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“Is what true?”
“Are you used to women chasing after you?”
He twitched his shoulders and gave a quick shake of his head. “That was Betty’s way of pulling my leg.”
She dropped her gaze to the steaming liquid. She was stalling and she knew it, but she couldn’t seem to bring any order to her thoughts at the moment. To immediately find the man for whom she’d been prepared to make a diligent search had thrown her off her stride. She needed a moment to regroup and to marshal all her arguments.
“What do you want, Rebecca?” he repeated, impatiently. “Did Brock send you?”
She stiffened for a moment before answering him. “No.”
“I didn’t think so.” Tension filled the silence between them before he continued, his tone mocking. “As I recall, you never went out of your way to spend much time in my company when I worked at CPI, so it’s hard for me to guess what prompted this little visit.”
Rebecca lowered her cup, carefully replacing it on the table. He certainly wasn’t making this meeting an easy one. What, after all, had she expected? Before she could comment on his remark, he continued by saying, “You think I never noticed how studiously you managed to avoid me?” His mouth curled slightly. “I was aware I wasn’t your idea of a corporate executive. Well, don’t worry. After a few years I came to the same conclusion, myself. Guess I don’t have the necessary killer instinct.”
She controlled her surprise at this unexpected glimpse into the way his mind worked. “On the contrary, Jake. I thought you were an excellent executive. Since my father planned for you to take his place in the company, his views were obvious, as well.” She paused, searching for an explanation of something she’d never before attempted to put into words. “As for me, I’ll admit that I never went out of my way to get to know you, that’s true.” She forced herself to meet his dark-eyed gaze before saying, “I’m not particularly proud of the fact, but the truth is, for some time I was jealous of you.”
His eyes narrowed and he quirked one of his eyebrows at her, but he made no comment.
She shrugged. “Hopefully I’ve gotten over that rather adolescent reaction to the fact that my dad treated you like the son he never had.”
“And that bothered you?”
“It shouldn’t have, of course. There was no rational reason for me to see you as a threat. I never had any interest in learning to run the company. I much prefer working with the employees and leaving the rest of the business to the engineering and business majors. I never made any secret of my professional preferences.”
“But you aren’t talking about professional preferences now, are you?”
This wasn’t the topic she’d intended to discuss with him. Somehow, she’d lost control of their meeting before she’d had an opportunity to state her reasons for being there. He’d gotten a reaction from her. He was good at that—causing a reaction without giving anything of himself away.
She sighed and shook her head. “I’ve had the past year to look at my behavior, to recognize and face how childish I was acting by distancing myself from you.” She glanced away before forcing herself to meet his gaze. “However, you have to admit you’re not an easy man to get to know, even in the best of circumstances.”
“I had a job to do. I was never out to win any popularity contests...with you or anybody else.”
She couldn’t resist a quick look at the way he was dressed. He still wasn’t attempting to impress anyone. Not that it mattered to her what he looked like or how he treated her. However, it would make her mission much easier if they could find a common ground.
She needed his help, yet she resented having to ask for it. There’d been so many upheavals in her life lately, so much over which she had no control. She hated to ask anyone for anything. She’d grown up independent and self-reliant, traits her father admired, traits she’d continued to foster as she grew from the idolizing child to the adult who better understood her own motives.
Her studies of human behavior and her degrees in psychology had helped her to deal with many of those unresolved childhood issues. What they hadn’t taught her was how to deal with an attractive man whose dark gaze managed to affect her pulse rate despite her understanding of chemical attraction and the theory behind opposites attracting. She didn’t want to be attracted to this man. She wanted her interest in him to be strictly a professional one.
“I never understood why you left CPI,” she said, hoping to prod him into explaining more about who he was and what made him tick. Knowing his motives might also assist her in finding the most positive way to suggest he return to work for the company. “You were good at what you did. You had a bright future with the company.”
He picked up his glass of water and took a drink from it. After he set the glass down, he murmured, “My reasons for leaving don’t really matter after all this time.”
She straightened, placing her hands in her lap, hoping to downplay her nervousness. “Perhaps not,” she said carefully. “I suppose the more pertinent question to ask you is, what can I offer you to get you to return to CPI?”
He made a chopping motion with his hand. “Is that what this is all about—what you’re doing here? Do you think Brock is going to allow me to walk back into the company and take up my old position? You should have checked with him first before you came running to me with any offers. Brock Adams knows what I think of the policies and procedures in that company. He knows exactly why I left and why I won’t go back.”
“My father is dead, Jake.”
Her words hung between them as though taking on a life of their own, crowding the small space with sudden emotion.
Jake slowly straightened his slouching position. “Dead?” he repeated. “Brock?” His voice roughened. “When? What happened?”
She bit her lip in an effort to remain composed. Talking about her father’s death was still difficult. “Six months ago.” She paused and took a sip of water. “He died in his sleep. The doctor said it was his heart.”
Jake swung his legs off the seat and turned so that he was facing her. His face had been washed clean of expression. He stared at her blankly, his eyes unreadable.
“Was there any warning?”
