Read Online Nordic Heroes: In the Market and a Wholesale Arrangement by Day Leclaire - Free Book Online

Goldbrick, but the end result would be the same.
    She stiffened her back. “The community wouldn’t tolerate it,” she maintained stoutly. “And we won’t sell.”
    “Look, Jordan.” Andrea gazed at her intently, her voice low and earnest. “You’d better know your options. If you refuse to sell, and if it isn’t economical to try and force you out like they did Leo, then they’ll put markets in all around you, stealing away your business bit by bit. Hemming you in might not be a fast death, but it will be a death nonetheless. Can you handle that possibility?”
    Jordan’s gray eyes turned somber. “I’ll have to. We’ll need to anticipate their moves and counter them. The one thing they won’t have considered is the community we service.”
    “Why is that a factor?”
    A grin eased across her lips. “It’s different from what they’re used to. The neighborhood around us has two types, the older mostly Norwegian set, and the younger upwardly mobile set.”
    “The yuppies,” Andrea said dryly.
    Jordan laughed. “The yuppies. Fortunately for us, both groups seem to value the same thing—family and tradition. They won’t shop at one of the Thorsen’s sterile impersonal markets as long as Cornucopia exists.”
    Her friend looked encouraged. “Do you think so? There’s a lot riding on that assumption.”
    “Which is why I’d better be right.” And why she’d better have correctly understood the requirements of the community they served. If ever she counted on her expertise at figuring out the angles, it was now. She could only pray it wouldn’t let her down.

    J ordan left Andrea’s office feeling hopeful for the first time since laying eyes on Rainer Thorsen. Until this moment, she’d run scared. Which was undoubtedly his intention. He wanted to keep her off kilter, have her reacting without thinking. Well, all that would change. He was clever, she’d give him that. But if she worked at it, she could find a way around clever.
    Thanks to Andrea, she now knew Rainer’s options. She also knew how ruthless the Thorsens could be. The knowledge gave her a number of choices. She liked that, being able to try one thing, and if it didn’t work, switching instantly to something else. It meant she could plan ahead, figure out in advance how to counter each of his moves. Not that she’d find it easy. She knew better than that. But with Cornucopia at stake, she’d do whatever it took to win.
    The first and most important objective was to get the community behind the market. That would spike Rainer’s guns. That would—
    “Umph!” She bounced off rock-solid muscle, the breath knocked clean out of her lungs.
    “Hey, find a door, would you?” Rainer said in greeting. “It’s a lot easier than trying to walk through walls.” He cocked his head. “You look determined this morning.”
    “Thanks.” She lifted her chin and met his gaze dead on. “I feel determined.”
    He peered at her, his fingers brushing boldly across her cheek. “No storm clouds today I see. Your eyes tell me it’s clear with sunny blue skies.”
    This time she didn’t flinch from his touch. Instead, a shiver caught her by surprise. His hands felt like pure magic. Each time he touched her, she found herself wanting the sensation to go on and on. As though sensing her nonverbal cues, he feathered a callused finger from cheekbone to chin.
    “They’re changing,” he murmured. “It’s like watching a cloud move across the surface of a lake.”
    “Stop it,” she whispered. “This isn’t the time or the place.”
    His voice dropped a notch. “Tell me the time and place, and I’ll be there.”
    Jordan shook her head. “You know that’s impossible.” Reality set in and with it an awareness of how much she’d given away. So he’d found an angle she hadn’t anticipated. The man was as beautiful as an angel, and as crafty as the devil. “You can’t get Cornucopia that way,” she informed him with cool pride.