Chapter Three #2
He followed her, noticing the sway of her shapely backside.
Some things couldn’t be helped, and he’d always had a thing for Leslie’s ass.
But then, he’d adored the entire package, including that mind of hers.
Pushing the memory away, he knew he had to stay focused.
The only reason he was here was because he knew it was the right thing to do.
Whether she saw it that way would be up to her.
Closing the door behind them, he glanced around, not surprised to see that she had her very own decorated tree in her office. And it wasn’t a small one. But then, he shouldn’t be surprised. Christmas had always been Leslie’s favorite holiday.
“So, what’s this about, Sloan?”
He glanced over at her and saw the questioning look on her face.
She had to be wondering why he was there.
After all, they had gone ten years without seeing each other, and then they had run into each other at a wedding celebration and now he was here, in her city, her territory, her space.
She had to know how far he’d traveled to get here.
It wasn’t like Fairbanks and Wasilla were in close proximity.
“May I sit down?” he asked her.
“Yes, of course.”
He watched her move around her desk to sit in the chair behind it. Then he eased down in the chair across from her.
She placed her entwined hands in the middle of her desk and looked at him expectantly.
“It was good seeing you at Tyler and Keosha’s wedding celebration.”
“It was good seeing you, too, Sloan, but I’m sure you didn’t travel to Wasilla just to tell me that.”
No, he hadn’t. “I’d think my being here would be pretty obvious, Leslie.”
She tilted her head the way she always did when confused about something. “Sorry, Sloan, but I have no idea why you’re here.”
He leaned back in his chair. “I know about your problems with Martin Longshire.”
He saw surprise light her eyes. “And what does that have to do with you?”
Good question. Every once in a while he asked himself that same thing. He would tell her the answer he always came up with. “I always liked your father, and I refuse to sit by and let Martin Longshire destroy the company he worked so hard to build.”
“So, you’re here because of my father?”
He didn’t say anything for a minute. Then he decided to be totally honest with her. “Not entirely. You and I were friends once, Leslie. In fact, there was a time when we were more than friends, and I want to help.”
She released what sounded like a frustrated breath.
“I doubt there’s anything you can do at this point, Sloan.
I talked to my company attorney a few hours ago, and the picture he painted for me is pretty grim.
It seems Mr. Longshire has been working on his revenge since even before Dad died.
He’s scared off my lenders, and my distributors are beginning to freak out as well.
Sales are down because several stores that normally carry our products are not doing so. ”
All of what she said had been revealed in Sloan’s research. What he hadn’t found out was why. What was motivating Martin Longshire to destroy Cassidy Cosmetics? “What sort of beef did Longshire have with your father that makes him so determined to take over Cassidy Cosmetics, Leslie?”
She gazed into his eyes for several long moments before saying, “My mother.”
Sloan lifted a brow. “Your mother?”
“Yes. Martin Longshire was the man my maternal grandparents selected for their daughter to marry, but my father, a man considered not part of an upstanding social class, was the man she loved. One night, a few months before the wedding was to take place, she eloped and married my father instead. As a result, there was a scandal. For years my grandparents disowned my mother, and Martin Longshire despised them both. I’m not sure he ever loved my mother, but he saw her as a possession he wanted.
Was entitled to have. According to my father, the scandal lasted for a while, and it was embarrassing to Mr. Longshire.
He moved out of the country to head up his family business in Paris for a few years.
He returned fifteen years ago and has been causing my father grief ever since. ”
Sloan recalled her telling him years ago that her maternal grandparents had died when she was a little girl of ten. He further recalled her saying she’d had a close relationship to them. “Because you and your grandparents were close, I assume they finally accepted your parents’ marriage.”
“Yes. They saw how happy Dad made my mother—and how mean Martin Longshire turned out to be—and were glad Mom hadn’t married him.” She paused then added, “That’s why Longshire wants to destroy the company my parents started together. He sees doing so as the ultimate revenge.”
Sloan shook his head. “The man sounds demented.”
“Yes, that may be the case. He’s been planning it for a long time, and with Dad’s death, he sees the opportunity.”
Drawing in a deep breath, she pushed back from the desk.
“In fact, I’m getting my employees together later today to prepare them for the worst. When this office closes for the holidays on Friday, there’s a possibility it might reopen in January under new management.
