Harlequin Presents--April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2

by Dani Collins

Harry’s attitude to Zoey troubled Finn at times. He had overheard Harry at a cocktail party a couple of months ago denigrating a project Zoey had worked on early in her career. Personally, Finn had thought her early work showed enormous talent. It had been a little rough around the edges but that was normal for a newbie. Her later work was nothing short of brilliant, but he had a feeling she wasn’t allowed to shine too brightly at Brackenfield, in case her work eclipsed her father’s.

  Finn walked into the conference room to find Harry seated on one side of the long table, his hands clasped together.

  ‘Morning, Harry,’ he said, taking the seat at the head of the table. ‘I missed you at the conference the other day. I thought we were going to have coffee to discuss something.’

  Harry’s eyes shifted to one side. ‘Yes, well, I thought it was too public there to discuss what I want to discuss with you.’ His gaze moved back to Finn’s. ‘I want out.’

  Finn frowned in confusion. ‘Out?’

  Harry separated his hands and laid them on the table. Finn noted both of them had a slight tremble. ‘I’m offering you a takeover of Brackenfield Advertising. I know you’ve done takeovers in the past, and I thought you might be interested, since you’ve been asking me over the last couple of months about how things were going. I’m done. I’m tired of the long hours and my creativity has dried up. I want to take early retirement.’

  A tick of excitement ran through Finn’s blood. A friendly takeover was the ideal way to acquire a company, but it concerned him that Zoey hadn’t mentioned anything about it during their time in New York. And it begged the question as to why. ‘Does Zoey know about this?’

  A dull flush rose on the older man’s cheekbones. ‘No. And I insist the deal is off if she’s told before the deal is signed off. It’s my company and if I want to sell it, then I’ll sell it. This is an exclusive offer to you but, if you don’t want it, then I’ll offer it to someone else.’

  The trouble was, Finn did want it. Brackenfield Advertising would be a nice little coup to add to his empire, but it didn’t sit well with him that Zoey was in the dark about the takeover. But business was business and, since Harry was the owner and director, what else was Finn supposed to do? Confidentiality was a cornerstone of good business deals and he wanted that company before one of his competitors got it.

  Besides, his one-night stand with Zoey was exactly that—a one-night stand. Even if part of him wished it could be repeated. Would this takeover ruin the chances of seeing Zoey again? A niggle of unease passed through him, but he forced himself to ignore it. He wasn’t interested in anything long-term even if Zoey was the most exciting lover he had been with in years...possibly ever.

  Finn made a generous offer and readily Harry accepted it. It seemed to confirm the older man’s keenness to do other things with his life other than work.

  ‘Right, then, it looks like you’ve got yourself a deal,’ Finn said, rising from his seat to offer Harry his hand. ‘I’ll get my legal people in contact with yours to get the paperwork written up.’

  Harry shook Finn’s hand. ‘Thank you.’

  Finn waited a beat before asking, ‘Why the secrecy from Zoey? Surely as your only daughter she has the right to know what your plans are going forward?’

  Harry’s expression became belligerent. ‘If she were my son, then maybe it would be different. But she’s not. She’ll get married and have kids one day soon and then what will happen to the company?’

  ‘Men get married and have kids too and still successfully manage companies,’ Finn felt compelled to point out, even if he didn’t place himself in that category. The marriage and kids package had never appealed to him, mostly because he had seen first-hand the damage when it didn’t work out. ‘Anyway, isn’t Zoey more a career woman? That’s the impression I’ve always had when speaking with her.’

  It was weird because Zoey reminded him of himself—career-driven, single and wanting to stay that way, yet up for a bit of no-strings fun now and again to relieve the tension. The only trouble was, he didn’t like the thought of her having fun with anyone else. If she wanted to have fun, then he wanted to be the one to have it with her. For now, at least. Not for ever.

  ‘I’ll tell her as soon as the deal is done and dusted,’ Harry said. ‘And not before.’

  ‘Your call, but I think you’re making a big mistake.’

  Harry narrowed his eyes. ‘Since when have you been such a champion for my daughter? She hates your guts, or haven’t you noticed that small detail?’

