The Billionaire’s Blackmail Bargain
Book Description
Simone Maxwell will do anything to save her family’s business; it’s her pride and her passion. But she certainly doesn’t expect her lifeline to be Cade Dupont, the man who broke her heart years ago…
Billionaire Cade knows Simone is in a vulnerable position – which is exactly where he wants her. She owes him big-time, and here is the perfect opportunity to settle his dues in the sweetest way possible…with Simone in his bed and at his command!
Read An Excerpt
So engrossed was Simone in her thoughts that she didn’t see the man crossing the room. The first she knew was when his well-remembered voice cracked open memories best forgotten!
Cade Dupont!
The last person in the world she wanted to see at a time like this. How he would glory in her downfall.
She turned her head, her breath catching in her throat, raw emotions rising like a floodtide. ‘What are you doing here?’
His six feet plus figure towered over her; his savagely handsome face sent a fast-paced chill through her heart. She closed her eyes, hoping he was nothing more than a figment of her imagination, of deeply disturbing memories, but no – when she slanted another look he was still there.
An impeccable grey jacket sat over wide shoulders and matching trousers hid powerful thighs. A white silk shirt emphasised skin darkened by the sun, and a grey and gold silk tie completed his ensemble. The gold in the tie matched the gold in his eyes – eyes that had once had the power to melt her bones at a hundred paces. And unhappily he was as gloriously male as he had ever been.
‘Now there’s a welcome.’ Without waiting for an invitation he slid on to a chair opposite. ‘Aren’t you pleased to see me?’
‘I’m surprised,’ she replied, ignoring his question. ‘I thought you were on the other side of the world.’
‘And by the look on your face you wish I’d stayed there.’ Nostrils flared and the smile that accompanied his initial greeting slammed back to wherever it had come from. His lips turned unforgivingly down at the corners and his golden eyes cut a laser beam through the space between them. ‘What was your meeting about? You clearly didn’t get what you wanted.’
Disbelief flashed in Simone’s violet eyes. ‘You were eavesdropping? I can’t believe that – ’
‘Hardly,’ he intervened, ‘I was too far away. ‘But body language is very telling, and perhaps I might be permitted to say that you still have a very fanciable body.’ His eyes dropped from her face to the swell of her breasts beneath her fine cashmere top.
Simone ignored the prickle of heat his hard eyes engendered; a heat that started subtly but then claimed every corner of her body until she felt as if she was on fire. ‘What are you doing here – apart from spying on me, of course?’ She had thought her day couldn’t get any worse. Big mistake! Cade Dupont had every reason to be furious with her, but she didn’t need his caustic tongue at this moment.
His dark hair with its inclination to curl was cut brutally short; she could even see the glint of a grey hair or two. And his well-defined brows levelled over eyes that were uncomfortably intent. ‘Business dealings,’ he announced.
His generous mouth turned up all too briefly and his spectacularly long lashed eyes continued to abrade her. Eyes that had used to – no! She mustn’t go down that path. Not ever again. Not ever! Even though her traitorous body recognised this man as the one who had initiated her into the world of spinning senses and intensified emotions. Who had taken her on a voyage of discovery of her own sensuality.
‘With whom?’ she questioned when he didn’t enlarge.
‘I’m looking to set up a business here.’
‘Here? Right here?’ Even to her own ears she sounded stupid. But what else could she say. She didn’t want Cade Dupont on her doorstep; he was her past. Part of which had been gloriously happy, even fantastically, spectacularly exciting, but it had all ended in disaster. And there was nothing she could do about it now.
‘What sort of a business?’ she asked, in a voice that sounded nothing like her own.
The Whitsundays were Australia’s premier area for boat hire. Surely he wasn’t thinking of setting up in opposition to her? Trips out to the Great Barrier Reef were always booked well in advance. In fact the Whitsundays with its more than a hundred different islands, many of them national parks, some with holiday resorts, were the jewels in the crown of any holiday destination.
Simone counted herself lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world but her hopes and ambitions hadn’t worked out and now the company needed a massive investment, money she didn’t have, money the banks refused to lend her, and her last hope had been the two guys who’d just left.
She threw the remains of her wine down her throat and reached for the bottle.
‘Allow me.’
Long brown fingers touched hers, making her flinch, making her draw back. She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out again slowly. She watched as Cade refilled her glass and beckoned for one to be brought to him. He exuded confidence big time.
Cade was thirty-two now, she was nine years younger – older and wiser than the eighteen year old who’d made such a fool of herself. But not old enough to handle an ailing business, she thought bitterly. Not old enough to have amassed enough money to turn it around.
It had been on a downward spiral ever since she’d taken over. It needed money for essential boat maintenance, for new boats to replace the older ones, money she didn’t have. In fact her father had handed her a sinking ship and bookings were getting fewer and fewer.
Soon she would have to call it a day. Which was a shame because she was in a prime position. She had a good-sized marina. Someone would snap her hands off and with the right financial investment it would garner a small fortune.
‘What sort of business am I contemplating?’ Cade held his glass up to the light and studied its contents as though it was of paramount importance. A small, satisfied smile settled on his lips. ‘Sailing boat charter; it’s the only business I know.’
Simone felt her heart stop and it was a long time before it started again. ‘You run a charter company in England?’
