Worth the Challenge (Worth It 3)

Stopping in his tracks, he glanced over his shoulder, his gaze meeting hers questioningly. “Yes?”

“Thank you so much. You don’t know how much this means to me,” she said softly, giddiness making her heart light, her stomach tingle with nerves. “You’ve changed my life all in a few short minutes.”

“I should thank you. You happened to save mine.”

And with that, he walked out of the room without another word.

Rhett strode down the hall, his steps determined, his mind awhirl with what he needed to do before close of business today. He almost had Gabriella Durand where he wanted her. Now all she needed to do was sign the contract and she belonged to him—well, Worth Luxury, for the next year.

He’d just left legal after going over the initial twelve-month contract, making sure the terms were firm but not too firm. Light but not too light that she could take advantage of him. And he certainly didn’t want to take advantage of her.

She was too damn sweet to play games with.

If the relationship worked, they would extend the contract at least another year, possibly three total. It was something he’d dreamed of having since he’d initially been given this project. Hire an in-house perfumer that worked for no one else, an absolute rarity these days in lieu of the ease of licensing agreements.

But Worth Luxury didn’t want to just slap their name on a bottle and call it done. They wanted artistic input. Everything produced by Worth had a similar aesthetic. They didn’t want to change their approach just because they were venturing into new territory. They had a brand to protect, after all.

“Rhett.”

He stopped when he heard his name softly called, saw his brother lurking in a short corridor just to the right of him. Frowning, Rhett stepped forward. “Are you all right?”

“I’d like to talk to you.” Alex went to a closed door and opened it, indicating he wanted Rhett to follow him inside with a wave of his hand. “It won’t be but a few minutes.”

It was a small room, with only a tiny round table and three chairs around it. Alex didn’t bother sitting and

so neither did Rhett. He watched warily as his brother closed the door.

“What’s up?” Rhett asked when Alex faced him.

“You can back out of it now if you want.”

“Back out of what?”

“The perfume deal. You don’t have to take it on if you don’t have a firm-enough handle on it. I know how hard it is, trying to make this sort of thing work. I get it.”

“What…what the hell are you saying?” Emotions surged through him, dark and ugly and he tried to quell the swift rise. Did his brother have no faith in him whatsoever? He expected it from Hunter. Their relationship had been based on that lack of trust for years. But Alex?

It hurt more than he cared to admit, what Alex was doing.

“Durand dumped Worth without a word and I’m not blaming you for that. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. Maybe we should go the licensing route after all. It would be a hell of a lot easier and they would still allow us some sort of creative control, I know this for a fact,” Alex explained. “It would take this mess out of your hands and you could pursue the licenser instead. Hell, they’d pursue you. I can name at least four companies off the top of my head that have been dying to get their hands on a fragrance with our name on it for years.”

“I don’t want to give over the Worth perfume to a licensing company,” Rhett said firmly. “I already hired Gabriella Durand.”

Alex frowned. “You hired Durand’s daughter?”

“You gave me creative control over this project, yes?”

“Well, yes, but I didn’t think you were serious in your pursuit of her. I didn’t even believe you’d made the appointment with her. I had a feeling she just showed up.”

“When it was clear her father wasn’t going to respond to my endless inquiries, I went in pursuit of her. It just so happens she showed up on the very day we were discussing the project.” He was such an excellent liar, he amazed himself sometimes. He felt like a shit, saying such things to Alex but he had to save his ass.

Had to look like he knew what the hell he was doing.

“Does she have enough experience? Does she understand our vision? Have you smelled anything she’s created? How did you seal the deal so quickly? Don’t you think you should’ve consulted with Hunter and me, at least?” Alex fired off the questions at a rapid pace.

“She has the experience.” Did she? He needed to Google her more properly. “She has the know-how. I mean, for Christ’s sake, she apprenticed under her father for years. How can she not know what she’s doing?”

“She’s only twenty-five,” Alex said softly, his expression imploring. “She went to Givaudan when she was nineteen, though.”