The Accidental Mistress (10 page)

"My office isn't normally
this messy, but when
père
had the stroke, I had to take care of things
alone. And then several others quit, cause... well I've had trouble
with payroll too. So yeah, it's a mess, Zuri."

"It's okay. I understand."

Zuri moved the mouse to
click through the website for Montague Inc. She located an image of
the founding family under Stephanie Montague. She felt a sinking
feeling of dread move in over her heart when the woman's crystal
blue eyes glared through the photograph from a stern expressionless
face. She then clicked on the current CEO. Stephan Christophe
Montague II. It was
him
.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

"What... let me see." Joi walked around the
desk to look at the computer. "He's cute. Is he the owner or
president?"

"Something like that."

"Why does he look familiar?" Joi asked,
leaning in over Zuri's shoulder.

"When is he coming?" Zuri quickly clicked
off his image.

"Tomorrow morning."

"Where's he staying?"

"The honeymoon bungalow’s are okay. Best we
got. I thought we could do one of those up for him and of course
that Elliot creep."

"That's a start, but I want to make sure we
do this... right." She swallowed down the nervous knot lodged in
her throat. She quickly tapped the mouse with her pointer finger in
search of more information on the company, something useful.
Business had nothing to do with her wildly beating heart. A flood
of emotion surged and she felt tears brimming in frustration. If
she couldn't look at his picture, what would she do in a
face-to-face meeting? How could her fate, and her father's legacy
be in the hands of this man?

The door opened and Jean-Paul stuck his head
in. His coiled dreadlocks were tucked neatly in the cap to the back
of his head. He had dressed in his chef's jacket. His smooth dark
skin radiated love when their eyes met. As driven as Claude, his
culinary talents were now well respected by the top food critics in
the world. Joi shared that he'd been offered very lucrative deals,
but he had turned them down. Even now.

Every single girl on the island wet their
panties when his six-foot six frame walked into a room. Sadly, Zuri
and he discovered they were better off friends than lovers.
Jean-Paul's natural tendency to flirt with her made her question if
that truly was a mutual decision.

"
Allô belle
."

"Hi JP!" Zuri forced a high
note of optimism to her voice. She rose. She hurried around the
desk and into his open arms. After seeing Christophe's face, that
old shame swelled up in her again. She needed Jean-Paul’s strong
arms to remind her that all was okay. He kissed her face and neck,
and then came the slow brush of his ever-so soft lips across her
mouth.
Oh yes! I need this!
His hug was intimate and warm. Joi cleared her
throat.

Zuri laughed, pushing the flirtatious
Jean-Paul away. "How are you?"

"
Très bien
, better now that you are
here. I tell them to go get my girl, bring her home. Glad they
listened finally."

“
Me too,” Zuri said. “We
got work to do. I um, let's get this place as presentable as
possible first.” She turned on Joi. "Can you have the cleaning crew
start on his room, his, and anyone travelling with him? Get the
best of everything. Champagne, fruit, whatever
—
"

“
Whoa, Zuri. We have it
under control,” Jean-Paul said.

“
We need to make him
comfortable until I can think of a plan. How to convince him the
place isn't one he wants to take.”

“
Wait, don't we want to
make him think the place is a dump. Not worth salvaging?” Joi
asked. "That would make more sense."

Zuri shook her head no.
"They love to buy and dismantle, fire everyone and start from
scratch. It's all about branding with a company like this. If it's
seen as worthless he will just use that to barter an even lower
price with the bank. No. We have to be smart about this. Let me
read the contracts from our lenders and this deal with Montague.
I'll catch up with you for dinner." Zuri headed back around the
desk. She stopped. "Joi, I need you to go into Fort de France and
get me and you several
madras
. I want us to dress
traditionally, really celebrate who we are. All managers on the
staff not in uniform should do the same."

Joi nodded and left. Jean-Paul did not. She
felt his eyes on her.

