Читать книгу The Unforgettable Spanish Tycoon - Christy McKellen - Страница 9
ОглавлениеIT WAS UNSEASONABLY hot in Barcelona for February and, what with the adrenaline-spiked blood rushing through her veins and the brilliant sunshine that beat in waves at her back as she alighted from the cab outside Araya Industries’ ultra-modern offices, Elena Jones was just about ready to combust in her made-for-English-weather woollen suit.
After giving her name in the wonderfully cool air-conditioned reception area, she was shown into a meeting room by a rather anxious-looking PA, acutely aware of the sound of her heels clicking loudly on the highly patterned ceramic tile flooring.
Swallowing down a twinge of nerves, Elena accepted the offer of a drink of water from the young woman, who for some reason didn’t seem to be able to look her in the eye, then chose a chair at the head of the imposing twenty-seater frosted glass-topped table, carefully hanging her suit jacket over the back of the sharply stylish but rather uncomfortable-looking chair so it didn’t get crumpled. She wanted to look her absolute best today in the hope it would provide her with the boost of confidence she needed to get a positive result from this meeting.
What was making her most nervous was not knowing how Caleb Araya was going to react to seeing her again after all this time. She was actually annoyed by just how anxious she felt about being out of her comfort zone. After running her own company for the last five years she’d become far better at taking risks and getting a grip on her fear of the unknown, and it took something rather exceptional to faze her now.
Apparently the thought of coming face-to-face with Caleb again was to be one of those things.
Would he have forgiven her by now?
Her heart gave an extra hard thump in her chest.
He had to have done, surely? What happened between them had been fifteen years ago; he couldn’t still be holding a grudge. He was a businessman after all, a hugely successful one by all accounts, who wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to get in on a profitable deal just because they had a bit of a rocky past.
Would he?
Staring out of the floor-to-ceiling windows at the busy street below, she remembered how she’d felt the very first time she’d met him during her second year at the University of Cambridge. At the tender age of twenty she’d thought Caleb Araya was the most arresting, ambitious and charismatic man she’d ever met.
They’d been good friends once, able to talk for hours about their passion for engineering and their hopes of making a mark on the world after they’d gained their degrees.
They’d made a strange pair, the two of them, so much so that their classmates had found their friendship a great source of amusement: she a petite, middle class, inner-city-living bookworm and he a hulking bad boy from the wrong side of a small Spanish town.
But away from other people the formerly laconic, gruff Caleb had been playful, gentle and animated. He’d fascinated her with his passion and drive, not to mention his dangerous sex appeal, and had excited her in ways she’d never experienced before.
What she’d most loved about him was that despite having a tough start in life Caleb hadn’t let it beat him down. He’d been determined to better his situation through sheer hard work and making intelligent decisions.
Looking around her now, she could see he’d certainly achieved his goal, and then some. According to the articles she’d read on the Web, his was now the most successful technology and engineering company ever to come out of Spain.
The door in the remarkably fingerprint-free wall of glass that divided the room from the large, plush reception area swung open, letting in the sound of Spanish chatter, and she stood up, taking a deep breath and preparing herself to face Caleb with a cool head and a warm smile.
She was determined not to let her shame about the heartless way she’d treated him in the past get in the way of her objective here today.
Hopefully, he wouldn’t let any residual antipathy towards her get in the way of a promising business partnership either.
A wave of nervous tension made her skin prickle as the man himself strode into the room with his PA hot on his heels.
Caleb was just as captivating as she remembered, probably even more so now that he’d grown into his darkly arresting looks and six foot five, broad-shouldered frame. It seemed he’d only built on the animal magnetism she remembered so keenly too. With his dark, hooded eyes and jet-black hair slicked away from his strong-boned face he looked fierce, indomitable and rather dangerous.
No wonder his PA seemed so afraid of him.
The scowl currently marring his craggy features as he approached was so intimidating it made Elena’s heart leap about in her chest.
‘Elena Jones,’ he drawled in that same beautiful gravelly Spanish accent she remembered so well, his voice sounding not so much friendly as vaguely amused.
Her stomach jumped with nerves as he came to a halt in front of where she stood.
Instead of holding out a hand in greeting, he folded his enormous arms, making his shirt sleeves tighten over his bulging muscles, and looked down at her with one dark eyebrow raised, as if waiting for her to explain how she could possibly have the nerve to show her face here.
He hadn’t forgiven her then.
