The Billionaire's Blackmail Bargain

‘Yes, I’m looking to set up a new company here.’

‘Here? Right here?’ Even to her own ears she sounded stupid. But what else could she say? She didn’t want Cade Dupont on her doorstep again; he was her past. Part of which, even she had to admit, had been gloriously happy—even fantastically, spectacularly exciting—but it had all ended in disaster. And there was nothing she could do about it now.

‘What sort of business?’ she asked, in a voice that sounded nothing like her own.

The Whitsundays were Australia’s premier area for boat hire. Surely he wasn’t thinking of setting up in opposition to her? Trips out to the Great Barrier Reef were always booked well in advance. In fact the Whitsundays, with its more than a hundred different islands—many of them national parks, some with holiday resorts—were the jewels in the crown of any holiday destination.

Simone counted herself lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world, but her hopes and ambitions hadn’t worked out. Now the company needed a massive cash investment, money she didn’t have and which the banks refused to lend her. Her last hope had been the two men who’d just left.

She threw the remains of her wine down her throat and reached for the bottle.

‘Allow me.’

Long brown fingers touched hers, making her flinch and draw back. She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out again slowly. She watched as Cade refilled her glass and beckoned for one to be brought to him. He exuded confidence big-time.

Cade was thirty-two now, she was nine years younger— older and wiser than the eighteen-year-old who’d made such a fool of herself. But not old enough to handle an ailing business, she thought bitterly. Not old enough to have amassed enough money to turn it around.

It had been on a downward spiral ever since she’d taken over. It needed money for everything: essential boat maintenance, new boats to replace the older ones, and the fact was she simply didn’t have it. Her father had handed her a sinking ship, and although Simone spent all her time trying to save the business bookings were getting fewer and fewer.

Soon she would have to call it a day. Which was a shame, because she was in a prime position. She had a good-sized marina. Someone would snap her hands off, and with the right financial investment it would garner a small fortune.

‘What sort of business am I contemplating?’ Cade held his glass up to the light and studied its contents as though it was of paramount importance. A small, satisfied smile settled on his lips. ‘Sailing-boat charter; it’s the only business I know.’

Simone felt her heart stop, and it was a long time before it started again. ‘You run a charter company in England?’

Dark brows rose. ‘Why not?’ His nostrils dilated. His attitude changed. And his next words were clipped and precise. ‘Clearly I had to get a loan, but I found the business very lucrative—run properly.’ Then his golden eyes narrowed on her face. ‘How is your company, by the way?’

He knew! She could tell by his challenging voice, by his closely guarded expression. He’d been asking questions. He was well aware that she now ran MM Charters and that it was on a slippery slope to humiliating failure.

‘I have no wish to discuss it,’ Simone replied tautly.

‘No?’ One eyebrow rose this time. ‘Why is that, I wonder? Could it have anything to do with the fact that it’s not doing too well at the moment?’

‘So you were prying!’ she accused, violet eyes blazing. Heavens, she needed to leave, and quickly. The middle of a restaurant was no place to argue with Cade Dupont. She sucked in another deep breath, and then another, and when he didn’t respond she rose to her feet. ‘I have to leave. Goodbye, Cade.’

With her back ramrod-straight and her chin high, Simone marched from the elegant dining room. But Cade wasn’t letting her get away that easily. Through a mirror in the facing wall, she caught sight of him striding after her, although not before he had thrown a handful of notes on to the table.

Damn! She’d forgotten to pay. Or was it his own bill he was settling? She swung around and faced him fiercely. ‘What was that money for?’

‘Just settling up.’

Simone opened her bag and searched for her credit card, but a firm hand stilled her.

‘My treat.’

‘I won’t let you,’ she snapped, horrified when his touch sent her pulses into devastating spasm. She didn’t need this; she didn’t want personal complications on top of her present problems. Cade was her past, and that was where he must stay.

‘Can you really afford to turn me down?’ he asked in a silken-smooth voice, his long, hard body almost touching hers. He was so close that she could smell the male scent of him; so close that she could feel the full violent impact of his sexuality.

‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’ Simone’s enormous eyes were almost purple in her distress. She wished he would step away. She didn’t want to back off, because it would reveal the fact that she found him too deeply disturbing, but his nearness threatened to cut off her breathing.

‘Your problems are common knowledge around here, Simone.’ He smiled as he spoke, and in her heightened state Simone felt that he was taking great delight in imparting that piece of news. ‘Of course everyone’s sympathetic, they know that your father is the cause of your problems, but business is business, isn’t that right?’ he murmured smoothly. ‘And since I’m in the same game maybe there’s something I can do for you?’

Simone’s heartbeat quickened until finally it hammered a painful tattoo against her ribcage. She wanted to put her hand over it, still its flight, but to do so would alert Cade to her fear. What was he suggesting—that he buy her out? She couldn’t allow that. It would be too ironic by far.

‘There’s nothing you can do, nothing I want you to do,’ she declared fiercely, continuing her race out of the restaurant. ‘I’ll sort my own problems.’

