The Billionaire's Blackmail Bargain
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Margaret Mayo
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13
CHAPTER ONE
SIMONE Maxwell sat staring into space, twirling her wine glass between nerveless fingers, unaware that a good-looking man sitting on the other side of the room had been observing her closely. Outwardly she looked calm and in control, but inwardly she was seething with despair.
This was the worst day of her life. The words she had just heard from the two men seated opposite her were the death-knell to her business, which was already teetering on the edge of disaster. She did an instant replay of their conversation in her head before speaking. ‘Are you sure I can’t get you to change your mind?’ It was a struggle to keep her voice steady.
Two heads shook in unison. Two faces were very serious. One of the men spoke. ‘We’re very sorry, Miss Maxwell, but it’s not a sound proposition. It would simply take more money than we’re prepared to invest.’
‘And there’s nothing I can say that will make any difference?’ Simone tried to make her voice remain calm, hoping she didn’t sound too anxious. She didn’t want to appear as a desperate, panicking, neurotic female in front of these two men, even if that was exactly what she felt like at this precise moment.
Throughout dinner she had maintained her calm demeanour, stating her case clearly, assuring them it would be a good long-term investment. She had failed, but she was determined to try just one last time. ‘Gentlemen, I’m certain that—’
‘Miss Maxwell, there’s nothing more you can say,’ interjected the younger of her male companions. ‘Like I said, we’re sorry, but it’s not for us.’ They finished their coffee and got to their feet. ‘We wish you the best of luck.’ They shook hands and then quietly left the restaurant.
The best of luck! Luck didn’t enter into the equation. She was done for.
The yacht-charter company meant everything to her. It had been started by her parents when she was a young girl, and her mother had run the office while her father had dealt with the practical side of things. She used to sit in the office with her mother and pretend to help, and when she had finished her education she had worked for the company full time.
Her mother had always said that one day the company would be hers, and sure enough Simone’s father had handed over the reins to his daughter. But it had come with a catch. The business had been in trouble when he’d handed it over, and Simone had discovered that her father had been slowly gambling his money away, drawing more and more on the business funds. By the time Simone had discovered the extent of the problem, it had been too late. Now she found herself practically begging strangers for help, trying to salvage the business in any way she could.
Simone held her head in her hands. If only her father had been more careful with his money. If only she had seen the accounts earlier. If only. She hated her father for his selfish actions, whilst loving him at the same time as only a daughter can.
The business had meant everything to Simone’s mother, and for this reason Simone was willing to do everything in her power not to let her down. She had been so proud of the success they’d had with their venture. She would be heartbroken if she knew what was happening now.
So engrossed was Simone in her thoughts that she didn’t see the man crossing the room. The first she knew of his presence was when his well-remembered voice cracked open memories best forgotten.
Cade Dupont!
The last person in the world she wanted to see at a time like this. How he would glory in her downfall.
She turned her head, her breath catching in her throat, raw emotions rising like a floodtide. His six-feet-plus figure towered over her; his savagely handsome face sent a chill straight through her heart. Simone closed her eyes, hoping he was nothing more than a figment of her imagination and of deeply disturbing memories, but no—when she slanted another look, he was still there.
An impeccable grey jacket sat over wide shoulders, and matching trousers hid powerful thighs. A white silk-shirt emphasised skin darkened by the sun, and a grey-and gold-silk tie completed his ensemble. The gold in the tie matched the gold in his eyes—eyes that once had the power to melt her bones at a hundred paces. And, unhappily, he was as gloriously male as he had ever been.
‘What are you doing here?’ Simone asked.
‘Now there’s a welcome.’ Without waiting for an invitation, he slid on to a chair opposite. ‘Aren’t you pleased to see me?’
‘I’m surprised,’ she replied, ignoring his question. ‘I thought you were on the other side of the world.’
‘And by the look on your face you wish I’d stayed there.’ His nostrils flared, and the smile that accompanied his initial greeting slammed back to wherever it had come from. His lips turned un-forgivingly down at the corners, and his golden eyes cut a laser beam through the space between them. ‘Tell me, what was your meeting about? You clearly didn’t get what you wanted.’
Disbelief flashed in Simone’s violet eyes. ‘You were eavesdropping? I can’t believe that—’
‘Hardly,’ he intervened. ‘But body language is very telling, and perhaps I might be permitted to say that you still have a very fanciable body.’ His eyes dropped from her face to the swell of her breasts beneath her fine cashmere top.
