The Sweetest Thing Read online

  “Noah looks at the world differently from me. A relationship between us would never have worked.” And the sooner she forgot about him, the easier it would be for everyone.

  Noah was sitting on a chair on Cassie’s front veranda, waiting for her to come home. He checked his watch, then went back to editing the report his board of directors was waiting to see. It was nearly six o’clock in the evening. If Cassie didn’t arrive home in the next thirty minutes, he would drive into town and find somewhere to stay for the night.

  Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to leave New York City as quickly as he wanted. The earliest flight out of LaGuardia had left at nine o’clock this morning. To miss the rush-hour traffic, Noah had left his apartment at the crack of dawn. As soon as he arrived at the airport, he’d found United’s airport lounge and completed more work than he would have if he were sitting in Manhattan.

  His phone rang and Noah looked at the caller display. His heart sank. “Hi, Granddad.”

  “What are you doing in Sapphire Bay?” Patrick Devlin barked. “You’re supposed to be getting ready for tomorrow’s board meeting.”

  “The board has a copy of my initial report, and they’ll receive my second report soon. Jack has organized a teleconference meeting so that I can be part of the decision-making.”

  “You don’t run a business by telephone. You should be here.”

  He knew his granddad was worried about the company, but Noah had anticipated as many issues as he could. “Jack will be at the meeting. I’ll be part of everything that happens. Being in Sapphire Bay won’t make any difference.”

  Before he’d left the office yesterday, Noah had checked his granddad’s schedule. He was sure he should have been overseas. “Aren’t you supposed to be in New Zealand?”

  “I had a change of plans.”

  “Is everything all right?”

  Patrick didn’t reply.

  With his heart pounding, Noah held the phone tight against his ear. “Did your doctor tell you not to go?”

  “Darn fool man thinks he’s got a hotline to God. I keep telling him nothing will happen to me, but he won’t listen.”

  “Why was he worried?”

  “My blood pressure is a little elevated. I told him a change of scenery would do wonders, but he didn’t agree. So here I am, stuck in New York City, twiddling my thumbs and looking for you.”

  Noah doubted his grandfather would be doing nothing, but he understood his frustration. Patrick enjoyed traveling. It didn’t matter whether he was going to an exclusive resort in Italy or a mud hut in the Amazon rainforest. His sense of adventure was as strong as it had ever been.

  “Who’s meeting with the suppliers in Auckland?”

  “The manager of our Asia-Pacific marketing operation. When will you be back in the office?”

  “I’ve booked a seat on the Sunday morning flight out of Polson. If my flight is on time, I’ll call in and see you on Sunday night. If it’s too late, I’ll meet you at work on Monday morning.”

  “Jack told me you’re visiting the jeweler who won our award. I thought you saw her two weeks ago.”

  “I did, but she didn’t want to come to the presentation.” His grandfather’s silence wasn’t reassuring. “Jack discovered more information about her life. It explains why she doesn’t want anything to do with our company.”

  “Don’t worry about her. There are plenty of other jewelers who would sign the contract.”

  “Her father is Tony Harper.”

  A heavy silence fell between them.

  Noah knew how much the trial had upset his grandfather. “Cassie creates some of the most exquisite jewelry I’ve ever seen. I want her collections to be the anchor products of the prestige store.”

  “Does she know we paid Emanuel’s legal fees?”

  “It’s not relevant.”

  “Maybe not to you, but she might not agree.”

  Noah sighed. He didn’t want to tell Cassie because he knew what she would say—and it would destroy everything he’d been working toward.

  “Have you told her about your plans?”

  “Some of them.”

  “And she isn’t interested.” The resignation in Patrick’s voice wasn’t lost on Noah.

  “No, but I’m trying something different.”

  “You haven’t got a lot of time. The board wants a concrete plan before they commit more money to rebrand the company. If you don’t get back to Manhattan soon, you might not have a job to come back to.”

  Noah’s jaw clenched. “The board can’t fire me. I own fifty-one percent of the company.”

  “Don’t put anything past them. No one is indispensable.” And with those final, ominous words, his grandfather ended the call.

  Noah wasn’t leaving the company he’d built without a fight. He wanted to sell products that no one would forget. And, if he had anything to do with it, Cassie’s jewelry would provide the catalyst he needed to attract a new wave of clients.

  Cassie drove back to her cottage with a smile on her face. For the first time since Noah had left, she was happy. Sam’s wedding gown was beautiful, and the necklace she’d made looked incredible.

  She still couldn’t believe Megan was pregnant. After Sam came out of the changing room, they’d toasted the baby-to-be with ginger ale, enjoying their time together before they had to go home.

  Megan and William’s baby would be loved beyond measure. Not only would it have two doting parents, but it would also have a very proud older sister. Nora would teach her new brother or sister all the things she thought were important—like how to draw and what to do in the princess castle at the library.

  Cassie turned into her driveway and sighed. It was wonderful spending time with her friends, but she had a lot of work to do. With Sam’s wedding only a little over a week away, she needed to make sure she used every minute productively. Sam’s sisters were arriving tomorrow. As well as helping with any last-minute details, Cassie had until Friday to finish three necklaces and a bracelet for different customers.

