    ‘Then why the hell are you working in a landscaping company?’
    ‘I’m a salesman. I sell whatever the job needs.’
    ‘Well, see that you pay back the money by the end of the month.’
    ‘Stop nagging!’ Phil picked up his briefcase and left, slamming the door behind him.
    Ben went to sit at his desk, resting his aching head on his hands for a moment. He was working all the hours he could stay awake while Phil was swanning around to restaurants.
    He almost hoped the money didn’t get paid back. He’d had more than enough of working with Sandy’s cousin.
    * * * *
    A few weeks later Meriel’s mother wrote to give her the marriage date.
     
    So you’ll need to book a flight home soon. I can’t possibly get married without both my daughters in attendance, can I?