She swallowed hard, wishing she could take a quick sip of water to loosen her suddenly dry throat, but she didn’t want to weaken her position by breaking eye contact with him so she ignored the impulse.
‘It’s good to see you again, Caleb. Thank you for agreeing to this meeting.’
His mouth twitched at the corner as if he were suppressing a smile. ‘My former PA made it without my knowledge,’ he said, glancing quickly towards his current PA, who seemed to shrink into herself a little, as if afraid she was about to take the fall for her predecessor’s mistake. ‘But when I saw your name in my diary I couldn’t help but be curious about what you could possibly want from me after all this time.’
His presence seemed to grow, crowding out the light in the room as he dropped his arms and drew his shoulders back, pulling himself up to his full height. ‘I’m guessing you’re only here because you need something from me—rather desperately, judging by the power suit and heels.’
Damn, his dispassionate attitude was going to make her job here so much harder. But there was no way she was giving up that easily. Just because he wasn’t prepared to be friendly it didn’t mean she couldn’t persuade him to agree to give her what she needed. She was going to have to play this meeting carefully though. Apologise—again—if that was what it took.
Just not yet.
It was probably best to keep things on a purely business tack for now.
‘I’m here to put a proposition to you,’ she said, forcing herself to keep her gaze firmly fixed to his. ‘Although to say I’m “desperate” isn’t at all accurate,’ she lied.
If she knew Caleb at all, and she thought that she did, showing any kind of weakness at this point would be a huge mistake.
‘A proposition?’ he said, a hint of incredulity colouring his voice.
Elena nodded jerkily, cursing her churning stomach. ‘Yes. I’m sure it’s something you’re going to be very interested in.’
There was a heavy pause while Caleb ran his piercing gaze over her face—perhaps looking for signs of a set-up, or even a joke—before appearing to decide that she was absolutely serious.
‘Then I suppose we’d better sit down,’ he said, gesturing towards the chair she’d vacated and taking another one two places away, which he turned around so it was facing her.
‘You won’t need to take any notes,’ he said to his PA, waving his hand dismissively. ‘This won’t be a long meeting.’
Trying not to show how much his glib assumption riled her, Elena took her own seat and smiled encouragingly at the PA, who gave her a nervous nod in return before scuttling out of the room.
Poor woman.
Biting her lip to refrain from saying something to Caleb about his ogre-like behaviour, Elena sat up straighter in her chair and fixed him with a serious stare.
He looked back at her with one eyebrow raised in apparent curiosity, though the look in his eyes was still hard enough to cut diamonds.
‘I don’t know whether you know, but I’m the Managing Director and owner of a company in England called Zipabout,’ she began, leaning forward a little in her chair.
His expression gave no hint as to whether he’d known that or not so she decided to just forge ahead with the pitch.
‘We’ve designed an electric car specifically suited for a single person to make short trips around towns and cities. It’s safer than riding a bike and easy to park in small spaces, but the overarching benefits are that it’ll help cut down on air pollution and unnecessary fuel usage.’ She took a breath. ‘Right now we’re looking to source a large rechargeable battery to run it. The one that your company makes would be a perfect fit for our design.’
The smile he gave her made her think of a wild animal about to pounce.
‘You’re asking me to partner with you?’ he asked with dry amusement in his voice.
She cleared her throat to try and defuse the tension that was building there.
‘That’s exactly what I’m proposing.’
He nodded slowly, his intense gaze never leaving her face.
‘Why did you choose my battery?’
‘It’s the best one on the market.’ She held back on revealing that it was the only one that would work with the design now that their previous choice was no longer viable.
When their former supplier had called a meeting at the eleventh hour to let her know there was an unfixable fault with the battery they’d planned to use in the car, Elena had done some frantic research, only to come to the uncomfortable conclusion that Caleb’s company was the only other manufacturer of a battery compatible with the design. If she didn’t get him to agree to supply her company today it was quite likely the car’s product launch would be perilously held up and they’d lose all the pre-orders they’d worked so hard to accrue.
‘And I think a partnership would be highly beneficial for both our companies,’ she went on, hoping to goodness that her nerves weren’t beginning to show. Her whole body was rigid with tension because, most crucially, if he didn’t agree to supply the battery Zipabout could go under and her entire workforce, who had become like family to her over the last five years, would all lose their jobs.
Tamping down on the dread that sank through her at the thought of it, she widened her smile. ‘I sent some information over to your PA this morning in case you had a chance to look at it before the meeting, but I’m guessing from your reaction that you haven’t. I have a short presentation on my laptop with me though; perhaps you’d like to see it?’
