Chapter Two #3
Raffaele laughed and looked at her appreciatively.
‘Archer’s disposing of one of the arms of his leisure business.
He wants to specialise in casinos and he needs to sell his chain of hotels so that he can reinvest the money into expanding the gambling side of his business, both the physical premises and creating more of an online presence.
I’m thinking of branching out of the money markets and dabbling in something a little less predictable.
I’m getting a tired of dealing with tech and hedge funds. ’
‘Really?’
Raffaele shrugged.
He thought of where he was and what he had inherited.
Enough money at the age of twenty-one to take his first-class degree in Maths, convert it into a Masters in Business and not have to worry about the cost. Enough money to decide where he wanted to set his sights and pursue his end goal, without fear of being thrown into poverty if he failed.
Wealthy parents…substantial trust fund… He had increased that original trust fund a hundred times over since he had come into it.
He had devoted his career to what he had known and what had come easily to him.
A flair with numbers had set him up to turn straw into gold when it came to the money markets, mergers and acquisitions.
There had been no need to be a workaholic but he had nevertheless been compelled to throw himself into work, because work was always going to be more reliable than emotions.
Work would never disappoint him the way people continually had.
He was, he thought bitterly, the archetypal man with the privileged life whose soul was empty, and no amount of money could fill that void.
He was the guy who had never known the real warmth of parental love even if he had been the recipient of everything that money could buy.
He couldn’t remember either of his parents ever hugging him.
And that was before he’d discovered that his parents’ marriage was nothing more than a sham, his father’s affairs protected from scrutiny in the name of the status quo and power.
Still, that hadn’t been enough to kill off his juvenile illusions about love. He had stupidly thought that still…there might be hope for him. Had idiotically ventured into a relationship that had conclusively shattered what little remained of his rose-tinted view of the world.
Disconcerted by this sudden plunge into introspection, Raffaele frowned and dismissed the past with the ease born of habit.
‘I can afford to get bored and try my hand at something else,’ he said smoothly.
‘You’re so spoiled,’ Erin told him drily. ‘I hope you never say anything like that in the public forum, Raffaele, because that’s a sure-fire way to lose friends and not influence people.’
‘Since when do I care what other people think of me?’
‘You care what the women you go out with think or else you wouldn’t spend a small fortune buying them trinkets when you break up with them.’
‘Don’t you mean getting you to buy them trinkets when I break up with them?
’ He grinned. ‘Okay, we won’t go there. I don’t want another sermon from you.
’ His grin widened when she glared at him.
‘Maybe,’ he added as an aside, ‘I buy them expensive trinkets to acknowledge the Herculean feat of putting up with me.’
Erin raised her eyebrows. For a few seconds as their eyes tangled, she wondered whether she could sense an underlying seriousness beneath his throwaway remark.
He was so cavalier about his relationships, so grounded in the certainty that he didn’t want any of them to go anywhere.
Why? He had always lived a gilded life. Shouldn’t he have been rushing to get the next bit of the jigsaw puzzle in place? The wife and the kids and the houses here, there and everywhere?
It was a question she would never ask. Even the thought of stampeding through that kind of barrier made her skin prickle.
‘You’re right. Let’s talk about you getting into the hotel business because you’re going through a bored patch.’ She smiled, easing back into the familiarity between them she was so accustomed to.
‘Interesting way of putting it. I’ll email you the list of hotels.
Not many. Five, to be precise. One in the Caribbean and the rest in Europe.
The one in the Caribbean is dragging the other four down because it needs extensive refurbishment.
Has promise to more than pay for itself but Archer’s not willing to put the money in because of the casino business he wants to expand. ’
‘But would five hotels be worth the time and effort?’ Erin asked dubiously.
‘I’d probably get them at a knock-down price.
He’s keen to sell and wants them to remain as hotels and not be converted into flats or housing.
I’ve promised to maintain their integrity.
I gather the hotels were his first foray into big business and he’s sentimental about them.
Written into the contract would be a clause allowing him and his wife to continue to stay at any one of them free of charge.
He doesn’t think there are many potential buyers who would concede to that. ’
‘But you would.’
‘I can afford to be lenient.’ Raffaele shrugged.
‘Okay…’
‘Why do you sound so unconvinced?’ Raffaele said with a touch of irritation.
Erin paused. Perhaps he had a point. ‘I’m not sure,’ she confessed truthfully.
