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“I can just imagine what they are,” A
“You don’t have the first idea,” he replied flatly, his eyes narrow and hard.
“Go home, Heath. I need a lot of cash and even if you had it, I wouldn’t take it from you.”
“Why, Princess? Is my money tainted?”
His use of his former nickname for her hurt more than she would have believed possible.
“Your money is nonexistent,” she said bitingly, feeling the need to hurt him back. “You were very pretty, Heath, but very poor. That’s why my father objected to you, remember?”
“Your father objected to the fact that my old man was a drunk and my mother the friendliest woman in town, not to mention that less than desirable Seminole blood flowing through my veins. But that didn’t matter to you when we were between the sheets, did it, Princess?”
“Let’s not do this to each other, Heath,” A
“Why not? Is it too late to tell the truth?”
“It’s too late for everything.”
“But not too late to write a check. You’ve been out of touch; A
A
“I’m here to save your bacon, A
“We were never friends.”
“We were much more than that,” he said in a low tone, holding her gaze.
A
“Yes.”
She looked back at him in amazement. He was completely serious.
“Find that hard to believe, do you, rich girl?” he said sarcastically. “Oh, excuse me, I guess that term doesn’t apply to you anymore, does it?”
“There’s no point to this exercise, Heath. You’ve obviously come to torture me but you will have to get in line. My brother and all of his creditors are way ahead of you.”
“Don’t you want to hear my generous offer?”
“No.”
“You don’t think I mean it, do you? Well I do, and I have the money.”
“How did you get it?”
“Ah, so you are curious. Do you think I stole it?”
A
“That would be in line with the Talbot opinion of me, wouldn’t it?” he said nastily. “Though it seems your brother is more into larceny than I am these days.”
That was a low and calculated blow, and A
He stared hard at her, then seemed to relent, looking down pensively and then up again at her face.
“You recall I was always good around boats. Anyway, after you left me at the altar, so to speak, I joined the navy. While working for Uncle Sam I invented a new type of sealing valve that prevents water from getting into a boat’s motor, and I later sold the patent to a private company for several million dollars.”
A
“I invested the money in Bimini Boat Works, and built it into a multi-outlet facility with marinas all over the Keys and mainland Florida.”
“You’re Bimini Boat Works?” A
“I take it nobody told you,” he replied flatly, reading her stu
“I don’t think anybody knew. My mother’s been dead for five years and my brother Tim hasn’t been in Florida much since my father passed away. He ran ScriptSoft from Massachusetts.”
“Ran it into the ground, you mean. And you haven’t exactly been in touch, have you?” he said with a thin smile. “Couldn’t wait to scrape Hispaniola from the soles of your shoes, Princess?”
“That isn’t fair, Heath. I didn’t want to see anybody. My memories of Port Lisbon were...very painful.”
“Oh, not as painful as mine, lady,” he said softly, watching her face. “Not as painful as mine, I was the one who got dumped, remember?”
“You don’t know what happened, Heath. You never heard the full story,” A
“Oh, I’m sure you’ve got some lovely explanation all worked out, something classy and reasonable to satisfy your delicate conscience. You wouldn’t want to think of yourself as a woman who would lead a man on to the brink of distraction and then ditch him for a better deal, would you? You could never live with that.” He leaned against Caldwell’s desk, folding his arms and crossing his legs at the ankle in a characteristic posture.
“You won’t believe anything I say, so why should I try? You just want to enjoy my downfall and your corresponding triumph.”
“Quite a reversal of fortunes, isn’t it, Princess?” Heath said softly, a dangerous light in his eyes that A
“I can see that you’re savoring every second of it.”
“Tell me A
“Go to hell,” A
“Ah, that’s my girl. I don’t know what you’ve been doing while your brother was pissing away your company but it obviously hasn’t killed your spirit entirely.”
“So that’s why you’re here?” she said dully. “To witness my humiliation?”
“Partly.”
“Well, you’ve done so. Now you can go.”
“But I’m not finished yet. Don’t you want to hear my generous offer?”
“No.”
“I see. It’s okay with you if your dissolute brother remains behind bars? I can get him out, you know. I can get him out and hire the best lawyers to defend him. They’ll help him to plead reduced capacity because of his gambling addiction. He might not spend a minute more in jail.”
“What do you want?”
“I’ll get to that.”
“Tell me now.”
“All in good time. I can also save ScriptSoft, buy the majority interest and open up the cash flow to pump up the stock price. The ScriptSoft scandal would vanish from the papers, and the board of directors would get happy. They might even drop the charges against your brother, who knows? It’s possible the SEC could go easy on him if the company shows recovery, what do you think?”
“What do you want, Heath?” A
“I want you to marry me.”
A
“Let me go.”
He didn’t move. “I can remember a time when my touch was not so repulsive to you,” he said silkily.
“I said, let me go, or I’ll scream for Caldwell,” A
“Do you think I would care?” he said. “After waiting all this time to see you in this position, do you think I would actually give a damn?”
A
“What I know you did to me, Princess,” he said softly. “And regardless of my possible motives, do you have any choice but to accept my offer?”
“I always have a choice,” A
“Really? Do you know what will happen to your brother if he remains in prison? As I recall, he looks a lot like you. The cons really love to get their hands on those blond and beautiful types. It’s their favorite kind of fresh meat.”
A