Simone ignored the sudden prickle of heat his hard eyes engendered; a heat that started subtly but then claimed every corner of her body until she felt as if she was on fire. ‘What are you doing here, Cade—apart from spying on me, of course?’ She had thought her day couldn’t get any worse. Big mistake! Cade Dupont had every reason to be furious with her, but she didn’t need his caustic tongue at this moment.
His dark hair with its inclination to curl was cut brutally short; she could even see the glint of a grey hair or two. And his well-defined brows levelled over eyes that were uncomfortably intent. ‘I’m here on business,’ he announced.
His generous mouth turned up all too briefly, and his spectacularly long-lashed eyes continued to abrade her. Eyes that used to…no! She mustn’t go down that path. Not again. Not ever! Even though her traitorous body recognised this man as the one who had initiated her into the world of spinning senses and intensified emotions. The man who had taken her on a voyage of discovery of her own sensuality.
‘Business?’ she questioned when he didn’t enlarge.
‘Yes, I’m looking to set up a new company here.’
‘Here? Right here?’ Even to her own ears she sounded stupid. But what else could she say? She didn’t want Cade Dupont on her doorstep again; he was her past. Part of which, even she had to admit, had been gloriously happy—even fantastically, spectacularly exciting—but it had all ended in disaster. And there was nothing she could do about it now.
‘What sort of business?’ she asked, in a voice that sounded nothing like her own.
The Whitsundays were Australia’s premier area for boat hire. Surely he wasn’t thinking of setting up in opposition to her? Trips out to the Great Barrier Reef were always booked well in advance. In fact the Whitsundays, with its more than a hundred different islands—many of them national parks, some with holiday resorts—were the jewels in the crown of any holiday destination.
Simone counted herself lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world, but her hopes and ambitions hadn’t worked out. Now the company needed a massive cash investment, money she didn’t have and which the banks refused to lend her. Her last hope had been the two men who’d just left.
She threw the remains of her wine down her throat and reached for the bottle.
‘Allow me.’
Long brown fingers touched hers, making her flinch and draw back. She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out again slowly. She watched as Cade refilled her glass and beckoned for one to be brought to him. He exuded confidence big-time.
Cade was thirty-two now, she was nine years younger—older and wiser than the eighteen-year-old who’d made such a fool of herself. But not old enough to handle an ailing business, she thought bitterly. Not old enough to have amassed enough money to turn it around.
It had been on a downward spiral ever since she’d taken over. It needed money for everything: essential boat maintenance, new boats to replace the older ones, and the fact was she simply didn’t have it. Her father had handed her a sinking ship, and although Simone spent all her time trying to save the business bookings were getting fewer and fewer.
Soon she would have to call it a day. Which was a shame, because she was in a prime position. She had a good-sized marina. Someone would snap her hands off, and with the right financial investment it would garner a small fortune.
‘What sort of business am I contemplating?’ Cade held his glass up to the light and studied its contents as though it was of paramount importance. A small, satisfied smile settled on his lips. ‘Sailing-boat charter; it’s the only business I know.’
Simone felt her heart stop, and it was a long time before it started again. ‘You run a charter company in England?’
Dark brows rose. ‘Why not?’ His nostrils dilated. His attitude changed. And his next words were clipped and precise. ‘Clearly I had to get a loan, but I found the business very lucrative—run properly.’ Then his golden eyes narrowed on her face. ‘How is your company, by the way?’
He knew! She could tell by his challenging voice, by his closely guarded expression. He’d been asking questions. He was well aware that she now ran MM Charters and that it was on a slippery slope to humiliating failure.
‘I have no wish to discuss it,’ Simone replied tautly.
‘No?’ One eyebrow rose this time. ‘Why is that, I wonder? Could it have anything to do with the fact that it’s not doing too well at the moment?’
‘So you were prying!’ she accused, violet eyes blazing. Heavens, she needed to leave, and quickly. The middle of a restaurant was no place to argue with Cade Dupont. She sucked in another deep breath, and then another, and when he didn’t respond she rose to her feet. ‘I have to leave. Goodbye, Cade.’
With her back ramrod-straight and her chin high, Simone marched from the elegant dining room. But Cade wasn’t letting her get away that easily. Through a mirror in the facing wall, she caught sight of him striding after her, although not before he had thrown a handful of notes on to the table.
