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indulged in under the
previous management is what got them in so much trouble.”
    “I’m not asking for any more money,” she said, keeping her
voice low so everyone in this fishbowl wouldn’t hear her. “I just need a few
months to sort things out. If you could give us a little extra time, extend the
loan…”
    Now he was shaking his head sadly. “I’m afraid I can’t. I’d
like to, but I can’t. As I said in the letter, Cascade Mutual has a strict
ninety-day policy on past-due loans. We’ve already extended yours until the end
of next month.”
    “I recognize that,” she said, and trotted out her most charming
smile, “but surely you can make an exception for extreme circumstances. All we
need is another six months while we restructure the company.”
    “I’m sorry,” he said earnestly. “I really am. I wish I could
extend the deadline but my hands are tied. You’re going to have to come up with
that money before the end of February.”
    “That would take a miracle,” she protested.
    He heaved those big boulders that passed for shoulders in a
helpless shrug. “We’ve got several churches in town. I think if I were you I’d
have them start praying.”
    She narrowed her eyes at him. “You know, you have a sick sense
of humor.”
    “I wasn’t kidding,” he said. “I’m sorry. I wish I could help
you further but I’ve got my orders.”
    What was this, the military? “You’re a bank manager,” she said
between gritted teeth. “You could do some managing and find a way to work with
me.”
    He shook his head. “Don’t think I haven’t been trying. I’m
aware of what your company means to the community and I appreciate your
situation.”
    “I’ll just bet,” she growled. Oh, very
charming, Samantha.
    Well, who cared? Her ship had already gone down and she was now
bobbing in the icy waters of despair. And she’d given him treats to eat while he
watched her turn blue. All her business training, all her sister’s advice to be
charming, fled before her rage. She stood and plucked the basket from his
lap.
    He blinked in shock. “What—”
    “There’s no use wasting fine chocolate on those who don’t value
it enough to want to save it from extinction.” And with her peace offering
clutched to her chest, she turned and marched out of the bank.
    * * *
    The gaze of every bank employee was on Blake Preston,
making him feel like a cockroach under a magnifying glass. Arnie Amundsen had
left him here, an invader in a hostile land.
    Of course, no one was overtly hostile. They were all too glad
to have jobs for that. But he could sense his unpopularity from the polite yet
lukewarm reception he’d been given, from the looks, sometimes thoughtful (What the hell are you doing here?), sometimes
resentful (Who asked you to come back and meddle in our
business?). He was there to get them out of the disaster their
beloved Arnie had created. And if he hadn’t come to meddle in their business,
they wouldn’t have a business, damn it! He knew it and they knew it. They just
resented it.
    And he resented the quickly snuffed
snicker he’d heard in one corner of the room, the way Lauren Belgado over at her
teller’s counter swallowed her serves-him-right smirk and went back to serving
Heinrich Blum, who was making a deposit for Lupine Floral. The way heads lowered
to hide smiles.
    He pressed his lips firmly together in the hope that it would,
somehow, stop the sizzle on his cheeks and neck. This would be all over town by
five o’clock. Of course, no one would know the details. All anyone would be able
to pass on was what they saw—him being an obvious jerk and upsetting their
reigning queen of chocolate. Great, just great. Welcome
back, Preston. He’d barely returned to his hometown, and he was
already campaigning for Public Enemy Number One.
    What was he supposed to do, anyway? He wasn’t king of the
world. He was a bank manager and if he didn’t manage this bank well, it would go
under. And all