Tempted by Her Billionaire Boss(16)

"It'll have company now..." She jumped when Harrison spoke from behind  her. He moved with a catlike grace that made him virtually undetectable.

"Relax," he drawled, his mouth tilting with amusement. "I'm not Viktor Kaminski."

No, he wasn't. He was far more dangerous. Especially when he smiled like  that. It was like watching the sun come out on a rainy day. She shifted  her gaze back to the painting to get her pulse under control. A bird  and a woman were perched in a magnificently colored bouquet of flowers  floating over the waters of what must be Nice, with its palm trees and  similarity to the one she'd seen in London. Again, as with the other  one, the image did not make complete sense. The bouquet had the tails of  a fish instead of stems, and the buildings dotting the Riviera were  curved not straight.

"It's fantastical, almost supernatural," she murmured. "Things that  shouldn't be together are and it seems perfectly natural. Like he  envisioned some sort of alternate universe."

He nodded, his gaze moving to the painting. "I think he did. The art  historians describe his work as figurative and narrative art. Chagall  was embraced by many-the surrealists, the cubists, the suprematists-but  he rejected them all. He created a new reality for himself-one that was  based on both his inner and outer worlds-the story, the dream he wanted  to tell. This series in Nice," he said, waving a hand at the painting,  "is always very mystical and inspirational. The colors are incredible."         

     



 

She got that completely. "Is he one of your favorites?"

"Likely my favorite." The amber flecks in his eyes she found so  fascinating glimmered in the expertly angled lighting, giving him a  softer appearance. "Some of his later works are much more heartbreaking.  They speak of the personal tragedies he suffered before he ended up  here in New York."

"I would like to see some of those. I'm sure they'd be amazing."

"They are very moving."

She found herself fascinated by this side of him. The emotion in his  eyes when he talked about the artist hinted at a depth to him, an  ability to feel he kept hidden underneath the layers.

He read her expression. "You're surprised." His lips curled. "The beast does feel, Francesca. When he lets himself."

Like that night in the car...when he'd let go of that formidable control of his and kissed her senseless.

She couldn't help taking a step on the dangerous side. "Why doesn't he let himself do that all the time?"

He lifted a shoulder. "A beast doesn't need to connect. He lives on another level entirely."

That he did. Her mouth pursed with the desire to speak, but she shut it  down. He might tell himself that. But everyone needed to connect, to  experience their human ability to feel. Even a beast.

"Shall we get started, then?"

He nodded. "Elisa is making a shrimp-and-lobster paella. Would you like a drink first?"

She shook her head. "Mineral water is fine." Tonight she was keeping this all about business. Every last single minute of it.

The pentagon-shaped terrace, boasting coveted southern, eastern and  western views of New York, including one of Central Park, was an amazing  space to work in. Frankie booted up her PC in one of the comfortable  seating areas scattered around the space, and took in the view.

"I've received input from Marketing and Sales," she told Harrison when he returned with their drinks.

"Good." He came over to sit beside her to look at the screen. He was  overwhelmingly male and distracting with his long legs splayed out in  front of him. It was going to take all her powers of concentration to  keep her mind where it should be.

"Did we get operations to mock up an organizational structure?"

"Yes, it's here." She flipped to the slide. The drawing illustrated  every division of the massive company that was Grant International,  including a new parallel subcompany to Taladan for gauges and meters in  Siberius. It was mind-numbing to look at, the scale was so vast. Pretty  much every piece of a car you didn't see on the outside was made by  Grant International.

Harrison studied the diagram. "That's fine. Slot an overall positioning  slide in at the beginning and I'll give you some points."

She added an up-front slide. He started dictating points, then stopped,  backtracked and changed some of his wording. It sounded like semantics  to her but she kept typing.

"Point three-the Siberius brand will be maintained as is, pending the  outcome of the operations group and consumer research studies."

Frankie started typing. He frowned and waved a hand at her. "Delete that. I want to bury it further down in the plan."

Bury it? Why would they do that?

She kept her mouth shut. He had a reason for everything he did, much of  it unbeknownst to her. They finished the opening slides and started on  the marketing plan. Frankie thought the team had done an excellent job  of making gauges and meters a sexy topic for the industry audience the  campaign would be targeted at, but Harrison ripped out two of her  favorite ideas.

"Why?" she asked, with her newly granted ability to question. "Those are  really smart, creative ideas that work for the target audience. Isn't  that key to growing a brand?"

He nodded, his dark lashes coming down to veil his gaze. "But I think it's overkill in this case."

They moved on to the next section of ideas the marketing team had  grouped as "core must-haves." The first point included ads in trade  publications. "Take that out," Harrison instructed. Now she really  didn't understand. When Josh had gone through the ideas with her he had  told her advertising was key to creating mass awareness for a product.  "If nobody in the North American market knows about Siberius's cool  products," she asked, "how are you going to expand its base?"

He gave her a pained look. "Expanding Siberius's base isn't an important  priority for us right now. It's doing fine in the strength areas it  currently occupies."

This was hurting her brain. She put her laptop down and eyed him  contemplatively. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we supposed to be  selling Leonid on how Siberius will flourish within Grant International?  Encouraging him we are the right way to go? He said he had innovative  products no one else has. How do we promote those?"         

     



 

"Every company says they have innovative products," he bit out  impatiently. "I am conscious of not setting unrealistic expectations  when anything could happen when the board gets ahold of this deal."

She frowned. "But of course they'll support the plan if this is the only  way you can get Leonid to sign. They'll have no choice."

"That's an idealistic way to look at it, but the reality is they'll do  what makes business sense. I can only make suggestions. In scenarios  like this when we're acquiring similar resources, the board will likely  force us to streamline the two companies into one. It's doubtful  Siberius will be left standing as its former entity."

"So why are we spending all this time doing a plan?" The words were  hardly out of her mouth before it hit her. Harrison had no intention of  keeping Siberius intact. He was going to lure Leonid in with this plan  and dismantle Siberius when it was done.

Every bone in her body hated the idea. The company had belonged to  Leonid's father. He wanted his legacy preserved. That had been his whole  hesitation in signing.

She eyed him. "It's a bait and switch."

The impatience in his gaze devolved into a dark storm brewing. "No," he  rejected in a lethally quiet voice. "I made a promise to Leonid to do  what I can to see Siberius preserved. It is beyond my or any other CEO's  control to promise him it will remain intact when business realities  say it won't."

Yet he wasn't even giving the company a fighting chance with this plan. She lifted her chin. "I see."

"Francesca..."

She shook her head. This was the part where she needed to stop talking  because it got her into trouble. "Let's keep going," she said quietly,  looking down at her screen. "Where were we?"

"Francesca," he growled. "This is business. Put the self-righteous look  away and be a big girl. You have no idea of the stakes here."

The "big girl" remark did it for her. She looked up at him, eyes  spitting fire. "Dictate to me what you want in this plan and I will do  it. But do not ask me to say that this is right."

"It is right." His ebony gaze sat on her with furious heat. "This is the law of the jungle. Only the fittest survive."

"In your world," she said evenly. "Not in mine."

"And what would your world have me do? Allow some other predator to snap  Siberius up because I'm the one stupid enough to tell Leonid the truth?  Not happening."

"I believe in karma," Frankie said stubbornly. "I know what a good man Leonid is. He's putting his trust in you."