  At some stage, she would have to employ a part-time assistant. She couldn’t serve in her store as well as create jewelry. Her website orders were keeping her awake until after midnight, and she still had to complete all the invoicing and paperwork needed to run a business.

  It was okay working long hours for a few months, but it couldn’t continue.

  She slowed and stared at the white SUV parked in front of her house. No one she knew had that type of vehicle, and her next guests weren’t arriving at Acorn Cottage until after the weekend.

  When a familiar figure rose from the veranda, her heart pounded. Noah? What was he doing here?

  He slowly walked toward her.

  Cassie caught her breath. After not seeing him for nearly two weeks, she should have been immune to his handsome face and broad shoulders. Unfortunately, she wasn’t, and that worried her.

  This time, instead of a suit, he was wearing jeans and a ski jacket. He could have been anyone about to start their vacation, but his grim expression told her he wasn’t here to enjoy the scenery.

  She parked her SUV and stood beside the driver’s door.

  Noah was standing a few feet away, his brown eyes filled with concern. “I should have called, but I was worried you wouldn’t want to see me.”

  “Why have you come back?”

  “There’s something important I need to talk to you about.”

  She took a box of half-finished jewelry off the back seat. “If it’s about the properties Pastor John wants to buy, you should have called him. I don’t know anything about them.”

  “It’s not about the houses; it’s about you.”

  Cassie held the box close to her chest. “We don’t have anything to discuss.”

  “I shouldn’t have used the properties as a way of getting you to work with me. It was wrong.”

  She closed the back-passenger door and fought the urge to tell Noah it didn’t matter. “You could have called to apologize.
”

  “I wanted to say I was sorry in person.”

  She wasn’t sure she believed him. In her books, anyone who tried to manipulate another person once, would do it again. “I appreciate you coming all this way. Thanks for the apology but, if you’ll excuse me, I have at least four hours work ahead of me.”

  “I’m only staying in Sapphire Bay for two nights. While I’m here, I’d like to discuss something else with you. Would you have dinner with me tomorrow night? If you’ve already made plans, we could meet for coffee instead.”

  Cassie frowned. Her traitorous body was telling her to take pity on the gorgeous man standing in front of her. “I’m busy tomorrow. I want to be in my studio by eight-thirty and I won’t be home until late. In the evening, I’m doing lots of wedding things with Sam and her sisters.”

  “What if I saw you before work? I could bring breakfast with me.”

  Cassie didn’t like the way her heart softened at the hopeful expression on his face. Noah Devlin had stooped to bribery and corruption to make her change her mind about working with his company. She didn’t owe him anything, least of all her time.

  “If breakfast won’t work, I could bring you lunch.”

  She stepped onto her veranda. “I don’t have a lunch break.” Noah must have been working while he was waiting for her. His laptop and a brown folder were sitting beside one of the wooden chairs. “How long have you been waiting?”

  “About an hour.”

  Cassie frowned. Most people wouldn’t have stayed that long. Whatever was on his mind must be important. She placed the box of jewelry on another chair and picked up his laptop. “I don’t know what you want to talk…” She reached for the folder. Written on the outside, in bold letters, was her name. “What’s this?”

  Noah’s gaze dropped to her hands.

  An uncomfortable silence stretched between them.

  “I asked Jack to do a background check on you. The folder contains everything he found.”

  Cassie started to speak, but the words stuck in her throat. She returned the laptop and folder to the chair. “You had me investigated?”

  Noah crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Before I came to Sapphire Bay, we ran a background search on C.J. Davis. All we found was information about the jewelry you’d made in the last twelve months. When you told me your legal name, I asked Jack to find out more about you.”

  “You shouldn’t have done that.” Cassie’s voice shook with anger. “What’s happened in my life is no one’s business except mine.”

  “Before Wilson Enterprises presented you with the award, I wanted to know everything about you.”

  “Why?”

  “I manage a high-profile company. Any surprises can have an impact on my company’s performance.”

  Cassie glanced at the folder. “What did Jack discover?”

  Noah ran his hand around the back of his neck. “You seemed to have a normal, happy childhood in Los Angeles. It wasn’t until your dad was accused of copying another jeweler’s designs that your life changed. Tony lost his job and the cost of going to trial made him bankrupt. After the trial, you moved to San Francisco with your parents.”

  Cassie waited for what came next.

  “A few months later, your mom died.” Noah paused. “I’m sorry, Cassie. It must have been a difficult time.”

  Her eyes filled with tears, but she didn’t say anything.

  Noah picked up the folder. “You moved to Sapphire Bay about two years ago and opened your jewelry store six months later. A few months ago, you moved into a new store in Main Street and haven’t looked back.”

  Relief swept through Cassie, leaving her legs weak and shaky. Noah’s brother hadn’t discovered her family was homeless, that they’d lived in shelters until they had enough money to pay rent.

