Page 4 of Taken With You
She shook her head again, fair hair catching on a gloss-slicked lip. “You’ll be my boss, right?”
“I’ll be your partner. Not equal partners, but the split is generous.”
“This makes no sense.” She pushed away from the table and shot up from the chair. “Your ad was for a master vintner.”
“Yes. I need a master vintner who knows how to manage every aspect of a winery. One who’s also willing to commit to the whole venture.”
She huffed a breath as she turned in a dizzy half circle. “My father had a saying. ‘If someone tries to sell you a magic hat, check up his sleeve.’”
He grinned. His brother Dominic might have said the same thing to him once or twice.
Not so poetically.
“No tricks,” he said. “Ask me anything.”
“I’ll start with the obvious. Why me?”
“You think you don’t deserve it?”
“If I took your offer, I’d be the youngest master vintner in the valley.”
“So?”
“There are dozens of more qualified winemakers in the area who’d be a smarter fit.”
“Not in my opinion.” Interesting that she would hesitate. She’d been so full of confidence earlier, an intriguing mix of dreamy yearning and bluntness. “You know this business, you know Miguel, you know these vineyards. Most of all, you’re willing to take risks. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have called in a personal day at Windsor to travel all the way up here to check out the crazy rock-climber who owns the battered-up place.”
“I can’t be the only one.” She pursed those arresting lips. “You’ve interviewed others.”
“I have.” Perceptive, too. “But I know a few things about you that weren’t on that résumé.”
“Like?”
“The gold medal that Windsor won for that vintage last year at the California State Fair. That was all you.”
“No.” Her jaw tightened. “That was my boss’s work. I was only one of many assistants following his lead.”
“I heard differently.”
She shrugged it off, dropping her hands to flex them over the back of the chair.
Loyal, too. What a stroke of luck.
“I read people, Amanda. It’s my superpower. It’s what makes me good in my line of work.”
“Knocking people off-kilter?”
“At Kane Enterprises, we buy undervalued companies. Build them back up. Hire the right people to do the job, partnering when necessary.”
She pinned him with narrowed green eyes. “You really are offering me a stake in this winery.”
“Yes, I am.”
She planted her hands on her hips. Light pouring in through the kitchen window rippled over her silky shirt. Sweet, soft curves…and freckles. Damn, she was a looker. Mixing business and pleasure was dangerous. A smart man focused on one or the other—never both.
But he had eyes, didn’t he?
“If you want the truth,” he said, refocusing. “Beyond all your qualifications, it was your passion that swayed me. I can tell that you want this. More than anyone else I’ve spoken to.”