He regarded her without speaking for what felt like minutes, his dark eyes narrowed in thought. There was something else there in his expression that she didn’t like the look of. Something cold and hard.
‘No, I don’t think I would,’ he said finally.
She stared at him, wondering whether she’d misheard. Surely he couldn’t be dismissing the idea without at least looking at her proposal?
‘What—?’ she whispered, giving herself a little shake, then leaning in closer to him. ‘Caleb, at least look at the sales projections—’
But he cut her off with a wave of his hand. ‘I’m not interested in partnering with you, Elena.’ He stood up. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a busy day—’
‘Wait!’ She raised her hand with all but her pointing finger clenched into a fist so he wouldn’t see how sweaty her palm was. ‘I haven’t given you all the salient details yet,’ she said desperately.
‘I don’t need to hear them; I’ve already made my decision.’
‘But—’ She could feel panic rising from her gut. ‘Why, Caleb?’
He took a step towards her, his face completely devoid of emotion. ‘Because, Elena, I don’t do business with people whose word I don’t trust.’
She shook her head in disbelief. ‘That was a long time ago, Caleb. I can’t believe you’re still angry with me for that.’ Getting shakily to her feet, she took a step towards him. ‘Please know I still feel bad about the way I handled it all, but we were both so young and naïve—’
‘You were naïve,’ he cut in angrily. ‘I wasn’t. I’d experienced far too much ignorance and cruelty in my life for that to be the case.’
‘And you’re really still harbouring bad feelings about it? It was fifteen years ago! Surely you’ve experienced enough happiness in your life now to get over it?’ She swallowed down her regret. ‘I read that you got engaged last year.’
He batted away her questioning look, his gaze finally slipping from hers. ‘It didn’t work out.’
Something twisted and tightened in her chest, making it harder for her to breathe. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
His expression darkened. ‘Are you? Since when do you care about my love life?’
‘I—’ She didn’t know how to answer that. The truth was she’d kept tabs on what he’d been up to over the intervening years because, despite the fact their friendship had ended badly, she still cared about him. Not that she thought telling him that right now would do anything to strengthen her case. He’d probably just see it as more weakness.
Caleb used her hesitation to push the knife in deeper.
‘How is—what was his name?—Johnny, was it? Are the two of you still living your safe, comfortable life together?’
Heat raced to her cheeks. ‘His name was Jimmy and, no, we’re not together any more. We split up a number of years ago.’ Which was yet another painful regret. She still felt guilty about backing away from her and Jimmy’s wedding, even though she’d known it was the right thing to do at the time.
The main problem had been that the memories of Caleb had never left her, even though she’d tried her hardest to forget him. He’d stayed with her, buried deep in her heart.
There wasn’t a flicker of reaction on Caleb’s face at this news though, not even a twitch of an eye. Clearly he didn’t care a jot about her any more. But then, if that was true, why was he being so pig-headed about not listening to her?
Because he was punishing her for hurting him fifteen years ago.
Frustration surged through her. ‘I can’t believe you’re still holding a grudge, Caleb. Surely someone of your standing and success has no need to be so small-minded.’ She could hear the anger vibrating in her voice and it seemed Caleb did too because he widened his eyes a little before replacing his flash of surprise with an amused smirk.
‘Is this the controlled, cautious Elena I knew all those years ago? My, how you’ve changed.’
‘For the better, Caleb. I’m not the naïve young girl you used to know.’ She refrained from saying and love, knowing that would be taking things a step too far. He’d never said such a thing to her, he’d been too proud for that, though it had been implied in his every action.
Unless she’d read him wrongly.
Which was quite possible.
She’d been wrong about a lot of things.
There was a quiet knock on the glass door and Caleb’s PA crept, hunch-shouldered, into the room.
Before she could speak, Caleb let out a growl of frustration and snapped, ‘I thought I told you I didn’t want to be interrupted!’
Because Caleb had spoken to her in English, and perhaps in deference to Elena’s presence there too, his PA replied in English. ‘I’m so sorry, but I thought you’d want to know about this straight away. Apparently there’s a problem with the meeting with the Americans on Monday. Señor Carter’s PA is saying he’s having second thoughts—’
Caleb held up a hand to stop her speaking, his gaze flicking momentarily to Elena before returning to his PA, his expression thunderous, as if furious that Elena had been a party to hearing about the setback.
This time he replied in Spanish and, even though Elena didn’t understand a word of it, not being a Spanish speaker, she could see that his words had cut his PA deeply when she backed out of the room with tears glinting in her eyes.
