The Tycoon's Outrageous Proposal

by Miranda Lee

  ‘Cleo, I—’

  ‘Not one word, Byron! I can’t stand the words that come out of your treacherous mouth. You say you love me but you have no concept of true love. All you know is what you want. Never mind anyone else’s feelings. Other people are just here to fulfil your needs, especially women. I feel sorry for those two girls you were once engaged to. They probably thought you cared about them. But you didn’t. They just fed your ego for a while. Well, I have no intention of taking over from them, Byron. I’m not in the business of feeding your ego. Now, I’m going to get dressed and go home. No, please don’t get up. I’ll call a taxi. Frankly, I don’t want to spend one single second in your, oh, so charming company.’

  ‘For pity’s sake, Cleo,’ he started as she scooped up her clothes and carried them in the direction of the bathroom.

  She whirled on him. ‘I have no pity for you. You are dead in my eyes. Dead and gone.’

  ‘You don’t mean that,’ he said, horrified by the coldness in her face.

  ‘Trust me. I do.’

  ‘But you love me.’

  She laughed. ‘More fool me. But I’ll get over you in time. Trust me on that, too.’

  His eyes narrowed. She couldn’t mean that. She couldn’t!

  ‘You’re just angry at the moment. I’ll call you tomorrow.’

  ‘Don’t. I’m warning you. You’ll be wasting your time.’

  ‘Then it’s my time to waste,’ he ground out, angry now himself. Okay, what he’d done had been stupid, but there was no harm done. Byron suspected that her anger wasn’t entirely directed at him. The bottom line, however, was that she loved him. He could feel that love every time they were in bed together. So he wasn’t going to give up on her. He couldn’t. She was the woman he wanted and he wasn’t about to roll over like some whipped dog and just let her go.

  ‘I’ll be in touch,’ he told her again even as she banged the bathroom door shut.

  When she came out fully dressed he didn’t say a word. He watched in silence as she called a taxi, his heart heavy with regret as he watched her leave. If only he could go back in time, he would have stopped and reached for a damned condom. Now, he’d made his mission of winning Cleo extremely difficult.

  But not impossible, he decided with a burst of renewed optimism. Nothing was impossible. Not if you really truly loved a person. And they really truly loved you in return. She would forgive him in time. Surely.

  Because the alternative didn’t bear thinking about.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CLEO HAD NOT long sat down at her desk the following Wednesday morning when Harvey walked in, carrying a vase of two dozen long-stemmed red roses.

  ‘The delivery guy was hovering in Reception when I came through,’ he explained. ‘From Byron, I presume?’

  ‘Yes,’ Cleo said frostily. ‘He sends me the same thing at the same time every day. This is the sixth day in a row.’ He’d had them delivered to her home over the weekend. ‘I’ll have Leanne send them over to the women’s hospital. That’s what I did with the other ones.’ The roses at the weekend had been put straight into the bin, much to Doreen’s horror. But Cleo simply couldn’t bear to look at them.

  Harvey put the vase down on her desk, then picked up the attached envelope but didn’t open it. ‘What does the card say?’

  ‘Always the same thing,’ she bit out. ‘“I’m sorry. I love you. Please forgive me.”’

  ‘So why don’t you?’

  Cleo stiffened. ‘I just can’t.’

  ‘No, you just won’t.’

  ‘If you say so.’

  ‘I do say so. Don’t let your pride get in the way of forgiving the man, Cleo.’

  ‘It’s not a question of pride, Harvey. Now, is there anything I can do for you?’

  ‘Nope. Just came to tell you that Doreen’s worried about you. She says you’re not eating properly. Or sleeping.’

  Not entirely true. She did sleep, but only with the help of some sleeping tablets she’d been prescribed after Martin’s death. They did the trick, but she still woke, feeling exhausted and emotionally drained. It annoyed her that Doreen had spoken to Harvey and not her.

  ‘Then why doesn’t she say so herself?’

  Harvey shrugged. ‘Doreen’s not good at confrontation. Look, she told me all about the way her husband treated her and it doesn’t take much brains to work out her son was just the same.’

  ‘He was,’ Cleo agreed, her chest tightening.