It was bad enough that he’d paid her bill, without him offering to bail her out of her present financial difficulties. And it was extremely humiliating that he had asked around and found out how badly MM Charters was doing. She could have done with hiding that fact from him. Her situation was actually worse than anyone knew. A few more weeks, maybe less, and she would be out of business altogether.

But Cade was persistent. ‘You really would be a fool to turn me down.’

He was hot on her heels as she raced out of the restaurant, and Simone fancied that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. She hurried even faster to her parked car. It was unbelievable that he still had the power to churn her emotions. It felt as though the years in between had melted away like raindrops in the sun.

Their relationship had been hot and amorous; she’d given herself to him so completely that it was embarrassing now to even think about it. He had taught her the art of love-making. He had turned her from an innocent teenager into a woman fully aware of her body and all the pleasures it held. She had been totally in love with him.

When she reached her car she turned around, fully intending to tell him to leave her alone. But when their eyes met, when she saw the dangerous darkness lurking there, a cyclone erupted, sucking all the breath from her body. She saw once again the man who had been her perfect lover, and instead of thinking about her troubles all she could concentrate on was Cade himself and the way he could still whip up her emotions to such an extent that she wanted to scream for release.

‘Please leave me alone.’ Her voice was no more than a husky whisper, and she was conscious of her breasts rising and falling far more rapidly than they were supposed to. The only time they had ever behaved like this was when they’d been making spectacular, glorious love.

Simone checked her thoughts. Best not think along those lines. Not at this moment anyway. She was more concerned with getting rid of Cade.

Except that Cade did not want to go. His feet were planted firmly on the ground. He leaned on the car with one hand, and his other looked as though it was prepared to take the key fob from her if she should dare try to climb inside.

His eyes locked unwaveringly with hers. She had never met a man with eyes so sensationally golden. They were the colour of a lion’s skin—sometimes softly seductive, sometimes purposeful, sometimes dark with passion. They used to turn her bones to liquid, and the annoying part was that they still had the power to thrill.

‘Don’t dismiss my offer out of hand, Simone,’ he said softly. ‘If what I’ve been told is true, I’ve arrived at exactly the right time.’

‘And why would you help me?’ she asked faintly.

Cade was asking himself the same question. Why would he want to help Simone when she had been instrumental in him losing his fortune? He ought to run a mile. She could deny it for as long as she liked, but Matthew Maxwell had confirmed that his daughter had known all along exactly what she was doing. He had never thought her capable of such duplicity, and his hurt had been unbearable. He should have been pleased that Simone was out of his life. But, damn it, he’d never been able to forget her. He’d enjoyed teaching her the pleasures of the flesh, and she’d become a sensational lover. He’d thought she was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He’d been wrong.

His blood pounded through his veins at the very thought of them making love again. It was what he’d wanted from her from the first moment he’d set eyes on her in the restaurant. Not that he’d forgiven her for her past actions, or ever would—but it might give him a feeling of satisfaction to use that beautiful body again. Bend her to his will, make her dependent on him, and then maybe… He smiled at the idea entering his mind.

Cade had been devastated when she’d let him down. He’d believed that she’d had more integrity than to plot with her father against him, and his faith in humanity had been badly dented.

Cade’s trip out here had nothing to do with Simone. He knew the Whitsundays well, and had simply seen them as the perfect place to set up another branch of his business. He hadn’t even known whether Simone still lived in the area. And yet here she was, as vividly beautiful as he remembered— more so, in fact. She was devastatingly, heart-stoppingly stunning with her shiny dark-auburn hair tied back in a cute ponytail, revealing in all its exquisite detail her heart-shaped face and huge, luminous violet eyes. Her mouth was soft and tempting even in the midst of her resentful anger.

He wanted to touch, he wanted to take, and he was not unaware of the effect he’d had on her. She ought to be uncomfortable after what she’d done to him, indeed she’d do well to be afraid of him, But he’d observed her deepened breathing, seen the darkening of her eyes and he guessed that she too was remembering the exciting times they’d spent together. He’d bet his life that she was wondering what it would be like to be made-love to by him again.

He rigidly pushed such unworthy thoughts to the back of his mind. ‘It’s not a matter of why I’d help you,’ he said tersely. ‘It’s—how shall I put it?—a matter of expediency. Like I said, I’m looking to expand my business, and picking up the bones of an old one might be better than starting out afresh. I’ve been looking around; there aren’t too many new opportunities here. The area’s pretty well covered.’

‘You mean you want to take me over?’ Simone’s eyes widened even further and her chin jutted, lengthening her already long, slender neck.

She looked so beautiful when she was angry. Her cheeks coloured delicately, her eyes flared, and her whole body took on a new, exciting life. It was all he could do not to reach out and touch her, kiss her, feel her against him.

Begin his campaign—take what he wanted and then…

‘Not in the least.’ Cade sounded normal. How could that be when his heart had begun racing at the mere thought of what he intended to do? ‘Think about what I’ve said, Simone, and we’ll meet for dinner tomorrow evening to discuss it.’