Justine’s hand clenched on the arm of the chair. “Damn you, Luke, I will not have that young woman hurt.”
Luke smiled faintly as he started toward the door.
“What about me, Justine? Or don’t you care if I get hurt?”
“Luke.”
Luke did not stop. He kept going, past a triumphantly scowling Mrs. Igorson and out into the main hall. There he stood alone for a couple of minutes.
The cold feeling inside him was starting to twist and curl into something that bore an unpleasant resemblance to fear. Once again he summoned up his anger to repress the other emotion.
When he was ready he went back upstairs and halted in the doorway of Katy’s office. Katy was leaning over Liz’s desk. The two women were poring over a map that showed the area north of Seattle all the way to Edmonds.
“We’re going to concentrate on the least expensive locations first,” Katy said. She circled a spot on the map with a yellow marker. “The agent is going to show me some space that will be available in a couple of new, small outdoor malls.”
Luke walked forward to stand in front of the desk. “I’ll come with you this afternoon.”
Katy looked up, surprised. “There’s no need for that. I’m sure you have tons of things to do.”
“So do you,” he reminded her.
“I’ve arranged to take this afternoon off. Everything’s under control here.”
“The last time you arranged to take a day off we discovered all kinds of computer problems in Payroll and Accounting, if you will recall.”
Katy turned red. “That was a different matter entirely.”
“Is that right?” Luke glanced down at the map. “Look at it this way. I’m doing you a favor by coming with you and the real estate agent this afternoon.”
“How do you figure that?” Katy grumbled.
Luke smiled his most saintly smile. “Selecting successful restaurant locations is one of my areas of expertise, Katy. No one’s better at it than I am. You need me, and you’re getting a terrific bargain. Normally I charge an astronomical fee for this kind of advice.”
“Why do I get the feeling I’ll wind up paying dearly for any free advice I get from you?”
“Katy, for a guardian angel you have a very suspicious mind.”
Katy smiled grimly. “It comes from hanging around Gilchrists all these years.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Katy had suspected from the start that it was going to be a mistake to take Luke along on the tour of potential restaurant locations. Her suspicions were well founded.
The entire afternoon was a disaster.
At six o’clock that evening she stormed through the front door of the cottage, Luke at her heels. Matt was sprawled in front of the television watching MTV. Zeke was stretched out beside him, his nose inches from his dish.
The dog got to his feet to greet Luke.
“I was wondering when you guys were going to get home,” Matt said. He used the remote to switch off the music video he had been watching. “How did the tour go?
“It was a complete fiasco.” Katy dropped her briefcase onto a chair and cast a fulminating look at Luke. “A total waste of time. Furthermore, I have never been so embarrassed in my entire life.”
“Take it easy.” Luke rubbed Zeke’s ears. “It wasn’t that bad. I gave you my honest opinions of the locations the agent showed you, that’s all.”
“Some opinions,” she fumed. “You didn’t like any of them.”
“They were all bad. What did you want me to do? Lie?”
“They were not all bad, and you know it. You were in a terrible mood. You made rude comments about every single location.”
“I was not rude. All my comments were of a professional nature.”
“You were rude,” she snapped “Rude and obnoxious.”
Luke shrugged. “I’m sorry you didn’t like what I had to say, but I was giving good advice.”
“Is that so? What about that new mall location? What was wrong with that?”
“I told you what was wrong with it. It’s the wrong neighborhood for the kind of take-out place you’re planning to open. That neighborhood can sustain pizza and burger joints, but a trendy operation like Pesto Presto will wither and die there.”
“The agent said it was a neighborhood in transition. She said it was starting to attract upwardly mobile young couples.”
“She’s guessing,” Luke said “And even if she’s right, it could take years before it’s changed enough to support a place like Pesto Presto.”
“All right, what about that little place near Edmonds?”
“Too far out of town.”
“And the location near the interstate?”
“It was all right for a gas station,” Luke admitted, “but not for a place like Pesto Presto. Take it from me, Katy, the agent didn’t show you one decent location. They were all second rate.”
“She was showing me locations in my price range.”
“Then you’d better think twice about opening up Pesto Presto anytime soon. Wait until you can afford a decent location.”
“I’m not going to wait one second longer than I absolutely have to wait,” Katy ground out.
“Don’t let your irritation with Gilchrists in general drive you into doing something stupid.”
“I don’t believe this.” Katy threw up her hands and turned to Matt. “You see? It was like that all afternoon. He just sat there in the backseat and made nasty comments about every single location the agent showed me. It was a miserable experience.”
Matt looked distinctly uncomfortable. He glanced quickly from one to the other. “Uh, yeah. Well, I guess there’s no big rush, is there? I mean, you’ve got time to find something.”
Luke smiled approvingly. “Good point; Matt. There’s no rush at all. Katy’s got plenty of time to find a location.”
Katy gave him a smoldering look. “Fortunately, I do have some time. But I will undoubtedly have to find another real estate agent before I can go out looking again. That poor woman who took us around today will never want to see me again. I still cannot believe some of the things you said.”
