Backfire. Metsy Hingle

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СКАЧАТЬ beside her father and taking command of the podium. “I would like to join Henri and add Majestic Hotels’ thanks for your service and dedication to the Saint Charles. I also would like to tell you about some of the changes that you can expect…”

      Ten minutes later after advising the staff of his firm’s investment in the hotel and in the employees, he ran through some of the changes that would be taking place not only in the hotel’s appearance but its method of operation as well. “And while there are no plans to cut back on staff, every expenditure, every salary has to be justified,” he said, looking directly at Madeline. “And anyone not pulling his or her weight, will be replaced.”

      Refusing to be intimidated, Madeline held his gaze and pulled one of his own tricks. She smiled at him.

      “Our mutual goal—”

      Chase’s hesitation and the shifting of his gaze was soothing balm to her ego.

      “Our mutual goal,” he began again, “is to restore the hotel to the first-class reputation and prosperity it once enjoyed. And with that restoration we hope that instead of layoffs we will be hiring additional employees.”

      A round of applause followed and then he opened the floor for questions. A hand went up from one of the new members of the sales staff. “Mr. McAllister, will you be overseeing just the accounting or will you be involved in the sales department, too?”

      Chase directed one of his killer-watt smiles toward the female, and Madeline knew without looking that the other woman was just short of falling at the man’s feet. She shifted in her seat, irritated by his easy charm.

      “I’ll be involved in all aspects of the hotel’s operation. The sales department has been doing a good job, but I think it can do better. I have several ideas in that direction, and I plan to work closely with Madeline Charbonnet in the implementation of those ideas. I will also be working with Henri Charbonnet on the operation of the hotel.”

      A good job? Madeline gritted her teeth at his response. While no hotel operated at one-hundred-percent capacity, she and her department had worked small miracles keeping the hotel rooms filled, with occupancy rates often exceeding eighty percent. Did he have any idea what a difficult property this was to sell, particularly when she was competing with the big chains for convention and tourism business? She certainly didn’t need him to tell her how to do her job. Madeline stood up, not waiting for him to call upon her. “Mr. McAllister, just how long do you plan to be at the Saint Charles?” The sooner he went back to his East Coast offices the better.

      If he heard the challenge in her voice, he ignored it. His eyes twinkled with laughter. “As long as it takes to see the hotel through the renovations and get the operations on track.”

      “And can we assume that once the new systems are in place and the renovations have begun that you’ll be returning home?”

      “As I think I mentioned to you yesterday, Ms. Charbonnet, New Orleans is home for me.”

      Madeline’s heartbeat quickened. She licked her lips, trying not to panic. She didn’t want to think about that conversation yesterday or the sadness that had come into his eyes when he’d spoken of his mother. She especially didn’t want to remember the heated kisses that had followed. “But it was my understanding you wouldn’t be involved in the hotel’s operations on a day-to-day basis. I understood that once the new systems were implemented and the renovations underway you would be returning to your firm’s headquarters. I was told you would only need to return here on a monthly basis to check the hotel’s progress.”

      “That was the original idea. But there’s been a change of plans,” Chase said, delighting in the wariness that crept into her eyes. Damn, if that mouth of hers didn’t look even more kissable this morning. Dressed in her prim, checkered suit and silky white blouse, there was something sexy as hell about those pouty lips painted fire engine red.

      And incredibly arousing, Chase decided, as she flicked her tongue in and out to moisten her lips. “I’ll be staying on until the renovations are completed and the hotel’s grand opening celebration is held in the fall,” he explained.

      “But that’s at least six months away,” Madeline replied.

      “Yes, it is.” And an interesting six months it was going to be, Chase decided, as he continued to field questions. When Jamison, Majestic’s chairman, had suggested that he stay on-site for the duration of the hotel’s renovations, he had been opposed. But after a few days’ observance of Henri Charbonnet’s spending habits, he had to admit that it would take more than monthly financial meetings and reports to keep the hotel within budget. Since he had been the one to bring the Saint Charles deal to the table, and had a vested interest of his own in the project, it only made sense that he be the one to stay on and oversee it.

      Being the one to shorten Henri Charbonnet’s leash would be a headache and a pleasure, but it was one he had looked forward to for a long time.

      And the daughter? His gaze drifted back to Madeline and he found himself contemplating another taste of her lips. She was the source of another kind of ache altogether.

      That’s the price you pay for eight months of self-imposed celibacy, McAllister. But even as he thought it, he knew it wasn’t entirely true. Despite the line he had fed Madeline yesterday, he had never been a man to engage in meaningless sex for sex’s sake. And while it had been some time since his last relationship had ended, abstinence didn’t even be gin to explain his response to her.

      No. Madeline Charbonnet would have been a difficult specimen to resist under the best of circumstances. It was just his rotten luck that the first female he felt tempted by m ages would turn out to be Henri Charbonnet’s daughter.

      Trouble. That’s what a relationship with Madeline Charbonnet would mean. And if she stayed on at the hotel as he suspected she would, it was just a matter of time before the two of them landed in bed. It was inevitable. He had come to that conclusion during the night. And to fight the inevitable would be pointless. So, the two of them might as well enjoy it.

      Chase smiled and turned his gaze back to the green-eyed siren sitting stiff and straight in her chair. She arched her brow in that duchess-to-peasant manner.

      It was all the challenge he needed. Chase winked at her, then shifted his attention to the staff. “Now, ladies and gentlemen, if there are no other questions, I suggest we all get back to work. We have a hotel to run.”

      And he had an old score to settle and a sweet, tempting piece of trouble that he was looking forward to coaxing into his bed.

       Four

      “Come in,” Chase called out in response to the knock at his office door.

      “Ellen wasn’t at her desk,” Madeline explained, hesitating in the doorway.

      He glanced up from the computer screen. “I know. She wasn’t feeling well, so I sent her home. Come on in.” The figures he had been reviewing became a forgotten jumble as he took in the sight of her.

      Today’s outfit was yet another suit, Chase noted and he wondered idly just how many of the things she owned. Navy with round gold buttons and braid trim, this particular number reminded him of a military uniform. Albeit, he had never seen a uniform filled out quite so nicely, he mused, a smile of appreciation twitching СКАЧАТЬ