‘What are you talking about?’
‘You don’t know much about old Tommaso, do you?’
‘You knew my grandfather?’ Confused, Maddie stared at him in consternation. ‘How old are you?’
Leo smiled drily. ‘I’m not an eighty-year-old man rescued from looking his age thanks to plastic surgery.’
‘I didn’t think you were.’
‘And no, to answer your first question, I never met the old man.’
‘Then how do you...? I don’t understand.’
‘My grandfather and Tommaso were friends back in the day. Did your mother never talk about what went on between them?’
‘No. No, she didn’t.’
‘Not a word?’
‘I think that part of her life was something she walked away from, and when she walked away she made sure never to look back. I knew she’d fallen out with my grandfather over her choice of partner, and had exiled herself on the other side of the world, but beyond that I really don’t know anything about either of my grandparents. Or their friends.’
‘Well, he and my grandfather were, once upon a time, very good friends. Indeed, they landed in Ireland searching for the same thing,—their fortunes.’
‘What was your father called?’
‘Benito. Benito and Tommaso. Two friends as tight as thieves until a simple bet tore their friendship apart.’
‘A bet?’ Maddie shook her head. She had no idea where this was heading, but her gut instinct was telling her that wherever it was it wasn’t going to be her idea of a dream destination.
‘One bet over a certain small shop. The toss of a coin. My grandfather won the bet.’
‘But...’
‘I know,’ Leo purred with an undercurrent of coolness. ‘You’re asking yourself how it is that Tommaso ended up with the iconic store in Dublin when he lost the bet. I’ll tell you how. Your grandfather betrayed Benito. While he was planning what to do with the shop Tommaso hit the bank, secured a loan and made the deal in record time—and then he put his hands up in mock surrender so that he could take his punishment safe in the knowledge that he’d got what he wanted. So you see—you have your reasons for hanging on and I have my reasons for making sure to loosen your grip. My grandfather has wanted that store for decades. It’s just about the only thing he has left to want. He’s never stopped trying to get it, and I intend to make sure he gets it before he dies.’
Leo thought that technically, the store wasn’t quite the only thing his grandfather had left to want. The pitter-patter of tiny great-grandchildren’s feet was also high on the old man’s wish list—but that was something that wasn’t going to happen.
Not given to introspection, and certainly not given to rehashing a past he wanted to forget, Leo was suddenly reminded of the one and only catastrophe that had provided him with the most valuable learning curve he had ever experienced.
Forget about deals and money and what one power broker might be saying to another power broker in order to undermine him. In the great scheme of things, how did that figure? No, his learning curve had been at the hands of a woman.
He’d been twenty-three, cocksure and confident that he knew all there was to know about women. She’d been ten years older, and what she knew hadn’t yet registered on his radar. She’d been sexy, offhand, and she’d made him work. She’d made him work all the way up the aisle into a marriage that had ended before the ink on the certificate had had time to dry.
The alluring, enigmatic sexy woman he’d married had turned out to be a wily fortune-hunter who’d known just what tricks to play on a young rich kid with too much self-confidence and too little cynicism.
After two years she’d relinquished her band of gold in exchange for financial security for the rest of her life.
Leo still kept a picture of her in his wallet—because everybody needed a reminder of their youthful folly.
Afterwards, he’d wondered whether he hadn’t been subconsciously ripe for the picking because his grandmother, desperately ill at the time, had been so keen for him to settle down. He’d gone into something and it hadn’t been with his eyes wide open.
Thankfully his grandmother had died before she could witness the true horror of Leo’s divorce proceedings and all mention of those pitter-pattering little feet had been dropped, but Leo knew that it was something his grandfather still secretly longed for. He still nurtured a burning desire to see his one and only grandson settled with some plump homely wife who would be there to keep the home fires burning.
Not going to happen.
But number two on the list could happen.
‘I don’t believe you.’ Maddie glared at him defiantly. ‘The world doesn’t need another electronics store. My grandfather’s place adds to the history of this city and I’m never—repeat, never—going to sell it to you or to anyone else. And I don’t care how much money you throw at me!’
She was furious on so many levels that she could scarcely breathe. Furious that he had tried to destroy the image she had in her head of her grandfather. But of course he would try any low trick in the book to get what he wanted! Furious that he was so unfazed by every single thing she’d said to him. And furious that he still had that stupid, stupid effect on her even though she absolutely hated him!
‘Is that the sound of a gauntlet being thrown down?’ Leo drawled, enjoying the hectic colour in her cheeks and wanting more than anything else to kiss her into submission in just the sort of crazy, macho way he really should have no time for.
‘Yes, it is!’
‘Fine.’ Leo shrugged and began sauntering towards the door. ‘In that case...game on.’
CHAPTER FIVE
LEO LOOKED AT the report sitting in front of him. It was slight, but significant. Three pages at most. In the week since he’d seen Maddie he’d had time to reflect on what approach he wanted to take with regard to the store.