“If there was, he never mentioned it. He began working longer hours after you left, rarely getting home before midnight. I tried to talk to him, tried to get him to rest, but he ignored me.” Her voice hardened. “If you hadn’t left the company, he might be alive today.”
Her words were as effective as a slap in the face...or a fist to his gut. Brock was dead. Only now, now that he’d learned that Brock was dead did he realize how he had viewed Brock Adams—as an Olympian figure, an immortal god who could not concern himself with the problems of mere mortals. Concerns about ethics and conscience and accountability hadn’t been as important as other considerations—growth, and returns, and happy stockholders.
Jake had been so angry when he’d left... angry, disgusted and frustrated. He hadn’t cared to listen to more of Brock’s explanations and rationalizations for his decisions. Jake had had enough.
Now Brock was dead and it was obvious from Rebecca’s determined efforts to contact him that the situation had not gotten any better since he’d left.
Now she wanted him to return to CPI. The idea was laughable. However, Jake didn’t feel much like laughing at the moment. After the shock of her news, he wasn’t certain what he was feeling.
Betty’s appearance with two platters of steaming food was a welcome respite from charged emotions.
The appetizing aroma caused Rebecca’s stomach to growl in anticipation.
Jake glanced at the plate in front of him, reminded of his earlier order. “This is a sandwich?”
Betty placed her hands on her hips. “Mel decided you might be hungrier than you thought.” She gave a sideways glance to Rebecca. “You’ve gotta keep up your strength, you know.”
He just shook his head and picked up his fork, knowing there was no winning an argument against the Abbotts. He glanced across the table. Rebecca must have been hungry. She wasn’t wasting any time on conversation, which was just as well. He needed some space to adjust to the information she’d given him.
He waited until she finished eating before he asked, “Who is running CPI these days?”
He watched her carefully blot her lips with the napkin. “As my father’s sole heir, I inherited his controlling interest in the company. I took over as chairman of the board, but at the moment there is no managing director.”
He remembered some of the sharks who were department heads and smiled. “I bet the place is experiencing a real feeding frenzy these days.”
Betty came and removed their plates, refilled Rebecca’s coffee cup and Jake’s water glass and left before she responded. She leaned her crossed arms on the table. “I always thought I was fairly competent at reading and understanding people, until I had all this dumped into my lap. I freely concede that I’m in way over my head at the moment. I don’t have the training, the ability or the personality to take over the helm and run the place, not the way you do. Obviously you can see why I’m here, why I wanted to talk to you, to explain what’s happening.”
“Ambition and greed aren’t difficult to identify, ‘Becca. You can find it in every business endeavor. Hell, it’s part of the human experience.”
“There’s more going on, Jake. Since Dad died we’ve had what I believe to be acts of sabotage taking place in the plant—shipments delayed, bills of lading misplaced, equipment breaking down. Somebody’s working hard to make us look bad. And it’s having the desired effect.”
“What do you think I could do about it?”
“My father had a great deal of confidence in you. He never told me why you left. In fact, he refused to discuss you with me at all, but I well remember how pleased he was earlier with the way you justified the decision he made to hire you. If you had a falling out with him then I think we need to look at the present picture without allowing the past to distort the situation. You are the only person who knows the business well enough to be able to step in and pull it through this crisis. The company needs you.”
Jake didn’t answer right away. Rebecca forced herself to remain quiet, hoping she’d said enough, hoping she hadn’t said too much to turn him off the idea. She was convinced that Jake Taggart was the only person who could help save the company.
When he finally spoke, she was shaken by his response. “I want no part of that life,” he said in a flat voice. “I’m content where I am.”
Rebecca couldn’t afford to accept his decision. She glanced around the room, which had fallen silent with the departure of the other diners. She could hear the couple who ran the place talking in the kitchen. Her gaze went to the grimy windows and, looking past them, to the desolate landscape.
In an effort to buy herself needed time to think of a different approach, she asked, “This is where you grew up?”
“That’s right.”
“It’s rather isolated, isn’t it?”
His small smile was lopsided. “Yep.”
“What is there here for you to do?”
The fact that he’d been asking himself the same question during the past few days didn’t endear her to him. “I don’t need much to survive.”
“My father used to say that you thrived on challenge.”
He nodded toward the window. “There’s challenge enough.”
“Is there?” She tilted her head slightly and looked at him. “Physically, I suppose there is. But mentally? Emotionally? What kind of challenges are you finding here?”
“What is this? A new form of job interview?”
She nodded. “That’s exactly what it is, Jake. CPI needs you and your talents. You must know that. Your leaving was a blow to the company as well as to my father, whether he ever admitted it or not. I don’t think either one fully recovered from your absence. If you’d been there, none of this would have happened. The transition after my dad’s death would have been orderly and without the turmoil we’ve been going through.”
“No one’s indispensable, ‘Becca.”
“True. But some positions are more easily filled than others.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the card he’d placed there earlier. He gave a flip to his wrist, and the card landed between them. “Who’s Woodrow Forrester?”
She didn’t need to read the card. “He’s in charge of accounting. Dad hired him not long after you left. He’s the one who pointed out the urgency of the situation we’re in. When I told him about you and what I felt you could do for us, he volunteered to come looking for you.”
