Page 23 of The Midnight Club
Benoit smiled. “Ourcity? Ms. Holt, if I’m not mistaken, that’s an American accent. And it’s Benoit, not Mr. Vaux.”
“Mr. Vaux,” Shiloh said, her blue eyes flashing with annoyance. “I was born here in Paris. I hold dual nationality. My parents are French.”
“Where did you go to get that accent?”
Shiloh looked frustrated. “This is not what I came here to talk about.”
“Where?”
She sighed. “Brown. Then Harvard Law.”
“Good.” Benoit leaned forward, his manner switching from amused to businesslike. “Ms. Holt, as you are probably aware, my company vets every piece of land we intend to acquire. One of the main tenets of our ethos is that we exhaust every possible reasonnotto purchase the land, be it financial, social, or environmental. The land onLe Boulevard Coutanceswas deemed non-vital. It also has great links into the center of the city and a thriving community being built up around it.”
Shiloh was listening to him carefully. “Mr. Vaux, Paris has less than ten percent of green space in a city whose population grows larger every second. That community of which you speak needs parks and recreational places too. Your boutique apartments or hotels will not benefit that community; they will be priced out of the market, making it more difficult for the people who were born there to stay there.”
“That’s true of any developed land,” Benoit said calmly. “If we considered that as a factor every time we purchased land, nothing would ever get built. We cannot take responsibility for people’s lack of finances, or their situations. This is a business, not a charity.” While he was talking, Benoit was studying the fine planes of her delicate face and the slender frame of her body. Despite her height, he still felt as if she would crumble in his arms if he touched her; she had a kind of fragility that he was drawn to.
Shiloh was staring at him, her expression disgusted. “Which is my entire problem with men like you, Mr. Vaux. You are soulless. You exist in this other worldly plane, one where your wealth and your looks open every door. Have you ever struggled to feed yourself, Mr. Vaux?”
Benoit sighed. The anger in her made her face flush scarlet and it was very distracting. “I think we have wandered from the point.”
Shiloh sucked in a deep breath. “Mr. Vaux, I’m asking you to reconsider….”
“No. I’m sorry, Ms. Holt, but this meeting is over. We have done our due diligence. The development goes ahead.”
Shiloh looked askance. “You won’t even consider my proposal?”
Benoit sat back in his chair. “Ms. Holt, so far, you haven’t made any proposal. You have ranted at me and called me soulless. Now, I have work to do. Genevieve will see you out.”
Shiloh gaped at him in silence for a beat then stood and stalked out. He appreciatively watched the way she moved.A beautiful woman,he thought,but a major pain in my ass. Shame.
He called Genevieve back in and got on with his work. Only later when he was alone did he let his mind wander back to Shiloh Holt’s blue eyes, the flush of pink in her cheeks, and the rosebud mouth. He wondered if he would see her again.
“Penny for them.”
Benoit looked up to see his old friend Alex standing in the doorway. Benoit’s face cracked into a wide smile.
“Mon frère! How wonderful to see you; I had no idea you were coming to Paris.”
“Had to get away from the crap going down at home,” Alex shrugged, his eyes sad. Benoit stood and hugged him.
“Let’s go grab a drink, and you can catch me up.”
Ori startedto come around just as she heard Maceo calling her name. She opened her eyes and his beautiful face, frantic with fear, filled her vision.
“Ori! Are you okay?Dio mio … mio amata.”
She felt herself being scooped into his arms and carried to the bed. She heard him yelling instructions to someone to call for medical help. Her entire body ached and she remembered being forced to the ground, a man, his knife … had she been stabbed? Everything seemed so jumbled that she couldn’t figure out her own body. The only thing she knew for sure was who was behind the attack.
Tyson.
God, he’d sent someone to kill her, hadn’t he? He was making his final moves; now that AJ had died, she was the only threat left to him.
Flashes of the attack were coming back to her as she tried to focus on Maceo’s face. He was talking to her, his arms cradling her. Finally, her head started to clear.
“Maceo?”
“What happened, baby?”
