margin, then that’s how it will be. I will not allow Bennett’s to compromise on quality.”
“You don’t own Bennett’s anymore.”
She stopped eating and simply studied him. “I can go to a banker whose wife is a long-time customer of mine and get financing to open another store. And if I do, I can guarantee you will not have only some stiff competition, but every employee in this store will go with me. You’ll have to immediately train 450 people to replace those who will desert you to go with me.”
Okay, he thought. The gauntlet had been thrown, and this was war. “When I walked in this morning, I saw this delicate creature who I thought I could just run roughshod over, and now I find you have a spine of titanium. That surprised me and nothing surprises me anymore.” He pushed his chair back and stood. “Ms. Bennett, be prepared. I’m unleashing my dogs of war.” The thought excited him. He hadn’t had a good battle with a worthy opponent in a long, long time.
He stood, turned around and walked away.
Chapter 2
Before he’d gone two feet, he bumped into Mabel. She glared at him. He glanced back at Darcy who had an innocent look on her lovely face. His dramatic exit had been ruined.
Mabel stood with one hand on her ample hip with her wooden spoon shaking in his face. “You better sit down and eat my waffles.”
For a second he felt five years old and in trouble again. Before he could analyze why he felt a little afraid of this woman, his cell phone rang. The ring tone was Sophia’s favorite tune from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
“Daddy,” Sophia said.
He couldn’t help smiling. “Roo, what’s going on?” Just the sound of his seven-year-old daughter’s voice gave him such joy. Sometimes he looked at her and couldn’t believe she was his daughter. In his own way, he was building her future with the purchase of Bennett’s.
His daughter sighed, an almost resigned tone. “Ms. Battles just left with her suitcase. She said she was just going to the grocery store, but I don’t think she needs a suitcase for shopping, does she?”
“Where is Mrs. Emery?” Mrs. Emery was his housekeeper and had worked for him since Angela’s death.
“She’s gone. You gave her the weekend off.”
“What about Judy?” Judy was his personal assistant and was the most reliable employee he had.
“Judy tried to call you, but couldn’t get through. There’s a big accident on the highway and she’s stuck and doesn’t know when she’ll be back.” Roo sounded more than scared, she sounded panicked.
“I’ll be home in thirty minutes,” he said. “Make sure all the doors are locked and go up to your room and stay there.”
He took a step forward and Mabel stopped him with a hand planted in the center of his chest. “Wait.”
“What?” he said.
“Don’t hang up yet.” She whipped her phone out of her pocket and dialed. “Lamont,” she said, “this is your mama. I need you to send a cruiser to—” she looked at Eli “—what’s your address?”
“1120 Parkwood.”
“1120 Parkwood,” Mabel said into the phone. She listened for a moment, and then explained the problem. “What’s your daughter’s name?”
“Sophia, but I call her Roo.”
She repeated that, and then closed the phone. “My son will have a cruiser at your address as soon as possible. You tell her a policeman is coming to sit with her until you get home.”
He looked at Mabel in total surprise. He passed the info on to his daughter and she sounded relieved. He put the phone in his pocket. “Why are you doing this?”
“You’re family now. Though the jury is still out, you’re one of us.” She glanced around Eli, then at Darcy who sat poised on the edge of her chair, a slight frown marring her features. “Ms. Darcy will drive you home.”
“I don’t need anyone to drive me home,” he said, annoyed that an employee had just issued him an order.
“Ms. Darcy will drive you home,” Mabel said, and turned away as though she’d won the argument.
Darcy jumped up and grabbed him by the arm. “Come on.” She half dragged him toward her office where he’d left his coat.
“I can drive myself,” he said.
She flung open the door to her office, grabbed his coat off her desk and tossed it at him. She pulled her own coat off the tree behind the door and pushed him out the door. “You’re already starting to perspire. I would do this for anyone who worked with me.”
“Why don’t I find that strange?”
“I don’t know why. Do you?” She pushed the key for the elevator, and when Silas opened the door, she said, “Parking garage, Silas, and no stops.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Silas closed the door.
Eli pulled his coat on. Nerves fluttered through him.
“Does this happen often?”
“Roo’s kind of hyper and it’s gotten worse since her mother died,” he said, trying not to sigh. “It’s hard to keep a nanny.”
“She’s a child,” Darcy said. “How bad can she be?”
He gave her a sidelong look. “You don’t have children.”
“I do want them eventually.”
The wistful look on her face sent a small jolt of electricity through him.
“Look,” she said, “we’ll bring her here and put her in the day care center. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll put our heads together and come up with something else.”
The elevator stopped on the ground floor and opened. Silas tipped his hat at Darcy as she stepped out of the elevator and walked rapidly to the doors that led to the parking garage.
“Why do you care?” Eli asked. He almost had to trot to keep up with her.
“Why do you care that I care?” she asked, shoving open the door.
Cool air, with a hint of moisture and a promise of snow, surrounded them. He didn’t like her butting into his business, but he didn’t know how to keep her out. She was like a hurricane with two legs and enough power to knock a fifty-story building down.
She walked to the nearest car and clicked on her remote. A Mercedes beeped and as he approached he saw that it was a brand-new hybrid. He didn’t even know Mercedes produced a hybrid.
Darcy’s cell phone chirped. She answered and listened for a moment. Then closed the phone. “That was Mabel,” she said as she sat down and put her key into the ignition. The car purred to life. “The officer