Dark brows rose. ‘Why not?’ And his nostrils dilated. His attitude changed. And his next words were clipped and precise. ‘Clearly I had to get a loan, but I found the business very lucrative – run properly.’ Then his golden eyes narrowed on her face. ‘How is your company, by the way?’
He knew! She could tell by his challenging voice, by his closely guarded expression. He’d been asking questions. He was well aware that she now ran MM Charters and that it was on a slippery slope to humiliating failure.
‘I have no wish to discuss it,’ Simone replied tautly.
‘No?’ One eyebrow rose this time. ‘Why is that, I wonder? Could it have anything to do with the fact that it’s not doing too well at the moment?’
‘So you were prying!’ she accused, violet eyes blazing. Heavens, she needed to leave, and quickly. The middle of a restaurant was no place to argue with Cade Dupont. She sucked in another deep breath, and then another, and when he didn’t respond she rose to her feet. ‘I’m out of here. Goodbye, Cade.’
With her back ramrod straight and her chin high, Simone marched from the elegant dining room. But she wasn’t getting away that easily. Through a mirror in the facing wall she caught sight of him striding after her, although not before he had thrown a handful of notes on to the table.
Damn! She’d forgotten to pay. Or was it his own bill he was settling? She swung around and faced him fiercely. ‘What was that money for?’
‘Just settling up.’
‘My bill or yours?’
‘Both as a matter of fact,’ he answered smoothly. ‘I’m sure it will be more than enough.’
Simone opened her bag and searched for her credit card, but a firm brown hand stilled her.
‘My treat.’
‘I won’t let you,’ she snapped, horrified when his touch sent her pulses into devastating spasm. She didn’t need this; she didn’t want personal complications on top of her present problems. Cade was her past and that’s where he must stay.
‘Can you really afford to turn me down?’ he asked in a silken smooth voice, his long hard body almost touching hers. So close that she could smell the male scent of him; so close that she could feel the full violent impact of his sexuality.
‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’ Simone’s enormous violet eyes were almost purple in her distress. She wished he would step away. She didn’t want to back off because it would reveal the fact that she found him too deeply disturbing, but his nearness threatened to cut off her breathing.
‘Your problems are common knowledge around here.’ He smiled as he spoke, and in her heightened state Simone felt that he was taking great delight in imparting that piece of news. ‘Of course everyone’s sympathetic, but business is business, isn’t that right?’ he murmured smoothly. ‘And since I’m in the same game maybe there’s something I can do for you?’
Simone’s heartbeat quickened until finally it hammered a painful tattoo against her ribcage. She wanted to put her hand over it, still its flight, but to do so would alert Cade to her fear. What was he suggesting? That he buy her out? She couldn’t allow that. It would be too ironic by far.
‘There’s nothing you can do,’ she declared fiercely, continuing her race out of the restaurant. ‘I’ll sort my own problems.’
It was bad enough that he’d paid her bill, without him offering to bail her out of her present difficulties. And it was extremely humiliating that he had asked around and found out how badly MM Charters were doing. She could have done with hiding that fact from him. Her situation was actually worse than anyone knew. A few more weeks, maybe less, and she would be out of business altogether.
But Cade wasn’t letting her get away that easily. ‘You really would be a fool to turn me down.’
He was hot on her heels as she raced out of the restaurant and Simone fancied that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. She hurried even faster to her parked car. It was unbelievable that he still had the power to churn her emotions. It felt as though the years in between had melted away like raindrops in the sun.
Their relationship had been hot and amorous; she’d given herself to him so completely that it was embarrassing now to even think about it. He had taught her the art of lovemaking; he had turned her from an innocent teenager into a woman fully aware of her body and all the pleasures it held. She had been totally in love with him.
When she reached her car she turned around, fully intending to tell him to leave her alone. But when their eyes met, when she saw the dangerous darkness lurking there, a cyclone erupted, sucking all the breath from her body. She saw once again the man who had been her perfect lover and instead of thinking about her troubles all she could concentrate on was Cade himself and the way he could still whip up her emotions to such an extent that she wanted to scream for release.
‘Please leave me alone.’ Her voice was no more than a husky whisper and she was conscious of her breasts rising and falling far more rapidly than they were supposed to do. The only time they had ever behaved like this was when they were making spectacular glorious love.
Simone checked her thoughts. Best not think along those lines. Not at this moment anyway. She was more concerned with getting rid of Cade.
Except that Cade did not want to go. His feet were planted firmly on the ground, he leaned on the car with one hand and his other looked as though it was prepared to take the key fob from her if she should dare try to climb inside.
His eyes locked unwaveringly into hers. She had never met a man with eyes so sensationally golden. They were the colour of a lion’s skin, sometimes softly seductive, sometimes purposeful, sometimes dark with passion. They had used to turn her bones to liquid and the annoying part was that they still had the power to thrill. Did she have no shame? What she had involuntarily done to him was unpardonable. She should be getting down on her knees and begging his forgiveness, not telling him to get the hell out of her life.
‘Don’t dismiss my offer out of hand, Simone,’ he said softly. ‘If what I’ve been told is true I’ve arrived at exactly the right time.’
Mills & Boon
ISBN: 0263864626
September 2008
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