The waiter arrived with their menus and a bread basket. Doug ordered Nadia’s iced tea.

“But why go to all that trouble?” she said when they were alone again. “You’re risking—”

“Because I’ve been lied to,” he said, his mouth taking a grim turn. “They were keeping things from me and I was determined to find out what.”

“And are you satisfied now?” Nadia said, squeezing his hand and praying he’d say yes.

He shook his head. “Not completely.”

“Oh, Doug,” Nadia said, feeling her heart sink, “you’re not going to keep this up, are you?”

He grinned. “Nope. It’s too wearing. I still don’t know why the company’s paying me commissions on sales I’m not making, but at least they’re not cheating me, so I can let that go. And I did learn one answer I was looking for—the one that concerns you—so I feel I can back off with my pride intact.”

A twinge of alarm ran down Nadia’s neck. “Me? What concerns me?”

“Your subsidiary. I found where all the research and development money is going.”

Nadia couldn’t help but ask. “Where?”

“Stock.” Another grin. He looked like a little boy who’d found pirate treasure. “They’re using every spare penny to buy back company stock.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “And let’s not mention the company by name, OK? Just in case.”

Nadia glanced around. In case what? He didn’t think he was being followed, did he?

“No, I’m not paranoid,” he said, as if reading her mind, “but you never know.” He straightened. “Anyway, I matched the timing of the stock purchases to a graph of the stock price, and it seems that every time the price takes a little dip, they buy up a bunch of it.”

“Propping up the price? Why would they do that?”

“I can’t imagine. But I can imagine why they’d be secretly hoarding a load of stock. Think about it: if you had insider knowledge that the stock price was going to jump, wouldn’t you want to pick up as many shares as possible—without tipping anyone off, of course.”

“But that’s not only illegal, it’s stupid. And as the principals in the company, they each must hold a ton of shares already.”

He shrugged. “Since when does greed know limits? The important thing is that they must think the stock is going to be very valuable. And that, my dear, is a good thing to know.”

Nadia caught herself running through the sources she might tap for a loan and pulled up short.

“Why?” She couldn’t keep the note of reproach out of her tone. “So we can use this stolen information and load up on shares?”

Doug glanced away, then back at her. “Does sound tacky, doesn’t it.” He sighed. “Easy money… it’s such a high. I suppose I’m as vulnerable as the next guy. Seemed like a great idea… get that start-up money and go to work for myself. Now, sitting here with you, it seems kind of sleazy.”