‘I won’t rest until I have it.’
That was what his grandfather had declared only days before, when Leo had presented him with the obstacle in his way in the form of one very beautiful, very stubborn and ridiculously fiery girl from the other side of the world.
‘It’s a matter of pride. I was fair to Tommaso when he started haemorrhaging money because of the gambling and the drinking. I knew about his wife, knew how unexpected her death was and how hard it’d hit him, and I felt sorry for what the man was going through. We’d been friends, after all. But time and bitterness and pain had turned him into a vengeful old man. He would rather have seen the store fall into rack and ruin than sell it to me—even though I offered way above market price for it—just like he sliced his daughter out of his life rather than forgive and move on. Forget what the granddaughter says about hanging on to it because it’s part of the city’s heritage. Rubbish! Tommaso couldn’t have given a damn about heritage! He refused to sell through sheer spite. He never forgave me because I refused to accept what he had done—refused to accept that he had betrayed me and I’d called him a dishonourable cheat!’
Leo was quietly pleased that his grandfather had still insisted on the purchase. Had he not insisted it was possible that he, Leo, would have shrugged and walked away because he couldn’t be bothered with the fight. He would have simply bided his time, waited a couple of years until the place was collapsing—because how successful was it going to be, really, when Maddie hadn’t the first idea about running a business—and moved in for the kill.
But she’d thrown down a gauntlet. That was something Leo had never been able to resist.
And more than that... The thought of Maddie being the instigator of the challenge frankly thrilled him.
He hadn’t been able to dislodge the woman from his head, where she seemed to have taken up semi-permanent residence. Walking away from her might just have been more frustrating than walking away from the purchase.
And
now, in front of him, he had just what he needed to get what he wanted. The trump card, in a manner of speaking. The ace of spades.
To play it or not to play it...?
He would see how their meeting went.
This time he had invited her to his own offices in London. No accountants would be present...no high-powered lawyers.
‘We need to talk,’ he had drawled when he had called her two evenings previously. ‘I have some information you might find of interest...’
He had heard the hesitation in her voice when she had demanded to know what he could possibly have of interest when she had already said all there was to say on the matter.
He’d had his doubts that she would show up, in which case he would be prepared to simply go and get her, but to his surprise she had texted him only a few hours ago to confirm the meeting and added,
I have something to tell you as well.
When he had tried calling her she had failed to pick up.
And now here he was, and he hadn’t been so invigorated in as long as he could remember.
When his PA buzzed to tell him that his visitor had arrived and was waiting in the foyer downstairs, he relaxed back into his chair and smiled to himself, savouring the tingle of anticipation.
‘Show her up in fifteen minutes.’
After all, a little bit of mind-games never went amiss...
* * *
Downstairs, Maddie was trying hard to squash the painful sensation of nausea rippling through her in little waves. It was like seasickness except far, far worse.
What did Leo want to see her about? What did he have to say that he thought might be of interest? Would he offer more money?
As things stood, Anthony was already getting cold feet about her plan to keep the store, and she’d had to endure a long, meaningful chat about the importance of at least considering the very generous offer Leo had made. There was only so far the very loyal investors would agree to it, he had said. In the end they were only human, and if enough money was thrown at them, they would start leaving the sinking ship in droves.
Maddie knew that she would have to be as cool as a cucumber and stand her ground. Except...
She felt another wave of nausea and knew it had nothing to do with the financial discussions ahead of her. Feeling faint now, she closed her eyes briefly and tried not to relive the shock of finding out that she was pregnant.
How could she have been so reckless? She’d thought the chances were slim when they’d made love, but the possibility of pregnancy had begun nibbling away at the edges of her mind. Beneath all the angst over the store, and her even greater angst at her chaotic feelings towards Leo, there had been a dragging fear that that one slip-up might have had repercussions.
Even so, she’d been convinced when she’d done a test that she couldn’t be that unlucky. Wasn’t there a limit to how much bad luck one person could have in a lifetime? Surely she’d used up her allowance?
Seemingly not.
Little did he know, but one more euro on the table and she would have to relinquish her dream of resurrecting the store and carrying on the legacy her grandfather had left her.
How could she gamble on making a success of something she had never done before when, with a baby inside her, taking a gamble was the one thing she couldn’t afford to do now?
But Maddie wasn’t going to think of worst-case scenarios. Not yet.
She sat.
She waited.
And she grew more and more nervous with each passing second.
If he’d wanted to intimidate her he’d chosen his venue well, because this was luxury on a scale that was practically unimaginable. Looking around her, she could tell that even the tiniest of details, like the potted plant on the smoked glass table in front of her, was pricey.
The people looked pricey! All young and beautiful in sharp suits, scuttling to and from the bank of elevators on a mission to make more and more money.
She jumped when someone suddenly stood in front of her and told her to follow.
She’d been sitting around for over a quarter of an hour, but instead of the delay giving time for her nerves to settle it had had the opposite effect.
