The Mistress Purchase (13 page)

Leon had felt the beginnings of a sharp ache at the thought of leaving her, but now, he told himself, he was relieved.

 

Back in her hotel room, Sadie waited, hoping that Leon would ring. He had told her on the way back that he had business matters to attend to, and she understood that, of course, but surely in view of the intimacy they had shared he would also want to be with her as much as possible, before they had to go their separate ways?

Impulsively Sadie went to her door and opened it.

 

Leon frowned as he opened his door to Sadie's knock.

Smiling tenderly at him, Sadie told him, ‘I know you said you had business to attend to, but I thought I could at least be with you—and then, perhaps…'

Her voice trailed away as she saw the way Leon was frowning.

‘Leon?' she began uncertainly.

What had happened to the passionate, sensual man she had known so intimately at the
mas
? She could not see anything of him here, in the grim rejection of Leon's reaction to her now.

Anxious and bewildered, Sadie struggled to understand what was happening.

‘If it's a bad time…'

Helplessly she looked at him, unable to hide what she was feeling.

As he saw the look in Sadie's eyes Leon's first instinct was to go to her and take her in his arms, but somehow he managed to suppress it. Brad's warning had resurrected some very painful memories. Sadie might not be Miranda, but there were some very complicated issues between them, and there was no way he could allow his own emotions to rule his head now.

‘I've got a lot of work to catch up on, Sadie,' he informed her curtly, turning his back on her as he spoke so that he couldn't look into her eyes and be tempted beyond his own self-control.

Reminding himself of his responsibilities to the business, he took a deep breath.

‘What happened between us at the
mas
…' he began.

Sadie could not let him go on. Ice-cold anguish and pain were seeping agonisingly through her whole body, filling her with a mixture of anger and disbelief. Only the knowledge that if she remained in Leon's room she would be brutally humiliated made her stop him with a cold stare.

‘You don't need to say any more, Leon. I understand perfectly what you mean.'

Not trusting herself to say any more, she whirled round and left.

She felt hot, cold and sick with the pain of being rejected. Burning with anger, she felt torn between two totally conflicting sets of emotions—hating Leon and yet at the same time fully aware of just how much she actually loved him.

Grimly, Leon stared at the empty space where Sadie had been standing. He told himself that he was glad she had left. If she hadn't…Helplessly he moved towards where she had been standing, treacherously allowing himself to breathe in the air still scented by her presence.

She was a passionately and infuriatingly stubborn woman who had the potential to make his life one hell of a lot more complicated than he wanted it to be! And also a lot more pleasurable. It would certainly be more filled with love, with all the things he had denied himself during the years he had focused on building up the business and securing what had been so nearly lost to his family.

Leon's expression became even more grim. He just did not have time for this now. He had to secure Francine—if he didn't, his board would have his guts for breakfast. If he gave in and allowed his feelings for Sadie to take him over and rule his life, how the hell was he going to be able to concentrate wholly on the business? And if he didn't…

Somewhere deep inside him a small, unfamiliar voice asked if he really wanted to devote the rest of his life to the conglomerate…if he wouldn't really rather build a loving relationship than a fat balance sheet. But Leon refused to listen to it.

 

Sadie stared unseeingly around her room. Leon had rejected her! Her face burned fiercely at the recollection of just how determined and obvious that rejection had been! He had used her and then dropped her, she stormed in furious inward anger, but somehow a part of her recognised that that did not ring true. If Leon had simply wanted a brief sexual fling he could have found someone much more up for that sort of thing than her.

So why had he cast her aside, then, if it wasn't because of that? she demanded of herself, lashing her anger with the whip of her own self-contempt and misery. Why was she trying to find excuses for him? He couldn't have made it plainer that he didn't want her. Sadie felt even more humiliated as she relived his reaction to her uninvited arrival at his room.

