‘What kind of proposal?’ Just where he had touched felt inflamed. What would it be like to have those fingers travel the length and breadth of her body? She felt another hot wave of guilt wash over her. The man was engaged to her stepcousin! He had done nothing inappropriate, so why was her body disobeying her head and behaving as though he had? She pushed the remainder of the dessert away from her and sternly told herself to buckle down and get her act together.
‘First of all, tell me why you’re so intent on hanging on to the company. I’ve told you my dark secret, so what’s yours?’
‘I don’t have any dark secrets.’ She eyed the near completed two bottles of wine and realised that she’d drunk far more than she had imagined. Oh, blessed relief. The wine was the culprit behind her sordid thoughts! ‘The truth is that if I hang on to the company, I can help my father with his research. Derek says—’
‘Stop referring to Derek as though he’s a guru,’ Callum inserted irritably.
‘Well, my father’s working on a cure for certain tropical illnesses using plant products. You’d be surprised how many cures can come from the trees and the leaves of certain plants. We have routine inoculations for the local people against certain diseases, but they still practise an awful lot of home remedies and the majority of them work, if not all. Felt Pharmaceuticals has the technology to help with further research. If I sell the company to you, I won’t have access to their specialised equipment, which would be very useful for my father.’
‘So we have the insoluble dilemma.’ He signalled to the waiter for the bill and settled it with a platinum credit card, barely looking at it in the process. ‘Sell to me and lose that possible source of aid or hang on to the company and go down sinking. You’ve seen the figures. Either way, you’re on a loser. But, as I said, I have a proposal…’
‘Which is?’
‘Has the guru Derek elaborated on everything you’ve inherited?’
‘Well, I have the details in the house somewhere… So far, I haven’t had much of an opportunity to look at them,’ she admitted, ‘I’ve been so wrapped up with the company problems.’
‘Well, in addition to the house in London, Abe had a country estate. Some of the contents he willed to his various past dependants…’
‘How do you know about that?’ Destiny interrupted, frowning and recalling some mention of a place in the country.
‘Because Stephanie is one of the heirs. The point is this—the actual manor was willed to you, as were the lands.’
‘Manor? Lands?’
‘Didn’t Derek the guru explain any of this to you?’ Callum asked incredulously.
‘Stop calling him “the guru,” and yes, he did mention that there was a house somewhere outside London. I didn’t pay much attention. I just assumed that it was, you know, a normal little house…’ Her voice drifted away as his expression changed from incredulity to amusement.
‘You mean, something small and detached with a pristine square of grass around it? A hedge or two, perhaps? Maybe a tree?’
‘Something like that,’ she agreed.
‘How right you were when you said you knew nothing of your dear uncle. Abe was always fond of making sure that everyone knew exactly how wealthy he was. He had a mansion in Berkshire, surrounded by twenty acres of land, quite of bit of it cultivated.’
‘Oh, right.’
‘I gather you’re less than impressed.’
‘Why would he want two houses?’
‘Lots of people in London enjoy having a bolt-hole in the country,’ he explained a little too patiently for her liking. ‘Abe just liked having a very large bolt-hole. Ready to go?’ He stood up and she hurriedly scrambled to her feet, tugging down the dress self-consciously while he watched with an inscrutable expression.
‘So here’s what I propose. In exchange for Abe’s country retreat, I’ll work with you. I’ll plough as much money into the company as I need to so that it’s up and running. Of course, I shall have to take a number of your shares from you, but you’ll be the head of the company and entitled to your share of whatever profits it makes—which, with the right management, could be considerable. Your father would also have privileged access, naturally, to whatever medical facilities he needs in our own research centres.’
‘Would you say that that’s a good deal?’ she asked dubiously, trying to work out the pros and cons and failing. At the moment, she felt as though trying to do anything logical with her mind was a bit like trying to build a house of cards in a high wind.