was never certain what had happened, since his father refused to tell him anything other than the fact the friendly competition had turned to intense hatred —hatred that had broken Eli’s father. By the time Eli had taken over the failing store two months after his twenty-first birthday, his father had turned into a bitter, broken old man and somehow Darcy’s family was at fault. And somehow, a bit of the anger stayed with Eli. He had loved his father and hated to see him just give up after so many years of struggle.
As he followed her down the hall, he couldn’t help but admire the way she looked, from her delicate heart-shaped face and coffee-colored skin to the graceful sway of her hips beneath her skirt as she walked. She had wide eyes that reminded him of Bambi. She was curvy in all the right spots, yet tiny, with a fragile air about her that he just knew covered a core of rock-hard titanium. What had seemed like an easy campaign on paper to get her gone was looking to be a lot more difficult. Especially when she made his blood race and his fingers ache to touch her skin. He mentally shook himself. Darcy Bennett was off-limits.
“Shouldn’t you be out on the floor overseeing the festivities?” he asked.
She glanced back at him. “Everyone knows their jobs. We’ve been doing this for years.” She had an air of smugness about her that irritated him.
“Morning, Ms. Darcy,” a man with a pail and mop said as he wiped down the tile floor. He gave her a sincere smile that reminded Eli of that guy in the elevator. Everyone seemed truly happy to see her. His own employees never looked at him that way.
“Mr. Austin, let me introduce you to John Cook,” Darcy said.
Eli stared at the man, wondering why she would introduce him to the janitor. “Good morning.”
“Morning, sir,” Cook said with a deferential tilt of his head. “Welcome to Bennett’s.”
“John has been the senior maintenance engineer here for fifteen years,” Darcy said in a chatty, casual tone. “We couldn’t keep this place clean and running properly without him.”
Eli tried not to frown. What did he care who kept the place clean, as long as it was clean?
They walked another ten feet and someone else stopped her and again Darcy introduced him, this time to Lisette, a beautiful blonde woman with wide-spaced blue eyes and a thin smile.
“Bonjour, ma petite,” the woman said as she kissed Darcy on one cheek and then the other. She started rattling something off in French and Darcy waited patiently for the woman to take a breath.
Eli tried to be polite, but Lisette continued to rattle on as though Darcy had nothing more important to do than listen to her. When Darcy replied in French, the blonde woman flounced off with a frown, marring her attractive features.
“You’ll have to forgive Lisette, she’s a little excited today. She’s our wedding consultant. The governor’s daughter is marrying a country-and-western singer, and they’re coming in today to file their registry and do some wedding planning as well as their Christmas shopping.”
“I noticed you had a wedding planner on staff,” he said. “She’s an extravagant expense.”
“You’ve looked at the numbers. Ninety percent of the weddings she arranges use our catering service, register with us, rent their tuxedos, purchase their wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses, and book the receptions with several banquet rooms that pay us a commission. We even did a theme wedding in the toy department last summer. It was a tremendous success.”
“What are you trying to do, be all things to all people?” His philosophy was to do one thing and do it well.
Darcy shrugged slightly. “In this economy you have to diversify. Bennett’s is an institution in Atlanta.”
“I’ve seen your profit margin. You have diversified too much.”
“Our profit margin is fine.” Maybe not great, she thought, but nothing to be ashamed of. “And by attempting to make the entire process as painless as possible, we attract a lot of young, upwardly mobile couples who want the perfect wedding, and we give it to them. This is a one-stop wedding operation. And Bennett’s gets a little piece of everything from gift baskets, wedding dresses, tuxedos and food. And a lot of free advertising. Most of our new customers are referrals from other couples who used our services.”
Eli’s head whirled. This woman was tireless, and he liked that in her. How was he going to contain her? He would have to think about that.
“When I got married…”
“You’re married!” He felt a stab of disappointment, though he didn’t know why. What did he care if she was married?
She waved her hand. “Not anymore. But when I was planning my wedding, I had to work with ten different people from caterers to the dresses to the music director. I thought I’d go mad. By streamlining the process here, we sell peace of mind and the knowledge that the whole wedding will go off without a hitch. And trust me,” she said in a stage whisper, her eyebrows slightly raised, “people are willing to pay for that.”
Eli couldn’t stop the small thrill of anticipation that coursed through him. Not anymore, she’d said. Did that mean she was divorced? He forced himself away from that volatile thought and said, “If engaged couples want the perfect wedding, you should charge appropriately. From what I can tell, you have a flat fee. When things don’t go right, the amount doesn’t cover the problems.”
She stopped and turned around to look at him, amazement in her eyes. “You are such a man. You probably want to pick out your tuxedo, the time and the date and just show up.”
“That’s what I did.”
“You’re married?”
“Not anymore,” he said with a wicked grin. “I’m a widower.” The grin faded away as a shadow slipped into his eyes. The memory of Angela’s last days before succumbing to the cancer ravaging her body flashed through his mind.
“I’m sorry.”
He heard the sincerity in her voice, but brushed aside her words. She wasn’t being polite; she truly was sorry. “And what about you?”
“Divorced,” she replied in a regretful tone.
She pushed open a door and stepped into the cafeteria. Eli paused in surprise. The cafeteria was large and bright with a bank of windows on one side letting in early-morning sunlight. The room was painted in cheerful yellows and greens. A buffet table was set up along one wall with steaming pans of food under bright lights.
“Where are the vending machines?” he asked in astonishment. This couldn’t be the employee’s cafeteria. He saw a salad bar and a dessert table. A food handler stood at a station setting up a fruit display. “This is your cafeteria?”
She turned and gazed at him in surprise. “Yes. What did you expect?”
“Vending machines are much more economical.” He offered vending machines in the break rooms of all his stores along with a bulletin board of restaurants that delivered. “Where’s the burgers? The French fries? The pizza?” He glanced at the buffet table filled with—ugh—what appeared to healthy food.
“Two years ago, I revamped the company menu,