‘How can you be so cold? So mean!’ she blurted when he turned back to look at her. ‘That poor woman was just doing her job.’
Mouth dry, she reached for the glass of water but when she saw how much her hand was trembling she quickly dropped it to her side again.
‘How could you treat her like that, Caleb?’
‘Like what?’ he growled.
‘Like nothing. Less than nothing. I would have thought you’d have made every effort to make sure your subordinates were treated with kindness and respect after what you went through when you were young.’
Anger flickered in his eyes. ‘I’m respectful to people when they work hard and make good choices.’
‘But people won’t learn from their mistakes if you don’t nurture them. They become afraid to take necessary risks and everything grinds to a halt.’
‘Is that what’s happened to your business, Elena?’ he asked quietly. ‘Did you drive it into the ground with your inept handling of your staff so you were forced to come here, begging for my help? What a fall from grace that must be for you.’
Hot rage rushed through her body. How could the smart, compassionate man she remembered have become so hard and mean? ‘I knew you could be a bit on the curt side, Caleb, but the man I knew was never cruel. Or a bully!’
Shock flashed momentarily across his face before it was replaced with a stony scowl. ‘Enough! This meeting is over. I don’t need you coming in here, telling me how to treat my staff. Go home and run your own business—’ he leant in closer to her so she saw the conviction plainly in his eyes ‘—without my battery.’
With that closing shot, he turned his back on her and strode out of the room, leaving the glass door swinging in his wake.
* * *
Caleb Araya paced the floor of his corner office, his blood pumping frantically through his veins.
Who did Elena Jones think she was, turning up after fifteen years of silence and presuming to tell him how to run his business and treat his staff?
The woman certainly had some nerve.
And a skewed sense of priorities.
Not that he didn’t already know that from experience.
To his utter frustration, and despite the fact they hadn’t seen each other in a very long time, as soon as he’d seen her standing there in his meeting room he’d been hit hard by that same immediate connection they’d always shared.
It had put him on the back foot.
It had always been like that with her—she affected him like no other woman ever had. The moment he’d met her at the beginning of his Erasmus exchange year to the University of Cambridge he’d found himself drawn to her.
Her cool integrity and assertive sense of self had set her apart from the other immature, entitled female students that had swarmed around him, believing him to be an ideal candidate for the bad boy fling they were so keen to tick off their list before settling down with their rich, boring husbands.
They hadn’t bothered to get to know him at all.
Elena, on the other hand, had made him feel as if he didn’t need to pretend to be somebody he wasn’t when he was with her. She’d liked him for his erudite conversation and refreshing views on the world. Or so she’d said.
After growing up as the poor, pitied son of a woman who was infamous in the small town where he lived for being the mistress of a married man and a woman of loose morals, he’d promised himself he’d make sure his adulthood would be very different.
Because of the disgrace that surrounded his family, his early life had been pretty tough by all accounts: friendless, violent and isolated. But after he’d been threatened with expulsion from the elite school that he’d later found, to his chagrin, that his mother’s sugar daddy had funded, he’d pulled up his socks and eschewed everything and everyone for a life dedicated to study so he could get away from the small town and its even smaller mentality.
He was going to be someone that people looked up to and respected, and Elena had made him feel as though he’d achieved that—for a short time anyway.
To his shame and regret, it had turned out he’d been very wrong about how much she’d actually cared about him and she’d been the first and last person he’d ever trusted.
The memory of her betrayal had stayed with him over the years, tarnishing every relationship he’d had, as if she were a devil on his shoulder, judging his choices, prodding at his conscience, reminding him he could never truly trust anyone with his heart.
When he’d seen her name in his diary this morning it had sent a shock of such intense regret-fuelled nostalgia through him he’d had to sit down and take a few deep breaths to regain his composure. He’d been on the cusp of telling his PA to cancel the meeting, but curiosity and a deep-seated urge to regain some sort of equilibrium over past hurts had stopped him at the last minute.
He wanted to feel as though he finally had a handle on his feelings about Elena Jones.
It had been going well, with him feeling in control of the meeting until she’d caught him out by accusing him of being a bully.
It had shocked him to his core.
Was that really what she thought he’d become?
It had been such a long time since someone had stood up to him like that, he had no idea whether his behaviour was out of line or not. The thought that it might have been had rattled him. She’d rattled him, despite his determination not to let her get to him.
He stabbed at the buzzer on the phone to summon his PA.
