Tycoon's Delicious Debt. Susanna Carr

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СКАЧАТЬ arranged a meeting with Cooper Brock and this evening I will make him an offer. He will agree and I will transfer the land to Cooper for the Harrington shares you want.” She couldn’t wait to present this deal to Cooper and see his expression. Watch the confidence drain from his silvery-gray eyes and be replaced with defeat.

      “If the transaction was going to be that simple I would have done it myself. What if he refuses?”

      She fully expected Cooper to refuse…at first. “He won’t because I have something he wants more,” she said with a sly smile. He wanted this more than the land. More than shares to The Harrington.

      “He’s a Brock. Making deals is in his blood. He never loses.”

      Serena took a healthy sip of her cocktail as she gathered the last of her patience. Cooper never lost because he had the Brock name backing him up. He didn’t know what it was like to make a deal in a position of fear, worried that he would lose everything in an instant. But she was going to change all that. She was going to reclaim her power by stripping him of his own.

      “Spencer, we discussed this when I visited you in London,” she answered sweetly. Her feminine charm had distracted him then. It was her most successful technique to get what she wanted in the boardroom. “If you didn’t think I could negotiate with Cooper Brock, then you shouldn’t have fronted me the money.”

      “If it all goes to plan, Brock gets his deal and I get the shares to The Harrington,” Spencer said. “What do you get? Why are you doing this?”

      She knew what he was really asking. What am I missing? Apparently he no longer believed her explanation when she first proposed this idea. The reason she had given was admittedly weak, but she had couched her answer with the flirtatious smiles and body language that left men flummoxed. She wasn’t going to tell him the truth now no matter how much money he had invested in her plan. There was a lot he didn’t know and she was going to keep it that way.

      “I hope this will show you my abilities for future projects,” she lied. “Anyone can gather information but no one can make the intuitive leaps and connections like me.”

      “Serena,” he said in harsh tone, “if you don’t get the shares for The Harrington…”

      “I have researched Cooper Brock for years,” she sharply reminded Spencer. “One could say I’m an expert on him and his father. You will get those shares by the end of the week.” She ended the call with an angry stab of her fingertip and tossed the phone onto the stack of business magazines lying next to her on the sand.

      Serena lowered her sunglasses onto the bridge of her nose and determinedly stared at the crashing waves. The offensive attack on Cooper Brock was a new feeling for her. She didn’t like it because as much as she could predict the outcome, she was still putting herself at risk. Every action, every plan she made up to now, was defensive, protecting what she had.

      She breathed in deep, her chest still tight as she inhaled the briny scent of the ocean. She knew what she was doing. Her strategy was solid. Indestructible. She wasn’t going to let anything—or anyone—get in her way.

      Anticipation fluttered just under her skin. After years of hard work, sacrifice and planning, she was finally ready to battle Cooper Brock. And by the end of the week, she would be the ultimate victor and get her revenge.

       CHAPTER TWO

      SERENA’S HEELS CLICKED against the floor as she approached the restaurant, the staccato beat matching the jittery pulse at the base of her throat. She reached the dramatic rounded archway and caught a tantalizing whiff of grilled meat and exotic spices. Glancing inside, she found the stark-white walls and blue tile accents bright and welcoming. Serena noticed most of the tables were occupied and instantly recognized a few famous faces.

      She smoothed a hand over her hair, wishing it hadn’t taken ages to tame the waves into a sleek ponytail. Her hands had been clumsy earlier when she had fixed her hair and makeup. She didn’t know why she was so nervous. Everything was going as planned. She was in full armor now from her pink halter dress to her strappy stiletto heels.

      She glanced down at the diamond bracelet encircling her wrist and paused. Memories crowded and overlapped in her mind. Some good, some bad. She remembered the day when her father had given the bracelet to her mother.

      It had not been a special occasion. Her father never felt the need to wait for a celebration. He enjoyed presenting lavish gifts to her mother for no reason at all. She once thought these extravagant presents represented undying love. It was only when she was older that she’d realized there had been undercurrents of control and reward.

      Serena remembered the surprise and pleasure in her mother’s glamorous face when she had opened the flat square box from her favorite jeweler’s. Serena also recalled the pride that shimmered from her father. The memory was so clear even after all these years because it was one of the last times she had seen those expressions from her parents.

      Serena stood very still as she continued to stare at the bracelet. She remembered the defeat in her mother’s eyes when she had to sell the jewels after Felipe Dominguez’s business crumbled. At the time, Serena had silently sworn that one day she would have the money to buy back every piece of jewelry and return it to her mother.

      It had taken her years and she had been so proud when she had hunted down this bracelet and bought it. She had taken it as a sign that their luck was changing for the better. Serena had presented it to her mother, promising to find the other jewels she had surrendered.

      But her mother didn’t want them. In fact, Beatriz Dominguez had recoiled at the sight of the bracelet. The jewelry—and the memories that accompanied them—was tainted. The bracelet had represented a happier time, when the marriage between Felipe and Beatriz was solid and the family fortune was secure.

      Serena rolled the bracelet around her wrist, accepting the sharp edges digging into her palm as she forced down the bitterness. Her mother may not want the jewels, but it had been important to Serena to keep them. They represented happier moments for her and her family. She had continued to track them down and buy them one piece at a time. She had not stopped in her mission until she had acquired every ring, necklace and hair ornament.

      They were the only jewelry she owned. The only pieces she wore.

      The bracelet was a talisman for her tonight. It served as a reminder of where she had been, what she had gone through and why she was doing this. It gave her focus to keep on this journey when the rest of her family wanted to forget.

      “Boa noite, Senhora Dominguez,” the maître d’ welcomed her, his eyes lighting up with masculine pleasure. “Your guest is waiting for you at the bar.”

      She hesitated, fiercely gripping her evening purse as the surprise rippled through her. Cooper Brock was already here? Before her? She had assumed he would be like most businessmen and arrive late in a failed attempt to set the tone of the evening. The fact that she hadn’t anticipated this maneuver sent a wisp of unease down her spine.

      “Obrigada,” she replied softly as she turned to the bar where the older man gestured. It was her custom to arrive first and take early control of the battlefield. Cooper had taken her move. Why? The man relied on his family name and his charm to make things happen. Either he was eager to get this over with or he found her a worthy opponent.

      She immediately saw Cooper. He was СКАЧАТЬ