The Billionaire's Blackmail Bargain. Margaret Mayo

flashed in Simone’s violet eyes. ‘You were eaves- dropping? I can’t believe that—’

      ‘Hardly,’ he intervened. ‘But body language is very telling, and perhaps I might be permitted to say that you still have a very fanciable body.’ His eyes dropped from her face to the swell of her breasts beneath her fine cashmere top.

      Simone ignored the sudden prickle of heat his hard eyes engendered; a heat that started subtly but then claimed every corner of her body until she felt as if she was on fire. ‘What are you doing here, Cade—apart from spying on me, of course?’ She had thought her day couldn’t get any worse. Big mistake! Cade Dupont had every reason to be furious with her, but she didn’t need his caustic tongue at this moment.

      His dark hair with its inclination to curl was cut brutally short; she could even see the glint of a grey hair or two. And his well-defined brows levelled over eyes that were uncomfortably intent. ‘I’m here on business,’ he announced.

      His generous mouth turned up all too briefly, and his spectacularly long-lashed eyes continued to abrade her. Eyes that used to…no! She mustn’t go down that path. Not again. Not ever! Even though her traitorous body recognised this man as the one who had initiated her into the world of spinning senses and intensified emotions. The man who had taken her on a voyage of discovery of her own sensuality.

      ‘Business?’ she questioned when he didn’t enlarge.

      ‘Yes, I’m looking to set up a new company here.’

      ‘Here? Right here?’ Even to her own ears she sounded stupid. But what else could she say? She didn’t want Cade Dupont on her doorstep again; he was her past. Part of which, even she had to admit, had been gloriously happy—even fantastically, spectacularly exciting—but it had all ended in disaster. And there was nothing she could do about it now.

      ‘What sort of business?’ she asked, in a voice that sounded nothing like her own.

      The Whitsundays were Australia’s premier area for boat hire. Surely he wasn’t thinking of setting up in opposition to her? Trips out to the Great Barrier Reef were always booked well in advance. In fact the Whitsundays, with its more than a hundred different islands—many of them national parks, some with holiday resorts—were the jewels in the crown of any holiday destination.

      Simone counted herself lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world, but her hopes and ambitions hadn’t worked out. Now the company needed a massive cash investment, money she didn’t have and which the banks refused to lend her. Her last hope had been the two men who’d just left.

      She threw the remains of her wine down her throat and reached for the bottle.

      ‘Allow me.’

      Long brown fingers touched hers, making her flinch and draw back. She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out again slowly. She watched as Cade refilled her glass and beckoned for one to be brought to him. He exuded confidence big-time.

      Cade was thirty-two now, she was nine years younger— older and wiser than the eighteen-year-old who’d made such a fool of herself. But not old enough to handle an ailing business, she thought bitterly. Not old enough to have amassed enough money to turn it around.

      It had been on a downward spiral ever since she’d taken over. It needed money for everything: essential boat maintenance, new boats to replace the older ones, and the fact was she simply didn’t have it. Her father had handed her a sinking ship, and although Simone spent all her time trying to save the business bookings were getting fewer and fewer.

      Soon she would have to call it a day. Which was a shame, because she was in a prime position. She had a good-sized marina. Someone would snap her hands off, and with the right financial investment it would garner a small fortune.

      ‘What sort of business am I contemplating?’ Cade held his glass up to the light and studied its contents as though it was of paramount importance. A small, satisfied smile settled on his lips. ‘Sailing-boat charter; it’s the only business I know.’

      Simone felt her heart stop, and it was a long time before it started again. ‘You run a charter company in England?’

      Dark brows rose. ‘Why not?’ His nostrils dilated. His attitude changed. And his next words were clipped and precise. ‘Clearly I had to get a loan, but I found the business very lucrative—run properly.’ Then his golden eyes narrowed on her face. ‘How is your company, by the way?’

      He knew! She could tell by his challenging voice, by his closely guarded expression. He’d been asking questions. He was well aware that she now ran MM Charters and that it was on a slippery slope to humiliating failure.

      ‘I have no wish to discuss it,’ Simone replied tautly.

      ‘No?’ One eyebrow rose this time. ‘Why is that, I wonder? Could it have anything to do with the fact that it’s not doing too well at the moment?’

      ‘So you were prying!’ she accused, violet eyes blazing. Heavens, she needed to leave, and quickly. The middle of a restaurant was no place to argue with Cade Dupont. She sucked in another deep breath, and then another, and when he didn’t respond she rose to her feet. ‘I have to leave. Goodbye, Cade.’

      With her back ramrod-straight and her chin high, Simone marched from the elegant dining room. But Cade wasn’t letting her get away that easily. Through a mirror in the facing wall, she caught sight of him striding after her, although not before he had thrown a handful of notes on to the table.

      Damn! She’d forgotten to pay. Or was it his own bill he was settling? She swung around and faced him fiercely. ‘What was that money for?’

      ‘Just settling up.’

      Simone opened her bag and searched for her credit card, but a firm hand stilled her.

      ‘My treat.’

      ‘I won’t let you,’ she snapped, horrified when his touch sent her pulses into devastating spasm. She didn’t need this; she didn’t want personal complications on top of her present problems. Cade was her past, and that was where he must stay.

      ‘Can you really afford to turn me down?’ he asked in a silken-smooth voice, his long, hard body almost touching hers. He was so close that she could smell the male scent of him; so close that she could feel the full violent impact of his sexuality.

      ‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’ Simone’s enormous eyes were almost purple in her distress. She wished he would step away. She didn’t want to back off, because it would reveal the fact that she found him too deeply disturbing, but his nearness threatened to cut off her breathing.

      ‘Your problems are common knowledge around here, Simone.’ He smiled as he spoke, and in her heightened state Simone felt that he was taking great delight in imparting that piece of news. ‘Of course everyone’s sympathetic, they know that your father is the cause of your problems, but business is business, isn’t that right?’ he murmured smoothly. ‘And since I’m in the same game maybe there’s something I can do for you?’

      Simone’s heartbeat quickened until finally it hammered a painful tattoo against her ribcage. She wanted to put her hand over it, still its flight, but to do so would alert Cade to her fear. What was he suggesting—that he buy her out? She couldn’t allow that. It would be too ironic by far.

      ‘There’s nothing you can do, nothing I want you to do,’ she declared fiercely, continuing her race out of the restaurant. ‘I’ll sort my own problems.’

      It was bad enough that he’d paid her bill, without him offering to bail her out of her present financial difficulties. And it was extremely humiliating that he had asked around and found out how badly MM Charters was doing. She could have done with hiding that fact from him. Her situation was actually worse than anyone knew. A few more weeks, maybe less, and she would be out of business altogether.

      But