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  Looking around she realized that she was two blocks from Global Consulting and Co. Briskly walking back to the building she concentrated on tapping into her inner strength, the one thing she had depended on for the past six years to motivate her to achieve everything she did.

  She walked into her father’s office with brisk strides, but came to a halt when she noticed Nicolas sitting behind the desk, working on his laptop. He looked up, his gaze immediately mesmerizing her, inducing her defense mechanism to rise in full force.

  “What are you doing here?”

  His one black brow shot to his hairline at her rude tone. Clearly she got her fear of him under control. Lazily he inclined back in his chair, looking at her down his straight aristocratic nose.

  “As you are very well aware, I am now the main shareholder of this company – hence the big gun, so to speak. This is my office, have be …”

  “Not yet it isn’t. I have not said I am accepting the shares or the position my father is trying to force on me. No court will accept such a ruling. He couldn’t rule my life for the past six years and he will not do so after his death!”

  Nicolas’s expression turned violent, he rose from his chair and stomped towards her, but she stood her ground. Her chin lifted proudly as she stubbornly glared right back at him. He didn’t stop until they were toe to toe.

  “You would rather the company fall into that weasel’s hands!” He spat the words at her, barely holding onto his temper. She had to force her legs not to move a step back. She would not be intimidated! Anger she could deal with!

  “It is not to say he will be the one to buy all the shares. They are not cheap and will cost him billions!” At which point Nicolas swung around, stomped two steps away and pulled his hands through his hair. Anything to keep from strangling her! He turned back to her, pushing his hands in his pockets, fisting them in frustration.

  “What do you know about Jason Wieldman, Samantha?” His voice was soft, controlled, but clearly goaded by anger.

  “That he is a shrewd businessman, and owned a few companies…” He snorted and his eyes turned even darker in his anger.

  “You clearly have no idea how much of a threat he is to this company! How he is quite capable of buying us all out! How he has done everything he could over the past ten years to destroy your father and this company. You … you were just the tip of the iceberg!”

  He noticed she went as pale as a sheet, but was too angry to stop. He stepped right up to her again, and clasped her shoulders in an iron grip, shaking her.

  “Yes, my dear … he knew very well what it would do to your father when he took you to his bed … and you made it so easy for him. That, more than anything is what broke and totally devastated your father!”

  He flung her away with loathing in his eyes, but he was not finished. He leaned forward and his breath was warm on her face when he continued.

  “You cried wolf when we found you, but you went looking for it … I was there … you enticed him like a bitch in heat!”

  The slap echoed through the office and Samantha stared at the red mark flushing his cheek. Her hand stung and she struggled to draw air deep enough into her lungs. She turned, but he snatched her arm and pulled her hard against him, his eyes like burning embers, and his voice hardly recognizable as he hissed at her.

  “The truth hurts, doesn’t it? Here is a bit more truth for you. Whatever you thought your father or mother did to turn you into this empty shell of a woman, know that you did thrice as much to them. His blue eyed girl, his pride and joy, the one he always bragged about … You. Broke. His. Heart.”

  Her hand reached for his face again, but he caught it in his. “I took the first one, be warned the next time, I will return the favor!”

  They glared at each other, his anger reverberating through his body, as tight as a string against hers. Samantha struggled to free herself from his grip on her shoulder and hand, but he refused to let her go. He dropped her hand to clasp both her shoulders again and he pulled her up and tight against him, so she had no choice but to look into his blazing eyes.

  “You will accept the shares, and you will run this company alongside me. I worked too damn hard to get the company where it is today, to lose it now to your bloody whims!” He ignored her shaking head. “Do not oppose me on this, Samantha; you do not want me as an enemy!”

  This time she managed to pull from his grasp and stomped to the door.

  “Samantha …” His low growl stopped her just before she disappeared through the door, but she refused to turn and face him again. His voice was grim.

  “It bothered me more than it should have, it still does … finding you in his bed six years ago …”

  Her heart cried for what it meant, for what could have been and now never would be. Not for as long as he saw that picture of her in his mind! She turned to face him and faltered at the look in his eyes. She swallowed painfully.

  “The picture you remember is not …”

  Elaine walked in at that moment, abruptly ending what Samantha intended to say. She stood staring at Nicolas and frowned at the look in his eyes, riveted on Samantha.

  Samantha froze, mumbled an excuse and nearly ran out the door, leaving a very frustrated Nicolas to deal with Elaine.

  “Nico, darling …”

  “I told you not to call me that! What do you want Elaine?” He walked back to his chair and sat down tiredly.

  “We need to talk about this silly executor business. It really is ridiculous that you should be the one to decide when and how much of my own money I am allowed to spend! You have to talk to Uncle Jamie and get him to agree …” Nicolas looked at her with frustration. She interrupted what Samantha was on the verge of telling him for this!

  “No, I will not. You will just have to accept that it was your father’s will and live with it. In future, make an appointment if you wish to see me.” He pinned her to her chair with a frowning stare and ignored her angry sputter.

  “Are you not supposed to be in a Sales Meeting?”

