Wronged (The Cuvier Widows Book 1) (11 page)

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 comer 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 ill. 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.

L
ouis hated losing.
Marian’s voice echoed in his head and he thought he could hear her
saying, “Checkmate!”

In his office, he sat morosely staring at the
empty room across the hall, the waning light throwing shadows on
the wall. Marian had gone home for the evening along with everyone
else. Only Louis and Henry remained and Louis knew that Henry would
soon be leaving him alone with his pensive thoughts.

No matter what he did, Marian thwarted his
every move or somehow managed to overcome whatever obstacle he
threw in her path, and generally frustrated him to no end.

When he’d seen the other men congratulating
her like a conquering war hero, he’d known that no longer would she
be looking in from the outside. With her quick reaction in saving
their largest account, the men had accepted her, and now even
wanted to protect her.

When had she become a dues-paying member in
the office?

Though Louis had to admit she’d certainly
earned her way by digging through the old files, looking through
ledgers and finding the original shipping manifests. And he
couldn’t deny that her resolution of George Morgan’s problems this
afternoon had been a feat that not only would bring in their money
quicker, but also let the customer think he was getting a deal.

But she was still a woman and her place
wasn’t here. In any case, he made the decisions, not her, so she
could pack up her optimism and take it home to the children. He
still intended to sell this business.

But, what could he do now? He could continue
ignoring her, kissing her, and doing everything in his power to
send her packing, but what would it gain him besides a raging
erection?

The widow is a beautiful woman, and he
respected and admired her, but nevertheless the sale of Cuvier
Shipping would come through. Marian Cuvier wasn’t budging and every
day she seemed to set down more roots than a willow tree. No matter
what he did, she was ensconcing herself in the business more and
more. And he damn well didn’t like it

Henry peered in from the doorway, his eyes
widening with surprise at the sight of Louis.

“Mr. Fournet, you’re still here?”

Louis scowled at his accountant; as if he
never stayed late!

“I’m
thinking,
’’Louis said, his tone
as grumpy as he felt.

“It’s been quite a day. Mrs. Cuvier certainly
keeps things interesting around here,” Henry said, with a nod of
understanding.

“Yeah, you could say that” Louis paused,
needing someone to confide in. “You know, I’ve done everything I
could to get her to go home and give up this foolish idea. But she
just doesn’t seem to budge. And now she’s more engrained than ever
before in this company.”

“Mr. Morgan would be upset if she weren’t
here to handle his account,” Henry gently reminded Louis. “Maybe
you should just agree to let her be the other partner. After all
she is Jean’s widow.”

“She’s one of his widows. And shipping is a
man’s business. Men should run it,” Louis said, not bothering to
hide his dissatisfaction.

Henry shrugged. “Jean had heirs and bequests:
and he named her in his will as his son’s guardian.”

Louis glanced up at Henry, surprised by the
older man’s defense of Marian. “I would give Marian her share of
the profits.”

“Of course,” Henry said glancing away, his
mouth turning down. “A woman’s ‘place is in the home,’ not working
in an office full of men.”