  ‘Byron shouldn’t have to suffer for what another man did.’

  ‘He’s not. He’s suffering for what he did.’

  ‘Right, well, I don’t know anything about that. But I guess it’s your life. You have the right to stuff it up, if that’s what you want. I told Doreen I’d try to talk some sense into you and I have. Mission accomplished. So, when’s the boss getting back?’

  ‘He should be in any time now. His plane landed at six-thirty this morning. He sent a text saying he’d go home first and freshen up, then come straight in.’

  ‘What are you going to tell him about Maddox?’

  ‘The truth,’ Cleo said tautly. ‘That Byron isn’t interested in a partnership with him.’

  Harvey laughed. ‘Good luck with that. Scott might be a bit thick at times but he’s no fool. He only has to take one look at you to know that something’s been going on with you and Maddox. And I’m not talking about your new wardrobe and hairstyle. It’s all there in your eyes every time the man is mentioned.’

  ‘Oh,’ she said, those betraying eyes of hers immediately smarting with tears. She rapidly blinked them away, lifting her chin in defiance of her emotional response, tapping into the hurt that still raged inside her. ‘Thank you for telling me that,’ she said. ‘I’ll be on my guard in future.’

  Harvey rolled his eyes. ‘I’m just glad it brought me Doreen. She’s one sweet, loving woman.’

  ‘Yes, she is. And if you ever hurt her you’ll have me to answer to.’

  Harvey nodded. ‘I can believe that. But you don’t have to worry. I would never hurt Doreen. I love her even more than I love my Harley-Davidson. And that’s saying something. In fact, I...’

  The arrival of Scott, accompanied by his wife, Sarah, put paid to that conversation. Harvey made the right noises before hurrying off, leaving Cleo to face the couple who were staring at her, totally gobsmacked by her appearance.

  Cleo was wearing her stunning new white pant suit. Her hair was up, but in a less severe style than the old days. And she was wearing lots of make-up, plus the reddest lipstick. All in defiance of her inner unhappiness, of course.

  Sarah was the first to put two and two together and get five, her eyes going from Cleo to the red roses then back to Cleo again.

  ‘Someone has got herself an admirer,’ she exclaimed. ‘And a new look to go with it. Am I right, or am I right?’

  ‘Sort of,’ Cleo replied, not ready to explain all to her boss’s wife. She liked Sarah, who was both beautiful and bright, but just a little bit overwhelming at times. In the past, Cleo had felt inferior to Sarah, with her innate style and bubbly personality. She was not in the mood today to confess all. Harvey’s visit had left her on edge and questioning whether she was doing the right thing in not forgiving Byron. It was a struggle enough to stop herself from bursting into tears.

  ‘Oh, do tell.’

  ‘I...er...don’t think...’

  ‘For pity’s sake, Sarah,’ Scott said, indulgently. ‘You came in here to give Cleo that pretty scarf you bought her, not put her through the third degree. Though I have to admit, Cleo, that you do look amazing. He must be an incredible man to make you go to so much trouble.’

  That did it. Because Byron was incredible, really. If he hadn’t done what he’d done, she’d probably be engaged to him right now and looking forward to a wonderful life together. Instead, she was sitting here with a future as lonely as it was bitter and sad.

  She didn’t start sobbing, but silent tears ran down her face, Cleo glimps
ing the appalled expressions of Scott and Sarah before she buried her face in her hands.

  It was Sarah who put her arms around Cleo’s shoulders, holding her gently but firmly.

  ‘Scott, go and get that box of tissues you keep on your desk,’ Cleo heard her tell her husband.

  Sarah mopped her up, then sent Scott off again to get them all coffee. But he was back within seconds, saying he’d given Leanne the job.

  Cleo groaned. She didn’t want everyone at work to know she was a mess. Though she supposed Leanne already knew, what with the flowers and all.

  ‘I think what Cleo really needs,’ Sarah said decisively, ‘is to get out of this office for a while. Come on, sweetie, we’ll go for a walk and find a nice place where we can sit and have a girl-to-girl chat.’

  ‘But I was hoping to talk to Cleo about business!’ Scott protested. ‘I need an update on the Byron Maddox situation, asap.’

  Just the mention of his name brought another groan from Cleo.