Right now, I’m doing all I can to make sure their pensions are protected, since Longshire plans to fire them all. ”
He lifted a brow. “And how are you going to protect their pensions?”
“With all the insurance money, investments and such that Dad left me, as well as the trust fund established for me by my grandparents.”
Sloan stared at her. Did she not know that doing such a thing might take care of her employees but could leave her penniless?
Sloan leaned forward in the chair and tried to fight back his anger that Martin Longshire had placed her in such a predicament.
“Like I said, Leslie, the reason I’m here is because I want to help, and I believe that I can. ”
She lifted an eyebrow. “How?”
“By coming on as your business partner.”
Leslie was sure she had not heard Sloan correctly. “My business partner?”
“Yes. By doing so, I’ll provide you with unlimited resources to continue doing what you need to keep your business operational. As you’ve indicated, because of Longshire, most of the major banks have put a freeze on loaning you any money.”
“And?”
“Well, they wouldn’t dare do that with me as your partner. If anything, my investment will let them know your company is financially sound.”
“But Mr. Longshire has launched a hostile takeover, Sloan. How can you stop him?”
Sloan’s lips thinned in anger. “Stopping him isn’t as hard to do as you think. Longshire has been so busy trying to take over your company that he’s neglected to protect his own.”
“Meaning?”
“He’s left his own company vulnerable to another hostile takeover. I have no problem adding Longshire Industries to my portfolio of assets, and I plan to let him know that.”
Leslie sat up straight in her chair. “You would take over his company?”
“In a heartbeat if I have to, but I don’t feel it’s necessary. All I need to do is make sure he knows that I can.”
She stared at him, remembering the conversation she’d had with Keosha after Sloan had left the wedding celebration.
From what Keosha told her, Sloan was even wealthier than Leslie had thought.
In addition to being an executive in his family’s business, he had a stake in several business ventures, including his brother Cash’s dude ranch in Wyoming, a horse-breeding business with some newfound cousins living in Denver, a security company with some more cousins in Montana and North Carolina, and a film production company in Los Angeles.
All of which were doing quite well. That meant Sloan had the financial means to do what he’d suggested.
However, she needed to know why, after all these years, he would want to step in and help save her company.
Also, she wasn’t sure if she could afford him as a business partner.
How much of a percentage would he want? Seventy-five percent of her company? Even more than that?
“How much?” she asked him.
He raised a brow. “How much what?”
“What are the partnership terms? Specifically, the percentages?”
Sloan held her gaze. “Seventy-five/twenty-five.”
So, he did want seventy-five percent of her company? That meant her company would literally become his. “Are those terms negotiable, Sloan?”
He gave her questioning look. “I think those terms are more than fair. You get seventy-five percent and I get twenty-five percent.”
Leslie’s mouth nearly dropped open in shock. “Not the other way around?”
“No. And the partnership is only in effect for a year, granted Longshire is no longer a threat. After that time, I will remove myself as your partner and the company will again be yours, free and clear.”
Leslie tried to wrap her mind around Sloan’s offer. What he was proposing was too good to be true. But she couldn’t get all giddy just yet. She had a feeling there was a catch. There had to be. Anything that sounded too good to be true usually was.
That made her ask, “What’s the catch, Sloan?”
“What do you mean?”
Oh, he knew just what she meant. It might have been years, but she could still recognize certain Sloan Outlaw habits. Like the way he would flex his fingers when he was up to something. And usually it was something he knew would not make her happy.
“I mean what’s in this for you other than a measly twenty-five percent?”
He stopped flexing his fingers and leaned forward in his chair as if to make sure he had her complete attention.
The gesture was wasted, because he’d had it from the moment he had walked into her office, wearing a tailor-made business suit and looking the epitome of a wealthy businessman right off the cover of GQ magazine.
“There’s not a catch, Leslie, but there is a proposition. It’s an agreement between us that won’t appear in any of the documents, but one you must agree to. I will take your word for it.”
“And just what is this agreement?”
“An assurance that I will get what I want for Christmas.”
There was something about the way he was looking at her that made the pulse flutter in her throat. “And what exactly is it that you want for Christmas, Sloan?”
“You, Leslie. I want you for Christmas. In my bed.”