“Ethan,” Gabriel said, splintering his thoughts, “we have to talk.”
“Looks like more of a meeting than a conversation,” Ethan observed. He looked from his younger brother to Sadie, to Jeff Garrett, one of their top chocolate chefs. A cold, suspicious feeling snaked along Ethan’s spine and colored his tone when he demanded, “What’s this about, Gabe?”
“Jeff and I have something we want you to try.” Gabe motioned to the chef, who stepped up and set three small candy boxes on Ethan’s desk.
His temper bubbled, but Ethan kept it tamped down. Gabe had done it. Gone behind his back and made up samples of the candies he wanted to incorporate into the company’s product line.
Standing up behind his desk, Ethan looked at Sadie. “Did you know about this?”
“Nope,” she said, and shot Gabe a hard look.
“Don’t give Sadie a bad time. She didn’t know a thing,” Gabe said, and faced off against Ethan. Bracing his legs wide apart as if readying for a fight, he folded his arms across his chest and said, “This was my idea. Well, mine and Pam’s.”
He turned to hold out one hand toward a woman hovering near the doorway. “Come on in, honey. It’s game time.”
Ethan watched her walk to his brother and he frowned slightly. “Who’s this?”
“Pam Cassini,” Gabe said. “She’s with me.”
Amazing. He’d brought his new girlfriend in on this? Ethan studied the woman. She looked familiar somehow, but he couldn’t put his finger on why. Frowning, Ethan set that niggling worry aside a second later because damned if he didn’t have bigger issues at the moment.
Sadie walked up and stood beside him. Thankful for the support, he gave her a quick nod, then looked back to his brother.
Gabe was standing in a slash of sunlight pouring through the tinted windows at Ethan’s back. He stood like a man waiting to hear a sentence pronounced. Well, he wouldn’t have to wait long. “What the hell have you done?”
Nine
Gabe lifted his chin and met Ethan glare for glare. “I rented a professional kitchen and Jeff made up some samples of a few of the flavors I was talking to you about.”
Ethan’s gaze shifted to Jeff, who looked a lot more worried than Gabe did. As he should. “You know I could fire you for this,” he said tightly.
Jeff swallowed hard. “Yes, sir, I know. But I agree with Gabe. It’s time to push outside the box.”
Astounded, feeling cornered, Ethan lifted his eyebrows. “In a box? You think Heart Chocolates is boring? Is that it?”
“No, he didn’t say that,” Gabe interrupted. “And don’t come down on him, either, Ethan. He can’t fight back.”
“But you can,” Ethan said, and his voice was so controlled, so quiet, Gabe should have been wary. Instead, his brother looked defiant, rebellious. Situation normal as far as Gabe’s attitude went.
Sadie caught Ethan’s reaction, though, and silently slid her hand into his and gave it a squeeze. With that single touch, she dialed down his temper, his frustration, and helped him focus.
“What exactly did you do?” Ethan asked, and thought he was remaining remarkably calm, all things considered.
“I told you.”
“Yes. But how did you make up the chocolate?” Ethan studied his brother. “For these ‘samples’ to be a true representation of Heart, you’d have to have access to the recipe.”
The minute the words left his mouth, Ethan saw the truth on his brother’s features. And his calm dissolved into a pit of white-hot fury. “You took the recipe?”
“I’m a Hart, too, Ethan,” Gabriel argued, meeting fire with fire. “Yes, I took our recipe. I made a copy of the one in your safe.”
Ethan actually saw red. That recipe never left the safe. It had been copied and protected and kept in a separate place, but the original... “How did you—”
Sadie tugged on his hand and he looked down at her. “I ran into Pam and Gabe here in your office the night Emma arrived. I didn’t mention it because I didn’t think anything of it.”
Could his head actually explode? Ethan stared into Sadie’s big blue eyes and read a plea for patience. She was asking a lot. But for her, he’d try. He took a long, deep breath, glared at his brother and demanded, “What did you do with the original?”