The Price of Seduction
Read The Price of Seduction Online
Authors: Nina Blake
| The Price of Seduction |
| Nina Blake |
| Nina Blake (2013) |
Public relations executive Bree Baxter has had it with wealthy, professional males who are used to getting their way. Above all, she will not be bought by any man. Still, that doesn’t mean it has to be all work and no play when property developer Conrad Savage invites her to Il Bosco resort in Australia’s tropical north west.
When he returns to Sydney, it’s back to business for Conrad and he’s up to his neck in it. Legal formalities and questions surrounding the theft of ancient Aboriginal rock art put his purchase in jeopardy. Not to menion his integrity. One weekend with Bree wasn’t enough for him yet it seems weekends are the only time he can spare for her. They have more in common than they know. There’s a shared link in their past, one that threatens to keep them apart.
By Nina Blake
Copyrigh
t
©
Nina Blake 2013
All rights reserved
“I’ll come and join you when I’m good and ready.”
Bree Baxter’s mouth fell open at the abruptness of his words.
She’d seen Conrad Savage’s picture in both the social and business pages of Sydney’s newspapers many times but photographs did nothing to capture the disdain she now saw in his eyes.
She forced a smile to her lips. “The photos will only take a few minutes.”
“They’ll have to wait.”
With short hair the colour of coal, skin naturally hued with olive
and striking blue eyes rimmed by thick dark lashes, the thirty-four year old head of Eden Enterprises was certainly good looking. What’s more, he knew it.
Bree was certain those eyes had seduced many women but now he was using them as whips and she felt their sting as surely as if he’d struck her.
How could he talk to her so rudely when she’d politely asked him to join them?
“The others are outside by the car,” Bree said. “How am I supposed to explain to them that they’ll have to wait?”
He shot her a sly smile. “You’ll think of something.”
This part of the job should’ve been straightforward. Sh
e worked in public relations, had organised photo shoots before and dealt with her share of difficult clients.
But she
couldn’t do a thing without his cooperation. They were
his
friends and colleagues waiting for him. It was
his
vintage Mercedes he’d donated for auction. And the newspapers wouldn’t be interested in the photos unless
he
was in them.
Furious, Bree spun around and left, his confident ex
pression imprinted on her mind.
She strode down the entry hall
towards the garden. Outside the main doors, the Governor, US Consul and a handful of other officials had gathered with their wives near the Mercedes convertible being auctioned.
The grounds of Worthington House were elegantly landscaped, magnificent in fact, however
Bree was certain these people would rather be inside the ground floor staterooms enjoying the party.
The special guests
had come for the thousand dollar a head charity dinner and were obliging her with promotional photographs. She could hardly tell them they’d have to wait because Conrad Savage couldn’t be bothered to join them. She’d have to distract them.
Bree spotted Stephanie
Douglas at the edge of the crowd. At least there was one person here she could rely on.
“I can’t believe this,”
Bree muttered under her breath.
“Is he coming?” Steph
asked.
“Apparently not. He’s too busy at the moment.”
“What? The photographer’s waiting. The whole entourage is here.” Everything’s ready to go. You know as well as I do that the paper only wants the shots if he’s in them.”
Steph
had a tendency to panic but she always came through with the goods in the end. Bree had known her long before she’d started working at the Sydney Chronicle.
“
We’ll wing it,” Bree said. “Let’s get some small group shots first for the social section. Couples standing by the car, smiling. Make sure we get good ones of the French Ambassador and the US Consul.”
After briefing the photographer and distracting the group with the photo shoot, Bree joined Stephanie in a momentary breather as they leaned against one of the main building’s Gothic revival pillars.
“You didn’t get to talk to him, did you?” Steph asked.
Brewed screwed up her nose.
“What? You mean about potential investments. Hardly.”
Since she was
covering the Indi-Art ball tonight anyway, Steph’s boss had asked her to see if she could get a heads-up on the new mystery buyer of a million acre property in the north west of Australia. As if that sort of information was easy to come by until it was made public.
“I only snagged tickets for tonight
because I told my boss I might get some leads on that,” she said.
“
Good luck trying to get anything out of Conrad Savage. He’s not being very helpful. I don’t think he’s going to let any trade secrets slip.”
Turning her head towards the main entry, Bree saw
the man in question heading their way and breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry though. He stopped in the doorway to continue his conversation with an elderly Aboriginal man.
Stephanie nodded in
his direction. “He looks even better in real life than he does in the papers, don’t you think?”