‘Mr Conti apologises for the delay in seeing you,’ said the forty-something woman with the severe hair cut but kindly face as she preceded Maddie to one of the elevators.
Maddie very much doubted that, but she remained silent, too overawed by her surroundings and too wrapped up with what she was going to say to Leo to say anything at all.
But even in her distraught, anxious daze she couldn’t help but notice the details of his vast offices—the smell and feel of money beyond most people’s wildest imaginations.
The lift was a deep walnut with smoked glass, and when it stopped they were disgorged into a huge glass space where workstations were separated by glass partitions and exotic plants. It was predominantly white, and there were a lot of sleek, wafer-thin computers on desks where everyone was hard at work. In fact, no one even glanced across as they walked away from what almost looked like a greenhouse with industrious worker bees towards a more intimate area.
The offices of the CEO were private, and concealed behind walnut and chrome doors. Nerves building to a peak, Maddie nearly turned tail and ran when they finally paused in front of them, closed at the very end of the plush, wide corridor.
‘Don’t be nervous.’ The PA turned to her with a smile and a wink. ‘Deep down, he’s a lamb.’ She paused. ‘Well, perhaps lamb isn’t quite the word I’m looking for, but he’s scrupulously fair.’
‘I’m not nervous,’ Maddie lied, her teeth all but chattering.
Her stomach was in knots as she was propelled through a vast outer office—grey, white and glass—through an interconnecting door and then she was there. Standing in front of him while behind her the door quietly clicked shut.
Maddie stared. She couldn’t help herself. The real-life Leo Conti was so much more powerful, so much more breathtaking than the two-dimensional one who had dominated her thoughts for the past couple of weeks since she had seen him.
Her mouth went dry and every single coherent thought vanished from her head, zapped into the ether by the devastating effect he had on her.
‘Why don’t you have a seat?’ Leo said politely.
He wondered whether she was looking at him like that on purpose. Was she trying to turn him on?
Just like that his thoughts veered off at a tantalising tangent.
She wanted the store and, as she’d said, that want was wrapped up in all sorts of motivations that had nothing to do with money.
What if she’d decided that stubborn refusal and a fight was the wrong approach to get what she wanted? What if she’d decided that a more powerful weapon was sex?
The drab outfit, a replica of the one she had worn at the last meeting she had attended, certainly didn’t advertise a woman prepared to bare her all as a means to an end, but strangely it was even more provocative than if she’d worn a mini-skirt and stilettoes.
Leo toyed with that pleasurable notion in the space of the few seconds it took for her to sink into a chair which was strategically slightly lower than the one in which he was sitting.
He imagined her coming on to him, offering herself to him. He pictured that interconnecting door being locked and his PA dispatched while he stripped her, very, very slowly, and took her even more slowly on his desk...on the sofa in his outer chamber...on the floor...
Sudden craving surged through him and he had to breathe evenly and focus—although even focussing he still found himself overly absorbed at a scenario he had not once considered.
Would he back off the deal in exchange for that luscious body at his disposal?
Sex and women had never—not once—come ahead of business for him, but in this instance Leo found himself giving serious consideration
to breaking that sacred principle.
Angry with himself, he shook his head and looked at her coolly from under lowered lashes. ‘You seem to be having a problem accepting the deal I’ve offered you.’
‘Is that why you called me in? To go over all this? Do you think you can intimidate me if there isn’t an army of lawyers and accountants around?’
Maddie wanted to sound firm and in control, and she wondered whether he could detect the nervous wobble in her voice.
She’d spent ages wondering when she should break the news of her pregnancy to him. Or even if she should tell him at all! Not only had he been a fleeting visitor in her life but he had entered it under false pretences. Was that the sort of man she wanted as an influence on any child of hers?
He might do crazy things to her body, but wasn’t he just another mega-wealthy guy who believed that life was his for the taking? Arrogant? Superior? Not above stamping on other people if it suited them? Hadn’t she had too much experience of men like that to invite one into her life simply because she’d happened to fall pregnant by him?
She had had enough of a shock—was now facing enough of an altered future. Did she want to further compound the situation by telling Leo?
Of course there was a chance that he might just shrug and walk away from the whole situation, but what if he didn’t?
He would be around for ever.
The pros and cons had gone round and round in her head in the space of a handful of hours, but the reality was that she had known from the very second she had seen that pink line that there was no way she could keep the pregnancy from him.
She knew what it felt like to grow up without a father. It was not something she would recommend. Not unless she had very good reason to go down that route.
Her mother had made her choices and Maddie had known that those choices had been difficult and irretrievable. Her own father had been a bastard—a coward and a fortune-hunter.
Leo, whatever else he might be, was none of those things.
So, as she waited to hear what he had to say, for his conversation to play out before hers could begin, she knew that her nerves stemmed from her own revelations to come rather than whatever it was he had summoned her into his office to impart.
The Italian's One-Night Consequence Page 7
