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

off-putting. “Listen, I’ve done some checking. Those threats Rainer made weren’t idle ones. The Thorsens are serious about expanding.”
    Jordan dismissed the Thorsens with a wave of her hand. “Forget about that for now. Andrea, I know something’s wrong. What—”
    “You can’t forget about it!” She spoke sharply, her voice rising. “You don’t know the Thorsens or their methods. I do. They’re ruthless. They’ll do anything and everything to get what they want. Believe me, I know.”
    The passion rippling through her words seemed to hang between them. As though aware of how much she’d given away, Andrea leaned back and shut her eyes.
    “How do you know?” Jordan asked gently. “How do you know so much about the Thorsens?”
    She must have hit a nerve. Andrea spun out of her chair and paced to the windows overlooking the warehouse floor. “I know because . . . because I was engaged—very briefly—to Rainer’s brother, Thor,” she admitted in a pained voice.
    “You what?” Jordan stared in confusion. “When was this? You never mentioned an engagement before.”
    “It didn’t seem worth mentioning, considering how quickly it ended.” She turned to face Jordan and sighed. “Last month. Remember me raving about the wonderful man I’d met?”
    Recollection returned. “You called him your thunder god.” The pieces fell into place and she groaned, making the connection. “Thor Thorsen. He’s the one you were so crazy about?”
    Andrea nodded. Tears sparkled in her eyes, but her smile held defiance. “I fell in love with him. He fell in love with a lucrative contract my father offered. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear about it until after he’d proposed and I’d accepted. End of engagement, end of story. You’ll understand why I didn’t call and go into all the thrilling details.”
    A memory stirred and Jordan heard again Terry’s caustic words. “If it meant getting the Thorsens’ business, the old man would sell his own daughter. Hell, he’d give her away.” Is that what he’d been referring to, the aborted engagement? Did everyone know what had happened? Poor Andrea!
    “So now you understand why I’m quite serious when I say the Thorsens are ruthless,” Andrea continued. “Personal experience, as it were. But enough about me. Let’s deal with your problem. Did you know Rainer’s here today?”
    Her words were more than unwelcome, and Jordan shifted uneasily in her chair. “No. You think it’s related to Cornucopia, don’t you?” At her friend’s grim nod, she asked, “What do you think he’ll do?”
    Andrea thought for a minute. “I’m certain he’ll weigh all his options before he acts. But there is one thing you can count on. If a Thorsen told you he plans to take over the north end market, then that’s precisely what he’ll do. If he said he’s going to win no matter what, bank money on it, he’ll win.”
    “How?” Jordan demanded in a tight voice.
    Her friend took a deep breath. “I can only tell you what they’ve done before. One time the Thorsens wanted to acquire a market in White Center owned by an old man named Leo Goldbrick. The Thorsens moved in, and before you could blink, they’d forced Leo out.”
    “Forced him out? How?”
    “They set up in competition—right across the street. They undercut all his prices and he never stood a chance.” She shoved a hand through her curls, her ink dark eyes reflecting her distress. “When you have a couple of dozen stores, each one making huge profits, you can afford to carry a loser for a few months.”
    “They operated at a loss until they succeeded at forcing him out?”
    “Got it in one.”
    Jordan sat in stunned silence, remembering Rainer pointing to the site under construction across from Cornucopia. He owned that building. He could put his own market in there and set himself up in direct competition. How long would it take before he forced Cornucopia out of business? Longer than Leo