Seductive Revenge. Maureen Child

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СКАЧАТЬ staring out at Swan Hollow as the small town woke up. The clouds were low and gray—no surprise, and yet more snow was forecasted for today.

      “How is it no one can nail this guy—or woman?” Wes grumbled, not really expecting an answer. “Is Maverick some kind of technical ninja or something?”

      Harry laughed shortly. “No. So far, he’s just been lucky. He got in and out of your account so fast, the IT guys couldn’t track him. But Jones in IT tells me he’s rigged it to let him know if anyone tries to breach again.”

      “Well, that’s something.” It was a lot, really, just not enough. Wes didn’t function well with helplessness. Because he’d never accepted it before. Always, he’d been able to do something. He’d never been in the position of standing on the sidelines, watching other players make moves he couldn’t.

      And he didn’t like it.

      “Not enough, I know,” Harry said, as if he knew exactly what Wes was thinking. “But we’re still working it. On the downside, Teddy Bradford won’t take my call, so if you want to try to do CPR on that merger, you’ll have to reach out to him yourself.”

      “Yeah, I tried before I left Texas. He blew me off, too.”

      “It may just be over, boss.”

      “No, I won’t accept that,” Wes said. “We spent nearly two years putting that merger on the table and I’ll be damned before I let some cowardly rumormonger ruin it. There’s a way to save us taking over PlayCo, and I’ll find it.”

      “If you say so,” Harry told him, but disbelief was clear in his tone.

      Fine, he’d proved people wrong before, and he could do it again. Turning away from the view, Wes voiced a suspicion that had occurred to him only late last night. “You think maybe Teddy’s working this from both angles?”

      A pause while Harry thought about it. “What exactly do you mean?”

      Wes had been turning this over in his mind for hours now, and though it sounded twisted, he thought it could just be true. “Well, we had a deal and he’s backed out—what if he and Maverick were in on it together?”

      “For what reason?” Harry asked, not shooting down the theory right away.

      Any number of reasons, really, Wes told himself, but the most likely one had slipped into his mind last night and refused to leave. “Maybe he’s lined up a deal with a different toy company and needed a way to get out of our merger without looking bad.”

      There was a long pause as Harry considered the idea. “Anything’s possible,” he said, his voice slow and thoughtful. “I’ll put some feelers out. I’ve got some friends over at Toy America. I’ll talk to them. See what I can find out.”

      “Good. Let me know ASAP if you discover anything.” Wes picked up the coffee carafe from the dining table and poured himself another cup. If Bradford was working with Maverick to try to ruin Wes and his company’s reputation, heads were going to roll. “I’m going to be here at least a few more days—”

      “Yeah.” Harry sighed. “Okay, I promised myself I wouldn’t ask why you were in Duck Springs, Colorado…”

      Unexpectedly, Wes laughed. “Swan Hollow.”

      “What’s the difference?” Harry asked. Then before Wes could speak, he said, “Just tell me. Is everything all right?”

      Wes’s smile faded slowly. Things were as far from all right as they could get, he thought, but he didn’t bother to say anything. Harry and the rest of the company had probably figured out that Maverick’s email about Wes’s daughter had been nothing but the truth. But that didn’t mean he was ready to discuss it with everyone. Not even his friend Harry.

      “Yeah,” he said, gulping coffee. “Everything’s fine. I just have a few…personal issues to work out.”

      Understatement of the century. There was so much rushing through his mind, he hadn’t gotten more than a couple of hours of sleep all night. And this morning, Wes felt like his eyeballs had been rolled around in sand. In those long sleepless hours, his brain had raced with images, ideas. A daughter. The dead merger. A saboteur—perhaps even his ex—trying to take down his business. And then there was Belle. A woman he should know better than to want—yet apparently his body hadn’t gotten that memo.

      “If you say so.” Harry didn’t sound convinced, but then he added, “When you’re ready to talk about it, I’m here. And if I can do something, let me know.”

      “Find Maverick,” Wes said. “That’s what I need you to do. Keep everyone on it. I want to know who and where this guy is.”

      “We’re working it, boss. Do what you have to do and don’t worry about what’s going on back in Houston. We’ll find him. I’ll be in touch.”

      After Harry hung up, Wes tossed his phone onto the couch and grabbed the remote when he saw the stock report flash onto the television screen. Draining his coffee cup, he punched up the volume and then cursed as the anchor started speaking.

      “Things are not looking good for TTG Inc.,” the man said in a low, deep voice. “Texas Toy Goods’ stock has taken a hard dip over the last couple of days. CEO Wes Jackson has not yet commented on the short-lived scandal that apparently was behind Teddy Bradford of PlayCo announcing the end of their much-anticipated merger.”

      The stocks reporter then turned to the digital screen behind him and tracked the TTG stock on a downward slide. Meanwhile Wes’s temper inched up in an opposite trajectory.

      “TTG Inc.,” the man said, “is down five points, and my sources say there are no immediate plans to put the merger back in play. PlayCo, the anticipated merger partner, on the other hand, has ticked up two points in the last twenty-four hours.”

      Disgusted, Wes hit the mute button and wished fervently that his thoughts were as easy to silence. One thing he knew for sure. Once a stock started slipping, the whole thing took on a life of its own. People would worry and sell off their stock and his price would dip even lower.

      He had to put a stop to this before he lost everything he’d worked for. Stalking to the carafe of coffee, he refilled his cup and carried it with him to the door when a knock sounded.

      Who the hell could that be? Room service had already come and gone. He doubted very much that Belle would be dropping in for a visit. And he was in no mood to talk to anybody else. Riding on temper, he yanked the door open and demanded, “What?”

      A tall man in a heavy brown coat with a sheepskin collar stood on the threshold. He had narrowed blue eyes, short, light brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard. Two men with a slight resemblance to the first man stood right behind him, and not one of them looked happy to be there. Wes braced himself for whatever was coming.

      “You Wes Jackson?” The first man spoke while the other two continued to glare at Wes.

      “Yeah, I am.” He met that flat cool stare with one of his own. “Who’re you?”

      “Chance Graystone.”

      Damn it. Well, Belle had warned him about her older brothers. Looked like he was going to meet the family whether he wanted to or not.

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