Damn! She’d forgotten to pay. Or was it his own bill he was settling? She swung around and faced him fiercely. ‘What was that money for?’
‘Just settling up.’
Simone opened her bag and searched for her credit card, but a firm hand stilled her.
‘My treat.’
‘I won’t let you,’ she snapped, horrified when his touch sent her pulses into devastating spasm. She didn’t need this; she didn’t want personal complications on top of her present problems. Cade was her past, and that was where he must stay.
‘Can you really afford to turn me down?’ he asked in a silken-smooth voice, his long, hard body almost touching hers. He was so close that she could smell the male scent of him; so close that she could feel the full violent impact of his sexuality.
‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’ Simone’s enormous eyes were almost purple in her distress. She wished he would step away. She didn’t want to back off, because it would reveal the fact that she found him too deeply disturbing, but his nearness threatened to cut off her breathing.
‘Your problems are common knowledge around here, Simone.’ He smiled as he spoke, and in her heightened state Simone felt that he was taking great delight in imparting that piece of news. ‘Of course everyone’s sympathetic, they know that your father is the cause of your problems, but business is business, isn’t that right?’ he murmured smoothly. ‘And since I’m in the same game maybe there’s something I can do for you?’
Simone’s heartbeat quickened until finally it hammered a painful tattoo against her ribcage. She wanted to put her hand over it, still its flight, but to do so would alert Cade to her fear. What was he suggesting—that he buy her out? She couldn’t allow that. It would be too ironic by far.
‘There’s nothing you can do, nothing I want you to do,’ she declared fiercely, continuing her race out of the restaurant. ‘I’ll sort my own problems.’
It was bad enough that he’d paid her bill, without him offering to bail her out of her present financial difficulties. And it was extremely humiliating that he had asked around and found out how badly MM Charters was doing. She could have done with hiding that fact from him. Her situation was actually worse than anyone knew. A few more weeks, maybe less, and she would be out of business altogether.
But Cade was persistent. ‘You really would be a fool to turn me down.’
He was hot on her heels as she raced out of the restaurant, and Simone fancied that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. She hurried even faster to her parked car. It was unbelievable that he still had the power to churn her emotions. It felt as though the years in between had melted away like raindrops in the sun.
Their relationship had been hot and amorous; she’d given herself to him so completely that it was embarrassing now to even think about it. He had taught her the art of love-making. He had turned her from an innocent teenager into a woman fully aware of her body and all the pleasures it held. She had been totally in love with him.
When she reached her car she turned around, fully intending to tell him to leave her alone. But when their eyes met, when she saw the dangerous darkness lurking there, a cyclone erupted, sucking all the breath from her body. She saw once again the man who had been her perfect lover, and instead of thinking about her troubles all she could concentrate on was Cade himself and the way he could still whip up her emotions to such an extent that she wanted to scream for release.
‘Please leave me alone.’ Her voice was no more than a husky whisper, and she was conscious of her breasts rising and falling far more rapidly than they were supposed to. The only time they had ever behaved like this was when they’d been making spectacular, glorious love.
Simone checked her thoughts. Best not think along those lines. Not at this moment anyway. She was more concerned with getting rid of Cade.
Except that Cade did not want to go. His feet were planted firmly on the ground. He leaned on the car with one hand, and his other looked as though it was prepared to take the key fob from her if she should dare try to climb inside.
His eyes locked unwaveringly with hers. She had never met a man with eyes so sensationally golden. They were the colour of a lion’s skin—sometimes softly seductive, sometimes purposeful, sometimes dark with passion. They used to turn her bones to liquid, and the annoying part was that they still had the power to thrill.
‘Don’t dismiss my offer out of hand, Simone,’ he said softly. ‘If what I’ve been told is true, I’ve arrived at exactly the right time.’
‘And why would you help me?’ she asked faintly.
Cade was asking himself the same question. Why would he want to help Simone when she had been instrumental in him losing his fortune? He ought to run a mile. She could deny it for as long as she liked, but Matthew Maxwell had confirmed that his daughter had known all along exactly what she was doing. He had never thought her capable of such duplicity, and his hurt had been unbearable. He should have been pleased that Simone was out of his life. But, damn it, he’d never been able to forget her. He’d enjoyed teaching her the pleasures of the flesh, and she’d become a sensational lover. He’d thought she was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He’d been wrong.
