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She damn near beamed, barely holding herself back and nodding her acceptance of his words. It wouldn’t do to give him the idea she actually liked working with him. Rowan smiled to herself and dug back into the job at hand.
By late afternoon, they had miraculously agreed on everything except the flagship fund. They’d reached a stalemate regarding this one final topic.
“I don’t see any reason we can’t use the Drekler Fund,” Gerard said, his hair a mess from his habit of running his fingers through it. Clearly his most used stress signal.
“Have you looked at it lately?” She had hoped and prayed the fund would turn around before she had to have this conversation. No such luck.
“No. Why should I? It’s our best fund and always performs.”
She got up and walked to the front window. The deer had returned, this time with Daddy in visible proximity, nibbling at the shrubs. He lifted his head and looked her with those deep, dark eyes. It’s not my fault. Though Rowan knew the truth. It didn’t matter that it sometimes took months for trends to show in stable funds like this. This was her responsibility.
“It’s trending downward,” she said.
“What?” Gerard joined her.
“I said, it’s down.”
“All funds fluctuate.”
“Not like this. It’s been trending down for two weeks now.”
Gerard touched her arm until she turned to look up at him, squinting, waiting for his ire to descend. Instead, his voice was gentle.
“How is this happening?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been researching it and haven’t found a reason.” The only thing she knew for sure: Her alarms had been tampered with. She kept quiet for now. Until she knew who’d done that and had proof, there were no grounds for putting suspicion on anyone.
Gerard nodded, his voice strained as if he was working hard to keep his frustration under wraps. “We’re close enough to done with this proposal that we need Wi-Fi to finish. Let’s leave tomorrow morning, go directly to the office, and hash out both issues.”
“The fund is my responsibility, and I’m investigating it.”
“You haven’t found anything yet?”
“Nothing concrete.”
“Then we both need to be involved.”
“No. It’s my department. My problem. I’ll figure it out.” Damn, was she about to cry? Willing the tears to stay put, she stared her boss down.
He searched her face, her eyes, her soul. Then, when she thought he’d pull the boss card and overrule her, he just nodded and walked away, confusing Rowan even more.
At the table, he started to pack up his things. “I’ll give you until end of day Monday, then I’m joining the investigation. I’ll get dinner started. Will you make another of your excellent salads?”
“Sure.” Rowan packed up her own work, wondering how in the hell she would figure out the issue with the fund in only two days. And half of the first one would be without access to records since they’d be traveling back.
She was so screwed.
After a dinner of seafood fettucine and salad, Rowan sat alone beside the campfire, staring at the beautiful forest spread in front of her and mulling over the situation she’d gotten herself into. Inside the cottage, Gerard was doing cleanup, something he’d volunteered to do. Dish noise and running water, along with the night sounds of the mountain, lulled her into a contemplative mood. The afternoon had been both eye-opening and frustrating. The fragile truce between them still had super-charged tension that she, for one, couldn’t quite get rid of. No. She wouldn’t think about that. Distraction. That’s what she needed. Work distraction.
Still in her probationary period, two deals had gone sour, and Barrett’s best fund was showing strong signs of instability. Someone had to be sabotaging things, but who? Maybe it had been Tom, but it would all stop now that he was gone.
She didn’t generally have that kind of luck though, and until she could check the company assets, she had no way of knowing how things were going. If they continued to tank, someone else must be doing this, and Gerard would involve himself in the investigation. Which meant her biggest secret might come out, one she should have told Gerard and Emersyn long before this. A secret that would point the finger directly at her, and she’d bet dollars to donuts he would never believe her innocence.
She’d come to care what he thought of her, both professionally and personally. Rowan hadn’t wanted to, but she acknowledged that she did. She should have told him right from the start who she was. If she had, he’d never have hired her. Now, the absence of truth felt like a lie, and her boss would take it that way for certain.
Caught between a rock and a very hard place, she couldn’t, for the life of her, figure a way out. All she’d wanted to do was prove that she had what it took to manage hedge funds. To prove herself. Well, she was doing a bang-up job of that, wasn’t she?
“Penny for your thoughts?”
