Page 3 of The Tycoon's Shock Heir

‘Matty?’

‘We’ve got a really great chance,’ he said, refocusing. ‘There’s no other private bank that reeks of old money and old values like ours. Claudio has turned his bank into just another sales-driven call centre. There’s nothing sure and solid and honest about it. We’re unique. Second only to Arturo in terms of stature.’

‘I know. We just have to hope that stature and honesty are what he’s looking for.’

‘It’s going to be all about the chemistry. And the fact that we’ve still not floated on the stock exchange. That’s why we’re ahead of Claudio—no matter what kind of offer he makes Arturo. I’m sure of it. In fact, I’m so sure I’m going to bet you that I land an invitation to Arturo’s villa when we’re at the Cordon D’Or Regatta. It’s going to be a slow burn, but that’s where I intend to start.’

He turned at the sound of water being poured. A squat crystal glass was placed down. He saw long, elegant fingers. Long, slim arms bare in the strapless red dress. And beaming down at him the dimpled smile of an angel.

‘Thanks.’ He frowned, automatically turning his head to watch her walk away. Mistake. His eyes narrowed on the smooth white skin above the red bodice of her dress, the delicate bones and long, swanlike neck. She was absolutely beautiful.

He was far too busy to allow himself any distractions. What the hell was David playing at?

‘That’ll be a start. But it’ll take more than a little corporate hospitality at the Cordon D’Or to win him over. He’s the last of the old guard. You’d better make sure your social media profile is squeaky clean. If there’s a hint of any more scandal he’ll pull up his drawbridge before you get within a mile of it.’

‘There won’t be any more. You can rely on that.’

He bitterly regretted there being any at all. And the timing was a disaster. He drummed his fingers on the window, traced the water droplets as they shook their way across the glass. His media presence had never been an issue before. Not until his most recent ex, Lady Faye, had started to feed the story of their break-up to the press. Now he was the ‘City Love Rat’, destroying the life of any woman who got close, stringing her along with promises of marriage and then dumping her disgracefully.

The truth was nothing like that. He never promised anything beyond the first date—as every one of his ex-girlfriends could testify.

Over the years he had carefully developed the symptoms of full-blown commitment phobia—the best possible illness for any confirmed bachelor to suffer from. Married to the job. Workaholic. Unashamedly, indubitably yes. He didn’t commit to anything he couldn’t see through to the end and he would never, ever commit to a woman the way he had once committed to his first love, Sophie.

He had lost his dad, lost his path in life and then lost her. There would be no more loss. He’d never be that vulnerable again.

‘I wish you’d let David handle it. We could have done some damage limitation at least.’

‘It’s not my style. I refuse to play the games those trashy media sharks want me to play. And I won’t get involved in any tit-for-tat about something that is nobody’s business. Faye was ill. That’s the only explanation. She believed something that wasn’t real and then when it didn’t fall into place the way she imagined she took it to the press the way she did with everything else. If she wasn’t minor royalty no one would have cared, and me weighing in with “my story” would have been the last thing to make it better. That would have just prolonged the whole sorry mess.’

‘I know that. But because you refused to even make a statement people think you’re some sort of pariah. I hate anybody to think badly of you when I know what you’re really like. It upset me reading that stuff.’

‘So do as I do and don’t read it.’

He heard her sigh and it cut him. It was easy for him to brush it off. What did he care what a bunch of people who didn’t know him thought? It was ridiculous, worrying about stuff like that. But his mother was different. She cared. Deeply. About him and the bank. And everyone else too. She cared too much.

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