Reluctant Romance (6 page)

“Have you even tried to cut costs on ingredients? Use fillers or buy in bulk?”

“We do buy in bulk, but we would never use fillers or substandard ingredients. Never. Our main concern is pet health and longevity,” Risa cut in.

“How about a line of less expensive foods - something of medium quality and expense?”

Risa bit the inside of her cheek. That actually wasn’t a bad idea. “I’m not sure we could do that with the staff we have now. Could we Dana?”

“No, we’d probably need to hire more people to research the formulas. As you can see, I’m flat out here myself.” Dana spread her hands to indicate the messy lab.

“And extra people would add an additional expense,” Connor said, frowning. He turned to Risa. “I wonder what your profit margins are for these products and if there is a way to improve on them.”

Risa shrugged. “Accounting should have the actual numbers-”

Connor cut her off. “Yes, too bad Jim was unable to get what he needed yesterday.”
 

Risa tried to keep from squirming as his blue eyes drilled into hers. Plastering a wide-eyed look of innocence on her face, Risa raised her eyebrows. “Oh?”

“Yes, it seems your accounting system was on the fritz or something. He’s arranged to come back this afternoon. Hopefully he can get what he needs, otherwise it will take us longer to do the evaluation.” Connor sighed. “As it is, it looks like I may have to be here into next week.”

Risa felt her breath hitch. She had been hoping to drive them away sooner, not keep them there longer.
 

“Oh, but I thought the evaluation was only until Friday,” she said struggling to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

“That was the original plan, but I want to be certain I do a thorough investigation before I give my father the final go ahead to buy Healthy-Pet, so I’ll have to stay for as long as that takes,” Connor said. Then, fixing Risa with a glare, he added, “Anything less would be negligence on my part.”

###

Risa stood by the window, arms folded across her chest, watching Connor drive off in his black SUV.
He’s not going to just throw up his hands, declare us a bad investment, and walk away.
Risa was starting to realize that her initial plan wasn’t going to work. She needed to come up with something different, and fast.
 

Turning away with a sigh, she headed toward Caitlyn Barnes’s office.
 

 
She found Caitlyn staring at her computer screen. Caitlyn looked up slightly startled when she noticed Risa at her door.

“Oh, hi Risa. Come in." She motioned to the chair on the other side of her desk.
 

“How did things go yesterday?” Risa lowered her voice even though she was sure no one could hear through the thick office walls.

Caitlyn made a face. “Pretty good. I’m not sure Jim bought into our computer glitch story though. He seemed pretty frustrated.” She glanced at the watch on her wrist. “He’s coming back this afternoon and I’m not too sure I can keep hiding the files from him like this. Sooner or later he’s going to get suspicious.”
 

Risa nodded. “I know. I don’t want him to think we’re doing something sneaky. I guess I just thought that if they couldn’t crunch the numbers they would assume the worst and call off the acquisition. It’s pretty clear now that’s not going to happen.”

Caitlyn raised her eyebrows. “What should we do?”

Risa’s heart felt heavy. “Just let him see the files, I guess. They’re not going to leave until they do.”

“But, what abou-“

The sound of Caitlyn’s phone interrupted her. She gave Risa a questioning look.
 

“Go ahead and get that, I need to get going anyway.” Risa stood up.

“Hello?
 
Oh, hi, Jim…" Caitlyn glanced at up Risa who had frozen in her spot. “Oh dear, I’m so sorry to hear that….yes, take your time….okay bye." Caitlyn hung up the phone and looked up at Risa with relief in her eyes.

“Bad news?”

“Jim Abernake has a family emergency. He won’t be able to get back here for a few days.”

Risa felt the tension in her shoulders ease up. “Oh, good. Well, I mean not good for him, but it gives me time to think." She turned to leave, then, remembering Caitlyn was about to ask her something before Jim called, she looked back at the other woman. “What was it you were going to ask before the phone rang?”

Caitlyn’s smile faded and she took a deep breath. “If you want me to show Jim all the files, then what about… you know…” Caitlyn trailed off, her eyebrows lifting up to her hairline.