Finally she turned and faced him. "What is
it?"

"You. How are you? I know seeing him like
that must have been hard."

"You have no idea how hard.
I'm still shaking JP. If I lose
père
, I don't know what I'll do. I
have to find a way to preserve his legacy. These bastards that’s
coming for our home are sneaky. He's
—
" she bit down on her tongue.
"Montague is the big fish and
père
is the guppie in the pool. Oh, and I got to get
ahead of the bank on this. It's our only hope. Detrick will meet
with me."

"Zuri. Zuri. Look at me."

She did. His hands went to her arms and he
smiled down at her, "Slow down. You aren't alone. You have me."

“
I know. I love you for it.
Let's catch up later, okay?”

Jean-Paul hesitated as if he wanted to say
more. Zuri prayed he wouldn't. He gave her a sexy wink then kissed
her forehead. When the door closed behind him, Zuri slumped to the
desk. How could she ever explain to any of them that the man coming
to tear their world a part is the man she slept with all those
years ago? How could she negotiate with this man if he knew the
leverage he had? He believed her to be a conniving whore. And why
did, secretly, part of her want to see him again? If only to
silence the questions of their parting, and show the bastard what
he so callously passed on.

“
Damn it! What am I to
do?”

Chapter Eight

Christophe arrived ten minutes late. What
did he care? It was after all his plane. He walked the tarmac to
the small ladder and then boarded the Cessna. His cousin had
already polished off his second drink.

"Damn, man. I thought you had changed your
mind. Glad to see you made it."

Christophe slapped hands with him and then
dropped in a seat, while his luggage was boarded.

"We got a new girl for this flight. She's
hot. A black one."

Christophe frowned. The flight attendant
sashayed out. Tall, thick on the curves with medium brown skin, she
batted large round eyes at him. His chest tightened. Instantly he
was reminded of Zuri. Every time he saw a black woman with the same
round soulful eyes and heavy bust line, Zuri surfaced in his
mind.

"Mr. Montague, shall I fix you a drink
before we taxi off."

"No, um, I'm fine," he mumbled.

"And you sir?" she asked Elliot.

His cousin licked his lips. "Maybe you can
sit out here with me while we take off."

The attendant paused and turned Elliot down
with a polite smile. She sashayed off to the pilot's cockpit, her
heart shaped ass moving temptingly under her skirt. Christophe
looked away. After the Zuri incident, he tried to rectify a wrong,
but the alcohol had not only made him an idiot, it had diluted his
memory. He remembered her first name clearly, but had only saw her
last name on her ID briefly. He remembered her being French
Caribbean, possibly Haitian. He checked with Northwestern
University, and hit a wall. The administration offices weren't too
keen on releasing student's information. He could have hired
someone in his company to find her, but he considered that an
invasion of her privacy. After all, he was such a bastard to her.
He was certain an apology or flowers could never mend it.

"You here?"

Christophe closed his eyes and tried to
relax.

"What's wrong?" Elliot asked.

The plane's momentum increased as it began
to race along the runway.

"Nothing. I got a lot on my mind."

"Well let it go already. We’re on our way to
paradise."

Christophe sighed. "Right, paradise."

***

"I'm not sure I understand how you could
abandon him now?" Zuri said. She stood near an open window in his
second floor office, watching an old woman push a vendor's cart
with hand-sewn dolls in colorful fabric. Each dangled from hooks
with broad grins

Detrick Chevalier smoked a hand rolled
cigarillo under a slow moving cloud of smoke. The lazy whipping
blades of the ceiling fan did little to clear the tobacco laced
atmosphere. He was a very handsome man, even for his age. This was
the trait of most Martinician men. Tall with skin a deep shade of
burnished brown, he had piercing brown eyes and a goatee around
lips that always carried a cynical smirk. Rumor on the island was
he was once in love with her mother. But she had chosen Claude
Baptiste instead. Zuri never trusted rumors, though on occasion
she'd seen his eyes linger on her mother longer than
appropriate.