  She smiled beguilingly at him. “Now, why would I attend a sales meeting when I am a Millionaire in my own right?”

  “I thought this business meant so much to you, and that you wanted to learn and become part of Executive Level, eventually a Director?”

  “Yes, but now that Samantha is back and she has all the shares, what is there for me? I have other fish to fry … fish that will make Global Consulting appear like little gold fish in a sea of sharks! Accept this as my official resignation, Nicolas, and no, I will not be serving my resignation period! Toodles…”

  He watched her leave and felt nothing but relief that she was no longer part of this company. He never trusted her, and caught her numerous times skunking around where she had no right to be.

  He waited for three days for Samantha to return to the office and when she didn’t, he called Shona to find out where she was.

  “You know as much as I do, Nicolas. You know she does not speak to me, nor has she been staying here. She has been staying at a hotel. Maybe Jamie will know where she is. He is the only one she warmed up to.”

  He thanked her and immediately phoned Jamie. When a long silence answered his abrupt question, he sighed and rubbed his hand over his eyes. Did he really need all this aggravation in his life?

  “I’m sorry I sounded rude, Jamie, but she came to the office three days ago for a short while. Since then none of us has seen her. I am getting worried.”

  “There is nothing to worry about, son. She went back to New York this morning to …”

  “What! She is not going to accept the shares?”

  “I did not say that. She is …”

  “Then what are you saying? Damn it, Jamie, wher …”

  “If you will damn well stop interrupting me, maybe I will be able to tell you!”

  Nicolas clamped his mouth shut after apologizing once again.

  “You have to remember that she is a partner in a business over there, Nicolas, a lif
e of her own. It is not something she can just close off and forget overnight.”

  “Do you have her address?”

  “Now, why would you want her add … you are not going over there, Nicolas! Leave her be to make her decision in her own time.”

  Nicolas however, was not someone to sit around and wait for things to happen. He made them happen, and Jamie knew this very well. Therefore he was not surprised when Nicolas shot his next demand over the phone.

  “What is the company’s name? You can save us all a lot of time, Jamie. One way or the other, I will find out.”

  Jamie sighed heavily, opened a folder on his computer and emailed it to Nicolas.

  “I’ve just send you a business card with all her business details. But I warn you, Nicolas. Do not bully her into anything! She has to do this of her own free will!”

  Chapter Five

  ProcMerge Consulting Services were situated on 446 Park Avenue in Manhattan. Manhattan, the global center of finance, culture, fashion and media, harnessed a workforce of over two million people. Regionally, Manhattan was the business hub for the New York metropolitan area, with commuters entering the city every morning from the other four boroughs, New Jersey, the Hudson Valley, Western Connecticut, and Long Island, and distant locations, such as Eastern Pennsylvania. The workforce of Manhattan was both growing and changing. There was a growing set of high-income, service-related occupations, and an increasing number of workers were residing in the outer boroughs or to the west, across the Hudson River in New Jersey.

  This was the main reason Charles and Samantha decided on this specific premises for the business. It was in the center of the business hub of New York, and easily accessible to their staff. Their subsequent success and growth in their first years of establishment, was proof of the investment they made to start up in such an expensive part of the city. It also allowed them to set prime rates for their services. Services that has become so widely known and sought after, that they opened branches in Australia and Europe. Their next branch to open was the intended merger with Crayon Solutions in South Africa.

  Samantha had a very successful meeting with the shareholders of Crayon before she returned to New York, and the conference call they just ended with them, was cause for broad smiles and celebrations around the boardroom table. Charles pulled her from her chair and was exuberantly happy, hugging and kissing her.

  “It is all your to do! If you did not bowl them over with your presentation when you were there, we would not have been able to finalize the merger so quickly and smoothly!”

  She laughed and hugged him back, then stiffened when her eyes got caught and held by a blazing blue fire on the other side of the boardroom window. She watched him shrug the hand of the secretary off that tried to prevent his entrance to the boardroom, and strode towards the door without taking his eyes off her.

  She pulled out of Charles’ arms moving quickly around the large table to intercept him at the door, but she was too slow, and the next moment he stood in the door. Large, and in his fully muscled and gorgeous glory.

  “Nicolas, what are you doing here? How did you find me?”

  His eyes narrowed dangerously on her, still totally ignoring the rest of the board members in the room. Charles walked closer and placed his hand on her arm. Nicolas’s gaze dropped to his hand on her arm and when his eyes narrowed even more, Samantha moved away slightly, forcing his hand to drop from her arm. Nicolas’s mouth curled in a sardonic grin and his eyes lifted to hers again.

  “Celebrating your resignation, are you?” She gasped for breath. Of course he would not keep his voice down, he had to blunder it out in his deep resonant voice!

  Charles stiffened and turned to Samantha. “Sam? Who the devil is this and what the hell is he talking about?”

  The sardonic grin on Nicolas’s mouth turned absolutely evil and her hand itched to slap it from his face. She knew what was coming before the words even left his mouth.

