Nina Singh - Miss Prim And The Maverick Millionaire

“I’m doing what I can to help her.”

Cabe cleared his throat. The look he gave her was so understanding, so gentle that it made her breath catch. “It’s quite admirable that you’re trying to help your mother.”

Oh, heavens. What could she say to that? She didn’t have a choice but to help her mother. Otherwise, she and her brother would be left to deal with the cleanup.

“Thanks.”

Several moments passed in awkward silence. So awkward that she wanted to give the waitress a hug when she interrupted to fill their glasses.

Jenna watched her leave before hesitantly turning her gaze back to Cabe. He gave her an unreadable look. Curiosity? Admiration?

She didn’t and couldn’t care. What did it matter what Cabe Jordan thought of her or her broken family? In a few days, he’d be gone from Boston and hopefully he wouldn’t return for another three to four years. He would just go back to being nothing more than an electronic signature at the bottom of her office emails.

But for now, she still had to get through this godforsaken lunch with him sitting right across from her.

He’d never understand, Jenna thought as she pretended to eat. Even under the best of circumstances, she’d never be in league with people like Cabe or even his parents, who had always been so sweet to her. Cabe had probably never had to hide from a drunken tirade or had to clean up after a parent who’d barreled in at three in the morning then promptly gotten sick all over the carpet.

She and Cabe Jordan may have grown up in the same town, but they were from two different worlds.

CHAPTER TWO

CABE PUSHED HIS plate away with half his sandwich still untouched. He’d lost his appetite. Clearly, Jenna had none, either, since she did nothing more than move lettuce around her plate.

He couldn’t help but wonder. Maybe Jenna indeed did have some involvement in the jewelry theft. Was her mother in that much trouble that Jenna may have needed a large supply of cash to help her? Cabe didn’t want to believe the worst, but his manager of security had been adamant that Jenna may indeed know something.

Damn. That would change things. Though wrong and criminal, if Jenna was guilty, she hadn’t done it for herself but for her mother. She’d practically just admitted that she would do whatever she could to help her parent.

He’d decided back at the office that he wouldn’t ask her about it there. Not in front of her friends and colleagues. So he’d taken her to lunch instead.

Now he just wanted to know the truth. He wanted to tell her he could help. That in turn she could get her mother some help.

After all, he and Jenna Townsend were not that different under the surface. His life could have easily turned out as difficult as hers if not for the random hand of fate all those years ago. Pure luck so often determined the entirety of one’s life. He knew how lucky he’d been.

“Listen, Jenna,” he began, not sure exactly where to start. Business school didn’t prepare you for every scenario. “About my visit to Boston. There’s something I came here specifically to see you about.”

“Yes?” Her question was barely a whisper.

“I want you to know that I can be a friend as well as your corporate CEO.”

Was she trembling? “You can be straight with me,” he added. “I hope you realize that.”

She gave her head a quick shake. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“You really don’t have anything you might want to talk about? Regarding the store, perhaps?”

“No. Not really.” She swallowed. “Have I done something wrong?”

Cabe leaned back in his chair. If she did know anything, then she had the acting skills of a Hollywood-caliber actress. “Huh. You really have no idea what I might be talking about?”

“Not a clue.”

Cabe tried to regroup. Damn. This conversation was becoming way too messy. “Allow me to explain. A routine inventory check last week by security resulted in a troubling discovery.”

She sucked her bottom lip, and heaven help him, he lost his focus for a split second. “Why wasn’t I made aware of this? As the regional manager of that store?”

“It’s our policy to keep such matters quiet until a thorough investigation.”

She gave her head a quick shake. “Investigation? What exactly was this troubling discovery?”

“One of the more valuable pieces seems to be missing. A bracelet.”

Cabe watched as understanding dawned. Jenna sucked in a breath and grew as pale as the white linen tablecloth. “Oh, my God. You think I took it.”

Whoa. He hadn’t expected her to go there quite so soon. “Jenna, wait just a second—”

Her cheeks suddenly grew cherry red. “That’s why you came down here yourself. You think I stole from my own store. You think I stole from you!”

It came so fast he didn’t have time to react. Before he knew it, he wore the rest of his sandwich on his lap and his shirt was drenched in iced tea.

As he watched her storm away, Cabe came to three distinct conclusions. One, Jenna Townsend moved as fast as a prizefighter ducking a punch. Second, judging by her confusion and the vehemence of her reaction, she was most definitely innocent.

And third, if he didn’t get to the bottom of it all real soon, he was likely to lose a damn talented regional manager.

* * *

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. She would never learn.

Jenna bypassed the elevator and ran up the three flights of stairs to get to the floor that housed her office. She didn’t want to risk running into anyone. How would she explain the tears?

To think, for a while there she’d believed Cabe Jordan might actually be in town to promote her! What a laugh. Instead, he’d accused her of stealing from him.

People like her weren’t promoted to corporate-level positions. They were suspected of thievery. They were the first ones investigated when valuable jewelry went missing.

People like her dumped food on others’ laps.

She tried to take a deep breath. She probably shouldn’t have done that. It was reckless and impulsive. Rather than calmly and reasonably defending herself, she’d let her emotions take over. She’d succumbed to the urge to lash out.

Just as her mother would have done.

And she was her mother’s daughter. The apple and the tree and all that. Why did she ever think she could escape that simple truth? The rest of the world wouldn’t ever let her forget that fact.

It didn’t matter how hard she worked, or how many hours she put in. All the years of studying and working her butt off didn’t mean a thing to people like Cabe Jordan. The only thing they saw when they looked at her was where she’d come from.

She’d been fooling herself.

Well, if Cabe hadn’t intended to fire her right there on the spot, there was no doubt he would now. She’d dumped his lunch in his lap! Never mind that she’d never actually stolen anything. She wouldn’t even get a chance to defend her innocence now.

She no doubt should have handled it better. But she’d been barely functioning given what little sleep she’d gotten and the stress of being prepared for Cabe’s visit.

How could he have even suggested such a thing?

She didn’t realize she’d asked the question out loud until a voice across the room responded.

“Trust me, it wasn’t easy.”

Jenna’s head snapped up. Cabe stood in her office doorway, pants stained and shirt wet. She resisted the urge to cover her mouth in horror.

She pulled her planner out of the desk drawer. “I was just leaving.”

“Could you recommend a good dry cleaner first?”

He had the nerve to joke at her predicament? God help her, if the coffee tray were still here she might have very well dumped more on him.