  Finn suppressed a smile. ‘Let’s say we’ve been working at our differences.’ And having a hot lot of fun doing it too.

  * * *

  ‘Hey, how did your pitch in New York go?’ Millie, one of Zoey’s previous flatmates, asked at their bridesmaid dress fitting a few days later. ‘I meant to ask you earlier, but I’ve been distracted by things...’

  ‘Things’ being Millie’s recent engagement to hot-shot celebrity lawyer Hunter Addison. Madly in love, Millie had already moved out of their flat to live with him. Ivy Kennedy, Zoey’s other previous flatmate, had also moved out a few weeks ago to live with her fiancé, Louis Charpentier. They were getting married next month, and Zoey and Millie were both going to be bridesmaids. And, when Millie and Hunter got married a couple of months after that, Ivy and Zoey would be maid of honour and bridesmaid, along with Hunter’s young sister, Emma.

  ‘I haven’t heard back yet,’ Zoey said, twirling from side to side in front of the full-length mirror in the bridal store’s fitting room. ‘I don’t think this shade of blue suits me.’

  ‘Are you nuts?’ Millie laughed. ‘You look stunning in it. And it really makes your violet eyes pop.’

  What had made Zoey’s eyes pop was seeing Finn O’Connell naked in her hotel room. Even though she had insisted their hook-up be a one-off, it still rankled a bit he hadn’t called or texted her since. It was perverse of her to hope for a repeat when she had been the one to issue the once-only terms.

  ‘I don’t know...’ She swished the long skirt of the dress from side to side, her mind wandering back to how it felt to have Finn’s hands gliding over her naked body...

  ‘Hey, earth to Zoey,’ Millie said. ‘You’ve got such a far-away look in your eyes. Did something happen while you were in New York?’ She waggled her eyebrows meaningfully. ‘Like with a man, for instance?’

  Zoey flattened her mouth and frowned. ‘What on earth makes you think that?’

  Millie’s face fell at her sharp tone. ‘Sorry. Is it your father, then?’

  Zoey let out a serrated sigh. ‘I didn’t mean to snap at you, it’s just...’

  ‘Tell me.’ Millie touched her on the arm, her expression concerned. ‘Has your dad been binge drinking again?’

  ‘I haven’t seen him since I got back from New York, so I don’t know, but on balance I would say probably he has been.’ She chewed at her lip and then added, ‘I had a one-night stand.’

  Millie’s eyes went so wide, they could have moonlighted as Christmas baubles. ‘Seriously? Who was it? How did you meet? What was it like? Will you see him again?’

  Zoey twisted her mouth and fiddled with the shoestring strap of the bridesmaid dress. ‘I’ll probably see him again, but not like that.’ She met her friend’s eyes in the mirror. ‘It was Finn O’Connell.’

  Millie frowned. ‘Your competitor for that other project? But I thought you hated him.’

  Zoey gave her a wry look. ‘Yes, well, it wasn’t so long ago that you hated Hunter Addison and look where that led.’

  Millie’s expression was sheepish but glowing with happiness too. ‘Touché.’ But then her frown came back. ‘Are you saying you feel something for Finn O’Connell?’

  ‘Of course not!’ Zoey laughed. ‘What a crazy question to ask.’

  ‘You must have felt something otherwise you wouldn’t have slept with him. You h
aven’t had a date since you broke up with Rupert. Finn must have made you feel something to—’

  ‘I felt lust.’

  ‘And now?’

  Zoey unzipped the dress. ‘And now, nothing. It was a one-night stand and I don’t want to repeat it.’

  ‘Was it that bad?’

  ‘Unfortunately, no.’ Zoey sighed and stepped out of the dress and hung it back on the padded hanger. ‘No wonder that man has a conga line of women waiting to fall into bed with him.’

  ‘That good, huh?’

  ‘Indescribable.’ Zoey stepped into her jeans and pulled up the zip. ‘But I’m not getting involved with a playboy.’

  ‘They make wonderful fiancés once they fall in love,’ Millie said. ‘You only have to look at Louis and Hunter to see that. You couldn’t ask for a more devoted partner. Did I tell you Hunter is helping my mother with her literacy problems? He’s so patient with her, and I love him all the more for being so wonderfully supportive.’

