r seduce her—
Except, he hadn’t. She’d gone to him willingly. Eagerly. Making love with him was the most exciting thing she’d ever done. Sex had never been like that before. Sex would never be like that again, especially since she couldn’t imagine being with another man….
Aimee blinked.
She had more important things on her mind this morning.
Yesterday, she’d finally gone to her doctor for a checkup. He’d listened to her litany of complaints, examined her, had his nurse take blood and urine samples and told her he’d have lab reports in a few days.
“Not to worry, Ms. Black,” he’d said briskly. “I suspect whatever ails you is simple to deal with.”
Vitamins, she’d thought. More rest.
Fewer dreams.
Still, it was hard not to worry until the lab results were in and now, on top of everything else, she had this meeting Bradley had orchestrated, undoubtedly so he could crow with triumph as he told he’d taken permanent control of the reins.
When she was dressed—cotton summer suit, low heels, light makeup—Aimee looked in the mirror. The woman looking back at her was the woman she really was. Intelligent. Educated. Competent.
She bore no resemblance to the woman in the bathroom mirror that night at the club…
No. She would not let those memories take over this morning.
Bradley was about to knife her in the back, but she’d be damned if she’d let him see her bleed.
She would show absolutely no emotion today, no matter what happened.
That was the plan, and it would have worked…except for what she found waiting for her in the Stafford-Coleridge-Black boardroom.
Grandfather, not Bradley, sat ramrod-straight in his usual chair at one end of the long mahogany conference table.
The stranger she’d gone to bed with was seated at the other.
Nicolo was not in a good mood.
He was in New York for the first time since the episode three months before and he’d found the night had tainted his feelings about the city.
Unfortunate.
He’d always enjoyed spending time in Manhattan. Now, he couldn’t wait to see the last of it. And, he thought, with a not-so-discreet glance at his Tag Heuer watch as he sat waiting for the meeting in James Black’s office to begin, he would be doing that soon.
Just this one last session with Black and the deal he and the old man had worked on the past two weeks, via a volley of faxes and phone calls, would be completed.
Yesterday, when they’d met face-to-face, Black told him there was just one last point to agree upon.
“Just one,” he’d repeated, his voice quavering because of the stroke that had, it was said, almost killed him.
“And that is?” Nicolo had replied.
Black had wagged a bony finger. “Nothing a smart man won’t be willing to accede to, Prince Barbieri, I assure you.”
Nicolo had almost reminded him that he didn’t use his title, but he’d decided to play along. Black obviously liked the idea that Nicolo was royalty. Why do anything to spoil the finalization of the deal?
Not that he was concerned over this last point, especially since he was sure he knew what it was. They’d agreed on a price. On a takeover date. What could be left to discuss?
Only Black’s repeated concern that the company his ancestors had founded not lose its identity among Nicolo’s holdings.
The old man, he was sure, was going to want some sort of guarantee, and Nicolo had come up with one.