Painful as the experiment had been, she discovered that a treacherous part of her had recorded every minute detail about him with a lover's intensity—even small things, like the movement of his hands as he had backed away from her. Were those really the same hands that had drawn her so close, held her so tenderly and touched her so intimately? The harshness of his voice—the same voice which had whispered smokily to her of desire and longing, the same voice which had rung out into the night at the height of passion…. Sadie shivered as she remembered the way his gaze had hardened over her, that same gaze which so very recently had melted and then burned with heat and longing…

What had happened? Why had he changed so abruptly? Instinctively Sadie knew that there was no point in her trying to ask him. His body language had told her exactly how he wanted things to be between them—with as much distance as possible!

Her own pride flared into bitter life. Very well! If that was what he wanted, then that was what he was going to get.

Her emotions were in total confusion, Sadie recognised achingly. She had believed they were falling in love with one another, but now Leon was telling her that he just didn't want to know, that he had changed his mind and that he did not want to build a relationship with her after all.

And, what was more, in telling her that he had also implied that he still expected them to share a business relationship!

One part of her—the part of her which had given him her love and her trust and had had that love rejected—was demanding that she protect herself by having nothing more to do with Leon—ever! But Sadie prided herself on her professionalism, and in her opinion it would just not be morally acceptable for her to back out of the contract negotiations now, just because Leon had rejected her emotionally.

She was in between the proverbial rock and hard place, and her poor heart was being badly hurt by them both!

Perhaps once the contracts had been signed and she became involved in her new role she would be too busy to worry about Leon. Too involved in the excitement of what she was doing to have any time to spare to think about him and how much he had hurt her. In fact, there was no ‘perhaps' about it, Sadie decided firmly. That was the way things were going to be! There was no way was she going to languish around nursing a broken heart!

S
HE
was, Sadie knew, a little bit late and an awful lot on edge for this morning's press conference—and both her lateness and her edginess were down to one person and one alone. Leon himself!

She was late because if it hadn't been for the fact that she had to be here nothing would have dragged her anywhere she might have to see him. It had taken a hard-fought internal battle to enable herself to put her personal feelings to one side. And, having done so, she was on edge—just in case when she did see him the love she knew full well she still felt for him overwhelmed her and led her into subjecting herself to even more humiliation.

One of the small army of PR people Leon had obviously hired spotted her and bustled purposefully towards her.

‘Yes, I'm Sadie,' she admitted, on being questioned. ‘Is my cousin Raoul here yet?'

‘Yes, I believe he is. If you will come with me, please?'

The press conference that Leon's publicity people had organised was turning out to be a far larger affair than Sadie had expected, and was being held at the house in Grasse—which would still go into Leon's possession with the signing of legal documents later on in the day.

Now, as she looked round the main salon of the house and out into the courtyard, Sadie could only be unwillingly impressed by the transformation Leon's people had managed to achieve in such a short space of time.

Granted, the massed displays of freshly cut flowers helped to draw the eye away from the house's shabbiness, but it had been a master stroke to have some of the old advertisements for Francine perfumes framed and hung on the walls.

Still following the PR girl, Sadie froze suddenly as she looked towards the small stage that had been erected at one end of the room and saw Leon.

The first thing she had done after Leon's rejection of her had been to book herself into a different hotel. She'd chosen a small
pension
in Grasse itself, so that she would not have to run the risk of coming into contact with him. However, she was now discovering that the sight of him after several hours of not seeing him was having much the same effect as the sight of water was likely to have on a man lost in the desert!

He was standing with his back to her, and despite the anger she could still feel burning inside her, her gaze homed in on him like a missile, greedily gathering up every bit of information it could to stockpile inside her heart for the Leon-empty days that lay ahead!

She, who had always always been able to see another person's point of view, was so angry and hurt that she could not extend that generosity to Leon. She felt as though she hated him, but she knew that she loved him! And because of that she pitied herself.

 

From his position on the small stage—a position he assured himself he had not chosen simply because it gave him an uninterrupted view of anyone entering the room—Leon had witnessed Sadie's arrival, and the manner in which she was so obviously ignoring him. His mouth compressed. He had virtually lost a full nights' sleep—and not because his second in command on the board had
telephoned to warn him that another board member, who had been the most keenly opposed to the acquisition of Francine had been demanding to know what was causing the delay, and prophesying that Leon had made a dangerous error in judgement.

