Double-Cross My Heart (3 page)

Alex said honestly, “No. I’m interested in things that affect you. Besides, you never know where a fantasy might lead you….”

He grinned. “Tell me how you’d revenge yourself on Michele Broussard.”

Eden’s face lit up in answering laughter and then grew more somber. “I’ve had chances over the years to sell her formulas. We’re a small, niche company compared to the cosmetics giants, but every now and then I’ve been approached to ‘assist’ other companies by giving them access to Michele’s proprietary information. But I wouldn’t do that.”

“Selling her formulas,” he mused, nodding. “That would be one way to pay her back. How else could we make her feel your pain? Talk to me. It’ll be therapeutic.”

She sighed, a somber expression on her face. “Like I said. There aren’t a lot of good options. The straight-forward method would be taking a hit out on her and Wendi, but I don’t think I can hide the cash trail.”

The tone of her voice was flippant enough to tell him she’d never use violence, but he saw the grim light in her eyes. For a moment, he wished he were just her boyfriend. Simple and uncomplicated. In that scenario, he’d whisk her off to his apartment, take her in his arms and make love to her until dawn—no thought of business, no need to tempt her into anything more than sleeping with him.

Eden said, almost to herself, “The board would have to appoint me CEO then, and I don’t think they’d hesitate because there’s no one else at the top who could possibly do the job. Sol Klineman knows my work. He and Sarah Briggs and A. R. Reynolds. Michele would find herself ousted from the company she founded.”

She fell silent then, her gaze brooding on the glass in front of her.

Watching Eden, Alex knew the moment he’d been waiting for was close. Without a doubt, the conversation had strayed into his territory.

She looked up, sending him a swift smile that faded as quickly as it dawned. “I don’t know any hit men, though. And I’m not much into eternal damnation, which I think is pretty much called for when you have a couple of people killed off.”

Looking down at his glass, Alex knew he had to make his move. There was no use in looking for just the right words. “There are other ways to find revenge. Even more satisfying ways.”

She glanced at him, her brows lifted in inquiry.

“This is about business,” he said. “A business revenge would be appropriate, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean?” She was frowning now.

Alex leaned back in the booth, releasing her hand. Despite his admittedly devious means of meeting Eden, he had his own kind of ethics. He’d found he could be somewhat flexible in his business dealings, but with her he wanted to be at least emotionally honest. He wouldn’t use the sway of sexual eroticism, wouldn’t sleep with her before he’d laid his cards on the table.

He very much wanted to sleep with her.

“I’ve told you a little about me,” he said, jumping in despite his uncertainty about her response, “and you’ve said that you’d heard a few things about the way I work. You know I buy companies, take them apart and sell the assets. I make a good profit and get the most out of already-foundering companies. I think of it as a kind of euthanasia.”

Alex sent a level glance across the table. “I can be very effective, Eden, and I don’t let people get away with taking advantage of me or of the people I care about.”

He paused. “I care about you.”

With a fierceness he found disconcerting, he wanted her to believe him. His plan
was
the best deal for Eden. It was the only way she didn’t end up getting shafted.

Her face softened a little in the candlelight before she said simply, “I like you, too.”

“As you’ve talked about the things going on at Michele Cosmetics,” he said, automatically laying the foundation, “it started me thinking.”

“About what?” she asked, a tiny pucker between her brows.

“Michele’s business,” Alex responded. “And it’s value…and things like that.”

She frowned, clearly trying to puzzle out his meaning.

Leaning forward again, he took her hand in his, somehow needing the physical connection. “Would you really like to see Michele get what she deserves?”

“Yes,” Eden said slowly. “I gave her twelve years of my life. I never thought it would come to this. For years, she was the most honest, fair-minded person I knew. I respected her, but now….”

“You feel betrayed. Like she was lying to you all those years. You’ve talked about how she’s neglected the company in the last three or four years. How out-of-touch she is with the business and the industry in general. You’ve said she’s getting older and needs to retire. Sales are dropping because you’ve had your hands tied by not being completely at the helm.” He paused, letting his words sink in as he made his case, praying she could see his sincerity. He only wanted the best for her, no matter how self-serving his initial actions had been.

“Michele is making stupid, foolish decisions. She’s screwed you over because she’s getting her rocks off with a man who wants to get his niece a job. And this after you’ve done nothing but give the company and Michele your best. She doesn’t give a crap about anyone but Carl, and through him, Wendi.”

“Michele thinks she’s in love,” Eden murmured, a bitter, sad smile on her lips. “She gave her life to this company after her son died. I guess when she met Carl, she felt he was her last chance at having a personal life.”

“Maybe so, but that still doesn’t give her the right to screw you over and hand her company to Wendi.”

“I can’t disagree with you,” Eden said shortly. “So what are you suggesting I should do?”

“I think,” he said, his voice soft, “you could help me get control of Michele’s company. If we break down the production lines, sell off the formulas and the buildings as well as the equipment. Maybe even sell the use of the company logo—there’s real money to be made. And all I’d have to do is gain control of the board of directors.”

Eden stared at him, surprise on her face.

“Gain control of the board…with my help,” she concluded slowly, her gaze fastened on him.

“Yes. This way, you could get revenge on Michele, and let’s not forget Wendi, by helping me gain control and break down the company into profitable, easily-disposed-of assets. It’s really the only way to insure you get what should have been fair compensation for all the investment you have in Michele Cosmetics.”

Sitting across the table, her hand slack in his, Eden continued to stare at him, her expression unreadable.

“Like I said,” Alex said, “I’ve been thinking about branching out of the computer industry for awhile now. And a week or so ago, after you’d told me a little about what was going on, I started thinking about…Michele getting what she deserves. Why should she get to keep a company you’ve maintained for her? If you get booted out, maybe she should, too.”

