many other boyfriends do you have, Kenzie?’ Dominick mocked, his brown eyes as hard as pebbles, and his mouth a thin, derisive line.
Her cheeks became flushed in spite of herself. For one thing, at forty-two, Jerome was hardly a boy, and for another, he had never been a boyfriend or anything else in the least intimate to her!
‘My marriage to you hasn’t exactly made me eager to return to the dating circuit!’ she told him accusingly. She was sure the same couldn’t be said for Dominick; as she knew only too well, he might not believe in love, but he was an extremely sensual man, and had been involved with lots of women before the two of them had met.
His mouth tightened. ‘I very much doubt that’s the reason for the oversight, Kenzie. I feel sure that Jerome Carlton is no more eager to share you than I was!’
Kenzie breathed her impatience. ‘How many times do I have to tell you that I am not, nor have I ever been, involved in an affair with Jerome Carlton?’ Her eyes glittered with anger.
Dominick gave an uninterested shrug. ‘You’re the one that feels that need, Kenzie, not me.’
‘And anyway, what do you know about Jerome’s delay in coming to England?’ she prompted impatiently, sure from his attitude that Dominick did know something.
The scowl disappeared from Dominick’s brow as he gave a relaxed smile. ‘Quite a lot, as it happens,’ he answered easily.
Kenzie swallowed hard. ‘And are you going to tell me?’
‘I was going to leave it to Carlton to do that—but why not?’ Dominick shrugged. ‘About two years ago Carlton Cosmetics hit a few financial difficulties, at which point Carlton decided to float forty-nine per cent of the company shares on the open market, retaining thirty-one per cent for himself, and ten per cent to his two siblings, a younger brother and sister.’
Kenzie had met both Adrian and Caroline Carlton. Adrian actually worked for the company, and she had found him as charming as Jerome, whereas Caroline Carlton had no interest in her brothers or the family-run company, and was only concerned with the income she received from it.
Kenzie moistened her lips. ‘And?’
He grimaced. ‘At a guess I would say that Carlton has spent the last few days running around in ever-decreasing circles trying to work out how he came to lose control of fifty-one per cent of the shares of his own company!’
He watched with satisfaction as the colour drained from Kenzie’s cheeks, her eyes darkening to fathomless pits of green glass.
‘You—’ She swallowed. ‘Tell me you aren’t the one responsible for that, Dominick!’ she gasped in disbelief.
He gave a humourless smile. ‘Now what possible reason would I have to lie to you about something like that, Kenzie?’
She stared at him disbelievingly for several long seconds before moving to the sofa and sitting down abruptly, her hands trembling as her fingers curled about the brandy glass.
‘I did warn you you might need the brandy,’ Dominick said, with a smug look on his face.
Kenzie was breathing shallowly, feeling so stunned she couldn’t move or speak. It was incredible to think that for the last four months Dominick had been plotting and scheming—
So these were the ‘plans’ he had still had to finalize on Wednesday!
But why had he done this? He didn’t love her; he had never loved her, so why should her leaving him have bothered him in the slightest—even if he did persist in believing she had left him for the arms of another man?
Pride.
She had damaged that Masters pride, and Dominick had taken retribution for it.
But in what a way—!
‘I can’t believe you did this, Dominick,’ she said quietly, shaking her head in disbelief.
Dominick’s top lip curled contemptuously. ‘If you have any doubts that I’m the person who now owns fifty-one per cent of Carlton Cosmetics, then don’t,’ he assured her confidently before drinking the remainder of the brandy in his glass, enjoying the smooth burning sensation of the alcohol as it slid down his throat. ‘But I’m afraid Carlton only learnt of the takeover very recently when Caroline told him that she had sold her ten per cent of the company shares. To me,’ he added with satisfaction. He shrugged impassively, his dark eyes narrowing as he watched Kenzie’s reaction.
Pained disbelief. Followed by slow acceptance which quickly turned into an anger that now burned in the depths of her glittering green eyes and the twin spots of colour in her cheeks. She slammed her brandy glass down on the coffee-table before standing up to glare at him.
She shook her head. ‘I can’t believe that even you could do something so despicable—’
‘Even me?’ he echoed. ‘Careful now, Kenzie. Unless you haven’t realized it yet, my shares in Carlton Cosmetics mean that your contract with the company now belongs to me…’ he pointed out softly.
Kenzie stared at him for several long, painful seconds, still stunned that Dominick could have deliberately bought control of Carlton Cosmetics. With the help of Caroline Carlton, Jerome’s own sister!
Not that the latter altogether surprised her; Caroline never made any secret where her interest in the company lay, and Kenzie didn’t doubt that Dominick had made Caroline a very tempting financial offer for her shares.
As for her own contract with Carlton Cosmetics—!
She shook her head. ‘I’ll never work for you, Dominick.’
‘Then I’ll have to sue you for breach of contract.’
‘My contract is with Jerome.’
‘Your contract is with Carlton Cosmetics!’ he corrected harshly.
‘Of which I am now the majority shareholder.’
It had taken four months of finding out exactly who the shareholders of Carlton Cosmetics were, then cajoling and charming those shareholders into selling to him. Confirmation on Wednesday for the purchase of the last ten per cent from Jerome Carlton’s own sister, Caroline, meant Dominick was now in control of the company formerly run by the man who had seduced and bedded his wife. And at the same time he had taken control of the eight months left of Kenzie’s year-long contract with the company.
Retribution, indeed!
Kenzie, although still standing tall and proud, was deathly pale now as the full weight of what Dominick was saying hit her with the force of a sledgehammer.
‘Then I’m afraid you’ll have to sue me, Dominick,’ she finally breathed raggedly. ‘Because there is no way I will ever work for you! In fact—’ she straightened ‘—after today, after what you’ve done, I never want to set eyes on you again!’
‘Really?’ he taunted.
‘Yes—really!’ she echoed forcefully.
‘That might be a little difficult, Kenzie, when I have every intention of becoming completely involved in all aspects of Carlton Cosmetics,’ Dominick stated.
How could Dominick have done this? she wondered in a daze.
Kenzie had known him as many things since she had first met him: as the man she loved; the man she married; the man she couldn’t stay with any more because he was incapable of returning her love, and then the deeply angry man who had challenged her to walk away from him.
But the Dominick he was now was consumed with a need for revenge, on Jerome Carlton, and on her, to the extent that he had taken that vengeance by trying to ruin both of them.
She didn’t doubt that he had ruined Jerome.
And he would succeed in ruining her too if she refused to continue working for Carlton Cosmetics and he sued her for breach of contract.