11. Margo

11

MARGO

M argo anxiously watched the papers for an entire week before she let herself believe that they'd gotten away scot-free.

There was no news about a break in at Wilson Kinetics, and no report of one of their high-profile Chief Operating Officers being found knocked out with a popcorn machine broken over his head. There was no mention of thieves being caught on tape or evidence of any misdemeanors.

No one came to Harriet's bakery with an arrest warrant, and no investigators stopped by with innocent questions like ‘Where were you at midnight on December 28th?'

Eva was safe.

Safe from persecution, at least. Antonio seemed satisfied with the pictures that Eva had sent him. At least, he didn't seem to be pressing her about her hanging debt, or talking her into further industrial espionage.

But Eva wasn't safe to Margo now.

Margo's crush had been buried so deep that she barely recognized it herself, and now it was out in the unflattering light. Eva was out of Margo's league. She was someone else's mate. And yet Margo couldn't stop wanting her.

Margo prowled the bakery more diligently than ever, and probably scared off more sales than she secured. She caught herself scowling for no reason, only realizing what she was doing when someone burst into tears or started stammering apologies.

She didn't see much of Eva because she avoided Harriet's second floor office unless she was directly summoned for some reason.

When they met, briefly, in the hall, or in the kitchen after hours, their conversation was badly stilted and they hung to opposite sides of the stainless steel counters even when it was obviously what they were doing. They escaped every encounter as quickly as possible.

Margo had ruined everything.

One impulsive, unwelcome kiss, and she'd shattered their fragile friendship.

She couldn't stop thinking about what Eva had felt like in her arms, the soft, warmth of her, and the flutter of her lips as they kissed. She convinced herself that Eva hadn't really kissed her back. It was just a reflex, a moment so keen in Margo's memory that she'd exaggerated what really happened.

Because she saw how Eva looked down at Bruno when he was asleep. And she was his mate .

Two kisses in one night, both of them just a tease at what might have been, and all of her opportunities overwhelmed and washed away when they met each other .

Margo was thrilled for them at the same time that she despaired for herself, because how could she be so selfish as to deny them that shred of happiness she briefly thought might have been her own ?

But Margo couldn't have either of them, there was no point in pining, and if she wanted to remove the horrible complication that Eva had become, there was one thing she could do. If Eva wasn't going to willingly follow up on her mate, Margo wasn't going to wait for the factory head to send out a glass slipper or an invitation to a ball to find his escaped princess.

"You want to set Eva up with who? " Harriet had mellowed considerably since she met Tobias and agreed to marry him, but she still had her sharp wit and suspicious mind. "Why?"

"They met unexpectedly while you were away and…ah…hit it off," Margo said between clenched teeth. "I think they'd make a cute couple."

"I never took you for a matchmaker," Harriet said, twisting the ring on her finger. "But don't think that I didn't notice when you let Tobias up to my office that first time."

The way Harriet said his name was soft and lingering. She seemed to hear herself, stopped playing with her rough diamond, and frowned at Margo. "You don't think she'll get hurt, do you?"

Even the distant possibility of it gave Margo a pang of worry and regret. "He wouldn't dare," she snarled. She forced herself to gentle her voice. "I think they'll be great together," she said. "She's…his mate."

Harriet's whole face lit up. "Really? Oh, that's wonderful!" She seemed to hear herself. "What is wrong with me?" She shook her head in disgust. "So, why do I need to set them up if that's the case? Why aren't they off nesting already? These things usually work themselves out without interference."

"They met in…slightly weird circumstances." He was unconscious, and she was tossing Wilson Kinetics. "They didn't get to the point of exchanging names."

If Harriet had any suspicions that Margo secretly wanted Eva—or Bruno— and Bruno!—for herself, she gave no indication. "I'll set something up," she promised. "Tobias is a hopeless busybody, and this will get him off of my back about the wedding for a while." She gave her ring another of those soft smiles, like she didn't really mind Tobias's various pressures.

"Thank you," Margo growled. "Now, I have some concerns about your lease contract that I wanted to bring up…"

She suspected that her hire was an act of pity because job opportunities for trolls were not thick on the ground, but when Harriet had appointed her as a manager, Margo took it seriously. She spent her evenings studying law and researching contract language, following current legal issues and poring over case studies. She took online business classes and got a subscription to The Economist. She memorized the food safety guidelines.

If anything, it only made her more boring.

Not only was she a troll, she was a pedantic troll, quoting regulations and enforcing the rules.

But trolls had hearts, and she'd lost hers twice now. The best she could do was mend someone else's.