Risa knew exactly what she was talking about. “Don’t worry about it,” She reassured her. “I’ll figure out something so they don’t find out the real truth about
that
.”

###

Risa stared at the blank page on her computer screen. She sighed and readjusted herself in her chair, hoping it would get her in the mood for working.

A soft paw gently snuck into her lap. A welcome distraction. She looked down into Bailey’s warm brown eyes.

“You don’t feel like being here either, do you, girl?”

Bailey answered by thumping her tail on the ground and tilting her head.

Risa reached down and stroked the dog’s ears. “I know I’ve been neglecting you lately. How about we go to the dog park tomorrow night?”

At the words “dog park,” Bailey started thumping her tail faster, her whole body wriggling. Risa could have sworn she saw the dog nodding her head “yes”.

Risa laughed. “Okay, then its a date. Now go lie down so I can get this memo done.”

Bailey obediently flopped down under the desk and curled in a ball, tucking her nose into her tail.

A knock on Risa’s door caught her attention. She looked up to see Meredith hovering in the doorway with a stack of papers in her hand. Risa motioned for her to come in.

“These need your signature. They’re the purchase orders for clinic supplies.”
 

Risa reached out for the papers and Meredith handed them across the desk. “So, how are things going?”

Risa spread the papers on her desk and grabbed a pen. “Well, my brilliant plan of looking disorganized apparently isn’t enough to stave off a corporate buy-out.” She blew out a puff of air that fluttered an errant curl away from her forehead.

Meredith’s face fell. “Oh, so do you have another brilliant plan?”

Risa felt her heart sinking. “No, I don’t know what to do now.”

“My mother always said that you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. Have you tried appealing to the Dunns’ humanitarian side? You know, show them how the clinic helps people and animals?”

 
“I don’t think they
have
a humanitarian side,” Risa said. “Connor Dunn seems to be all about the numbers.”

“Well that may be, but every company likes to have good public relations. Maybe if you worked at showing them how Healthy-Pet could raise awareness and brand loyalty…" Meredith trailed off, her eyebrows raised.

Risa leaned back in her chair and chewed the end of her pen. “You know, I hadn’t thought of that angle. Getting people to like the company for their efforts to help pets could raise sales for all their divisions.” Risa felt a glimmer of hope flicker in her heart. She smiled up at Meredith. “You might just be on to something!”

Meredith smiled back. “Glad to help. Now if you’ll sign the papers.” She spread her hand toward the desk to indicate the papers she’d just handed over.

Risa raised her pen, scrawled her name at the bottom of each paper, then shuffled them into a neat stack and handed back.
 

Meredith turned to leave the room just as the phone rang.

Risa glanced at the caller ID. “It’s my father, I’ll just pick up in here,” she said, grabbing the handset.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Risa!
 
How are things going?” The voice on the other end sounded concerned and maybe even a bit miffed.

“Good,” she said tentatively.

“What’s going on with the acquisition evaluation?
 
Is there some sort of holdup?" The gruff tone to her father’s voice made her chest tighten with anxiety. For a moment she felt like a little girl being scolded.

“I think things are just going slowly. The accountant had a family emergency, so that’s going to put things off a bit.” Risa felt a pang of guilt at using the accountants misfortune as her excuse.

“Oh, I heard something about the accounting system being screwed up.”

“That was just a computer glitch, Dad," Risa said, with another pang of guilt.

“Okay. Well, I’m leaving for Pebble Beach today. I was hoping everything would be done before my trip, but I trust you’ll be able to handle anything that comes up.”

“Yes, Daddy." Risa rolled her eyes.
Hadn’t she been handling everything so far?
 

“Great!
 
I’m so looking forward to golfing out there. I haven’t played all the courses yet and, of course, the weather is wonderful.”

Risa felt her lips turn up in a smile. It was good to hear her father sound so happy, looking forward to something. Those times had been rare since her mother died.

“Have a good time, Daddy. I’ll hold down the fort.”

“Thanks. Oh, and could you swing by the house and pick up the mail?”

