"What did you think would happen when you walked through the door? Did you think I'd be overcome by old emotions and forget about everything else?"
She wasn’t surprised that his words held some bite. Looking at him holding her arm, all of her anger left her. Really, what had she expected? "No. It's pretty obvious that whatever you felt for me is gone. I wouldn't have come if my lawyers had been able to find any other way."
"A way to what?”
Nicole met his eyes."To break the will. A year ago, you made a bid for Corisi Ltd. My father initiated, but never completed, his acceptance of your offer so it still falls under unfinished business and therefore provides the only loophole my lawyers could find."
His hand tightened. "So, this is all about money after all."
Nicole shrugged sadly. "Does it matter? You won't help me."
His face tightened and his blue eyes raged with emotion she hadn’t expected to see. No, she chastised herself. Now was not the time to imagine that he was unwilling to let her leave for the same reason she wished she could stay. Life didn’t work that way. Not hers, anyway.
"What did your lawyers come up with?" he asked.
What do I have to lose? she thought. She said, "If you bought Corisi Ltd and sold it back to me, the company would be outside the control of the stipulations of the will."
He shook his head as if he’d heard her wrong. "Buy it? Buy a thirty million dollar company for you?"
If there was even the slightest glimmer of hope that he would help her, she couldn’t leave yet. “It would just be on paper. It wouldn't end up costing you anything.”
"Just my stock standing as my board and investors begin to doubt my sanity."
He hadn’t said no — yet.
"I thought about that, too. No one would be surprised if..."
"If?"
She spoke quickly, getting her plan out before she had a chance to reconsider the wisdom of it. "If you and I were engaged. This would all make sense. When families merge, their companies do, too. It's natural. Then, when we call off the engagement, you sign the company back to me for the same price and you've lost nothing.”
His expression was unreadable. "You've thought of everything except for why I would do it."
"That patent. Stephan, it shows real promise. It could make you millions."
For a moment, he looked like he was tempted, but then he said, "Even if I wanted to help you, no one would ever believe it. No one would believe we're engaged."
"They would if you said we'd been secretly dating."
"No."
"Engagements happen all the time. Tell people I'm pregnant. I don't care."
He raised his voice, "My family would lose their minds if they thought we'd been secretly dating — never mind engaged because you're pregnant. No."
Did he have to sound disgusted?
A knock on the door. Maddy poked her head in. "Stephan, my car is here so I'm leaving."
Stephan checked his watch and swore. "Maddy, do me a favor and double check that mine is coming. It was supposed to be here ten minutes ago. I'm on a tight timetable."
Maddy looked back and forth between Stephan and Nicole. "Will do." She closed the door as if reluctant to do so.
Lost in his thoughts for a moment, Stephan stared after his departing secretary.
"Stephan," Nicole said.
"Hmm?"
"Let go of my arm."
He dropped it. "I don't hate you, Nicole. If you were asking me for a reference or...hell, even a loan, I might be able to help you, but this is too much."
"I understand," she said, composing herself and stepping back from him.
His phone vibrated in his breast pocket. He checked it quickly then said, "That's my car downstairs. I wish I could help you, but I can't. You're going to have to live with your father's will."
Chapter Two
Well, that went worse than expected, Nicole thought as she exited the elevator and entered the main foyer of Stephan’s office building. The click of her Louis Vuitton heels caught the attention of the men at the security desk. They both looked up and, in union, dismissed her with insulting speed.
Was there a flavor of ice cream that would make this day tolerable? Probably not, but Nicole had plans of testing out a carton or two that evening.
Her inability to gain weight was a gift and a curse. In her teen years, she’d sprouted to a couple inches shy of six feet, and without much padding, she’d looked like an awkward scarecrow for years, all arms and legs. Not someone men looked twice at. Age had softened the angles of her face, but the real curves she’d hoped for had never come. No need to buy sexy clothing when you don’t have the assets to support them.
Not that the general lack of male attention bothered her. She’d poured herself into her studies and various internships over the years with one single goal in mind – saving her father’s company. A goal that had never seemed further from her reach than it did today.
Dominic wouldn’t care that the top executives had worked for Corisi Ltd for almost twenty years. The private company had survived a failing economy and deliberate sabotaging because of the loyalty and integrity of those very people. They were more than long term employees, they were the only family Nicole had ever known.
And she’d failed them.
"Are you ok?" Stephan’s secretary asked as she stepped away from the lounge area and into the main foyer. Even pregnant, or maybe because of her condition, she held the attention of the security guards longer. Nicole envied the woman’s natural confidence. Her ruched, plum maternity dress accentuated her delicate form and clearly celebrated her temporary figure.