“Business comments.” Luke ambled into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. “You should have been grateful.”
“Business comments my foot.” Katy trailed after him, still scolding. “You were deliberately trying to make things difficult, Luke Gilchrist. And I will never, ever take you out on another location search. What are you doing?”
“Pouring myself a glass of wine. I’m pouring one for you, too. Something tells me you need it even more than I do.”
“If you think I’m going to invite you to stay for dinner after the way you behaved this afternoon, you can think again.”
Luke gave her a reproachful look. “I don’t have anything to eat back at my cottage.”
“Tough.”
“Think of Zeke. You know how much he looks forward to trying out your pesto creations.”
“I am not cooking for your dog.”
Zeke appeared in the doorway, looking hopeful. Luke smiled sadly at him. “It’s not looking good, boy. I’m trying to talk her into a meal, but she’s in one of her moods. Probably that time of the month.”
Katy’s outrage jumped another notch. “Don’t you dare make stupid, idiotic, macho comments like that.”
Luke smiled grimly. “I’m just evening the score a bit. Or don’t you think I get a little tired of all those Gilchrist mood remarks? I swear, if you tell me one more time that I’m sulking or being difficult or melodramatic because it’s in the blood, I’m going to do something drastic.”
“Yeah?” She lifted her chin in challenge. “Like what?”
“I don’t know. Try it and see.”
Katy took a deep, calming breath and went to the refrigerator
to take out a plastic sack full of fresh basil. Zeke whined happily.
Matt came to stand in the doorway. “Have you two stopped arguing?” he asked.
“I have,” Luke assured him. “I don’t know what your sister’s plans are for the evening.”
Katy realized she would sound extremely petty and childish if she continued to berate him for his actions that afternoon. She adopted an air of lofty disdain as she rinsed the basil leaves. “Don’t worry. I don’t intend to discuss this matter any further. Suffice it to say I have learned my lesson. I will never hire you for professional advice, Luke.”
“Your loss,” he said cheerfully. By the way, I’m going into Seattle to talk to some people at headquarters tomorrow. I want you to come with me. We’ll be staying over, so bring a bag.”
Katy smiled brightly. “Sorry. I’m going to be busy tomorrow afternoon. Got to catch up on some of the things I had to put aside today.”
“You work for me, Katy, remember? I want you with me tomorrow.”
She eyed him warily, not trusting the bland tone of his voice. “In that case, I’ll take my own car. There’s no need for me to stay overnight.”
“Yes, there is. We’re having dinner at the Pacific Rim. I’m going to sample the menu and check out the service.”
Katy scowled at him. “Fat lot of good it will do for you to show up for dinner. The staff will jump through hoops trying to please you. That won’t give you a good indication of the service or the quality of the food.”
Luke took a swallow of his wine, unconcerned. “I’ll be able to tell a lot by watching the customers.”
Dinner at the restaurant was an excuse. Katy was certain of it. Luke wanted to spend the night with her, so he was using his clout as her boss to arrange it. She was still annoyed enough with him to be perverse. “I’m not sure I can get away.”
Matt spoke up from the doorway. “Don’t worry about me, Katy. I can take care of myself. And I’ll have Zeke here.”
“I’ll think about it,” Katy temporized as she dumped the fresh basil into the food processor.
“You do that,” Luke said. “And pack your bag while you do your thinking.”
At ten o’clock Luke reluctantly took himself off. Zeke padded through the doorway after him. Katy stood watching from the window as dog and man vanished into the night. Matt came to stand beside her.
“He’s making this a regular habit, isn’t he?” Matt observed.
“You mean eating my food and stuffing his dog full of my best pesto sauce? Yes, he certainly is.”
“I think he likes you,” Matt said. “How come you were so mad at him this afternoon? He said he was only trying to help.”
“You know as well as I do that when a Gilchrist offers you a rose you’ve got to check for thorns.”
Matt considered that briefly. “Sometimes I think you’re too hard on him. Luke’s okay.”
Katy glanced at her brother. “You really think so?”
Matt nodded. “He’s not like the others. Did you know the guy has a black belt?”
“What other color belt would a Gilchrist own?”
Matt rolled his eyes. “Geez, Katy. I’m talking about the kind of black belt they give out in the martial arts.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, Luke’s all right. I like him.”
“So do I,” Katy admitted softly. It was a lot worse than that, Katy thought. She knew full well she was in love with him.
She could not bear to look ahead to what was going to happen when the six months were over. She had to keep her wits about her. Concentrate on the present.
But Katy knew deep in her heart that if she had intended to remain sensible and pragmatic, she should never have started sleeping with Luke.
Matt shot her a quick, searching look. “What did he do this afternoon that was so bad?”
“It’s hard to explain.” Katy’s jaw tightened. Luke’s behavior had been extreme, even for a Gilchrist. “He was just so incredibly negative about everything.”
“Because he didn’t think any of the locations were suitable?”