"I've served Claude well, Zuri," said
Detrick.

"Really? Allowing this to happen? Then
backing out on counsel when we need you the most?" she shot back,
arms folded to the front of her.

"You don't have all the facts."

"Then enlighten me. Tell me the truth."

"Claude has had financial troubles for
years. Even before you left for the states, his debts were
mounting. He's done well on the coffee bean trade, but he has over
extended himself in trying to keep up appearances for your family.
Expansion of the Lagoon was ill-advised and he did so anyway."

"
À
la fin
!
Don't
speak of my father as if he's inept. He's a great
businessman."

Detrick chuckled. "You sound like your
mother."

"What did you say to me?"

Detrick flicked his cigarillo to the ashtray
and sat forward. "Claude Baptiste is a good man, and yes he's
savvy, but he has made mistakes. He's not infallible. It's all
there, in the bank statements. Read them for yourself."

"How do we get out of this?"

"You can't."

"The bank has given us two weeks," Zuri
protested.

"And your debts out weigh your assets. There
is nothing left, Zuri. The best you could hope for is that Montague
will consider a merger instead of an acquisition. Maybe they will
allow you to retain some ownership."

"It's ours! That's our company."

"Not if Montague wants it, and if they
don't, the bank will collect and shut you down."

The truth arrowed her heart and made her
weak with dread. Zuri cast her eyes away to mask her fear and
desperation. "Then I will have to convince Christophe that he wants
to help me."

"Christophe?
Qui est
Christophe?"

"A merger is our only
option, sixty percent in favor of my family. I want you to draw up
the papers." She shot Detrick an even glare. "You owe my
father that much."

"They will never agree to that type of
merger, never," Detrick said.

Zuri tossed her chin up confidently. "Trust
me. He will. Just draw up the papers."

***

Zuri's inspection was near complete. She
nodded that everything had been in order, and well kept. She drew
back the curtain to the windows and checked the panoramic view of
the private end of the Oasis shores. It was the best view in the
resort. The moon and sun had rendezvoused in the sky. With twilight
now approaching, the island was cast in warm shades of red and
purple. It’s the perfect setting for a seduction. Her stomach
muscles tightened as her plan formed.

"Okay, we're ready." She turned on Joi and
Jean-Paul. "How many guests do we have booked this week?"

Joi looked to Jean-Paul for the answer. He
did a quick count and smiled. "We have thirty."

"Staff?"

"We have twenty, including the kitchen." Joi
said sadly.

Zuri sighed. The resort on a good day would
hold five hundred guests, and was usually staffed with at least a
hundred and fifty. Zuri paced. "We need to cut back on spa
services, and ramp up our hospitality. JP, can you manage your
kitchen's or should I call in some of the women from the
Lagoon?"

"I have it." he winked.

"What about the
micarême
? Should we
continue with our evening events for the guests? The bands and
dancers will need to be paid."

"Yes." Zuri walked a tight circle, chewing
on her bottom lip. "I've checked the accounts. In the morning we
will meet with the remaining staff. Tell them to come early. We are
giving them all advances."

"What? Zuri, we don't have the money for
that!"

Zuri waved the looks they gave her off. "I
can't have one person walk out on you while he's here. We have to
run a tight ship, and I... I will need their discretion."

"Discretion?" Joi frowned.

"We need this merger. How we pull it off
doesn't need to be the talk of Forte de France."

"Is that what Montague wants, a merger?"
Jean-Paul asked.

"No." Joi said crossing her arms. "They want
to take over. How is this a good idea, Zuri?"

"Unless you have a hidden treasure buried on
the island, it's the best idea we got," Zuri sighed. "We have to
gamble here. Trust me. My plan is a partnership with Montague to
pay off our debts then we turn this place around and buy our way
out. They have to believe that it’s a worthy investment. More
importantly, they have to believe that we... are the
investment."