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‘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 e’re ahead of Claudio—no matter what kind of offer heto bet you that I land an invitation to Arturo’s villa e’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, sli down at hiel
‘Thanks’ He frowned, auto 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 hi at?
‘That’ll be a start But it’ll take more than a little corporate hospitality at the Cordon D’Or to win hiuard You’d better make sure your social media profile is squeaky clean If there’s a hint of any et 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 tiers on the , 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 Noas the ‘City Love Rat’, destroying the life of any wo with proracefully
The truth was nothing like that He never proirlfriends 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 Unasha 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 ain
‘I wish you’d let David handle it We could have done soe limitation at least’
‘It’s not aet involved in any tit-for-tat about so that is nobody’s business Faye was ill That’s the only explanation She believed so that wasn’t real and then when it didn’t fall into place the way she iined she took it to the press the way she did with everything else If she wasn’tin with “ to ed 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 knohat you’re really like It upsetthat 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 hi 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