Married for the Tycoon's Empire

He waited until he was on his way to the airport a little later that morning before he made the call. When Elizabeth Young answered and realised who it was, she wasted no time in telling Ben what she thought of him going behind her back to pursue Lia anyway.

When she’d stopped speaking, Ben delivered his piece and then bit out, ‘Can you set me up on another date? Please?’

After a long moment she said, ‘You have one more chance, Mr Carter, but only because I know how hard it is for men like you to admit you were wrong and to say please.’

CHAPTER NINE

‘WOW, YOU’RE ACTUALLY admitting you want a marriage of convenience—that’s pretty cold.’ The woman Ben had had three very chaste dates with over the past two weeks—because he couldn’t bring himself to even think about kissing her—seemed to absorb that for a moment and then said, ‘I’d have to consider it—and see the prenuptial agreement, of course—but it’s certainly a possibility.’

Ben wasn’t even surprised that she wasn’t running away as if he was a two-headed monster. He’d dated enough hard-nosed and cynical women in New York to know that many wouldn’t balk at a proposal like this. To some it would be positively romantic.

The woman who sat on the opposite side of the dinner table to Ben, in one of Manhattan’s most exclusive restaurants, was stunningly beautiful. Blonde, and groomed to within an inch of her life. A UN interpreter.

She’d make a perfect wife—on paper, at least. But the fact that the union he sought was potentially within his grasp left him utterly unmoved. Because he knew it wasn’t going to happen.

He was haunted by someone else. Lia. He’d thought he could excise her from his life, move on. The reality was somewhat less...facile. It was downright impossible, in fact, and as the days passed it got worse. Not better. Even now he burned. For her. He would have her over any amount of suitable women and she could walk out on him as much as she liked...he’d always go after her.

A sense of bleak futility gripped him and he put down his napkin, saying, ‘I’m sorry about wasting your time, but actually this isn’t going to work.’

A look of alarm came over his date’s face. ‘Look, I’m willing to think it over.’

Ben felt grim. ‘I’m sorry, but, no.’

She put down her napkin too, and exasperation was evident on her face. She stood up and looked down at him. ‘If you want my advice, go and deal with whatever or whoever has you tied up in knots. If you still want to talk then, give me a call. I won’t wait around for ever, though,’ she added warningly, just before she walked out.

Ben threw down some money on the table, disgusted with himself, and left too, walking out into the cool night air, hands deep in the pockets of his overcoat.

He walked for block after block, until he found himself down near the wrecking site of an old building he’d just acquired. They’d knocked it down just that day. A hoarding emblazoned with his name blocked the view of the mound of rubble. The building had been two hundred years old and crumbling. But for the first time in his life he felt a pang. It had had history—people had lived and died there. It had witnessed lives. And now it was gone, reduced to nothing.

It would be replaced by something new, modern. A skyscraper, making the most out of a small space. Progress. Development. Moving on. So why did Ben feel so damn empty when at this point he usually felt nothing but satisfaction flowing through his veins?

He turned around, emitting something like a growl, making a couple passing near him look at him warily.

Oblivious to their reaction, Ben looked around him at all the darkened buildings, empty but for a few cleaners. They were solid—shining symbols of the resurrection and success he’d always strived to achieve, something he could literally reach out and touch—but ultimately they were no safer than the building he’d had demolished today. They were just as fragile, susceptible to being destroyed.

From here he could see the twin beams of light marking Ground Zero. If anything signified the fragility of structures and life, that did. But it also symbolised strength and fortitude and survival. A contradiction.

For the first time in his life Ben had a sense that even if he lost everything tomorrow he would be able to get back up and build it all again. After all, he’d started from nothing. He wasn’t his father—he would never collapse and disappear as he had done. Or his mother.

He felt something lift off his shoulders...some weight he hadn’t even noticed. He faced back the way he’d come, filled with a sense of resolve.

He knew he’d made a pact with Mancini, Trakas and Sheikh Al-Ghamdi, but suddenly what had mattered all those weeks ago didn’t any more. Ben knew now that he could only go one way and suffer the consequences...no matter what they might be.

A week later

Lia was standing at the window in her office, looking out over London broodingly. The weather matched her mood: grey and wet. She imagined Ben Carter in his beautiful villa in Bahia, seducing his latest possible wife, the stunning blonde she’d seen in pictures alongside breathless speculation that this woman might be the one to tame the mercurial tycoon.

A knife twisted in her guts and Lia sucked in a breath.

She couldn’t deny it any more. She couldn’t keep telling herself that she hadn’t really been falling for him. That it had just been hormones.

She was in love with the man. Deeply. Irrevocably. But she didn’t regret walking awa

y from him. No wonder she’d agreed to a marriage of convenience with Simon—it had been eminently safe! But a marriage of convenience with a man she had feelings for...? That would be pure torture. He only wanted her for the advancement she could offer to his reputation and business. Once again his sheer ruthlessness made her suck in a painful breath.

She scowled at her reflection in the glass, hating it that she looked wan and tired after sleepless nights full of X-rated dreams. She loved him—but she hated him for his betrayal and ruthless calculation.

Just then her mobile rang and she turned around, sighing deeply. She saw the name on the display and picked it up, forcing a smile so she didn’t sound as miserable as she felt.