“H
e’s not much good to me if he won’t join the others for this darned photo. He’s making this much harder than it needs to be.”
Not one to be subtle at the best of times, Steph stared at his
broad masculine form in the distance. “Still, you have to admit he’s a hunk.”
“So what? It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Are you still smarting after Trevor?”
Bree didn’t answer right away.
“It’s only been a couple of months.”
That wasn’t
a lot of time in the scheme of things, not after two years together.
Her friend
’s lips curled to a knowing smile. “No, but maybe it’s time you got back on that horse again.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.
’ Bree nodded towards Conrad. “Not with him. He’s way too much like Trevor. He’s got the money, the successful business and the looks. I’ve had enough of men like that. I need someone more down to earth.”
“Number one, he’s not Trevor. Number two, from where I’
m standing he looks pretty good.”
Bree
raised her eyebrows. “It’s a shame you’re taken, then isn’t it?”
“But you’re not. He’s absolutely gorgeous.
Come on, you’ve got to agree.”
She
didn’t bother trying to deny it when it was so blatantly obvious. He must’ve been six foot two and his physique was striking to say the least. The men were all in black tie yet even in the uniform of the evening he stood out, his shoulders broad, his jacket following the contours of his muscular chest down to a slender waist and hips.
It was clear many women would consider him desirable but right now the only thing on Bree’s mind was convincing him to join the others for the photo shoot.
This was her first significant project in her new job, her big chance to prove herself and she wasn’t going to let some recalcitrant businessman ruin it for her.
She’d only been with Kelly Communications a month and her boss had made her expectations for the evening very clear. If the Inaugural Indi-Art Ball was anything less than the new hit of the Sydney social calendar, Bree’s neck was on the line.
Not that her boss’s expectations were any higher than her own. Bree had always been ambitious, always been driven to succeed and it had been that way for all of her twenty-eight years.
The other photos had been taken. The only one remaining was a group shot of Conrad Savage with the
special guests who were growing restless, understandably so since they wanted to join the party inside.
Bree fidgeted with her necklace, something she only did when she was nervous. Time for action. She
sucked in a deep breath and strode towards Conrad.
“Excuse me, Mr Savage,” sh
e said, thinking how apt his name was.
“It’s Conrad.” He glanced at her briefly as he spoke. “I’m not going to call you Miss Baxter so you might as well dump the formality right away.”
If he wanted her to dump the politeness as well, that could also be done. With pleasure, no less.
She gritted her teeth, then plastered a polite smile to her face.
“Would you please join us for a couple of photos. The others are ready to go back inside and I was hoping to get a group shot before they head off.”
Conrad grinned. “Of course, we wouldn’t want them to miss first course.”
At last
, she had some cooperation from the man.
He
turned to the elderly Indigenous man to whom he was speaking, said a few words and handed him a business card.
“Mate, you wanna talk to me,
you gotta come and see me.” The Aboriginal man handed the card back. “Then we talk face to face like real men. I’m not calling anybody up.”
Conrad shook the man’s hand. “It’s a deal. I’ll come and see you another time.”
Bree couldn’t help but snigger. Conrad Savage was one the richest, most influential men in Australia yet this old guy wasn’t going to bend over backwards for him. Good on him. If only she could do the same.
Conrad glared at her. “Is something funny?”
“Not at all.” Bree slipped back into the polite smile. “I’m pleased we can get the photos now. I don’t mind that you listened to him rather than me.”
“That man has my respect.”
He looked down his nose at Bree as they walked past Stephanie towards the Mercedes and the waiting officials. “Jimmy Simpson is probably the most renowned Aboriginal artist in Australia. There are art collectors and galleries across the world that would kill to buy his works. I’d have thought you’d have heard of him.”
“Of course I’ve heard of him,
” Bree said. “Are you suggesting he might like to join us for the photos? A bit of free promotion perhaps.”
Conrad looked away from her. “Publicity is the last thing a man like him wants. He
simply wants to paint in peace.”
This wasn’t going her way. F
irst Conrad had kept her and everyone else waiting and now she was going to get a lecture on cultural differences and artistic sensibility.
“I can
’t read your mind,” she said. “And I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I just need to get that group photo.”
Conrad
stopped and stared. “Did you really think I wouldn’t oblige?”
Bree’s mouth fell open for the second time that evening. Yes
, she wanted to shout. Yes, she thought a self important, pretentious person like him wasn’t going to help out by having his photo taken.
The look on her face told her he’d read
her like a book. “You really didn’t think I was going to come over, did you?”
