LITMIR.BIZ

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with women.’ Then she remembered his dismissive glance at the time and realised why.

      ‘Yes, cynical of me, I know, but true. Then Nigel, your stepbrother, introduced himself to me, claiming Andy Scott as mutual acquaintance. I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you, Lisa,’ he said with unaccustomed gentleness, ‘but Nigel was the commercial property broker who first brought Andy Scott’s attention to Lawson Designer Glass.’

      ‘How could he?’ Lisa whispered to herself. But, knowing Nigel, she believed it.

      Alex heard her. ‘Quite easily, I’m afraid. I know you consider him family. But he couldn’t wait to inform me I was missing out on a great deal. He suggested I raise the offer and it would be second time lucky. He could guarantee delivering Harold Watson’s thirteen per cent—and if I wasn’t interested, he told me, he had another company lined up that was. I wasn’t particularly keen. The Lawson family was still left with fifty-two per cent—not a very viable proposition for Xela Properties.’

      ‘But if that’s true, if you really did think like that, why did you go behind my back and buy the shares?’ Lisa asked quietly.

      He stopped pacing and stood in front of her, a deep tide of colour darkening his handsome face. ‘Because Nigel pointed you out on that night in Stratford as the owner and was quite effusive about your…’ he hesitated. ‘…character, shall we say, and the relationship between you. He suggested a man of my experience should have no trouble talking you round.’ He had the grace to look ashamed for a second. ‘I would like to think my intentions were noble at the time. It was immediately apparent to me that Nigel was a rogue. I could barely remember the deal he was talking about. I had to ring Andy later that night to refresh my memory. But, to be honest, at the time I simply saw a beautiful girl, who was not the freeloader I had first thought, and jumped at the chance of an introduction.’

      Flattering though it was to be called beautiful, Lisa wasn’t fooled, and, leaping to her feet, she cried, ‘I was right all along. You and Nigel are in it together!’ Spinning on her heel, she stormed past him.

      ‘Stop.’ His hand caught her arm and pulled her around. ‘Don’t you dare walk away from me.’ His hard, angry eyes roamed over her face. ‘You are going to hear me out, even if I have to pin you to the bed to do it. So make your choice.’ Suddenly she was very conscious of his large tanned body. His robe hung open to the waist, revealing his broad hairy chest, and when she glanced up at his angry face he met her look with hard, mocking eyes.

      ‘All right,’ she muttered, and sat down on the sofa. But this time Alex sat down beside her.

      He caught her hands in his. ‘To prevent you lashing out,’ he said grimly, ‘I have had enough of your histrionics.’

      He continued as if he had never stopped. ‘When you agreed to marry me, your company was the last thing on my mind. But I did tell Andy Scott to keep a wary eye out for any developments, and also to watch Nigel Watson. I did not trust the man. You were shortly to be my wife, and I naturally wanted to protect your interests.’

      ‘Don’t you mean your own?’ she sneered.

      ‘No, damn it, I don’t! The third day of our honeymoon I received a fax from Andy Scott. He had some disturbing news. Nigel had approached another property company with the proposed deal, and they were interested enough to put in a bid for the Lee shares. I instructed Andy to string Nigel along with the promise of a finder’s fee, and put in a counter-bid for Lee’s shares, whatever it cost. That only left Harold’s. Then, last Thursday, Andy made the amazing discovery you had given some shares to the hospice. I had no choice but to buy them.’

      ‘You could have told me straight away,’ Lisa said fiercely. ‘I could have bought the shares myself. But, no, you had to be in control. I am telling you now, I will fight you every inch of the way if you try to close Lawson’s down.’

      Alex shook his head, frustrated as well as angry. ‘For heaven sake, Lisa, we were on our honeymoon. I would have to have been the most insensitive man on the planet to have worried you with business at such a time. And I do not want to close Lawson’s down. I might wish it had never existed, the trouble it has caused,’ he opined dryly, ‘but in fact you should be thanking me for saving it.’

      ‘You don’t want to demolish the place?’ she queried, lifting wary blue eyes to his.

      ‘I still think in the long term redevelopment is the best way forward, but I am perfectly happy for you to run the business as you like. I bought the majority share simply to protect you. You’re my wife, and if it suits you to work I won’t deprive you of the privilege. I meant to tell you last weekend, after checking the state of affairs with Andy on Thursday. But with the fiascos that night and the rest of the weekend turned into somehow I never got round to it. Perhaps because whenever I look at you I forget everything but this.’ Alex wrapped an arm around her shoulders and his dark head bent towards her.

      ‘No!’ Lisa put a restraining hand on his bare chest. ‘I am not going to be diverted by sex. Not again,’ she said, quickly appalled at her own weakness. ‘You see, Alex, I know you are lying. I overheard you and Nigel last Thursday in this very apartment. I heard you telling him he could invest in your development.’ She still burned at the memory, and the tone of her voice reflected her feelings. ‘The slimy rat. And you’re no better.’

      ‘I thought you loved your stepbrother. You told me you did.’ Alex jerked back, his arm falling from her shoulder, his voice hard and accusing.

      ‘You’ve got to be joking.’ Lisa stared at him in genuine astonishment. ‘I can’t stand the man. I wouldn’t give him the time of day if it weren’t for Harold, and the feeling is mutual. Ever since he made a pass at me when I was sixteen and I made my feelings plain.’

      Alex sucked in a deep breath, his black eyes glittering with some fierce emotion. ‘I wish I had known that last week; I would have flattened the bastard.’ He shook his dark head in a gesture of utter disgust with himself, and, grasping her hands in his hands, he asked, ‘Why did you not tell me last Thursday what you had overheard? Am I such an ogre you could not talk to me?’

      She shrugged wearily. ‘What difference does it make? I heard enough to know my husband and stepbrother were plotting behind my back.’

      ‘Exactly what did you hear, Lisa? I need to know.’ His voice was flat, devoid of any emotion, only the tightening of his hands on hers told her he was nowhere near as calm as he appeared.

      She stared unwaveringly for a moment into his taut face. Her teeth worried at her bottom lip. She remembered every word, they were carved on her brain but she wasn’t sure she wanted to tell him.

      ‘Tell me, Lisa,’ he prompted curtly.

      ‘All right.’ And with complete honesty she told him. ‘I heard Nigel say that after three weeks with the ice amazon he didn’t blame you spending a night on your own. Then he asked you if the delectable Margot knew you were in town.’

      ‘It was Nigel who told Margot I was in town. She confessed as much before she left,’ Alex said flatly, and Lisa winced. She had misjudged him badly. ‘But I did not want to disillusion you about Nigel.’ He laced his fingers with hers, as if to give her some of his strength. ‘Go on.’

      ‘There was a comment about a computer nerd.’ It was Alex’s turn to wince. ‘Then he asked for your confirmation that the sale of Lawson’s would go through. You teased him about getting my shares for nothing. And finally you said Nigel would get what he wanted.’

      ‘What I actually said, Lisa, was that he would get his… And I did not mean it in a friendly way. But I was labouring under the impression you loved him like a brother, so I had to put up with him, while making sure he did not harm you. I was stringing him along that night because, thinking ahead, I realised if anything happened to Harold, Nigel would end up with a share in your business. There was no way I wanted Nigel to have anything to do with you, so I had to keep him sweet until I had done a deal with Harold.’

      ‘You still could have told me. I never

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