Lucien(46)
“Hmm?” he answered from inside the bathroom. Water sloshed as he cleaned the razor in the sink. The only good thing about Luc shaving in the morning was that the sexy, five o’clock shadow would be back by four this afternoon.
Elise smiled to herself, wondering if tonight could possibly be better than last night or this morning. “Do we have time to pick up something to eat on the way?”
Water gushed into the sink then stopped and he appeared in the doorway, patting his face with the towel hanging around his neck. “What place did you have in mind?”
“There’s a diner down the street. Thelma’s sister owns it. She says they have the best breakfast sandwiches.” Elise paused, frowning thoughtfully. “Maybe we should pick one up for Ben, too. He’s nearly as cranky as you when you’re hungry.”
Luc tossed the towel back on the counter in the bathroom and went for his shirt. “I doubt food will put Ben in a good mood this morning.”
“Why?” Elise picked up the towel and leaned against the door.
“Because the file you found for us yesterday has disappeared.”
“The one that was stuck in the drawer?”
He grimaced, draping his tie around his neck. “That’s the one.”
“Did Ben look in the pockets of his briefcase? He’s always stuffing things in there.”
“That’s probably the first place he looked.” Luc tucked in his shirt then quickly and efficiently knotted his tie. “If we don’t find it, then it’ll be another long night. I’m not looking forward to searching Accounting’s hard drives.” He scowled at the crooked tie and started to undo it.
Elise dropped the towel in the dirty clothes hamper and went to him. She pushed aside his hands and straightened the tie for him. “You won’t have to. The missing file was a copy.”
Luc froze. “What?”
Elise smiled at the tie and smoothed it down. “There. Much better.” She looked up. “By the time I got it out of the filing cabinet it was crinkly, so I made two copies. I gave you one and put the other in a more logical place.”
“She made a copy.” Luc laughed and crushed her to him in a quick hug. “Come on. Let’s go get you some food and make Ben’s day.”
Elise sailed through the door with the copy of the spreadsheet. “Here you go.” She handed it to Luc.
“You are an angel,” he said.
“Hmm,” Elise purred. “Yes, I am. Will there be anything else, sir?”
Luc glanced at the numbers and grinned. “No. This will keep me occupied for the rest of the day.”
“In that case, I shall be in the supply room for the next couple of hours.” Her eyes twinkled in excitement. “I’m on the hunt for a fresh box of pens to chew on.”
“It’ll take you hours to find a box of pens?”
“You obviously haven’t seen the supply room. Compared to this place, Andersen Corporation was a dream.” She sighed. “If you and Ben are gonna buy this place then someone will have to organize the little stuff. So that’s where I’ll be, locked in the store room.”
“Alone?”
“Very alone.” A speculative gleam lightened her blue eyes. “Unless you’d care to join me.”
Luc rose and draped an arm around her shoulders, guiding her towards the door. “As much as I’d love to, Ben will hunt me down for these numbers.”
“Are they very important?”
“They are, but I haven’t figured out exactly why yet.” He leaned down close to whisper, “While you’re in the supply room, can you do a quick inventory?”
“It’ll take more than one day,” she warned.
“It’d take anyone else a week and I wouldn’t ask, but Ben wants to hurry this along so he can buy this place and turn it into a money machine.”
Elise looked up at him. “You don’t mean money pit?”
“I know it looks like it, but the computer geeks who keep gawking at you have come up with a micro-chip Ben swears will make him a gazillionaire.” Luc’s smile was wry and fleeting. “That’s what you get when you let a bunch of engineers work without supervision. Ideas which defy conventional wisdom on how a computer should be built. Your admirer, Calhoun, produced a prototype on Monday which floored Ben and had him breaking out the checkbook. Again. It took me an hour to talk him into waiting.”
She frowned. “So why haven’t you let him stroke a check yet?”