down across from her desk. In the smaller chair.
Was it her or was Cabe going out of his way to make her feel less of his employee and more of his equal?
Jenna cleared her throat. “So, what brings you here?”
He shrugged. “Just figured it’s about time I visit the flagship Boston site. Now that the Manhattan store is thriving, I can devote some attention to other areas. This is where it all began, after all. Feel I may have been neglecting it over the years.”
Did he mean it would have fared better if he’d been more involved? But the regional New England stores were doing fine with her at the helm. Sales had grown progressively over the years. Not at an astronomical pace but pretty steady, despite the slow economy. Heavens, why such paranoia?
“I see.”
“Just for a few days.”
“Well, I think you’ll be pleased with the overall numbers. Here, let me show you.” She walked over to the other side of the desk to face her laptop and motioned for him to follow.
Mistake. She hadn’t thought to pull over another chair facing the computer. They had no choice but to stand side by side. He smelled of pine and sandalwood.
She pushed herself to go through each slide, hardly aware of content. She stammered on every other sentence. Hopefully, she was at least coherent.
Cabe nodded at all the right points, so that was at least encouraging. He also asked some pertinent questions that Jenna was blessedly prepared for. Still, when she finished with her presentation, she felt as if she’d just trekked the full length of the Freedom Trail. And felt just as out of breath.
If Cabe noticed, he was too much of a gentleman to let on. “Very impressive,” he said, still staring at the upward slope of the graph on the last slide.
“Thank you.”
“Both the performance numbers and your presentation.”
“Thank you.” Again with the witty conversation.
“I’m not surprised. You’re a very capable regional manager.”
Don’t you dare say “thank you” again. She simply nodded, tried not to duck her head at the praise. The burning in her cheeks crept clear up to her scalp. She resisted the urge to fan herself like an old-fashioned Southern belle.
He did seem genuinely impressed. Maybe she’d been wrong to be so nervous. Perhaps he really was here to talk to her about a promotion. Stranger things had happened.
She decided to take a chance. “Oh. Well, then. Excuse me, Mr. Jordan—”
He interrupted her. “Cabe.”
She smiled politely. “I mean Cabe. If you don’t mind my asking... Why are you really here? After all this time. What aren’t you telling me?”
* * *
Cabe’s response died on his lips as the older secretary entered Jenna’s office. “Excuse me, Mr. Jordan. There’s a call on the office phone for you, from Corporate.”
He fished his cell out of his pocket, realizing he’d left it in airplane mode after his flight. “Thanks, Nora.” Sure enough, the phone started buzzing as soon as he changed the setting. A naughty text from Carmen popped up. He tried not to groan out loud. The woman could be draining. He would have to do something about that pretty soon. She had her sights on something that wasn’t going to happen. He’d have to find a way to let her down gently. No doubt it would cost him a pretty penny.
Then there were numerous messages from his assistant in New York, no doubt about the Caribbean expansion deal. Nothing about the project so far had run smoothly.
And so it began.
The interruption was just as well. He wasn’t sure how much he could share with Jenna Townsend just yet. Sharp as she was, she’d surmised that something else had prompted his visit.
He wanted to believe there’d been some kind of mistake, that she had no involvement. But it wouldn’t be the first time he’d misjudged someone.
“Would you mind if I take this, Jenna?”
She shook her head. “Of course not.” She walked toward the door. “I’ll give you some privacy.”
“There’s no need for that.” But she’d already left by the time he reached for her desk phone.
Cabe hung up the phone several minutes later and tried not to curse in frustration. He’d been right. There were indeed yet more complications on the resort island where he planned to open a new high-end retail jewelry store, this time to do with zoning issues.
He would have to fly down there. The sooner the better. Which meant he had to wrap up here in Boston as quickly as he could. He had to address the real purpose of this visit. Of all the reasons to have to come back, a thieving employee. He shook his head at the utter surprise of it. There was absolutely no reason for an employee to steal from him. The company paid well and provided numerous benefits. The only reason had to be greed.
His head of security assured Cabe that such thefts were usually inside jobs, almost always involving the store manager, who in this case was Jenna Townsend. The timing couldn’t have been worse—Jenna had been on track for a major promotion before the theft came to light.
As soon as he’d heard the name, he’d wanted to deal with the matter himself. He’d hired Jenna personally. His parents had always been quite fond of her. They’d asked him to give Jenna a chance when she’d graduated top of her class from business school two years ago. Despite what the town had thought about the Townsend family and its troubled history over the years, his parents had insisted that Jenna was cut from a different cloth and that she just needed a chance to prove it. His mom and dad were all about giving people a chance. He liked to think that had served them well, at least as far as their son was concerned.
Cabe’s original plan was to spend a few days with her. Maybe even find some evidence. So he’d asked for her specifically to be his assistant on this trip. But now he had forty-eight hours at the most before he had to fly to the Caribbean to deal with the other pressing matter. That left him with only one choice. He had to come right out and ask her what, if anything, she knew about the missing jewelry.
He could be quite persuasive when he had to be. Besides, he didn’t have the time to dwell on this. He had to get to the bottom of it all and move on to business as usual.
No one stole from Cabe Jordan and got away with it.
* * *
When Jenna returned to her office, Nora ran fast on her heels. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Mr. Jordan?” the older woman asked as she cleared the tray of mugs and coffee pitcher.
Cabe turned and flashed them both a smile that made Jenna’s knees go weak. “As a matter of fact, you can, Nora,” he replied. “Please clear Jenna’s calendar for the next two hours or so and cancel her appointments.”
What? Why?
To her shock and horror, he added, “I’d like to take my regional manager to lunch.”