His blood pounded through his veins at the very thought of them making love again. It was what he’d wanted from her from the first moment he’d set eyes on her in the restaurant. Not that he’d forgiven her for her past actions, or ever would—but it might give him a feeling of satisfaction to use that beautiful body again. Bend her to his will, make her dependent on him, and then maybe…He smiled at the idea entering his mind.
Cade had been devastated when she’d let him down. He’d believed that she’d had more integrity than to plot with her father against him, and his faith in humanity had been badly dented.
Cade’s trip out here had nothing to do with Simone. He knew the Whitsundays well, and had simply seen them as the perfect place to set up another branch of his business. He hadn’t even known whether Simone still lived in the area. And yet here she was, as vividly beautiful as he remembered—more so, in fact. She was devastatingly, heart-stoppingly stunning with her shiny dark-auburn hair tied back in a cute ponytail, revealing in all its exquisite detail her heart-shaped face and huge, luminous violet eyes. Her mouth was soft and tempting even in the midst of her resentful anger.
He wanted to touch, he wanted to take, and he was not unaware of the effect he’d had on her. She ought to be uncomfortable after what she’d done to him, indeed she’d do well to be afraid of him, But he’d observed her deepened breathing, seen the darkening of her eyes and he guessed that she too was remembering the exciting times they’d spent together. He’d bet his life that she was wondering what it would be like to be made-love to by him again.
He rigidly pushed such unworthy thoughts to the back of his mind. ‘It’s not a matter of why I’d help you,’ he said tersely. ‘It’s—how shall I put it?—a matter of expediency. Like I said, I’m looking to expand my business, and picking up the bones of an old one might be better than starting out afresh. I’ve been looking around; there aren’t too many new opportunities here. The area’s pretty well covered.’
‘You mean you want to take me over?’ Simone’s eyes widened even further and her chin jutted, lengthening her already long, slender neck.
She looked so beautiful when she was angry. Her cheeks coloured delicately, her eyes flared, and her whole body took on a new, exciting life. It was all he could do not to reach out and touch her, kiss her, feel her against him.
Begin his campaign—take what he wanted and then…
‘Not in the least.’ Cade sounded normal. How could that be when his heart had begun racing at the mere thought of what he intended to do? ‘Think about what I’ve said, Simone, and we’ll meet for dinner tomorrow evening to discuss it.’
Simone struggled with reason. Cade was walking all over her. The point was, did she go along with his suggestion to help her out, or simply admit defeat and fade into nothingness? What exactly did the business mean to her?
Her father was way beyond giving advice; he’d sunk into the misery of a gambler gone beyond his means. He’d added drink to his troubles, and her worried mother, whose heart and health were failing, was now in a nursing home completely unaware of Simone’s troubles. Simone still lived with her father, she couldn’t afford not to, but apart from cooking him the odd meal they lived independent lives.
So the answer to Cade’s question was simple, really—the business meant everything to her. She loved what she was doing. She loved boats, and water and sun and sailing, and the whole way of life. She didn’t want to let it go. She didn’t owe her father anything—quite the opposite!—but she owed it to her mother to keep the company going. And if what Cade was looking for was an investment—not a takeover—then maybe she ought to consider his offer.
‘That’s a yes, then?’
Simone hadn’t realised Cade had been watching her every expression, that he’d seen the fight she’d had with herself and the conclusion she’d drawn. She nodded, not altogether sure she would be doing the right thing, glancing at him only briefly—because to look straight into his eyes sent vibrations through her body, procreating a hunger she had never imagined possible to feel again.
But perhaps she ought to have looked at him. One moment she was worrying whether she was doing the right thing, the next his mouth had closed on hers in a searing kiss and she was elevated into a world of senses that she had believed was lost to her for ever.
One warm, firm hand cupped either side of her face; his lips demanded and took, and without even realising what she was doing Simone returned his kiss. It was an instinctive response, a throwback to the days of their young, heady relationship. Although common sense told her that she ought to snatch away, something inside insisted she prolong this magical moment.
It might be the last time he ever kissed her. Perhaps it was simply a sealing of their bargain, nothing more. She was aware that it meant nothing, but it was also something beautiful which she wanted to cherish.
Seconds later Cade stepped backwards. ‘Good,’ he said briskly. ‘I’m glad you’ve seen sense. I’ll pick you up at seven tomorrow. You’re still living at home, I assume?’ Simone gave a quick nod, not trusting herself to speak, and slid into her car. It was a moment or two, though, before she found the strength to turn the key and drive away.
