Trish Morey – Tycoon's Temptation (страница 1)
‘I need this deal finalised. So I’ll replace Tom and help you prune. And when the pruning’s done and dusted, to your satisfaction of course, then you will sign the contract.’
‘But—’
‘No. You’re the one who made it clear you’d never do business with a Chatsfield and that anyone with the Chatsfield name should be tarred with the same brush. I’d like the opportunity to show you that you can’t just write us all off that way. I’d like the opportunity to prove that you can do business with a Chatsfield and not regret it.’
‘Six,’ she snapped. ‘At least.’
That long? A moment’s hesitation before he nodded. ‘Six weeks will be perfect. And if there are any scandals involving my family—any at all in that time—then you can choose to walk away from the deal. Otherwise, at the end of six weeks, you sign the contract and the deal between Chatsfield and Purman Wines is done. Do we have a deal?’
Holly couldn’t say anything. Not right now. She was too busy working out how she’d lost an advantage that had seemed to her, such a very short time ago, unassailable.
She’d had the high moral ground. But the rock-solid ground she’d been so sure of such a short time ago had turned to quicksand. She’d been moments away from being rid of this man of the cool grey eyes and the too big feet, moments from freedom, and suddenly events had overtaken her and the goal posts had shifted.
Because Franco was staying and certainty had departed.
It was supposed to be the other way around.
Welcome to
For years, the children of Gene Chatsfield—global hotel entrepreneur—have shocked the world’s media with their exploits. But no longer! When Gene appoints a new CEO, Christos Giatrakos, to bring his children into line, little did he know what he was starting.
Christos’ first command scatters the Chatsfields to the furthest reaches of their international holdings—from Las Vegas to Monte Carlo, Sydney to San Francisco … but will they rise to the challenge set by a man who hides dark secrets in his past?
Your room has been reserved, so check in to enjoy all the passion and scandal we have to offer.
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TRISH MOREY is an Australian who’s also spent time living and working in New Zealand and England. Now she’s settled with her husband and four young daughters in a special part of South Australia, surrounded by orchards and bushland, and visited by the occasional koala and kangaroo. With a lifelong love of reading, she penned her first book at the age of eleven, after which life, career and a growing family kept her busy until once again she could indulge her desire to create characters and stories—this time in romance. Having her work published is a dream come true.
Visit Trish at her website: www.trishmorey.com
Tycoon’s Temptation
Trish Morey
With grateful thanks to Sue and Sean Delaney from Sinclair’s Gully Wines.
Thanks for your advice, your know-how and most of all, your friendship.
Raising a glass of Rubida to you both,
Trish
xxx
Table of Contents
‘BE NICE TO him, Holly.’
Holly Purman smiled and put on her most innocent expression, the one she reserved for when her grandfather was asking something of her that she didn’t want to give. The one that usually worked like a charm. ‘When am I ever not nice to anyone?’
‘I mean it,’ Gus growled, refusing point-blank this time to be swayed. ‘I know what you’re like when you get a bee in your bonnet about something or somebody, and I reckon there’s an entire hive buzzing around up there right now.’
‘Nobody wears bonnets these days, Pop.’ She stooped down to kiss her grandfather’s creased forehead, adding with a grin, ‘They’re old hat.’
‘This is no joking matter, Holly! I want you to take this visit from Franco Chatsfield seriously. It’s a big deal, him coming all this way to talk to us, and the money he’s talking—well, it could set us up for life.’
Holly sighed, abandoning the plans she had to head out to the paddock to let the sheep into the vineyard. The sheep weren’t going to starve in the next thirty minutes and the winter weeds would still be waiting for them in the rows between the vines. Besides, she was hardly going to convince her grandfather that a deal with Chatsfield wasn’t going to be the deal of the century without having the conversation she’d been stewing over ever since Gus had taken the phone call agreeing to some representative from Chatsfield’s visiting with an offer.
She pulled up a chair opposite her grandfather and sat down, putting her hand over his where it rested on the arm of his wheelchair. ‘Okay, Pop, I’ll be serious. We have interest from the Chatsfield Hotel Group. This isn’t so surprising, surely? After winning gold or silver at nearly every wine show going, suddenly everyone wants a piece of Purman Wines. We’ve had loads of interest from potential buyers from all over Australia and from that big supermarket chain in the UK, and I thought you were happy with those. So why are you so excited about some guy coming from Chatsfield? What can hooking up with them give us that none of the others can?’
‘Exposure, that’s what! You know as well as I do that a deal with Chatsfield will give us a global exposure we won’t get through any of our other offers! Chatsfield can take our wine to the world and give it a five-star tick of approval into the deal. You can’t buy that kind of promotion!’
She rubbed her temple where a pulse beat insistently beneath, wishing she’d been in the office the day the call had come in—the call her grandfather had taken in her absence and been so excited about since. She wouldn’t have been so quick to agree to the visit. In fact, she would most likely have told Franco Chatsfield or whatever his name was not to waste his time and effort.