  ‘Hunter is a one-in-a-million guy and I’m happy for you.’ Zoey reached for her top and pulled it over her head, then shook out her hair. ‘But I’m not interested in a long-term relationship. Been there, done that, thrown away the trousseau.’

  Millie gave her a long, measuring look. ‘I know Rupert broke your heart cheating on you the way he did. But you can’t stop yourself from falling in love with someone again out of fear. I wake up each day feeling so blessed I found love with Hunter. It would be so wonderful to see you happy again too.’

  ‘Yes, well, maybe I wasn’t all that happy with Rupert,’ Zoey said, slipping her feet back into her shoes.

  It was slowly dawning on her that her relationship with her ex had had some serious flaws which she had chosen not to notice at the time. It was sleeping with Finn O’Connell that made her realise how boring and routine things had become with Rupert. But, rather than address it at the time, she had blithely carried on until it had got to a humiliating showdown, finding him in bed—in their bed—with another woman.

  ‘But you were with him for seven years.’

  ‘Yeah, don’t remind me,’ Zoey said, rolling her eyes. ‘I wished I’d left before he made such a fool of me.’ She blew out a breath and added, ‘I think I got too comfortable in my relationship with him. He told me he loved me daily and I believed it, more fool me. I should know by now you can never trust a word a man says.’

  ‘Not all men are like Rupert.’

  ‘Maybe not, but you only have to look at my father to see he’s cut from the same cloth,’ Zoey said. ‘Says one thing, does another. He told me he was going to rehab the last time we had dinner. But did he do it? No. And lately he’s been avoiding me. Ignoring my texts and not answering my calls. I should be relieved at the reduced contact with him, but I know him well enough to know he’s up to something he knows I won’t approve of. Fingers crossed it’s not a new lover young enough to be his daughter. Urgh.’

  ‘Oh, Zoey, I’m sorry you’ve been let down so much by your dad. But losing your mother when you were so young must have really devastated him.’

  Zoey hated being reminded of the loss of her mother when she’d been only four years old. One day her mum had been there, the next she wasn’t. Carried away in an ambulance after falling from her horse while Zoey had been at kindergarten, dying three days later from severe head injuries, never having regained consciousness. Zoey hadn’t had the chance to say goodbye. She hadn’t even been allowed to go to the hospital or to the funeral. Her father had insisted she stay at home with the hastily engaged nanny—one of many, along with various stepmothers who had come and gone during her childhood.

  ‘Yes, well, I lost her too, and do you see me drinking myself into a stupor and making a complete and utter fool of myself? Besides, his drinking has been a fairly recent thing. His last marriage break-up with his wife Linda seemed to be the trigger. She was the first woman he really cared about since mum. Another good reason not to fall in love. It’s not worth it.’

  Millie sighed. ‘I’m sure your mum would be so proud of how you watch out for your dad and of all you’ve achieved professionally.’

  Zoey picked up her tote bag from the chair. ‘Yes, well, all I’ve achieved will be for nothing if I don’t get this contract. Come on. I need a coffee.’

  All this wedding preparation stuff was seriously messing with her head. Her two best friends had fallen in love with wonderful men—even a hardened cynic like her had to admit Hunter Addison and Louis Charpentier were worth giving up singledom for. But she had been so stung by Rupert’s betrayal, and wondered if she would ever allow herself to trust a man again. She had given so much to her relationship with him, been there for him in every way possible, only to find it had all been for nothing. How could she open herself again to such excruciating pain and humiliation?

  * * *

  Finn was in his home office a couple of days later reading through the now mutually signed takeover contract Harry Brackenfield’s lawyer had sent via courier. There was a cooling off period of a week, but he knew Harry wouldn’t back away from the deal—not with the eye-watering amount of money Finn had paid. But Finn had made plenty of money over his career and the odd gamble now and again wouldn’t harm the coffers. Brackenfield Advertising needed a thorough overhaul and a bit of dead wood would have to go. It was a business, after all, and a business was all about profit. That was the bottom line.

