Having the Billionaire's Baby(10)

       
           



       

His gaze steady on her, Nick nodded his head slowly, as though in agreement, but he made no move to stand.

Callie reached for her phone. "Regardless of your threats last weekend, I   will call security. Tell the press whatever you like. I'll deal with   the consequences. Negating bad publicity is one of my strengths."

Finally, he unfolded himself from the chair and stood. But instead of   heading for the door, one effortless stride had him standing right in   front of her desk. He rested his fists on the top of it and leaned   forward, making it suddenly hard to breathe. He was so close she could   see gold flecks in his green eyes. "I have good news and bad news for   you." He leaned even closer. Callie wanted to move away, but stood   frozen, her heart thudding in her chest. "Do you have a preference?" he   asked quietly.

"My preference is for you to leave." She reached for her phone. "Will you go, or shall I make that call?"

Unhurriedly, Nick straightened. He picked up the peace lily from her   desk, shifted it to the top of her filing cabinet, nudging aside the   asymmetrical award she'd won a little over a week ago to accommodate the   plant.

"What are you doing?" Her hand tightened on the phone, but she watched in a kind of morbid fascination.

"Clearing your desk for you."

"Why?"

Finally he turned, riveting his attention on her. "The good news is Jason has agreed to sell his share of Ivy Cottage."

Callie let go of the phone. She should have felt a surge of elation and   relief; her business would be fully back under her control, her contact   with Jason would be over, but there was something about the way Nick   continued to study her, like a jungle cat toying with its prey. "And the   bad news is?"

He smiled. "He's sold it to me." He held out his hand, palm up. "Shall I help you onto the desk?"





Four



"N o." Callie dropped into her chair and then stood again, thinking for   an awful moment that she was going to be sick. She glanced at the door   that would take her to the bathroom, but through sheer determination  she  stayed in place and the nausea subsided. The sense of shock  remained.  "That's not possible," she said quietly. This couldn't be  happening. Not  with Nick, the man who was supposed to be one night of  passion and  nothing more. Her guilty secret.

He said nothing as his green eyes assessed her, their calmness a counterpoint to her turmoil.

"Jason wouldn't be able to sell without my knowledge." Her voice rose   and she fought to keep it under control, to keep herself under control.   "We had an agreement. A contract." She studied the face of the man   shaking the foundations of her world.



Finally, expression showed as a disapproving frown creased Nick's brow.   "The agreement you had with Jason was lamentably sloppy. Though I've   seen it before," he said thoughtfully. "Agreements set up between two   people who trust each other, no checks and balances, no provision for a   change in the relationship. Very naive. You should have kept more   control."

"No." The denial sprang again from her lips. Not a denial of her   naïveté, or her trusting in Jason, but another gut-level denial that   this could be happening at all.

Nick didn't contradict her with words, just that steady gaze that told   her he wasn't joking and that he was utterly confident of his position.

Legs weak, Callie lowered herself to her chair. The awful realization   churned in her stomach. He was right, of course. Jason had been   responsible for drawing up their agreements, had used a lawyer friend of   his who'd given them a great price. She hadn't foreseen a time when  one  of them might want to sell. They had, as Nick said, trusted each  other.  Or she at least had trusted him. "But Jason wouldn't do that  without  telling me. It's my business."

"Correction, it's ours." Nick sat down again and gestured to the phone.   "But please, call him for verification if you like. However, it would   seem that pleasing his new brother-in-law, in whose company he now has a   lucrative position, was more important than pleasing his   ex-girlfriend." Even though it had gotten him what he wanted, Nick spoke   the words with a hint of distaste.

Callie's heart sank. Wasn't that just like Jason, always one eye on the   main chance? He was principled, but only to a point. And that point   usually involved money. "You bribed him."

Nick showed no reaction. "I gave him options. The choice was his. It didn't seem a particularly difficult one for him."

She hadn't thought Jason still had the power to hurt her, but this final   betrayal proved how wrong she'd been. The years they'd shared meant   that little to him. Callie looked at Nick, shaking her head in   disbelief. "Why have you done this?" She could understand why Jason had   sold out, but what did Nick want?                       
       
           



       

He leaned back and gave a disinterested shrug. "Control, leverage. I don't like my family being threatened."

"No one was threatening your family. Didn't you talk to Jason? Didn't he   tell you that what little remained of our relationship was  friendship?"

"I talked to him. And he was quite convincing. But then he would be,   wouldn't he? I'm his new brother-in-law. And his boss. We come back to   the fact that rightly or wrongly, Melody feels threatened."

"Wrongly." Callie thumped a fist on her desk.

The gaze that had followed her fist came back to her face. "All the   same," Nick's voice was quiet, reasoned, "I thought an element of   control would help ensure that things run smoothly."

"They were running smoothly."

"And long may they continue to do so."

It was probably a good thing that he'd cleared the top of her desk,   because otherwise she'd surely have thrown something at him by now. "I   know that you buy and sell companies all the time. But this is my   business. It means everything to me. My staff are like family." She held   his gaze before adding, "I can't work with you."

"I understand what you're saying. Anticipated it even, and the solution is simple."



Callie held her head in her hands, foreboding crashing down on her. He   was going to force her out. She would lose everything she'd worked so   hard for. She looked up, met that implacable gaze. "Will you pay me what   you paid him?"

He shook his head. "That's not how it's going to work."

And she wasn't even going to get properly compensated. "You expect me to   just walk away. I have responsibilities, people and their businesses   depending on me."

His eyes widened slightly in surprise. "I'm not a monster, Callie. I did   do some research. It didn't take long to realize you were right about   being the driving force behind this business. It's clear how hard  you've  worked at it. I also have an inkling of what it means to you."

She let her expression speak her disbelief.

"I don't want anything to do with the day-to-day running of the   business. I do expect a reasonable rate of return, as with any venture I   buy into, but as long you ensure that, and have no further contact  with  Jason or Melody, then I'll stay out of your hair."

"Cypress Rise is a client, remember. Contact with Melody is necessary. Unless you're taking the account away?"

"I have no problems with you keeping the account, so long as someone else does the liaison."

How she'd love to throw the account back in his face. But she couldn't.   It meant too much to her business. "The Jazz and Art festival is on in   less than a month," she reminded him. If she left now it would throw it   into chaos. The biggest loser would be its charitable recipient, the   Mary Ruth Home, a shelter for runaway teenagers.



"Do what needs to be done, but have someone else liaise with the winery." He made it sound so simple.

"Is your sister really that insecure? She always struck me as confident   and capable." On the surface, Melody appeared to have it all: a   background of privilege, looks and a career she seemed passionate about.

Nick sat straighter, his gaze cool. "She is confident and capable. In   business. In her personal life she isn't always so confident. She has   her reasons. If it's in my power to protect her, then I will."

"I don't want you breathing down my neck."