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Eve suspected there were many things Gage had become, but a liar was not one of them. This wasn’t a lifeline, it was a takeover. The members of her family held shares. Her mother and sister weren’t interested in the business side of things, other than the money and security that it bought. If Gage took so much, there’d be nothing left and he’d squeeze them out. With their shares’ current value, the offer on the table was almost worthless. She could rebuild. She had skills, determination and contacts outside her father’s sphere. Her mom and Veronique wouldn’t have a chance if she agreed to Gage’s terms. She shook her head.
‘Knight has a brand. The goodwill of the name is worth millions. You want that for some reason, so we come to this as equals.’
‘How entertaining. There’s nothing equal about us. You are so far below me in all respects, it should be considered a miracle I’m talking to you.’
She’d thought, “Better the devil you know”, hoping that maybe Gage had wanted to see her, that things had mellowed over the years. That thinking had been a terrible mistake. She’d have to try elsewhere to find a saviour. A private equity firm perhaps, someone from overseas who hadn’t heard the rumours. They might carve up the company but at least they’d treat her with respect to her face, even if they laughed behind her back.
‘I will not sit here and be insulted, which seems to be the only reason you called me to your office. We have nothing more to say.’ She stood. Her lawyer stood.
‘Liar,’ Gage murmured. Eve froze. Was she so easy to see through? Most other people couldn’t read her, the frosty veneer she’d perfected years ago renowned. If she couldn’t keep secrets from Gage, this would be a huge problem because her life was full of them. Gage leaned back in his chair, a smirk on his face. He turned to her lawyer. ‘Mr Stoddart, I’d like to talk to your client alone.’
Eve nodded. She’d travelled halfway round the world to be here. May as well not waste the airfare before judging how this would play out to the end. Her lawyer looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
‘I’ll be outside the door if you need me. For the record, it has been a monumental error coming here.’ He looked back at Gage as he reached the door and hesitated. ‘You, sir, are no gentleman.’
‘Ouch,’ Gage said with a sneer as the boardroom door slammed shut. He motioned towards her chair. ‘Please take a seat.’
‘You’re using your manners now?’
‘I may as well, since I’ve just worked out how far I can push you before you walk.’
A fierce heat bubbled in her blood. He’d been playing her, and she’d fallen for it. She took a slow breath, trying to restore the equilibrium that seemed to have fled her. Lowered herself into the warm leather of her seat. Smoothed out her slim skirt, and there they sat in silence at either end of the long boardroom table. But no matter how large the room or expansive the wooden surface, the walls closed in on her. She took another sip of water. Tried to steer the conversation back to some level of civility. It was the polite thing to do.
‘I admire what you’re achieving in Detroit. Repurposing those factories for renewable technologies and retraining staff is admirable.’
‘Flattery won’t work here.’
‘I’m not flattering you, it’s the truth.’
He hesitated. Most people wouldn’t have noticed. With Gage, she noticed everything.
‘You been keeping an eye on me?’
She thought about the contents of a small, battered, yellow suitcase safely stowed in a hotel room in the heart of the city. A suitcase that travelled with her everywhere and held all her memories, physical proof that her eyes were always on Gage. She couldn’t look away, even from France. But she’d never let him know it.
‘I read the business pages like everyone else.’
‘Giving unemployed people jobs and hope is the right thing to do. You believe in doing the right thing, don’t you, cher?’
The pet name he’d once called her with so much love sounded bitter and poisonous on his tongue now. There were some memories she wouldn’t allow to be tainted by all that had happened since, and this was one.
‘It’s Ms Chevalier, or Eve.’
Gage leaned back in the chair, the corners of his mouth kicking up for the briefest of moments. ‘Eve, then. The original temptress.’
If that’s what he believed, so be it. She deserved his rage, so she’d let him use it. As long as her mother and Veronique’s fortunes were protected, she’d allow him to take his hurt and anger out on her. But Gage always liked a challenge, so she’d give him one.
‘People only take the fruits offered them, if it’s something they already crave,’ she said, with a smile of her own. ‘But enough of this. Why do I get the feeling you’ve asked me here only to mock me?’
‘Allow me to indulge myself for a few moments. I enjoy watching you writhe under a good tongue lashing.’
His voice was low, soft. Overtly sexual. Heat roared to her cheeks and she was back on a picnic blanket, hidden under the cascading boughs of an old willow where he’d threaded flowers in her hair and indulged her naked body till she’d wept with pleasure. Gage smirked and the burning in her cheeks flamed hotter.
How dared he? He would not rekindle those memories, not now.
‘That’s childish and beneath you.’
He shrugged. ‘I seem to recall you’ve levelled that accusation at me before. Or was it that you called me common? I’m not sure. Our final conversation seems to have been lost in the annals of my memory somewhere.’