Jake drummed his fingers on the table. Then he ran his fingers through his hair. “It wouldn’t work,” he finally muttered.
“Why not?”
He just shook his head, refusing to say anything more.
Her chest ached and she realized that she’d been holding her breath. She forced herself to fill her lungs with much-needed air, praying for inspiration. She’d counted on the fact that once he knew how serious the situation was, he would be willing to return.
Regardless of her personal reaction to him, she knew that Jake Taggart was exactly what the company needed.
“Is it because of me? I mean, what you said earlier about my appearing uncomfortable around you? Is it that you don’t want to work for me?”
“I’ve never given a thought about your opinion of me, one way or the other. As far as I was concerned, we both worked for the same company and had similar goals. We didn’t have to like each other.”
She glanced down at her clasped hands. “It isn’t that I dislike you, Jake,” she said slowly, searching for words that might make a difference to his decision. “I used to feel— That is, there were times when I felt as though you could read my mind, as though I had no secrets where you were concerned.” She gave a nervous chuckle. “Let’s face it. You can be rather intimidating at times.”
He didn’t say anything right away. Instead, he waited until she looked up at him before he said quietly, “You’ve got a very expressive face, ‘Becca. It isn’t difficult to tell what you’re thinking most of the time.”
She kept her gaze steady. “Then you must know how badly I need your help at the plant. I’ve tried these past few months to keep everything together. I’ve taken on more staff, mostly in personnel, to free me for other areas. I never wanted to be the one running things. My father understood that, which is why he trained you for the job. He’d intended to retire and—” Her voice broke and she couldn’t go on.
Jake looked around the small café, feeling uneasy about the turn in the conversation. He’d told her no, hadn’t he? He’d told her that he was happy where he was, but was he being completely honest with himself? Hadn’t CPI been his focus for several years?
Leaving the company had been one of the toughest things he’d ever done. He’d felt betrayed by Brock Adams and the choices the man had made despite Jake’s warnings. Jake had expected more from Brock than that. Hell, he’d looked up to Brock, admired him, wanted to be just like him...until the day Jake realized that his own integrity was more important to him than his ambition.
Rebecca’s voice broke into his thoughts. “I understand you live in those mountains.” She nodded toward the windows.
“That’s right.”
“Is it difficult to get to your home?”
He shrugged. “Depends on how you define difficult. You can’t drive all the way. There’s quite a hike once I leave the truck.”
“You like it there?”
“Yeah. It’s peaceful. I’ve always enjoyed the mountains.”
“Would you show me where you live?”
His grin was unexpected. He so rarely smiled...and she’d never heard him laugh in all the years she’d known him. She blinked in surprise at the change his smile made. He was much more approachable. And devastatingly attractive.
“I’m afraid you wouldn’t get far in that outfit.”
He hadn’t said no. “I brought other clothes with me,” she offered. “When Woody told me you lived in an isolated mountain area, I came prepared to look for you, no matter where you were.”
He hadn’t expected that, she could tell. She hurried on before he could speak. “If you’ll give me time to change my clothes, I’d very much like to see where you live. I also brought several reports that I’d like you to read. They can show you much better than anything I can say exactly what’s been happening to the company these past months.” She looked away for a moment before returning her gaze to him once more. “I would also like to have a chance to change your mind about coming back to work at CPI.”
“You think spending the night with me is going to convince me?”
She could feel her cheeks warm with color. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. You know me better than that, Jake.”
“What makes you say that? I don’t know you at all, ‘Becca.” He didn’t need to add that he had no intention of remedying the situation. It was in his tone of voice.
“Let me show you the reports before you turn me down, Jake. If nothing else, give me your thoughts on what could be done to protect us from what’s occurring in the plant. I freely admit that I don’t know where to turn or what else to do. Looking for you is my last, desperate attempt to hang on to the company.”
He scratched his chin thoughtfully. Her offer to go home with him intrigued him, damned if it didn’t. It was totally out of character for the woman he thought she was. But then, he’d been correct in saying he didn’t know her.
Brock Adams was dead and his company was up for grabs. Jake could just see what his sudden reappearance might do to a few people he recalled who spent their working days jockeying for more powerful positions in the company. The thought made him smile slightly.
Her gaze never left his face. When he realized how hopefully she was watching him, he said, “There’s a rest room through those doors—” he nodded his head toward an opening in the back wall “—where you can change clothes. Hope you brought some hiking boots.”
She needed no more urging. With quick strides she hurried to the door and out to the parking lot. He watched as she disappeared from view, then shook his head. He must be more lonesome than he thought to even consider the idea of taking Rebecca Adams up to his mountain retreat.
No one had ever been there before. He’d deliberately chosen a small meadow area that could be reached only through a narrow hidden canyon. Why, after all these years, was he willing to share it with another person?
And why her?
Once Rebecca returned from the car carrying a small bag, Jake pulled out his wallet and walked over to where Betty worked behind the counter. They both watched Rebecca go into the rest room before Betty looked back at Jake.
