***
A bird squawked overhead at Louis as he looked over the ship’s manifest before they departed. He had spent the morning down at the docks speaking with several of his boat captains hoping to resolve some issues before he came into the office. The process had taken longer than he’d expected and several times, quite unexpectedly, the image of Marian had crossed his thoughts.
Yesterday, he’d seen her as a mother and realized just how important her children were to her. Hearing her say the words didn’t have the effect that watching her with Philip had. She brought to mind his own mother and he’d been reminded of what he was missing in life. Once he’d had his own family. Now he only dreamed of having a son or daughter again.
Spending the afternoon with Marian and her son, Philip, had been enjoyable. Watching her spoon Italian ice into her mouth had been quite a sensuous experience, one that wakened his senses and left him feeling a little unsettled.
The widow Cuvier was an attractive woman, who he was learning had a will of iron and packed a powerful kiss that startled him.
For some reason he’d held the notion she would be easy to get rid of, and now he was beginning to doubt that even dynamite could loosen the woman from her grip on Cuvier Shipping. She could still be sitting across the hall from him while he tried to arrange the sale of the shipping company without her knowledge; because he was determined to sell the company, with or without her.
Louis stood, notebook in hand, as he checked off items on a shipment bound for England. The pungent odor of bananas and coffee, along with river smells surrounded him, though he hardly noticed.
“Mr. Fournet! Mr. Fournet!” a voice shouted across the way at him. Jon, his office clerk, came running toward him, looking harassed and out of breath.
Louis walked across the dock, meeting him halfway. “What’s wrong, Jon?”
“It’s ... it’s George Morgan, sir,” he said with a gasp.
“Of St. Martin Sugar Refinery?” Louis asked.
“Yes, he’s at the office, shouting obscenities at Mrs. Cuvier. He’s furious.”
Fear sparked through Louis at the image of Marian being threatened by this man.
“Damn!” Louis said, tossing the notebook to the Captain of the vessel about to leave, his attention focused on Marian. Certainly she was no shrinking violet, but the thought of anyone mistreating her bothered Louis more than he cared to think about. But think of her was all he could do while he hurried to her.
As a satisfied customer, George Morgan was often difficult, but when angry, he could become threatening. Poor Marian was probably in tears.
Louis ran the short distance to his buggy and jumped in, picking up the reins, he looked back at his clerk. “Get in Jon, or get left behind.”
“I’m hurrying,” Jon said, jumping in.
Louis snapped the reins across the horses’ backs, sending them off in a rush. Anxious, he drove the horses hard those few scant blocks through the crowded streets to the office.
“How did this happen?” Louis asked.
“Mr. Morgan came looking for you. He chewed out Henry, until Mrs. Cuvier came up front. I didn’t stick around to see any more. I knew you’d want me to come get you, so I ran to the docks to find you.”
Louis pulled the buggy up in front of Cuvier Shipping and glanced at the building.
“Thank you, Jon.” He set the brake and jumped out of the buggy. “Take care of the horses.”
Sprinting up the steps, Louis yanked open the door and hurried inside. The door slammed behind him and everyone glanced up. The men smiled at him and all started talking at once.
“Hey boss, we knew you’d show up.”
“Where is he?” Louis asked, glancing around the office, certain he would still be in the lobby area.
“Mr. Morgan is with Mrs. Cuvier, in her office.”
Oh God, he thought as he took off down the short hall. As he neared her office he heard laughter. The sound caused him to pause as he came to her office door. He looked around the corner and watched her for a few moments.
She smiled at George, her head tilted as she told him something that Louis couldn’t hear.
George started to laugh, his voice light and carefree. The man had never been this relaxed and friendly with Louis. In fact, he’d been rude and obnoxious, his language vulgar, every time Louis dealt with him. Yet he was their largest account. Revenue from St. Martin alone paid for at least three ships out of the ten they had traveling the seas. George Morgan was not someone they could afford to make angry.
Louis backed away from the door, slowly easing his way back down the hallway, not wanting to disturb Marian. God, he hoped that she wouldn’t promise their profit away, but whatever she’d done, from the tableau he saw going on in her office, it appeared she’d just saved their largest account.
He breathed a sigh of relief. His fear for her safety eased. Mr. Morgan appeared actually to be enjoying himself. Reeling a little from the rapport Louis had just witnessed between the two of them, he went back to the lobby and sank down into a chair.
Henry came rushing over to him. “Mr. Fournet, what was happening in there?”
Louis glanced up at him still in shock. “They were laughing.”
“What?” said Henry, his eyes widening in disbelief.
“They were laughing like old friends,” Louis said bewildered.
Henry looked shocked. “You should have seen them earlier. She just gave him one of those cool looks she has and settled him right down,” Henry said getting excited. “She was as calm as the eye of a hurricane, and then swept him along to her office, as if she did this every day.”