‘I suppose… I suppose I always associated you with the business of making money and a lot of it, so five hotels, one of which needs a lot of work, doesn’t seem to fit the pattern.
Also all the stuff you do is wrapped up in the business world.
Either money or tech.’ She smiled. ‘It would be a challenge, and I know you said you want a change and of course a change is as good as a rest but even so…’
‘It’s not all about money,’ Raffaele said gruffly. ‘Is that what you think? That I’m driven by the desire to make more and more money?’
‘I haven’t given it much thought.’ The conversation seemed to have suddenly drifted into uncertain territory and she couldn’t understand why. Surely it had been a harmless enough question?
There was a brief silence and in that silence something fizzed, a tiny electric current zapping between them like quicksilver. It made Erin shiver with a mixture of apprehension, wariness and low-level excitement.
‘But—’ her mouth was suddenly dry and her thoughts felt muddled and sluggish ‘—it doesn’t matter.
’ She laughed shortly, breath hitching in her throat because he was still looking at her, his navy blue eyes unrevealing.
‘It’s certainly not my business what motivates you.
I think hotels would be a great thing to get into.
I mean…the world’s getting smaller and smaller, and people are getting more and more adventurous and the cost of travel is getting more and more competitive.
Er…have you had any ideas on what you would do to change the dynamic of what already exists? ’
‘Small steps.’ Raffaele waved a hand although his eyes remained firmly glued to her face. ‘Early stages.’
‘I could set up whatever meetings you want,’ Erin suggested.
‘Already had a more lengthy chat with Archer yesterday. He’s definitely on board. Of course, the money may not be of a make-or-break figure but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to go into something like this without any due diligence whatsoever.’
‘No…’
‘Which brings me to the interesting part of this deal.’
‘Yes?’
‘I think step one will be seeing what I’m letting myself in for and the best place to start will be with the hotel that needs the most work.’
He switched attention to his computer and after a couple of seconds he swivelled the screen so that it was facing Erin. She leaned towards it and focused on the online brochure in front of her.
She scrolled past a picture of a tired hotel in a spectacular setting, amid lush rainforests. She flicked through to images of faded plantation-style elegance and then speed-read some of the copy, all touristy bumph.
‘So here’s where I tell you to make sure your passport’s up to date.’
Erin looked at him blankly as her brain registered the question.
‘Sorry?’
‘Because—’ he sat back and spread his arms wide in an all-encompassing gesture ‘—the sooner we go and see what the deal is with hotel number one, the sooner I can start putting things in place. I’ve never been involved in the leisure industry. It should prove to be an interesting gamble.’
‘We?’
‘You’ll be coming with me,’ Raffaele said comfortably.
Erin’s eyes widened with sudden alarm and her heart picked up pace. ‘That’s not going to be possible, I’m afraid.’
She’d gone on a couple of business trips with him in the past. Short, intense breaks in Paris, Lisbon and Milan, where they had worked solidly alongside the usual consortium of lawyers and accountants. She’d never thought twice about accompanying him but that was before…
Before things had changed between them…
Those subtle changes had shifted the dynamics. It felt ridiculous that telling her boss a tiny bit about herself had altered their relationship so much, but it had. She couldn’t quite put her finger on why, because nothing she had said had been very important and yet…
‘Why not?’ Raffaele asked bluntly. ‘Is it because of your father? I know you’ve been going down to help out for the past few weekends but if your presence is going to be missed so much, then I’m happy to get someone in to do whatever needs to be done outside…
harvest whatever needs harvesting. What needs harvesting anyway? You never specified.’
‘No!’ Erin was even more appalled at the thought of further inroads being made into her private life. ‘I mean—’
‘So if it’s not concern for your father, then why the hesitation?
Do you have any inconvenient pets that might need sitting?
That can always be arranged. Kennels exist, to the best of my knowledge.
You don’t have a dog, do you? Or a cat? Why don’t I know this about you?
Seems a small detail. Birds? Tropical fish? ’
‘Raffaele, no pets! No dogs, cats, fish or birds!’
‘So where’s the problem?’ He let the silence settle between them for a few seconds.
‘We’ll be gone for a week and you’ll be richly compensated for the inconvenience, just as you always have been on the few trips abroad you’ve done with me.
So, Erin, all you have to do is sort out the flights and book us a couple of rooms at the hotel.
Honestly? I have no idea why you’re so alarmed.
’ He tilted his head to one side and stared at her.
‘It won’t be any different than any other business trip except this time, we’re going somewhere hot. ’