Nordic Heroes: In the Market and a Wholesale Arrangement by Day Leclaire

confusion. “You don’t?”
    He shook his head, a small smile of amusement playing about his broad mouth. “Not at all. We’re offering you a very generous price for a store that will cease to exist within a year or two.”
    She couldn’t believe it. “You’re going to buy Cornucopia to close it?”
    “If we bought your store, it would become another Thorsen market. But if you refuse to sell, we’ll open markets all around you, and before long Cornucopia will be cut down to nothing.”
    “Why?” She could barely get the word around the frozen muscles of her jaw.
    He inclined his head. “A fair question. Right now your store has a lock on the north end. We need to smash that lock, one way or another.” His smile didn’t reach the wintry blue of his eyes. “Take the money, Ms. Roberts. I’d rather be kind than cruel. But make no mistake, we intend to break your hold no matter what.”
    He’d repeated Andrea’s words, almost verbatim. It would seem her friend knew this man all too well. Jordan turned her head, her gaze settling almost instinctively on Rainer. He and the kids had progressed to a rough-and-tumble game of football. Part of her longed to leap to her feet and scream for him.
    Once again, she realized these were serious men. They meant business. This wasn’t a game to them.
    As though sensing her agitation, Rainer rose from beneath the pile of youthful bodies covering him and stared across at her. He stooped down and said something to the children, then loped toward her. She noticed again his easy grace, admiring despite herself, his rugged build. His hair was damp with sweat, his chest rising and falling with his quickened breath. He stepped onto the patio and she smelled the sweet scent of grass clinging to him.
    He glanced at her for a brief moment, a question in his gaze, before turning to greet Thor. “I didn’t see you arrive. Been here long?” He reached for his glass of tea, draining the icy beverage in one swallow.
    “Long enough.”
    Rainer returned the glass to the table and lowered himself onto the edge of Jordan’s lounger closest to his brother. For an insane moment, she had the impression he sat there to protect her, putting himself between her and danger.
    “I wanted to be here when you met Jordan.” Beneath his surface congeniality, Rainer’s voice held anger. At his brother?
    Thor shrugged. “You didn’t miss much. I gave Jordan certain truths. Perhaps any further discussions should be with her uncle, since he owns Cornucopia.”
    “Back off, big brother.” Real menace rippled through Rainer’s voice. “You’re overstepping your boundaries.”
    Suddenly Jordan was sick of the whole situation. She’d had it with these Thorsen men and their not-so-subtle threats and their bickering and their . . . kisses? Was she tired of dealing with those, too? She’d have to be. She could live without Rainer’s magic touch. Sure, it felt wonderful, incredible even. Sure, she felt as if she’d been to heaven and back, and every nerve in her body shrieked for more. But she could live without heaven, couldn’t she?
    “I’d like to leave,” she announced, jumping to her feet. If she hung around heaven too long, she might be tempted to stay.
    After one swift, searching look, Rainer stood, not attempting to dissuade her. He spoke privately with Thor for a minute, and then took her arm and led her through the house. “We’ll say goodbye to my mother before we leave.”
    “Of course.” She even managed to sound sincere when she made her excuses. She could handle this, she decided miserably. Living without heaven would be a snap.
    Sure it would.
    Rainer waited until they were in the car before starting his questions. “What did he say to you? Why are you running scared?”
    “I’m not scared!” She turned her head away. “And Thor didn’t say anything you haven’t. At least, not much more.”
    “What else, Jordan?”
    Not Valkyrie anymore, she noticed, with an