The accountant shook his head. “I have never seen a woman quite as cool as that one. You should have seen her. George was ranting and raving, while she just stood there like they were chatting about the weather.”
“How long have they been in her office?” Louis asked, beginning to realize how this would affect the way the men saw Marian.
“Getting close to an hour. It took Jon over thirty minutes to find you.”
Henry walked away and then one of the shipping clerks came over. “Mr. Fournet, is Mrs. Cuvier all right? The men say that she’s still talking with that bastard.”
“She’s fine, Charles. I checked on her.”
“You missed a mighty good show, Mr. Fournet. She didn’t back down an inch, but took him back to her office like she was inviting him to tea. You should be glad you weren’t here.”
“Why’s that?” Louis asked.
“We would have lost the account. He planned to show you how much money he’d lost and then never do business with us again, besides giving you a good tongue lashing.”
“Yeah, I heard about the tongue lashing.”
For a moment Louis felt a touch of jealousy. Marian had not only calmed the man, she suddenly was someone the employees looked up to, all because she’d saved their biggest account. He heard her laughter and glanced toward her office. The two of them were coming down the hall talking like old friends.
When they reached the foyer, Marian saw him standing over at the side.
“Louis, you’ve returned,” she said, and then turned to their customer. “Mr. Morgan, did you still want to speak with Louis?”
The man glanced at him, his brows drawing together in a frown. “Louis, it’s a damn good thing you weren’t here earlier or we wouldn’t be doing business together anymore. But Mrs. Cuvier has straightened everything out and guaranteed my shipments from here on out.” He glanced at Marian. “She’s an excellent addition to your staff and I want only her handling my shipments from here on.”
A sliver of apprehension attached itself to his spine. What had Marian promised this man? “Certainly, Mr. Morgan.”
The customer turned his attention back to Marian. “I enjoyed our meeting very much and next time I’m in town, I hope that you will let me escort you to lunch.”
“That would be my pleasure, Mr. Morgan.”
Louis felt il
l. Obviously her sense of grace and charm had easily persuaded the man.
George Morgan tipped his hat and strolled out the door. Louis couldn’t help but wonder how this would affect Marian’s stature in the company.
It didn’t take long to find out.
The men in the room surrounded Marian, clapped her on the back and congratulated her as if she were one of them. This was the damage Louis realized that George Morgan had done. The ruin of his carefully built world where Marian was left in the cold.
Once again he was losing this little chess match they played for control of the business.
“Marian, may I see you in your office?” he asked.
Everyone glanced at him, his sharp tone indicative of the feelings that seemed almost to overwhelm him.
The two of them walked into her office and Louis shut the door with a decisive click.
She started to pace the small office.
“Oh, Louis, I’m so glad you weren’t here. I was so afraid at first, but then I realized it was up to me to handle this situation. I just went out there and decided I would do whatever is necessary to make him a satisfied customer,” she rambled on, apparently not noticing his mood.
She turned and faced him, a funny expression crossing her face. “Is something wrong?”
“What did you promise George Morgan to make him keep his business with us?” he asked. “You do realize he’s our largest account?”
Marian glanced at him quizzically. “Yes, I know that I’ve come across entire ledgers with the name of his company on them.”
“So what made him decide to continue with Cuvier Shipping?” he asked again.
She took a deep breath, sat down behind her desk, and gazed at him with frosty coolness. “I told him that I would personally oversee his shipments and make sure that as our most important customer his shipments would have priority over our other customers. Then I told him if I promised a date and didn’t make it, we would refund three percent of the total shipping cost.”
“You did what?” Louis shouted. “That’s absurd.” She held up her hand.
“In exchange, I also told him that he would be required to pay his invoices within sixty days and if he were late, he would be mandated to pay us an additional three percent of the amount due.”
Louis, who was ready to explode, felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. “Why would you offer this? Weather could delay the shipments.”
“No. I put in a clause that we could not be penalized for any weather-related delays.” She shrugged. “When I looked in the journals, I saw he was usually ninety to one hundred and twenty days late in paying us. So I thought if I offered more incentive, just maybe we would get our money quicker. And for an account his size, that could be a lot of money for us.”
Louis stood there not knowing what to say. How could he argue with her for generating more money for them and saving their largest account? But by God, he felt so irritated he wanted to yell in frustration.
He’d lost some of the control of Cuvier Shipping today to a woman!
“Mrs. Cuvier, in the future all discussions with customers on the terms of their shipments will be held when both of us are present. Do you understand me?”
She raised her brows, giving him a haughty look and turned up her nose at him. “Certainly, Mr. Fournet I understand completely. But of course, both partners must be in the office.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, and walked out the door, holding tight to his self-control.
The woman was driving him crazy. Those flashing gray eyes and that saucy mouth of hers beckoned to him every time he saw her and he wanted to taste her before he yelled at her. Hell, he wanted to yell at her just because he needed to taste her again and was unable to.