  “What? You have been here for nearly a week, and you still haven’t told him? I thought you had more guts than that ... darling.” She noticed Charles’ start at the deliberate use of the uncalled for endearment!

  “It’s not as easy as that, you jerk!” She threw an apologetic glance at Charles. “I’ll explain later, Charles. Please don’t worry.”

  Pre-empting Nicolas’s intention to cause even further damage, she ushered him out the door, and pulled him by his arm to her office a few doors down. She slammed the door shut and turned on him in a huff. And walked straight into his hard, unmovable chest! His arms closed around her immediately and his head swooped down to capture her surprised lips with his own.

  Her lips were still slightly apart from wanting to shout at him, and he took full advantage of that. His tongue surged inside deeply, stroking her teeth first, then further to her tongue, the inner recesses of her mouth. He sipped from her mouth as if drinking and treasuring the taste of a fifty year old reserved whiskey. His hands caressed her back with slow, tender strokes, one hand moved up to tilt her head back to allow him better access, while the other caressed her curved bottom, slowly pulling her higher and tighter against his growing arousal, pressing harder and bigger against her stomach with each passing second.

  He didn’t even try to hide it from her; he rather reveled in the feeling of her softness against his hardness. When her arms closed around his neck to grab his hair at his nape, and urgently returned his kiss, he ground his erection harder into her, slowly moving her against him. She was driving him crazy! Every time he kissed her, she drove his passions and need for her higher and higher. Soon, the dam would burst and he would lose control. He hoped to God there was a bed close by when it happened! He growled at the thought and that was enough to bring Samantha back to earth.

  She dragged her mouth from his and out of his arms before he could stop her. She kept walking until she stood on the other side of her desk, only then turned back to him, her hand stroking her slightly swollen lips. He still stood where she left him, his erection straining against his tight jeans, a slight flush on his cheeks. She could see he was grinding his teeth even from the distance and noticed his hands fisted tightly by his sides. His eyes didn’t let her go even for a second. She could feel it scorching her from where he stood.

  “You … you have to stop doing that!”

  “Doing what?” The question came out low and hoarse.

  “Grabbing and kissing me whenever you want! I am not your plaything!” His eyes smoldered even deeper.

  “Do you want to be?” She gasped and spat in indignation, but realized he was dead serious.

  “I don’t think that’s funny, Nicolas!”

  “Nor do I.” He moved closer and around her desk, and she moved around the opposite side, but he kept coming. She held out her hand.

  “Stop it. This is my office and you …”

  “I did warn you Samantha.”

  “For goodness sake, Nicolas, I couldn’t just stay away and gave him the news over the phone! I had to come and discuss the way forward. We have a partnership; it’s not as if I can just say I resign!”

  “That is not what I meant.” His voice was dangerously quiet, but at least he stopped pursuing her around her desk.

  “Then what …”

  “I warned you that you will be mine.” He ignored her indignant gasp, and pushed his hands in his pocket, a mocking grin around his mouth.

  “And I came to make sure you did not forget.” He started to relax with the realization that she had every intention of informing her partner she was going back to South Africa.

  Of course the same irritating partner chose that moment to walk into her office after a brief knock on the door. The two men glared at each other and Samantha sighed. Charles was an excellent business man, and could be hard and ruthless when the need arose, but he was still no match for Nicolas. She introduced them quickly and asked Charles if he would join her for dinner that evening.

  “There is something I have to tell you t
hat I have procrastinated in since I came back.” He accepted, and with a brief nod in Nicolas’s direction left the office.

  “I am going with.”

  “No, you are not!” He pulled himself to his full height and towering over her, gave her the full measure of his will. She shook her head before he could add words to the stare.

  “No, Nicolas. I owe Charles a lot. He believed in me and we have gone through a lot to be where we are today. I have to explain to him and try to find a solution. You have to understand! This place … it’s partly mine, it’s wh…”

  “Global Consulting is also partly yours!”

  “Agreed, but this … I put blood, sweat and tears into it. Nicolas, I can’t just walk away from it! I just can’t!”

  He could not stand the tears that were drowning her eyes and pulled her into his arms and just held her. Tenderly stroking her hair and allowing her to calm down. He sighed heavily.

  “Just don’t ever run away from me again, Samantha. This time I will not let you get away from me … I will always find you.” His arms tightened around her when her arms sneaked around his back to close around him, holding him tight.

  Samantha met Charles at a cozy restaurant in downtown Manhattan, not too far from her apartment. He was already waiting when she arrived at the restaurant, clearly very agitated. Damn Nicolas for upsetting him before she could put his mind at rest. Since the reading of the testament she has been racking her brain for a solution, and after their successful negotiation with Crayon, believed she found one.

  Charles briefly hugged her, his expression grim.

  “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “A glass of dry white wine, please.” When the waiter arrived with the order, they placed their order for starters at the same time. Both acknowledged their hunger as they never had lunch. Nicolas of course the reason for that! She was still surprised he gave in so easily and did not force the issue of joining them for dinner. He left to meet an old varsity friend of his that lived in Long Island.