Samara was ready for a battle. After spending the evening studying everything she could, she’d hardly slept all night as her mind played over different scenarios. Maybe the others would be totally behind her. Or maybe they’d laugh in her face and tell her to go back to San Francisco.

It was up to her to show them she was mature, capable and knowledgeable. So she dressed in the black suit she’d brought as a potential funeral outfit and pulled her hair back into a neat, low ponytail.

When she arrived at Cedar Mill headquarters, she first called Jennifer in San Francisco to go over some things, then logged into her own email, took care of some business issues, delegated some others. Then she dove into more reading, trying to get up to speed on as many issues as she could so she’d be prepared for that meeting. When her neck started to ache and her attention wavered, she picked up the phone and made a couple more phone calls to Matagalpa, but again, she had no luck reaching Javier.

Reviewing her father’s email inbox again, she decided she could follow up with Duane Scanlon, the CEO of Alpha Air, about the meeting they’d had just before Parker had left for Matagalpa. Here at least she had a file to refer to, with a detailed proposal done up in writing for a partnership between Cedar Mill and Alpha Air for the airline to serve only Cedar Mill coffees on all its flights.

She picked up the phone and called Duane Scanlon. When she got through to him and introduced herself, she explained the reason for her call.

“Well, that’s very nice of you to follow up,” Duane said. “But I just got a voice mail from Travis Murray.”

“Oh.” Samara scowled. “I’m so sorry. He didn’t tell me he was going to call you.”

“Who’s running the show there now?” he asked, although his tone was mild. “You two need to get your act together.”

Shit. She’d made them look like idiots. She closed her eyes briefly.

“Yes, we’re meeting on that this afternoon,” she replied. She rubbed between her eyes.

“Do I need to return his call?”

“No. I’ll let Travis know we spoke. I...we just wanted follow up on the meeting you had with my father.”

They discussed the deal, but Scanlon’s tone of voice made a feeling of dread rise inside her, and sure enough, he said, “But with Parker out of the picture, the deal may not be as attractive to us.”

She froze, the telephone glued to her ear. “Oh. Why is that?”

“Parker and I have known each other a lot of years. When he came to us with this idea, I was somewhat reluctant. It’s no secret that Cedar Mill is overextended these days and looking for new business. So I wasn’t sure if I wanted to jump into an arrangement with a struggling company.”

“Struggling company!” Samara couldn’t hold back her startled exclamation. “Cedar Mill is not struggling!”

“That’s not what I hear. In any case, it was Parker who persuaded me to consider the deal, but with him gone, I’m even more skeptical of Cedar Mill’s ability to recover from this downturn. I’m not saying it’s out of the question forever. I’m willing to have another look at the offer down the road. But right now doesn’t seem like a good time.”

She hung up from the call in a daze, her ears buzzing, mind whirling. What the hell was that about? She sat at the desk and stared into space for a few moments while she tried to collect her scattered thoughts.

Struggling? Why would they think that? Recover? Recover from what?

She surged to her feet, filled with determination, and strode out of the office. “Paulette, where’s Travis?” she barked.

Paulette jerked her head around. “Oh. Samara. I didn’t even know you were in there.”

“I got here early. I need to talk to Travis. Right now.”

Paulette blinked. “He’s in his office. Next door.”

Samara spun on a stiletto heel and walked out, into the hall and into Travis’s office. The door sat open so she didn’t knock, but she let the door fly behind her with a resounding bang.

Travis’s head snapped up from his computer. “Samara. What the hell?”

She stalked across the room and flattened her palms on his desk, leaning forward. “I just talked to Duane Scanlon.”

“Oh.” He frowned. “Why?”

“I was following up on his meeting with my father a couple of weeks ago.”

“I just called him this morning.” He frowned. “I left him a voice mail, but I hadn’t heard back yet.”

“Well, I got through to him. And I’m pissed off at what I heard.”

His dark gold eyebrows jerked together. “What did he say?”

“Basically they’re backing away from the deal. Because Cedar Mill is struggling. And without Dad here, they’re not sure we can recover.” She pushed her face closer to his. “Recover from what, Travis?”

Her green-hazel eyes flashed, and her cheeks flushed pink. Bent over his desk like that, he could see down the opening of her blouse where her breasts curved sweetly together. Travis dragged his eyes away from her cleavage and back to her face, stormy and gorgeous.

“We’re not struggling,” he replied.

“Then what’s he talking about?”

Travis sighed. This was why he didn’t want Samara there snooping through things she didn’t need to know. “Have a seat.” He waved a hand at a chair.

Samara straightened, staring at him, then took a seat. She crossed her legs, and once again, he was distracted by her bare calves, elegant and sexy as they brushed together. She gripped the armrest of the chair with one hand.

What was he supposed to tell her? She was a regional manager from San Francisco, but she also owned forty percent of the company now, and she had a right to know.

Shit.

“What’s going on?” she demanded.

“Let me put together some financial information for you to review,” he said slowly.

“Okay, I can do that, but I want to know now.”

“In a nutshell, Cedar Mill has been expanding too quickly over the last number of years. Back about ten years ago, when I started here, Parker was very ambitious and wanted to grow the company quickly.”

“He did.”

“Yes. But he thought it could continue indefinitely. Recently, as I’m sure you’re aware, the economy has not been good.”

“Well, duh.” Her eyes fastened on him.

“Parker thought we were immune from downturns in the economy. But our fundamental business changed also, leaving us vulnerable. We’ve lost market share, and our sales have declined.”

Her eyes widened, and her lips parted. “How bad is it?”

“It’s not a disaster.” Travis picked up a pen and turned it over in his fingers. “I believe we can turn things around. We may have to make some tough decisions.”

“Like what?”

“Closing stores. Laying off staff. Cutting back on new products. Reducing our plans to open new stores.”

She rolled her lips inward and stared at him. “Shit.”

Travis nodded glumly.

“Why did I not know this?” Her eyes snapped again.

“You didn’t need to know it,” he replied evenly. “You’re a regional manager.”

“But this...this is my business.”

“It is now. That’s why I’m telling you. Now you have a right to know.”

“Damn right I do! Jesus, Travis. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this.”

“I’m telling you.” He reached deep for patience.

“But you weren’t going to! You were going to let me go into that meeting this afternoon not even knowing the problems we’re facing. How the hell would I convince them I’m the one to lead us out of this mess when I didn’t even know about it?”

“Samara.” He sighed. “That’s been my point all along. How can you lead us out of it when you didn’t even know about it?”

“That is not fair!” She jumped to her feet. “I can get up to speed on what I need to know! Yes, I need some time, but it’s not fair to say I can’t do it without even giving me that chance.”

“These are not going to be easy decisions,” Travis said slowly. “And...since we’re being open here, there are other problems as well.”