  Sarah didn’t need to be a genius to twig. Scott, however, being a typical man, still looked mystified.

  ‘You won’t be doing business with Byron bloody Maddox,’ Sarah snapped. ‘Not if I can help it.’

  ‘But that’s just it,’ Scott said, his expression still perplexed. ‘I don’t need to now. McAllister Mines can survive without him.’

  ‘Good,’ Sarah bit out. ‘Then just ring the man yourself and tell him that. Now, Cleo and I are going out for coffee. And we won’t be back for a good while.’

  ‘But Leanne’s just gone to get us all coffee,’ he pointed out frustratedly.

  Sarah merely rolled her eyes and led Cleo out.

  Cleo knew that Sarah could be quite formidable when she wanted to be, recalling how she’d left Scott not that long ago, refusing to return to him until Cleo had stepped in herself and begged Sarah to give him a second chance. Which she had. But on her own terms. Cleo admired her enormously. It would be good to talk to someone who would understand her own stance.

  But she didn’t understand. Not even remotely.

  ‘So he asked you to marry him and you said not yet. And then he proceeded to have sex with you without a condom and, once you realised, you had a big hissy fit and then you broke up with him, even though you weren’t likely to get pregnant. Did I get that right?’

  ‘Well, yes,’ Cleo said, glancing around the rather crowded café, hoping that none of the other customers were listening in on their conversation.

  ‘What he did wasn’t that bad, Cleo. It doesn’t rate compared with what Scott did to me. Byron didn’t believe the worst about you. Or have vengeful sex. He just had unintentionally unsafe sex. And only the once. When he was half asleep, might I add. Now, if what you tell me is true, then he’s really in love with you. I mean, he fancied you even when you looked nothing short of dreary. Sorry to say that but you did. Now, I can’t say I thought all that much of Byron Maddox when I met him last year, but, if I’m brutally honest, I judged him by the truly ghastly girlfriend he was with. Stunning to look at but totally up herself. It was a case of dislike transference.’

  ‘What?’

  Sarah laughed. ‘That’s lawyer talk. It just comes out of my mouth sometimes. Now back to the point. You have to give the man a second chance, Cleo. Remember what you told me that night you came to see me when Scott and I were separated? You said marriage is hard. And it is. But very worthwhile, if your husband really truly loves you. And I think Byron really truly loves you. Not like your first husband,’ she added, which brought Cleo up with a jolt.

  ‘What makes you say that? Martin loved me.’

  ‘Did he?’

  ‘Yes, he did,’ Cleo said, a great lump forming in her throat. ‘In his own way...’

  ‘And what way was that, Cleo?’ she asked gently.

  Cleo sighed, then told her everything, crying occasionally as she put all the horrors she’d endured during the early years of her marriage into words.

  ‘What a bastard,’ Sarah murmured.

  ‘He didn’t know any better,’ Cleo said as she wiped her eyes. ‘He was copying the way his father behaved.’

  ‘That’s no excuse, Cleo. You must know that.’

  She nodded. ‘I do. I was actually going to leave him, but then he got cancer and I just couldn’t. He changed after that.’

  ‘You mean he lost control over you.’

  ‘Yes. Yes, that’s exactly what happened.’

  ‘But it left you afraid of men, and what they can do, if you give them power over you.’

  ‘Yes,’ she agreed with a long sigh.

  ‘You have to tell Byron what you just told me. You have to make him understand how important it is to you that he never does anything like that again. That’s another thing you told me that night—to be honest and upfront with your loved ones. Tell them what you want out of life and what you don’t want. You do want children, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes. But having a baby has to be a mutual decision. I don’t want to feel forced into anything.’

  ‘Then tell Byron that. I’m sure he’s ready to listen by now.’

  ‘I... I don’t know...’

  Sarah crossed her arms and gave Cleo an uncompromising glare across the table. ‘I’m not letting you out of that seat until you’ve rung the man and arranged to meet him.’

  Cleo’s lips pursed in automatic defiance. ‘You can be seriously bossy, do you know that?’

  ‘You made me promise the same thing with Scott, remember?’

  ‘That was different,’ Cleo argued.

  ‘I don’t see how.’

