The Most Expensive Lie of All - Michelle Conder

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let her nudge him. ‘I hear Joe is planning to sell the farm.’

      She grimaced. ‘Good news travels fast.’

      ‘Polo’s a small community.’

      ‘Too small sometimes.’ She gestured towards the mare. ‘She’ll ruin your nice suit if you let her do that.’

      ‘I have others.’

      So nice not to have to worry about money, Aspen thought, a touch enviously. After the abject poverty she and her mother had lived in after her father’s desertion, the wealth of Ocean Haven had been staggering. It was something she’d never take for granted again.

      ‘Where are you planning to go once it’s sold?’

      ‘It’s not going to be sold,’ she said with a touch of asperity, stepping back as Cruz joined her outside the stall. ‘At least not to someone else.’

      He raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re going to buy it?’

      ‘Yes.’ She had always been a believer in the power of positive thinking, and she had never needed that more than she did now.

      Gypsy Blue whickered and stuck her head over the door and Aspen realised her water trough was nearly empty. Unhooking it, she walked the short distance to a tap and filled it.

      ‘Let me do that.’

      Cruz took the bucket from her before she could stop him and stepped inside the stall. Aspen grabbed the feed bucket Donny had left outside and followed him in and hooked it into place.

      ‘It’s a big property to run by yourself,’ he said.

      ‘For a girl?’ she replied curtly.

      ‘I didn’t say that.’

      ‘Sorry. I’m a bit touchy because so many people have implied more than once that I won’t be able to do it. It’s like they think I’m completely incompetent, and that really gets my—’ She gave a small laugh realising she was about to unload her biggest gripe onto him and he was virtually a stranger to her now. Why would he even care? ‘The fact is...’ She looked at him carefully.

      He had money. She’d heard of his business acumen. Of the companies he bought and sold. Of his innovative and brilliant new polo-inspired hotel in Mexico. He was the epitome of a man at the top of his game. Right now, as he leant his wide shoulders against the stall door and blocked out all sources of light from behind, he also looked the epitome of adult male perfection.

      ‘But the fact is...?’ he prompted.

      Aspen’s eyes darted to his as she registered the subtle amusement lacing his voice. Did he know what she had just been thinking? ‘Sorry, I was just...’ Just a bit distracted by your incredible face? Your powerful body? Way to go, Aspen. Really. Super effort. ‘The fact is—’ she squared her shoulders ‘—I need ten million dollars to keep it.’

      She forced a bright smile onto her face.

      ‘You’re not looking for an investment opportunity, are you?’

      CHAPTER THREE

      SHE COULDN’T BELIEVE she’d actually voiced the question that had just formed in her mind but she knew that she had when Cruz’s dark gaze sharpened on hers. But frankly, with only five days left to raise the rest of the money and Billy Smyth firmly out of the picture, she really was that desperate.

      ‘Give you ten million dollars? That’s a big ask.’

      Her heart thumped loudly in her chest and her mouth felt dust dry. ‘Lend,’ she corrected. ‘But you know what they say...’ She stopped as he straightened to his full height and she lost her train of thought.

      He shoved both hands into his pockets. ‘They say a lot of things, Aspen. What is it exactly you’re referring to?’

      ‘If you don’t ask you never know,’ she said, moistening her lips. ‘And I’m desperate.’

      Cruz’s eyes glittered as he looked down at her. ‘A good negotiator never shows that particular hand. It puts their opponent in the dominant position.’

      Heat bloomed anew on her face as his tone seemed to take on a sensual edge. ‘I don’t see you as my opponent, Cruz.’

      ‘Then you’re a fool,’ he returned, almost too mildly.

      Aspen felt her hopes shrivel to nothing. What had she been thinking, approaching a business situation like that? Where was her professionalism? Her polish?

      But maybe she’d known he’d never agree to it. Not with the way he obviously felt about her.

      ‘What would I get out of it, anyway?’

      The unexpected question surprised her and once again her eyes darted to his. Had she been wrong in thinking he wouldn’t be interested? ‘A lot, actually. I’ve drawn up a business plan.’

      ‘Really?’

      She didn’t like his sceptical tone but decided to ignore it. ‘Yes. It outlines the horses due to foal, and how much we expect to make from each one, and our plans to purchase a top-of-the-line stallion to keep improving the breed. We also have a couple of wonderful horses we’re about to start training—and I don’t know if you’ve heard of our riding school, but I teach adults and children, and—well... There’s more, but if you’re truly interested we can run through the logistics of it all later.’ Out of breath, she stopped, and then added, ‘It has merit. I promise.’

      ‘If it has so much merit why haven’t any of the financial institutions bankrolled you?’

      ‘Because I’m young—that is usually the first excuse. But really I think it’s because unbeknownst to any of us Grandfather hadn’t been running his business properly the last few years and—’ Realising that yet again she was about to divulge every one of her issues, she stopped. ‘The banks just don’t believe I have enough experience to pull it off.’

      ‘Perhaps you should have thought about furthering your education instead of marrying to secure your future.’

      Aspen nearly gasped at his snide tone of voice. ‘I didn’t marry to secure anything,’ she said sharply. Except perhaps her grandfather’s love and affection. Something that had always been in short supply.

      Upset with herself for even being in this position, and with him for his nasty comment, Aspen thought about telling him that she was one semester out from completing a degree in veterinary science—and that she’d achieved that while working full-time running Ocean Haven. But she knew that in her current state she would no doubt come across as defensive or whiney, and that only made her angry.

      ‘If you have such a low opinion of me why pretend any interest in my plans for The Farm?’ she demanded hotly, slapping her hands either side of her waist. ‘Are you planning to steal our ideas?’

      That got an abrupt bark of laughter from him that did nothing to improve her temper. ‘I don’t need to steal your ideas, gatita. I have plenty of my own.’

      ‘Then why get my hopes up like that?’

      ‘Is that what I did?’

      Aspen stared him down. ‘You know that’s exactly what you did.’

      He stepped closer to her. ‘But maybe I am interested.’

      His tone sent a splinter of unease down her spine but she was too annoyed to pay attention to it. ‘Don’t patronise me, Cruz. I have five days before The Farm will be sold to some big-shot investment consortium. I don’t have time to bandy around with this.’

      ‘Ocean Haven really means that much to you?’

      ‘Yes, it does.’

      ‘I suppose it is the easiest option for a woman in your position,’ he conceded, with such arrogance that Aspen nearly choked.

      Easy?

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