The Tycoon's Son. Cindy Kirk

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СКАЧАТЬ custard, the way he gestured with his fingers to make a point.

      Even the way he talked fascinated her. His English was excellent, but occasionally his inflection would reveal that he wasn’t a native speaker.

      Trish suddenly wished that she didn’t have an agenda and could just enjoy his company. If only the words business and contracts didn’t have to cross her lips.

      She wasn’t sure how he was going to react to the incentive she planned to offer him. Regardless of what Mr. Stamos called it, offering Theo’s foundation a generous donation in exchange for him resuming the Kefalonia excursions smacked of bribery.

      “Trish.” Theo’s deep voice broke through her reverie and she looked up to find him staring at her, an inscrutable expression on his face.

      “I suppose you want to get down to business.” She practically sighed the word and a dimple flashed in his cheek. Once she’d laid the offer on the table, the delightful lunch would be over.

      He leaned back in his chair. “What’s on your mind?”

      Trish opened her mouth and the words she didn’t want to speak tumbled out.

      CHAPTER TWO

      “COULD YOU EXPLAIN to me,” Trish said, lifting a glass of ouzo to her lips, “your reservations about signing the contract to do shore excursions for Liberty Line?”

      Though Theo had wondered how long it would take her to get to the point of the meeting, disappointment coursed through him. He’d been enjoying her company and hated to see the conversation turn ugly.

      He had terminated all of his tour company’s contracts with the Liberty Line when his father had bought out the previous owners.

      He had no doubt that Mrs. Melrose, Trish, was in league with his father. When he’d spoken with her on the phone she’d been careful to portray herself as an independent businesswoman who needed his help. But Theo hadn’t been fooled. Her new alliance with Elias Stamos made her the enemy.

      But he’d contracted with her company for a number of years and had always been treated fairly. That was the only reason he’d agreed to meet with her. Not because he was considering her offer, but out of respect.

      “The previous owners of Liberty were friends of mine,” Theo said, meeting her gaze. “I don’t care to work with the new owner.”

      “Is that what you want me to tell Mr. Stamos?” Trish’s voice remained calm but the two bright patches of color on her cheeks told him he’d been right to delay this discussion. At this point, the only way their conversation was going to end was badly.

      “Tell him whatever you want,” Theo said with a careless shrug.

      “There has to be more going on here.” Trish’s brows pressed together in a delicate frown. “In our business we both work with people we either don’t know very well or sometimes don’t particularly like. As long as they follow the terms of a contract, I don’t see the issue.”

      She was a bulldog, this one. Once she’d latched on to something, it wouldn’t be easy to shake her loose. But this was one battle that wouldn’t be won by tenacity, because Theo would never, ever work for the man who had abandoned him as a boy, no matter how pretty the emissary.

      “You don’t need to understand.” A thread of steel wove its way through Theo’s voice. “All you need to know is that I don’t choose to accept your offer.”

      Trish opened her mouth to speak but shut it without saying a word.

      Theo felt a surge of satisfaction. She’d finally gotten the message. And she’d taken his refusal remarkably well. His gaze lingered on her face, the ivory skin with a smattering of freckles, the patrician nose with just enough tilt to make it interesting. If she were just another tourist from America, he’d ask her to go with him to Kefalonia this afternoon.

      Visitors to the island were always awed and amazed at its beauty. If they’d had time, he might have even taken her up into the mountains and shown her the wild horses…

      “I understand there are wild horses on Kefalonia,” Trish said.

      Theo jerked back slightly. It was as if she’d read his mind.

      “I don’t know if I told you,” Trish said. “But I’m a huge animal lover.”

      Theo tilted his head. It confused him when women switched conversation topics midstream. Usually he could follow their logic…but not this time.

      “Is that right?” He wrapped his hands around the steaming cup of espresso.

      “I’m involved with Paws and Hands Together,” she said. “It’s a shih tzu rescue organization.”

      Theo pulled his brows together, trying to place the breed. “Are those the dogs that look like mops?”

      Trish laughed. “They’re the ones.”

      “What do you do with the organization?” He liked the way her eyes lit up when she talked about the dogs.

      “I maintain the Web site,” she said, the tension which had tightened the corners of her mouth easing. “And I take in foster dogs, ones waiting to be adopted. I also do some fund-raising. Finding good homes for these animals takes some serious cash.”

      The passion in her voice was contagious and suddenly Theo found himself telling her all about the wild horses of Kefalonia and his plans to save them from extinction.

      “I can’t believe that the government isn’t doing more to protect them.” Outrage filled Trish’s voice and her hazel eyes flashed.

      Theo had to smile at her vehemence. He felt the same way but had learned anger without action accomplished nothing. “I know what you mean. We continue to lobby for a ruling to protect wild horses on public and National Park lands. But we can’t wait for that to happen. We need to focus on making changes happen ourselves.”

      “That can get expensive.”

      There was something in her voice that caused him to look up. But all he saw on her face was concern.

      “It is,” Theo admitted. “We need to improve the watering facilities and provide shelter, as well as developing nature watch facilities and protection safaris. It all costs money.”

      He leaned forward and his love for these abandoned creatures welled up and spilled over into his voice. “The wild horses of Mount Ainos have no one else. If my foundation doesn’t help them, who will? They are on the verge of extinction.”

      His grandfather had taken him to Kefalonia for the first time when he’d been but a small boy. They’d hiked the mountain above the village of Arginia and it was there that Theo had gotten his first glimpse of the ponies.

      When his grandfather had told him that no one wanted the proud, spirited animals, Theo had felt an instant affinity. Though he knew his grandparents loved him, sometimes he felt as if no one wanted him, either.

      Way back then, when he’d been but a child, he’d vowed to help the horses.

      Now СКАЧАТЬ