‘Oh, so how do you work that out, pray?’ she enquired sarcastically.
Alex’s hands tightened for a moment on her shoulders, and then he released her, the expression on his handsome face bleak. ‘Trust me, Lisa; you don’t need to know.’
‘But I don’t trust you,’ she said bluntly. ‘Not any more.’
He stared hard at her for long, tense seconds, the line of his jaw taut. She thought she saw a flicker of something like pain in his black eyes, but she must have imagined it, because he turned and walked away, to stand looking out of the window. He came back round to face her. ‘You’d better sit down; you are not going to like this,’ he said curtly, and indicated the small satin-covered sofa that rested against the wall with a wave of his hand.
Her first thought was to refuse, but something in his expression made her hesitate to defy him. With a nervous tug on the belt of her robe, she crossed to the sofa and sat down. She tilted her chin, her eyes cold as they met his. ‘So fire away. But try for the truth this time.’
His dark eyes flared briefly with anger at her slur on his honesty, and then he sighed. ‘A year ago Xela Properties—one of my companies as you so rightly said—was approached by a broker with an investment opportunity. Lawson’s Designer Glass was ripe to be taken over and the site developed more profitably.’ He glanced down at Lisa. ‘But then you know all this.’
‘There was no mention of redevelopment in the offer my mother received,’ Lisa snapped.
Alex simply arched one dark brow sardonically. ‘No one shows all his cards to his opponent.’
Lisa frowned. Her mother had been dying at the time, and that made it somehow worse. She looked back at Alex; was he the sort of man to prey on a dying woman?
He read her mind. ‘No. I did not know.’ He began pacing the floor in front of her. ‘Andy Scott investigated the feasibility of the deal, and approached me for permission to proceed, which, after visiting the site, I gave. The offer was turned down. The whole project was shelved and would have stayed that way.’
‘And that was when you decided to use more devious means, like marrying the owner,’ she cut in, hurting from the way he had tricked her.
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Lisa, I did not even know you then,’ Alex snapped. ‘And I could buy and sell your company a million times over. I certainly did not marry you to persuade you into parting with it.’
Put like that, it did make her fears seem a bit groundless, but it did not alter the fact she had overheard him plotting with Nigel. ‘So you say,’ she mumbled, still not prepared to believe him.
He stared down at her for a moment, his dark eyes cold and angry. Then he renewed his pacing. ‘I walked into the bar of a hotel in Statford-upon-Avon and I saw a beautiful elegant blonde with legs to die for. Then I saw her two companions—older, shorter, fatter and dark—nothing like t
he girl. I concluded they must be her sugar daddies.’
Lisa gasped in outrage. ‘You’ve got a nerve, especially with your record with women.’ Then she remembered his dismissive glance at the time and realised why.
‘Yes, cynical of me, I know, but true. Then Nigel, your stepbrother, introduced himself to me, claiming Andy Scott as mutual acquaintance. I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you, Lisa,’ he said with unaccustomed gentleness, ‘but Nigel was the commercial property broker who first brought Andy Scott’s attention to Lawson Designer Glass.’
‘How could he?’ Lisa whispered to herself. But, knowing Nigel, she believed it.
Alex heard her. ‘Quite easily, I’m afraid. I know you consider him family. But he couldn’t wait to inform me I was missing out on a great deal. He suggested I raise the offer and it would be second time lucky. He could guarantee delivering Harold Watson’s thirteen per cent—and if I wasn’t interested, he told me, he had another company lined up that was. I wasn’t particularly keen. The Lawson family was still left with fifty-two per cent—not a very viable proposition for Xela Properties.’
‘But if that’s true, if you really did think like that, why did you go behind my back and buy the shares?’ Lisa asked quietly.
He stopped pacing and stood in front of her, a deep tide of colour darkening his handsome face. ‘Because Nigel pointed you out on that night in Stratford as the owner and was quite effusive about your…’ he hesitated. ‘…character, shall we say, and the relationship between you. He suggested a man of my experience should have no trouble talking you round.’ He had the grace to look ashamed for a second. ‘I would like to think my intentions were noble at the time. It was immediately apparent to me that Nigel was a rogue. I could barely remember the deal he was talking about. I had to ring Andy later that night to refresh my memory. But, to be honest, at the time I simply saw a beautiful girl, who was not the freeloader I had first thought, and jumped at the chance of an introduction.’
Flattering though it was to be called beautiful, Lisa wasn’t fooled, and, leaping to her feet, she cried, ‘I was right all along. You and Nigel are in it together!’ Spinning on her heel, she stormed past him.
‘Stop.’ His hand caught her arm and pulled her around. ‘Don’t you dare walk away from me.’ His hard, angry eyes roamed over her face. ‘You are going to hear me out, even if I have to pin you to the bed to do it. So make your choice.’ Suddenly she was very conscious of his large tanned body. His robe hung open to the waist, revealing his broad hairy chest, and when she glanced up at his angry face he met her look with hard, mocking eyes.
‘All right,’ she muttered, and sat down on the sofa. But this time Alex sat down beside her.
He caught her hands in his. ‘To prevent you lashing out,’ he said grimly, ‘I have had enough of your histrionics.’
He continued as if he had never stopped. ‘When you agreed to marry me, your company was the last thing on my mind. But I did tell Andy Scott to keep a wary eye out for any developments, and also to watch Nigel Watson. I did not trust the man. You were shortly to be my wife, and I naturally wanted to protect your interests.’
‘Don’t you mean your own?’ she sneered.
‘No, damn it, I don’t! The third day of our honeymoon I received a fax from Andy Scott. He had some disturbing news. Nigel had approached another property company with the proposed deal, and they were interested enough to put in a bid for the Lee shares. I instructed Andy to string Nigel along with the promise of a finder’s fee, and put in a counter-bid for Lee’s shares, whatever it cost. That only left Harold’s. Then, last Thursday, Andy made the amazing discovery you had given some shares to the hospice. I had no choice but to buy them.’
‘You could have told me straight away,’ Lisa said fiercely. ‘I could have bought the shares myself. But, no, you had to be in control. I am telling you now, I will fight you every inch of the way if you try to close Lawson’s down.’
Alex shook his head, frustrated as well as angry. ‘For heaven sake, Lisa, we were on our honeymoon. I would have to have been the most insensitive man on the planet to have worried you with business at such a time. And I do not want to close Lawson’s down. I might wish it had never existed, the trouble it has caused,’ he opined dryly, ‘but in fact you should be thanking me for saving it.’