  Finn’s rescue cat, Tolstoy, was sitting on his desk with a scowl on his face. The battle-scarred Russian blue hadn’t quite forgiven him for leaving him with the housekeeper when he flew to New York. Tolstoy had pointedly ignored him for the first three days and now, on day five, was only just softening towards him, in that he now tolerated being in the same room as him.

  Finn slowly rolled a pen across his desk. ‘Go on, you know you want to.’ The pen rolled in the direction of the cat’s paw, finally coming to a stop against a paperweight, but all Tolstoy did was give him an unblinking stare.

  ‘Still mad at me, huh?’ Finn opened the top drawer on his desk and took out a length of string and dangled it in front of the cat’s face. ‘What about this?’

  Tolstoy continued to stare at him, his one green eye nothing short of scathing.

  ‘You know something?’ Finn said, dropping the string back in the drawer and closing it. ‘You remind me of someone. She looks at me just like that.’ He went back to the paperwork on his desk, reading through the fine print with studied concentration... Well, it would have been a lot easier to concentrate if his mind hadn’t kept drifting to Zoey.

  His phone buzzed beside him on the desk and he picked it up with a quick glance at the screen. It wasn’t Zoey but Leo Frascatelli, which could only mean good news. ‘Finn O’Connell.’

  ‘Finn, I have a proposition for you,’ Leo said. ‘I’ve had a look at the three pitches and I’ve chosen you and Zoey Brackenfield as equal first. I couldn’t choose between you, so I want you to work together on the campaign. Is that doable?’

  It was doable but was it wise? Finn hadn’t seen her since New York and with each day that had passed the ache to do so had got worse. It was so out of character for him to be hankering after a follow-up date with a lover. Working with Zoey would bring her back into his orbit but it would ramp up the temptation to sleep with her again. And again. And who knew how many more times? He wasn’t normally one to mix business with pleasure. But he was prepared to risk it because the Frascatelli project was a lucrative one even if the profits would be split two ways.

  ‘Sure. Have you talked to Zoey yet?’

  ‘Not yet. I thought I’d run it by you first. Do you think she’d be open to working with you? I’ve heard good things about her work.’

  ‘She’s extremely talented,’ Finn said. ‘How about I run it by her and let you know?’

  ‘That would be great. Nice to talk to you, Finn.’

  ‘You too.
’

  Finn clicked off his phone and looked at Tolstoy. ‘Tell me I’m not an idiot for agreeing to work with Zoey on this account.’

  The cat gave him a lugubrious stare.

  * * *

  Zoey decided to check in on her father on her way home from her dress fitting with Millie. Calling on him unannounced was always a little risky, not to mention stressful, but she was pleasantly surprised to find him in good spirits, and thankfully there was no obvious appearance that he’d been recently indulging in the alcoholic ones.

  ‘Zoey, I was just about to call you. I have some good news.’ He waved her inside, his face beaming.

  She gave him the side-eye on the way in. ‘Please don’t tell me you’re getting married again.’

  ‘No, no, no.’ He chuckled and closed the front door. ‘It’s way more exciting than that. I’ve sold the business. I got a takeover offer I couldn’t refuse. I’ve just signed off on it.’

  Zoey looked at him in shell-shocked silence, her thoughts flying off at tangents. Sold? How could the business be sold? She opened and closed her mouth, unable to find her voice for a moment. How could her father have done such a thing without even consulting her? Did she matter so little to him? Did he care nothing for her? She narrowed her eyes, her heart beating so heavily she could feel it pounding in her ears. ‘What do you mean you’ve sold it? Are you sure you haven’t been drinking?’

  ‘Zoey.’ His tone was that of an adult speaking to a cognitively dull child. ‘I’ve only been drinking because of the stress of trying to run the business on my own. This will mean I can finally relax and—’

  ‘But you wouldn’t have had to run it on your own if you’d let me be a director!’ She swung away with her hands clasped against her nose and mouth, trying to get her breathing under control.

  How could this be happening? She had worked so damn hard. Covering for her father when he didn’t meet a deadline. Filling in for him at meetings when he was nursing yet another hangover. She had compromised herself on so many occasions in an effort to keep the company’s reputation intact. How could he go behind her back and sell the business without even talking it over with her first?