Eden pulled her hand out of his grasp. “So…you’re talking about a takeover? Like you’ve done with Connelly Data and Grafix Net and the others?”

“Something like that.” He nodded, still trying to gauge her response. Was she understanding how this could really work for her? Could she see that he was really on her side?

“Just like that,” she snapped her fingers, “Michele Cosmetics a thing of the past.”

Alex laughed softly, “Well, maybe not that easily, but it wouldn’t be hard. After I started thinking about it, I talked to my right hand guy, you remember meeting Bryan Zilkowski?”

She nodded.

“Well, I talked with him and several others. We gathered some data and ran a feasibility study. It looks good.”

“Good,” she said, her face blank, as if she were stunned.

Alex pressed home his point. “It would serve Michele right, wouldn’t it? Over and over, she promised you the CEO position when she retired, and then she screwed you and brought Wendi in. With my plan, you could return the favor. Wendi Williams would get squat—no promotion in two years, no job bought for her by her uncle. And you’d get a nice settlement and nothing to keep you from seeking a job in the industry you love. Win-win.”

“Except for Michele,” Eden said slowly.

“And Wendi and Carl,” he interpolated.

“And everyone else who works at Michele Cosmetics.”

Alex frowned. “The rest of the employees get settlement packages as well, of course. And you get your revenge. Beautiful, isn’t it? You get what you deserve.”

“I don’t know, Alex,” she traced a pattern on the table cloth. “I’m not sure I want to completely bring the company down. I mean, there are a lot of people in the company who like their jobs and might not want to start over somewhere else, even if they do get a settlement. I’d be changing their lives completely…just to accomplish my own ends.”

He fell silent, hating this moment. He really didn’t want her to feel pushed, but she was sitting on the edge of a precipice anyway. Better to jump with a parachute than get pushed over the edge with nothing to cushion her landing. With his plan, she might pull something out of all these years of work. Still, he hated having to reveal everything he knew in order to help Eden see her own best interests.

Alex shrugged, burying his anxiety. It had do be done. “So…what are you going to do? Stay there, working until Michele retires or until Wendi and Carl make up some reason to fire you? What else can they do with you having trained Wendi and being so much more damned efficient than she is?”

“I don’t know,” Eden said.

“Then,” he continued, his voice low, “there’s always the chance that…your Uncle George of ‘Beauty by Georgette’ will become a real problem when Wendi’s at the wheel.”

She looked up sharply. “What do you mean?”

With a genuinely rueful smile, Alex said, “When we do a feasibility study, we frequently round up as much information as we can on the principle players. George Thompson popped up on your info. He’s the uncle you were hoping would give you a job, isn’t he? Unfortunately, he’s also one of Michele’s biggest competitors. That family tie didn’t show up on your employment profile, so I’m guessing no one at Michele Cosmetics knows you’re related to him. You didn’t reveal it because you knew they’d consider that relationship to involve a conflict of interest, right?”

Her normally-readable face went blank.

"I'm sorry," he said honestly. "But you're in a bad spot, aren't you?"

CHAPTER TWO

Eden felt the pounding of her heart in her ears, the moment seeming crystal clear as shock reverberated through her. Alex knew about her uncle!

Had the truth had caught up with her? If Michele or Wendi and Carl found out, she was screwed.

Sitting across the table from her, Alex looked gorgeous and, suddenly, dangerous as hell. As deceptively perilous as a rip tide under a peaceful surface.

As usual, he wore a simple sport coat and coordinating shirt as he leaned back comfortably in his chair, smiling at her with that warmth and sincerity that left her aching to kiss him.

But he’d found her secret and she knew, instantly, that the next few minutes could spell her doom.

Staring across the table at him, Eden came face to face with a reality she’d been trying to avoid since first getting involved with him. Alex Holt was hazardous. She’d heard about his intelligence, his charm and his reputation for playing hardball, but she’d almost forgotten the latter, which would be a very foolish thing to do. Especially now that he possessed a piece of information that could blow her out of her job if he chose to use it against her.

Would he?

She wasn’t sure. They’d only been dating a month. How well did she really know him?

Finding her voice with difficulty, she said, “When my uncle refused to hire me after college, I tried the honest approach. But as soon as I went the full disclosure route at several other cosmetics firms, the door was politely, but firmly shut on me. So I applied at Michele Cosmetics and I lied my head off. ‘Nope, I had no ties to the cosmetics industry. Nope, I knew no one in the business. I was just out of school and, hell no, I’d never even had contact with anyone who might prove a risk of industrial espionage.’ I lied so they’d give me a chance to prove myself.”

“Completely understandable…to me, if not to Michele. And Carl and Wendi won’t give a shit. They’re looking for any reason to dump you. Even if you have the purest of motives, they want you out,” Alex said.

Sitting across from her, a soft light in his incredible blue eyes, he smiled a lopsided, rueful grin. Such a simple facial expression, but she found her heart rate kicking up at the gleam in his eye—just as if his previous words hadn’t knocked her for a loop.

Up until this moment they’d simply been talking about her problems at work, hadn’t they?

She sat here now, suddenly chilled, wondering if the conversation was about something very different? Did Alex have an agenda of his own or was he honestly trying to solve her problem?

Reading other people’s motives got to be second nature for someone who had pushed her way ahead in the business world. Was Alex a good guy or an asshole happened to give millions to charity?

Frustrated, she tried to puzzle him out. Only he was so damned complicated. So warm and engaging and hot…and so intelligent. On a conscious level, she knew he had an incredible ability to manipulate other people. He wouldn’t be as financially successful if he couldn’t work people. Could he do it while still making them feel special?