No, it wasn't Kevin Linton's fierce antagonism or questioning of his business acumen and judgement that had kept Leon awake last night. Sadie was solely responsible for that! And right now he was sorely tempted to go over to her and remind her in whatever way it took—and so far as he was concerned the more physically intimate the better—of just why she should not ignore him! He ached so badly for her that right now…

Leon's jaw tightened even further. Up until now nothing, no one had had the power to come between him and his dedication to the business. And for it to be Sadie, a woman his solicitor had already cautioned him against…

But Brad didn't know Sadie as he knew her, and Leon swore he never would! No other man ever would, if Leon had his way. No other man would be allowed to so much as look at her, never mind—

Abruptly Leon recognised that he was out of control, that his emotions were careering wildly down a one-way street and that if he didn't get a hold of them…

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a man approaching Sadie, smiling at her, reaching out his hand to touch her…A red mist exploded inside Leon's head. His heart was thumping, adrenalin flooding his body. He wanted—

At Leon's side, the head of the PR company interrupted his dangerous flow of thoughts.

‘I think everyone is here. We should begin the conference, I think. The press are beginning to grow impatient…'

At the same moment, this mystery man was raising
Sadie's hand to his lips. The PR executive frowned in confusion as she heard Leon give a low, muted growl of male anger.

 

‘Merci, Monsieur Fontaine,'
Sadie said politely, thanking the man who had been praising the scent she was wearing. Still smiling, she firmly extracted her hand from his grasp.

‘Come on, Sadie. Leon wants us both up on the stage,' Raoul announced, suddenly appearing at her side and taking hold of her arm.

Sadie could feel the PR executive and Leon looking at them as she and Raoul approached the stage. Immediately she averted her face, looking very deliberately past Leon, her chin lifting with haughty female pride.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of the icy, brief look Leon gave her. From out of nowhere, Sadie jealously wondered, would the elegant Frenchwoman at his side be the one to share his bed tonight?

The pain that tore at her almost made her cry out loud!

Unable to stop herself, she watched as Leon strode to the front of the stage and picked up the microphone.

‘I hope this is going to be quick,' Raoul muttered at her side. ‘The sooner Leon's cheque is in my pocket the happier I shall be! I must say you don't look very happy for someone who's about to pocket a couple of million euros!'

‘Francine means far more to me than money, Raoul,' Sadie reminded her cousin in a determined whisper. ‘You know that. If it wasn't—'

A fierce ‘shush' from one of the hovering PR personnel made Sadie go red and stop speaking, to concentrate instead on what Leon was saying to the assembled press.

Determinedly Sadie tried not to be aware of him, not to think about him, not to remember. But as fierce as her anger was, her love was even fiercer, and helplessly she turned her head to look longingly towards him, taking advantage of his audience's concentration on what he was saying to gaze hungrily at his dark-suited back view.

Just watching him made her whole body quiver with aching need.

Leon had reached the end of his short speech confirming the takeover.

Someone from the floor called up.

‘Are you intending to keep the Francine name?'

‘Of course,' Leon responded immediately.

‘And the Francine perfumes?' someone else challenged him, ‘What about them?

‘So far as I am concerned there is only one Francine perfume,' Leon responded coolly, ‘and that is Myrrh. I am delighted to be able to tell you that the great-great-great-granddaughter of the founder of the house is going to be working for us—not only on adapting the Myrrh formula to suit modern-day tastes, but also on creating a new perfume under the Francine name. As you will all know, Sadie Roberts is already well regarded in the business as a gifted creator of exclusive scents, and I am delighted to be able to introduce her to you as Francine's new creative director.'

As Leon turned to look at her, Sadie stood up on cue and walked towards him, knowing that he intended to introduce her to the audience.

He had extended his hand towards her in what appeared to be a gesture of warmth and appreciation, but Sadie deliberately stopped just short of it—and him—and for her pains received a look from him that threatened to collapse her fragile pride into dust.

Turning his head so that no one else could hear him, he said softly, ‘This is a business arena we are in today, Sadie, not a personal one.'

Equally softly, Sadie hissed back, ‘There is no personal arena for us any more, Leon.'

