Читать книгу A Taste of Paradise - Patricia Thayer - Страница 6

“A merger for a marriage.” Jed Foster’s voice sounded confident, almost smug. “I have to admit you really came through, J.C.”

Tori’s breath stopped as she removed her hand from the doorknob and forced herself to listen to the conversation between her father and the man she would marry in the morning.

“I told you not to worry,” J.C. assured his future son-in-law. “The wedding is in less than eighteen hours and by the end of the month, your company will be part of Sherco. Tori, being married, finally gets her control of her grandfather’s stock. Between the two of us, we’ll have the majority shares. Now it will be up to you to convince Tori how to vote her shares.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard. I’ve been able to persuade her to see things my way for months.”

Tori felt sick, hearing the satisfaction in her fiancé’s voice. Her grandfather’s will had been ironclad. She had to be either thirty years old, or married before she received her inheritance.

She stepped back from the door, somehow found her way through the hotel lobby and into the ladies’ room. She sank against the sink and tried to slow her breathing.

Her marriage to Jed had been arranged as part of the two companies’ merger. All Jed wanted was to get control of her company shares.

Turning on the faucet, she splashed cold water on her heated face. How humiliating. Her father had actually bought a husband for her. Did he think she couldn’t find a man on her own? Well, why was she surprised? J. C. Sheridan liked being in control of everything, from the boardroom to his only child’s life.

Anger welled up, along with tears. He’d soon learn his reign was about to end.

Victoria Sheridan wasn’t going to let her father or anyone else manipulate her, because she wasn’t going to be around. She grabbed her purse and marched out of the hotel, leaving her wedding rehearsal dinner and future groom behind.

After retrieving her car from the valet, she climbed in and headed out of the parking lot. She didn’t know where she was going, only that she had to get away. She would no longer do the sensible thing—the calm thing. She had let her father convince her that marrying Jed was best for her.

But, hell, did she even love Jed? Did she even know him?

With only her honeymoon suitcase in the backseat, Tori stopped by the bank and withdrew the cash limit on the only credit card she had with her. The corporate credit card. When her cell phone began to ring, she turned it off and drove her car onto the freeway. North? South? Lord, she couldn’t even make a decision. Finally she turned south and began driving away from San Francisco, to parts unknown…and a new life.