“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. Harris is retiring, and he is looking to sell the company. Almost no one knows, but I do, and I’ve been in talks with him for months. He likes me, but he doesn’t know if he can trust me.”
“So you want to lie to him and tell him that I’m your wife?”
“No, I want you to marry me and help me make my case to him. Harris Energy is a relatively minor player in the energy sector. They are a regional supplier of oil and gas, but they also control rights to over half of the neodymium reserves in the western hemisphere.”
“Neodymium?” Amy asked. “You want me to pretend to be your wife so you can buy magnets?”
Ethan laughed. “Now you get it. It’s an essential component of modern electronics, and a major weakness in my supply chain. My company uses it in everything from cellphones to missiles, and Hilson’s other assets would help us deploy new technology in fields we’ve been trying to break into for years.”
“Again, I don’t see how or why this involves me in any way,” Amy replied.
“Hank Harris is a family man,” Ethan replied. “And he wants to find someone who shares his values to take over his company. I tried to convince him to sell me just the mineral rights, but he won’t break up his company. I told him I understood and assembled a proposal to buy Harris outright. He asked me if I was married, and I told him I was engaged to you.”
“You what?”
“I told him we were getting married in a small ceremony in DC, and that I wanted to keep the whole thing very quiet.” Ethan placed his hands on his head and ran his fingers through his hair as he took a deep breath. “He thinks we got married last weekend.”
“He WHAT?”
Ethan leaned back as he looked over at Amy‘s expression changing as the disbelief and confusion gave way to indignation. He could see it in her eyes and in the way she scrunched up her nose as she scowled at him. He tried to hide his smile as he watched her sitting there, the blush coming into her cheeks as she got madder at him and formulated her rebuke. This was the thing that he liked best about Amy, the way she didn’t take bullshit from anyone, especially from him. That was a rare thing. Almost everyone else he knew, women especially, fell over themselves to appease him. Amy just looked like she wanted to take his head off, especially after they started talking about what had happened in Chicago.
She would have killed him if he said it out loud, but Ethan wanted to tell her how beautiful she was when she was mad like that, not truly angry, but just pissed off. It had been far too long since he had gotten a rise out of her like this, and he tried to enjoy it before she started yelling at him. It was also one of the reasons he had chosen a public place for the meeting. The last thing Amy would have wanted was to end up in a tabloid herself for a fight with the Ethan Cole. Ethan knew he only had a moment or two to make his next move or the whole thing would be ruined.
He reached forward and placed his hand on hers. “Before you say anything,” he said, “I want to tell you exactly what I’m prepared to offer.” This was the moment of truth. He needed to turn this from an argument into a negotiation, because if it were a negotiation, two things would happen. First, Amy would decide that she needed to win. Second, Amy would win by negotiating the best possible terms for herself. After all, this whole thing was in her best interest, and Ethan knew that deep down part of Amy wanted to see what it would be like to be with him. He was prepared to let her win. All he needed was for her to say yes.#p#分页标题#e#
“What’s your starting bid?”
“Five.”
“Million?”
“Yes, for three to four months of being my wife, a few trips to meet with the potential business partner. I could arrange a honeymoon as well. I know of a few places I think you’d like.”
Amy had stopped listening after five. Five million dollars. Amy was successful. She was very successful. She ran her own company. She owned a house in Georgetown. Five million was more than she made over the course of years of hard work, never mind with months of on and off vacationing. She looked at Ethan and stayed silent. What was five million dollars to him anyway? He was one of the richest men in the world.
“I wouldn’t even consider it for less than ten,” she replied.
“Atta girl,” Ethan replied. “Aggressive, I like that. How about we split the difference, seven point five mil?”
Amy laughed. “I think you misheard me. I said I wouldn’t consider less than ten. You could just marry me and let me sue for half your net worth. I happen to know the best divorce lawyer in the country.”