“It was more than just that. He had no positive comments, at all. No helpful ideas. He just kept making everything sound impossible and hopeless. It was as if he thought the whole idea of opening Pesto Presto was a stupid waste of time. As if it didn’t stand a prayer of being successful. It was as if he was trying to discourage me for, some reason.”
Matt grinned. “Hey, if he thought that, he doesn’t know you all that well, does he? You always find a way to make things work.”
Roger Danvers and the final report he had prepared were both waiting for Luke the next morning when he and Katy arrived at the Seattle offices of Gilchrist, Inc. He glanced at Katy.
“I want to talk to Danvers. Why don’t you go see Eden? Make sure we’re not having any more computer problems in Payroll and Accounting.”
Katy gave him a chilling look. “There’s no need to be sarcastic.” She went on down the hall, greeting several members of the staff along the way. Luke noticed that one of the people who stepped out of his office to speak to her was Fraser Stanfield.
Luke watched the two of them disappear around the corner together. Then he walked into his own office and sat down.
“Okay, Danvers. What have you got?”
“No proof.” Danvers tapped a foot restlessly and tugged at his earlobe. “But a definite pattern. The guy’s clever. I’m not going to be able to nail him with hard evidence, though.”
“So there’s no point in going to the authorities?” Luke switched on the computer and summoned up the coded file he and Danvers had been using.
Danvers shrugged and waggled his toes. “It’s the usual story. You know how it is with this white-collar crime stuff?”
“Yeah, I know. Most of the time you count yourself lucky if you can figure out who’s probably screwing you, and then you just fire the son of a bitch. Not much else you can do. The kind of proof that would stand up in court is too damn hard to get.”
“You got it.”
“And in this case,” Luke continued thoughtfully, “we’re not even dealing with a clear-cut embezzlement scheme or cash-skimming operation. Just a lot of little things that have been going wrong in the past six months.”
“Yeah. No real obvious crime. When you get right down to it, the only thing you could really accuse the guy of is bad judgment. He had some managers do business with some suppliers who were financially shaky. Got burned. He encouraged Gilchrist Gourmet to expand too far, too fast. Got a little overextended.”
“And had to retrench,” Luke concluded. “Had some trouble with the bank and lost a financing commitment. A definite pattern over and over again.” Luke turned off the screen and sat back in his chair. “Okay, Danvers. You did a good job. I’ll take it from here. Thanks.”
Danvers nodded and got to his feet. His left eye twitched. “Sorry I couldn’t give you something you could use in court.”
“What the hell. It costs money to go to court anyway. I can fire the bastard for free. And at his level in upper management, I don’t even need to think of an excuse.”
Danvers grinned. “You’ve got a point.”
Luke waited until the door had closed behind Danvers, and then he sat quietly for a few minutes considering his options. The tricky part was going to be handling this without letting Katy know what was happening.
She was fond of Fraser Stanfield.
Hell, she felt grateful to him for helping her hold things together during the past few months.
She would never believe him guilty of a deliberate pattern of corporate sabotage.
Luke fiddled impatiently with a pen as he thought about Katy. She was too softhearted, that was her problem. She would go to bat for Stanfield without hesitation, just as she would for a member of the Gilchrist clan. She would loo
k for excuses to explain Stanfield’s behavior. She would find mitigating circumstances and ask for clemency.
Luke knew the last thing he wanted to do was debate this matter with her. He always seemed to lose arguments such as this when he got involved in them with Katy. He would handle this problem quietly, cleanly, and without any fuss.
Luke got up, picked up the file, and went down the hall to Fraser Stanfield’s office.
Stanfield looked up from a printout he was studying. He smiled quizzically, his gaze watchful. “Morning, boss. Heard you were in today. Saw Katy in the hall a few minutes ago.
Luke tossed the file down onto the desk. “The names Lawtry, Gibson, and Ragsdale mean anything to you?”
Stanfield leaned back in his chair. “Should they?”
“Yeah. They’re three of the reasons you’re going to be out on the street within thirty minutes.”
Stanfield straightened abruptly in shock. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about your deliberate attempt to drag Gilchrist Gourmet into a sea of red ink. Not enough to drown it, just enough to lower its value.”
“If this is some kind of joke, Gilchrist, I don’t get it.”
Luke smiled thinly. “You don’t have to get it. All you have to do is get out of here by ten-thirty.” He glanced at the clock. “That’s twenty-nine minutes from now. Clean out your desk. I’ll escort you downstairs personally.”
Stanfield got to his feet, his eyes never leaving Luke. “Jesus. Are you crazy? Does Katy know about this?”
“No. And she’s not going to know. As far as Katy is concerned, you got a better offer. And now that Gilchrist, Inc. is in good hands again, you’re going to ride off into your own rosy future.”
“You’re not going to get rid of me that easily, Gilchrist. I’ve worked in the inner circles of Gilchrist, Inc. long enough to know that Katy holds a lot of power. She’ll go straight to Justine and tell her I’m being fired without cause. She’ll tell Justine that Gilchrist, Inc. needs me, and Justine will believe her.”