“I of all people believe in facing reality. The company was a business. Not a charitable institution.”
“You sound so harsh!”
“That is how business works,” he said evenly, dipping his taco chips into his shrimp ceviche and fresh guacamole. “Things that were once successful die, they get replaced by the new. Business.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way.” She bit her lip, then said in a rush, “Someday, I’ll start it up again. I’ve made up a business plan. I’ll find a way to open the factory and—”
“Forget it,” he said brutally. “Accept it’s over and move on.”
She looked away, trembling. She took a gulp of lime margarita, then set the glass back down on the table. “It’s easy for you to say, isn’t it? You just break companies up for parts. Dissecting and eating them like a vulture.”
“It’s profitable.”
“You would have no clue how to truly run a company, to love it and invest your heart and soul in it.”
“You’re right,” he said. “And I wouldn’t want to. I don’t want it to be personal. It’s business.”
“Nothing’s ever personal for you, is it?” Putting her hands on the table, she pushed herself to her feet. “I feel sorry for you. I do.”
If it had been anyone else, he would have shrugged off their criticism and let them leave. But not Rose. She was the one person he couldn’t stand to be angry at him.
He reached his hand over hers. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I don’t wish to fight with you.”
Her eyes relented. “I don’t want to fight, either.” She licked her lips and said, “But if you could just see how much greater it could be, how much more satisfying and challenging, to actually create something of value, anything—”
“No,” he said. “Even if I could do it, I wouldn’t. It would be a waste of energy and money.” He rose to his feet. “You’ve been cooped up in this penthouse all day. Shall we go out?”
“Out?” she said in astonishment.
He shrugged, even as his eyes caressed her. “I hear music from town. Want to go dancing with me?”
She sucked in her breath. “You would let me go out in public? You’d trust me not to run to the police?”
“If you’ll give me your word you won’t, I’ll trust you.”
“I give you my word,” she said, then paused. “Anyway, I want to help Laetitia now. I…want to help you.”
Of course she did, Xerxes thought, his eyes searching her sweetly beautiful face as if memorizing it for eternity. He’d kidnapped her, seduced her, refused to answer her questions. And yet she wanted to help him. Rose had the most loving heart of any woman—any person—he’d ever known.
She bit her lip, her face suddenly drawn. “But when do you think Lars will finalize the divorce?”
Xerxes didn’t want to think about it. “Any day now.”
She looked sad, then brightened. “But we have tonight. And I can hardly believe how much I’ve seen of the world in such a short time,” she said as he wrapped a pale cashmere cardigan around her shoulders.
“You haven’t minded all the travel?”
“Mind it?” She ticked off her fingers. “Greece, the Maldives, and now Mexico. After spending my whole life close to home, barely leaving northern California, it’s been amazing!”
“That’s what I can’t imagine.”
“Never going anywhere?”
“Having
a home that I didn’t wish to leave.”
“You’ve never had a home?”