  ‘You were already married.’

  ‘It’s being in love that matters. You do love Byron, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes...’

  ‘Then get on your damned phone and ring the man.’

  Cleo didn’t move a muscle.

  ‘I’m waiting,’ Sarah said, her blue eyes as hard as flint.

  Suddenly, Cleo thought of what Harvey had said that morning. Don’t let pride get in the way of your happiness. Or something like that.

  ‘All right,’ she said, but when she rang, his number went to voicemail.

  Dismayed, Cleo pressed Grace’s number.

  ‘Cleo,’ Grace answered, sounding both surprised and delighted.

  ‘I’m trying to contact Byron, Grace. Is he in?’

  ‘No. He said he had to go out but didn’t say where.’

  ‘I see...’

  ‘Have you tried ringing him?’

  ‘His phone goes to voicemail.’

  ‘I’m not surprised. He hasn’t wanted to talk to anyone. He’s very down, Cleo. Very...depressed.’

  Cleo couldn’t imagine Byron being down. Angry, yes. But not depressed.

  ‘I’ll let him know you called as soon as he gets back,’ she offered.

  ‘I’d appreciate that. And thanks for the roses.’

  ‘What roses?’

  Cleo had assumed that Byron would have had Grace organise the flowers. It distressed her that she’d been wrong, that she was so ready to believe the worst of Byron.

  Just then Sarah’s phone pinged, announcing a text message.

  ‘I’ve found him!’ Sarah exclaimed before Cleo could explain to Grace about the roses. ‘He’s with Scott, talking business. But Scott says he’s just waiting until you get back.’

  ‘It’s all right. I heard that,’ Grace piped up. ‘Now for pity’s sake, make up with him, Cleo. I can’t stand another moment of the man. Honestly.’

  Cleo smiled at the memory of how she’d felt exactly the same way when Scott had been fighting with Sarah. He’d been the biggest misery. And impossible to work with.

  ‘All right,’ she said, and was immediately swamped by a wave of sheer joy.

  ‘Let’s get going,’ she directed at Sarah. ‘Bye, Grace.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  BYRON STARTED DOOR-WATCHING after Scott contacted Sarah. The anticipation of seeing Cleo worried the life out of him, because he had no idea wha
t kind of reception he’d receive. He’d had no response from his flowers. Not that he’d expected any really. She’d been too mad at him to fall for that ploy. But he’d had to do something, had to let her know how sorry he was. He’d resisted the frantic urge to bombard her with phone calls and text messages, giving her time for her anger to subside, hoping that the sight of the red roses might soften her stance.

  By this morning, however, he could not stand to sit by and do nothing any longer. So he’d looked up the address of McAllister Mines’ head office and walked up here, expecting to see Cleo, only to find that her boss had returned from his second honeymoon, and Cleo was out having coffee with his wife. Today’s vase of red roses was still on her desk, however. Which gave him some hope.

  ‘Are they coming back soon?’ he asked Scott in an effort to soothe his escalating anxiety.

  ‘They’re on their way,’ he replied before giving Byron a searching look. ‘So am I allowed to ask what you did that caused all this ruckus?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘That bad, eh? Well, it couldn’t be as bad as what I did not that long ago, and Sarah and I are still together. If you truly love each other, things will work out in the end.’

  Privately, Byron thought that was a very naive statement, coming from a grown man.

  ‘I hope you’re right about that,’ he said.

  ‘I know Cleo. She’s got a lot of love in her. Do you know about her first marriage?’

  Byron stiffened. ‘I know a bit.’

  ‘Sarah thinks her husband might not have treated her well.’

  ‘I’m beginning to think the same thing.’

  ‘They’re back,’ Scott whispered and stood up.

  Byron did likewise, tensing at the sharp tap on the door.

  ‘Come in, girls,’ Scott called out.

  Sarah came in first, looking delicious in bone trousers and an ice-blue mohair jumper. But Cleo trumped her in a stylish white pant suit, which complemented Cleo’s dark colouring and brought life to her olive complexion. Around her neck hung a long turquoise chiffon scarf, which was bright but elegant. She looked surprisingly happy at the sight of him, only the red rims of her eyes betraying her recent distress.