His Perfect Partner. Laura Martin

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ barrel.’

      ‘Oh, well, even better!’ Rachel continued scathingly. ‘Think of all those profits just for yourself—you’ll be a millionaire in no time!’

      ‘I already am one!’ The terse statement came as he pushed back his chair and rose from the table, throwing his napkin onto the plate in front of him in disgust. ‘I’m not prepared to put up with this. It’s clear from your behaviour that you’re not capable of taking my proposition seriously. That is your mistake and you will have to live with the consequences.’

      Rachel stared up at him in horror. ‘You’re leaving?’ she asked. ‘Just like that?’

      ‘I see no reason to stay. You’re clearly not interested in anything I have to say.’

      Angry, tense, annoyed with himself at not being able to stay cool, he walked away, threading his broad frame through the tables of the restaurant.

      Rachel sat for a moment, watching him go, stunned by his sudden departure. She didn’t know what to do. She could barely think straight. Jean-Luc’s words haunted her. Did she really want to lose the Grange? Did it honestly mean so little to her? She rose from the table, glancing at the other diners who, she realised belatedly, had been enjoying the cabaret, and followed Jean-Luc outside.

      Rachel stood hesitatingly in the entrance to the restaurant, glad of the cooling night air on her heated skin.

      What was she to do? How was she supposed to cope with this nightmare situation? He didn’t care, that much was clear. He had said it, and she believed him. His only thought was to strike a deal, to make money.

      Jean-Luc’s first emotion was relief because there was always a risk in pushing too hard, and she might so easily have decided to go with her true instincts and reject everything, without giving a damn for the consequences.

      ‘You’d like a lift home?’

      Rachel spun around at the sound of his voice. She looked up, and felt the immediate lurch of awareness deep down in the pit of her stomach at the sight of him. ‘I’d like to talk about the Grange,’ she murmured.

      He pushed a little harder. ‘I think we’ve said all there is to say.’

      ‘No.’ Rachel shook her head. ‘No, we haven’t.’ She paused. ‘Maybe…maybe I was a little hasty just now…’

      ‘Maybe?’ His dark eyes pierced her.

      ‘Is there somewhere quiet we can talk?’ Rachel murmured. ‘I don’t particularly want to go back into the restaurant.’

      ‘My car?’

      ‘You have a chauffeur,’ Rachel reminded him.

      ‘Emile can go get himself something to eat.’ Jean-Luc placed a guiding hand at the small of her back. ‘This way. Would you like something to drink?’ He pulled open a cabinet, once the chauffeur had been temporarily relieved of his duty and they were both installed in the back of the Rolls Royce. ‘Vodka? Martini?’

      ‘Just mineral water for me, please.’

      Jean-Luc’s smile held precious little humour. ‘So that you can keep a clear head?’

      ‘It makes sense, in the circumstances,’ Rachel responded smoothly.

      As far as business propositions were concerned, it was well thought-out and covered all the angles. The gist of Jean-Luc’s proposal was that his company would pay off all the outstanding debts, agree to invest a substantial amount of money in the Grange and take the bulk of any profits in return.

      ‘So, where do I fit in?’ Rachel enquired eventually. It had been difficult to concentrate on much of the detail because as Jean-Luc had talked she had found her attention wandering away from the business of the house and estate towards more…immediate matters. He looked so…incredible. More mature, more compelling…more everything.

      Usually so good at concentrating on business matters, Rachel’s eyes had wandered as he spoke, drifting away from his mouth across the broad chest, down the length of his long, muscular legs, clad in dark trousers, then back to his face once again. It wasn’t fair that he could still do this her, she thought, that it still mattered after all these years….

      Rachel cursed silently, and dragged herself back to the important discussion in hand. ‘I agree it all sounds perfectly feasible,’ she continued in businesslike tones. ‘The market’s there—this area could do with a top-notch hotel and the layout of the Grange is, to a large extent, custom-made as far as the main features are concerned, but—’

      ‘You don’t seem to have paid a great deal of attention,’ he replied coolly, his dark eyes meeting hers. ‘I thought I’d made your involvement perfectly clear.’

      ‘Evidently not clear enough!’ Rachel retorted, annoyed by his superior tone and embarrassed by her previous inability to concentrate.

      ‘I want you to run the hotel,’ he informed her. ‘That will be one of the conditions that I will insist upon.’

      ‘What?’ Rachel stared at him, her blue eyes wide with shock. ‘Me?’

      ‘I don’t see anyone else in the near vicinity.’ Jean-Luc’s tone was dry. ‘You are the obvious choice. You have been in the hotel business for the last few years, have you not?’

      Rachel frowned. ‘You know about that?’

      ‘I know all the relevant details which might have some bearing on this investment.’ His gaze was direct. ‘You imagined that you would be able to lounge around in glamorous idleness while I wasted unnecessary money employing someone to—’

      ‘I do not lounge around! I have never lounged around!’ Rachel stormed. ‘I work.’

      ‘You are currently managing a small hotel in the Cotswolds, I believe? It will be easy enough for you to work through your notice while the Grange is being refurbished. I do not know why you are looking at me like that,’ he commented smoothly. ‘It seems an eminently suitable arrangement. The Grange will still be your home, after all, and as you already have suitable experience in the hotel profession this will give you something worthwhile to direct your energies to.

      ‘You will have help of course,’ he added. ‘I already have in mind an employee who will suit the position of assistant manager. He is efficient, reliable, English…’ a flicker of a smile ‘…but I try not to hold that against him.’

      ‘You’re pleased that this has happened, aren’t you?’ Rachel declared shakily. ‘You’re not really interested in turning this into a profitable business. You just want to…to humiliate me!’

      ‘I’m saving your family home and offering you a job into the bargain—I don’t see where humiliation comes into it!’ he replied crisply. ‘Now, I suggest you drop the pathetic accusations and stop wasting time! I will have my solicitor draw up an agreement, which you will find fair—not to mention generous. Tomorrow afternoon you can sign and then everything will be able to proceed without delay.’

      ‘I don’t actually recall hearing myself agreeing to any of this!’ Rachel snapped.

      ‘But you will.’ Jean-Luc’s gaze was compelling СКАЧАТЬ