“Sure thing. Have a safe trip. I’ll see you when you get back.” Risa hung up the phone.
 

She made a note on her calendar to pick up her father’s mail. He still lived in the house that she had grown up in and she enjoyed going there; it made her feel nostalgic if not a bit sad that her mother was no longer around.
 

Settling back into her chair, her thoughts turned to the earlier conversation she’d had with Meredith. Once Jim got a look at the financials, it would be clear that Healthy-Pet was profitable and there wouldn’t be much she could do to stop the acquisition.

If the company was going to be bought anyway, her options were limited. The only way to save the clinic would be to switch gears and try to get Connor to see the value it could have for Dunn International.

Risa knew instinctively that she would have to be careful how she went about it. Connor already seemed suspicious of her actions, so the idea couldn’t come openly from her. She had to make him think it was
his
idea to leverage the clinic as a public relations tool for Dunn International.
 

Which meant she’d have to spend a lot more time conveying the benefits of the clinic and planting the seed of how that sort of thing could mean big profits for his company. Risa felt her stomach churn.
Just how was she supposed to pull that off when she could barely stand talking to the man?

Chapter Seven

Connor hoisted the bag of groceries into the back seat of his SUV. Picasso, who was strapped into the passenger seat in front, stretched his big head between the two seats into the back so he could sniff at the bag. Connor rubbed the dog’s forehead.
 

“Don’t worry, there’s something for you in here, too.”

Sliding into the driver’s seat, Connor thought about what was inside the bag. A skilled cook, he missed the gourmet kitchen he had in his loft back home. He found the tiny kitchen in his suite at the Residence Inn to be lacking in a lot of things, but he still enjoyed cooking. Tonight he was looking forward to trying to re-create the salmon dish he’d had when he dined at the club with his father and the Kennedys earlier in the week.

As Connor navigated through the country roads, Picasso kept sniffing the air and looking in the back. Naturally Connor had picked up one of Picasso’s favorite treats when he’d bought the ingredients for the salmon dish. He didn’t doubt that Picasso knew it was in there; the dog was uncannily smart.
 

Glancing back himself, Connor wondered about the food he’d been feeding his furry friend. The trip to the product lab at Healthy-Pet the previous morning had been enlightening. He’d never thought much about what ingredients went into Picasso’s food, but because of what he’d learned from Dana, he was thinking about it more now. He made a mental note to do some research on dog food ingredients and compare his current brand to Healthy-Pet brands, then to ask Dana her advice on what was best to feed the dog. Picasso was important to him and he wanted the dog to live as long and as healthy a life as possible.
 

Connor smiled when Picasso nudged his shoulder with his snout, as if he knew Connor was thinking about him.

“Gotta keep you fit and healthy." Connor’s statement was met with another bump. He glanced over to find Picasso staring at him intently.
 

“Ahh… I see. You want to get some play time in, don’t you?" Picasso answered by thumping his tail enthusiastically.

Connor felt his heart twinge with guilt. He
had
been neglecting the dog’s exercise needs. The city was not the ideal place to live with a Great Dane. Picasso needed a proper home with a yard he could run in and Connor planned to remedy that in the near future.
 

“Don’t worry, pal, I’ll find you a field to run in and soon you’ll have your own yard." Connor reached out to stroke the dog’s chest and Picasso rewarded him by licking his hand.

The sound of Connor’s cell phone brought both their attention to the center console. Connor switched it to speakere.

“Hello?”

“Connor? It’s Myra Davis from Davis Real Estate.”
 

“Hi Myra. What can I do for you?”

“Remember that house you were interested in, over on Palomino Drive?”

“Yes,” Connor said, feeling a twinge of excitement.

“I can show it to you in an hour if you have time to meet me there.” Myra’s voice raised a bit at the end, almost a question.

Connor checked his watch. “Sure, I just have to put some groceries away and drop off the dog, but I think I can make it.”

“Great. Oh, and one other piece of good news. The house is empty and they are willing to rent it, so if you should decide to buy it, you could potentially move in right away and just rent until the closing goes through.”