  Even though they’d had to rely on the kindness of strangers to survive, her mom didn’t have a bad word to say about anybody. She’d continued her chemotherapy regime and took large handfuls of drugs each day. When she died, Cassie and her dad’s world had fallen apart.

  Noah handed her the folder. “You can keep this.”

  “I don’t want it. I never…” Cassie’s voice broke. She wouldn’t cry, not when she had so much to lose.

  Taking a deep breath, she thought carefully about what she wanted to say. “I never wanted to go to the award ceremony. I gave your secretary all the information she requested.”

  “I want you to be there.”

  “I can’t go. I can’t risk someone discovering who I am.” She took another deep breath. “If I stay away, there’s less chance anyone will link C.J. Davis with Cassie Harper.”

  “It doesn’t matter how low the risk might be,” Noah said softly. “I need to make sure any individual or company who supplies products to my customers is beyond reproach.”

  A wave of nausea rose in Cassie’s throat. “You think I’m less worthy because of what happened to my father?”

  Noah’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t think any less of you, but my customers might. The artist who said his designs were copied never stopped pleading his case to the media.”

  Cassie picked up her box. “I’m not accepting your award, so you won’t have to worry about what your customers think. Goodbye, Noah.” Holding her head high, she walked toward the front door, determined not to cry until she was safely inside.

  “Cassie, wait.” Noah touched her shoulder.

  She flinched. Embarrassment and fear brought her to a standstill. She didn’t want anyone to know what her family had gone through, especially Noah.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t come here to make you cry. I want to talk about how we can work together to fix your dad’s reputation.”

  She blew her nose and turned around. “Nothing can change what happened. Dad is happy. Whatever you want to do could make everything worse.”

  “Will you at least listen to what I have to say? If you don’t think it’s a good idea, I won’t do anything.”

  Cassie studied the frown on Noah’s face. “How do I know I can trust you?”

  “You don’t,” he said sadly. “But I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.”

  Even as she opened the front door, Cassie didn’t know if she was doing the right thing. “You’d better come inside and tell me what you have in mind.”

  Noah’s plan would have to be foolproof. Her dad had been persecuted by the media once, and she wouldn’t let it happen again.

  Chapter 9

  Noah sat on the opposite side of the table from Cassie. She was breathtakingly beautiful, but the dark rings under her eyes worried him. She’d told him she was working long hours. What she didn’t need to tell him was that it was taking a toll on her health.

  His unexpected arrival wasn’t helping, either. He felt terrible about her seeing the folder. Not because of what was inside, but because of the way she’d found out about the report. In his world, peeling back the layers of a person’s life was part of what made his company a success. It reduced the risk of failure and gave Noah confidence that their future employee could provide what they said they would.

  It took a particular set of skills to navigate through the information most people didn’t know existed about them. And there was no one he trusted more to do the job than his brother.

  Cassie lifted a cup of coffee to her mouth and took a sip. “Why do you want to help my father?”

  Noah couldn’t afford to tell her the truth. She would think less of him and, at the moment, he needed her on his side. “Your dad is a talented jeweler. He deserves a break, and I’m in a position to offer him one.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My brother is worried about my company’s reputation if anyone realizes you’re Tony Harper’s daughter. I want to stop any false stories before they hit the media. We’ll make sure our clients have the facts, not some half-baked lies they read in a magazine or newspaper.”

  He opened his laptop and showed Cassie the draft website his PR
team was designing. “Wilson Enterprises are in the process of reinventing our online presence. That means new products, new niche markets, and a more diverse client base. I believe your father has the experience and skills to deliver high-quality products to our customers. His designs are completely different from yours, but they have the same timeless elegance our customers expect. None of our competitors have a father-daughter jewelry design team creating unique collections.”

  “You want my dad to work with me?”

  “It will make it easier for your father and create a point of difference for our clients.” Noah clicked on a tab at the top of the website. “We’ll showcase the work Tony has already created and promote the collections he’s designing with you. No one will refer to the trial again. If they do, my PR team will counter their information with press releases of our own.”

  Noah leaned forward. If there was only one thing he wanted Cassie to remember tonight, it was his next words. “By the time my PR team has finished, your father’s name will be on the lips of some of the biggest influencers on social media. Everyone will know Tony and Cassie Harper. And, eventually, they’ll all want jewelry from your collections.”

  Cassie studied the page on the website. “Why are you doing this?”

  Noah could have told her at least half a dozen reasons why he wanted Cassie and her father working for him. But there was only one that mattered. “Because I like you. I’ve seen how much you care about Sapphire Bay and the people who live here. I want to help you to build your business and, at the same time, relaunch mine.”

  “I’ve already told you how I feel about working with you.”

  “Do you think your dad wants to be part of Wilson Enterprises?”

  “Dad won’t risk his reputation again. He’s happy in San Francisco.”

  “I could visit him and explain what I’d like to do.”

  Cassie leaned her elbows on the table and rubbed her temples. “I don’t think you realize how hard it was when Dad was accused of stealing someone else’s designs.”