Benita hurried into the room, her hands tightly clasped in front of her and her gaze lowered as if she was afraid she’d get another dressing-down for what had just happened.
He’d been furious when she’d let it slip in front of Elena that things weren’t exactly going to plan with the Americans. He’d not wanted her to know that things weren’t running as smoothly as he’d wanted to project, for the sake of his professional pride, but he was aware, now that he’d calmed down a little, that he’d perhaps been a bit too harsh on the woman. She’d not been working for him for long, having stepped into the role after his usual PA had gone on maternity leave, and they hadn’t found the right rhythm for working together yet.
But he wasn’t a complete monster, as Elena had so brazenly suggested. He was firm and expected total professionalism at all times, but he made sure to reward those who did a good job for him.
‘Benita, I wanted to say good work on putting that file together for me yesterday. It was very helpful in my meeting.’
His PA stared at him, as if in shock.
Surely it wasn’t that surprising that he’d offered her a compliment.
Was it?
No. He was letting Elena Jones get into his head and that was the last place he wanted her to be. He was over his feelings for her. It had taken him years to get rid of the ache he’d carried around after she’d rejected him, but he’d finally managed it.
‘Thank you.’ Benita paused, a worried frown now pinching her brow. ‘Are you okay? Is there anything I can get you?’ she asked with hesitation in her voice.
He opened his mouth to dismiss her misplaced concern, annoyed that she’d noticed his agitation, but pulled himself back at the last second, now hyper-aware of Elena’s comments.
Damn the woman!
‘I’m fine,’ he muttered, forcing his mouth into a smile.
But, instead of seeming reassured by this, his PA took a hurried step away from him as if suspicious about his sudden change in attitude.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, pacing to the window to look down at the street below and collect himself.
What was happening to him today? His head was a mess.
At least he was free of Elena now though. His outright rejection of her proposal would surely mean she’d never darken his door again.
The street was busy with people milling about between office blocks and cafés and he watched them scurrying around for a moment, his thoughts jumping between relief and dissatisfaction. He knew he’d been petty, not even agreeing to look at the proposal she’d brought all the way from England, but she’d humiliated and hurt him once and he wasn’t prepared to let her get anywhere near him again.
A partnership between them—their companies, he corrected himself—could never work.
For a second he wondered whether his mind was playing tricks on him as a familiar lone figure on the street opposite his building caught his eye. His stomach lurched as he watched her pace back and forth, then throw her gaze up towards Araya Industries and frown, as if hatching a plan to get back in here and torment him again.
Apparently he couldn’t have been more wrong about having chased Elena Jones away for good.
Well, he wasn’t having it.
‘Hold my calls for a while longer,’ he said to his PA as he swept out of the room past her and headed towards the lift that would take him down to street level.
Apparently he hadn’t made it clear enough to Elena that there would be no further opportunities to meet with him, so he was going to rectify that right here and now. He was going to tell her to go home and that he wanted nothing more to do with her.
Storming onto the street, blood pulsing feverishly through his veins, he called out her name and she turned to meet his eye, her expression registering first surprise then hope.
Hope away, cariño—you’re not getting a thing from me except a wave goodbye.
The street was quiet as he drew level with where she stood on the pavement opposite and he glanced quickly left, not seeing anything coming his way, anger at her audacity buzzing in his head.
Elena’s eyes were fixed firmly on him as he began to cross the street towards her but, as he stepped into the middle of the road, something made her glance away then quickly back to him again.
This time there was an altogether different expression on her face.
Panic.
Blood thumping in his ears, he swivelled to look at what had spooked her and time seemed to slow down. There was a motorbike coming towards him at speed and he knew in that moment, with absolute certainty, that there was no way he could get out of its path in time.
Memories flashed before his eyes: of him and Elena laughing together after one of their classes at university, of her sitting in his room telling him she was thinking about splitting up with her childhood sweetheart, and all the blood rushing from his head as he realised he finally had a chance to have what he’d wanted for so long, of the look of abject hurt and distress on her face just now when he’d told her he wouldn’t partner with her.
Lights and colours danced before his eyes and a strange kind of euphoria lifted his senses, making his surroundings hyper-loud and vividly real.
And then the bike hit him, the impact throwing his body into the air, knocking all the breath from his lungs. In a panic he flailed his limbs wildly as he tried to grab hold of something, anything, to anchor him as he spun through the void. A moment later his body made rough, painful impact with the ground, quickly followed by his head.
And everything went black.
