Forbidden Seduction (The Diamond Club Book 12)
Page 15
His thin lips smiled slightly, but because the man’s face was all angles and planes, harsh lines and boogey-man intensity…the smile didn’t warm his features in any way.
“Lana, I know that you’re in over your head. Your father’s businesses were far-ranging.”
That was true, but Lana wasn’t going to admit that to this man. Leaning forward, she clasped her hands in front of her and looked directly into his ice-blue eyes. “Christoph, you’re being a patronizing ass,” she came right back.
He stared at her for a long moment, then threw back his head laughing.
For some reason, the sound made her heart pound harder but she hid her insane reaction by crossing her arms more tightly over her chest.
When he looked up at her this time, there seemed to be a glimmer in his icy eyes. A glimmer of…ice? Or heat?
“That’s good, my dear. No one has ever had the courage to call me out in such a way. Which,” he leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees, “makes my offer even more enticing.”
Lana watched him for a long moment, tensing because she knew with absolute certainty that she wasn’t going to like his offer. An easy supposition, since she’d never liked anything this particular man ever said to her. “I can’t sell the business to you. Even if I could, I wouldn’t. Not to you,” she told him with a bit of her own smug delight, warning him that she wasn’t going to give in to threats or intimidation – two tactics she knew this man was extremely good at.
His grin widened for a brief moment. And did those eyes of his glance downward? Lana wasn’t sure because it was only a brief flash, then he was looking right back into her hazel eyes once again. “I don’t want to buy any of your businesses. I know that you can’t legally do that. The terms of your father’s will were very strict.”
Wait – he knew about the terms of her father’s will? Her mouth fell open in shock. “How…how do you know about what’s in my father’s will?” she squeaked out, even more…impressed because her father’s will was private. No one but her father’s attorney and Lana knew about what her father had demanded of her. So yeah, she was more than a little impressed. And terrified. And overwhelmed. How in the world could he know?!
“It doesn’t matter how I know,” he replied smoothly and stood up, moving around to the other side of the desk. Immediately, Lana stood up, not wanting to be so much lower than this man.
“I know that your father’s will declared that you couldn’t sell off any part of the business. Everything he owned, right up until the point of his unexpected heart attack, will go to your husband.”
She wanted to step back, but seeing him this close reminded her of those few minutes in his arms, swaying gently to the music. But she hadn’t heard the music that night. Every ounce of her mind, her body, had been focused only on this man and trying not to let him know how intensely confused she’d felt when he held her like that.
Taking a deep breath, she shook her head, trying to banish the image from her mind and the feelings from her body. Those blasted memories were…warped! She’d magnified them in her mind over time. There was no way she was accurately remembering her body’s reaction because she would never betray her father by…reacting in that way to his foremost enemy!
So what if she’d had a few erotic dreams featuring that dance and this man? He’d never know about those dreams! Ever!
Her chin lifted slightly in an attempt to appear more confident than she felt. “Okay, so you know about the private details of my father’s sexist will. Should I be impressed that you have super-secret spies that are everywhere? Your information doesn’t change the details.” She shrugged slightly. “I don’t see how that is relevant.”
He buttoned his suit coat as he looked down at her, his icy eyes not revealing anything.
“I want to be your husband.” He pulled a card out of his pocket, wrote something on the back, then laid the card on the edge of her desk. “This is my private number. Call me when you’re ready to talk.”
And with those words, he left her with her mouth hanging open and no pithy response to toss back at him.
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