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Greg
     was even involved in such activities!"
    "The hell you didn't! You were his mistress. You were the one who
     made the financial demands on him; the one who pushed him into
     doing anything he had to do in order to get the cash to keep you
     happy!"
    "That's insane!" White-faced with resentment and the first
     stirrings of genuine fear, Sabrina had stood her ground. "I can
     understand how you feel, Mr. Sheffield, but that doesn't give you
     the right to blame me for Greg's behavior. I don't know why Greg
     sold company secrets, and neither do you. But it certainly wasn't
     because of me!"
    "Don't hand me that crap about understanding how I feel, you
     bitch. I watched them arrest my only son last night!" His hand
     came down in a frustrated fist on her desk. "My son! Someday he
     would have taken over my firm. He had everything going for him.
     Only a woman could have pushed him into doing what he did, and I
     know damn well you're the woman who did it!"
    "Greg and I have been seeing each other for the past couple of
     months, but that's the extent of the relationship," Sabrina had
     protested angrily. "I'm not some femme fatale, for God's sake, I'm
     an accountant!"
    "You're sleeping with him. You're his mistress. Don't you think I
     know that? I've seen the two of you together. Hell, I've even
     taken you both out to dinner a few times. I saw how Greg looked at
     you. You had him under your spell, didn't you? The poor kid was
     enthralled!"
    "Greg is twenty-six years old! Hardly a kid."
    "At twenty-six any male is still a kid," Sheffield had blazed.
    "Well, I'm only twenty-nine. Why don't you make the same
     ridiculous allowance for me?" she'd shot back unwisely.
    Sheffield had stepped around the desk and seized her, his hands
     digging into her upper arms as he shook her the way a wolf would
     shake a small cat, as if he wanted to break her neck. Sabrina had
     known real fear then.
    "Women like you are born full-fledged adult piranhas. You have no
     business seducing kids like Greg!"
    "I didn't seduce him," Sabrina had managed as he released her.
     "Mr. Sheffield, you're out of your head with worry, and that's the
     only reason I'm not calling Security. Please get out of here
     before I change my mind."
    "Don't you dare threaten me. I've seen the new Alfa Romeo. And
     I've seen the new condo. I know how you've been bleeding my son
     dry these past few months."
    "I bought the car and the apartment myself!" She had tried to
     tell herself that Talbot Sheffield was a grieving father. She
     could accept some of his impotent rage and pain, although it was
     hard to believe this was the same suave, sophisticated, charming
     man who had entertained Greg and herself on several occasions.
    "Bullshit. Greg bought them for you. He was trying to please
     you," Sheffield had rasped.
    "That's not true and I can prove it."
    "Oh, I'm sure the papers will all be in your name. You would have
     made certain of that. After all, you're an accountant."
    "Mr. Sheffield, please listen to me," Sabrina had begged, making
     one last effort to appeal to his reason.
    He'd cut off her words with a vicious backhanded slap across her
     face. The blow had snapped her head to one side, leaving her cheek
     reddened and bruised. Wide-eyed, she'd stared up at her tormentor.
     Things had gone far enough. Now she would scream.
    "I'm the one you should have picked to seduce, Sabrina." His
     hands digging into her shoulders, he shook her. "If you'd come to
     me, you would have had a Mercedes instead of the little Alfa
     Romeo. The condo would have been in a better part of town, and
     there would have been jewelry by now if you'd behaved yourself.
     And I wouldn't have had to sell corporate secrets to the Russians
     in order to give it all to you. What's more, I'm a man, not a boy,
     and I would have kept you under control. You wouldn't have been
     able to manipulate me the way you manipulated Greg."
    Stunned, Sabrina could only shake her head in mute denial