Whilst their gazes were still locked in silent combat, one of the reporters in the audience called, ‘As you say, we know of Mademoiselle Sadie, but surely it is true that she only creates perfumes made from natural sources? Are we to understand that from now on Francine perfumes are to be created in the same way?'

Sadie took a deep breath, wholly professional now as she waited confidently for her moment to make public the compromise she and Leon had reached—publicly for Francine, but privately in her heart for her grandmother. But before she could say anything Leon had reached for the microphone.

‘No, the new Francine perfumes will be scents that will be affordable for every woman who wishes to wear them, and for that reason they will—in common with most modern perfume houses—be created without the need for expensive and sometimes unreliable raw materials.'

Rigid with disbelief, Sadie drew in her breath, the audience momentarily forgotten as she turned to Leon and burst out, white-faced with fury, ‘How can you say that? You know I would
never
agree to work wholly with synthetics!'

 

The press conference was over, the eagerly curious audience having been hurriedly despatched by the PR company, and Sadie and Leon were confronting one another across the upstairs room of the house where they had first officially met.

‘How could you do that?' Sadie demanded bitterly,
swinging round from where she had been looking out of the window to face Leon. ‘How could you lie like that?'

‘Lie?' Leon stopped her, his voice ominously quiet. ‘I haven't lied, Sadie. You assured Raoul that you were in agreement with my plans. You accepted both that the Myrrh perfume rightly belongs to Francine and that you were willing to work on revamping its formula and creating a new perfume using man-made materials.'

Sadie had never looked more beautiful or more desirable to him than she did right now, Leon acknowledged, and he felt the stomach-clenching kick of his own fierce need thrust through his body.

‘I assured Raoul of no such thing!' Sadie insisted. She felt almost incandescent with shock and rage, barely able to speak for the ferocity of her fury. She knew she'd been lied to and deceived—and not just by her cousin!

‘You must have known that I would never, ever give such an agreement,' she threw at Leon passionately. ‘I can't believe you can possibly have thought that I would ever agree to work exclusively with synthetics when you know how important it is to me…'

Leon couldn't believe what he was hearing. This was his worst nightmare scenario come to life! There he was, facing a stubborn, emotional woman who threatened the security of his business.

Just wait until Kevin Linton got to hear about this! He had been opposed to the Francine acquisition right from the start, stating that it simply did not have legs, and now, Leon realised bitterly, his adversary might be right.

‘You tricked me,' she told him fiercely.

‘I tricked you!' Leon snapped, adding, ‘It seems to me that it's very convenient for you that Raoul is nowhere to be found!'

‘Convenient for
me
?' Sadie felt as though she might
explode with the ferocity of her rage and sense of ill-usage. ‘Raoul assured me that you were willing to compromise, to allow me to create a perfume that was a blend of both naturals and synthetics—a perfume that—'

‘What? You expected me to let you create a perfume for selfish women with too much money who don't give a damn about anyone other than themselves? No way. Not now. Not ever!' Leon told her, shaking his head to emphasise his feelings. ‘I thought I'd already made it plain to you, Sadie, that I want a perfume that all women can enjoy.'

‘All women?' Sadie's lip curled in furious contempt. ‘You don't give a damn about my sex, Leon. All you care about is making money—well rest assured you aren't going to make any from me, or from the Myrrh formula!'

Leon had had enough! Before he could stop himself he was reaching for Sadie and wrapping his arms around her, smothering her angry, heated words with the equally heated pressure of his mouth.

For one single heartbeat Sadie tried to resist him, but it was impossible. A hot tide of longing was already surging through her, obliterating her defences as it did so. Helplessly she clung to him, returning his kiss with equal intensity. Their mouths meshed, their bodies defying the pressure of their mutual anger.

‘Sadie, you've got to see reason,' Leon growled against her mouth.

‘I've
got to see reason?' Immediately Sadie pulled back from him, her breasts rising and falling with the rapidity of her aroused breathing.

‘You verbally agreed to sign our contract, and morally—'

‘Morally, nothing,' Sadie declared, incensed, still trying to come down from the emotional impact of his kiss.