Bargain with the devil Read Free

do was mediate to some slight degree. „If you’re determined to take up this matter again after all this time, then it should be with Dad. And for that you’ll have to wait,“ she continued hopefully. „My parents are on an extended cruise. They won’t return for a month!“
    „I know where your parents are.“ Hunter half-smiled. „I made it my business to find out as soon as I moved to Tucson. Jt makes no difference. I intend to repay him in the same way he treated my father. Paul Rylan is going to watch helplessly as something and someone he cares about is ruined.“
    „You’re going to try and buy out Rylan Enterprises?“ Stacy asked, startled at the audacity of the move.
    „No, I have no wish to acquire possession of your father’s business,“ Hunter drawled. „I have other plans.“
    „Just where does Leana fit into your ‘plans’?“ Stacy demanded.
    „Your brother, as you mentioned, is very much in love with his new wife,“ Hunter commented. „It’s no great secret.“
    „Yes.“ Stacy waited fearfully for the next statement.

    „Seducing her will serve quite well to take his mind off the business of running Rylan Enterprises, don’t you think?“ Hunter went on thoughtfully.
    Stacy blanched. „He’s just taken on the job,“ she whispered. „My father turned the position over to him only a few months ago!“
    „After grooming him quite carefully for years. Quite an investment in time and effort your father has made. The same sort of investment my father made.“
    „My brother had nothing to do with what happened fourteen years ago,“ Stacy hissed. „You have no right to take out your revenge on him.“
    „Business is business.“
    „Oh, shut up! You can’t just casually set about seducing Leana merely to hurt my brother and weaken him so that he’ll fail in running the company. It wouldn’t work anyway! I’m going to tell him exactly what’s going on!“
    „He won’t believe you until it’s too late. Leana certainly isn’t going to confirm your tale. In fact, if you take that approach, I’ll simply arrange for sweet little Leana to feel that I’m the persecuted one in the story. Before she knows what’s happened, she’ll find herself on my side. Your brother, fool that he is, will try to placate her rather than make a scene. He’ll be too afraid of driving her away. But he’ll start worrying about Leana’s ‘friendship’ with me. By the time he has the guts to do anything about it, it will be too late.“ There was a menacing satisfaction in Hunter’s smile now. „The whole Rylan family will be humiliated. Your brother will be crushed, and your father will be furious. Paul Rylan will also be quite helpless. It will be amusing to see if he comes to plead with me to leave Leana alone!“
    „No!“ Stacy exclaimed, totally outraged now. „You can’t do this!“
    „Who’s going to stop me?“ he inquired mildly.
    „Is it money you’re after? Do you want my father to buy you off?“
    „Money,“ Hunter Manning declared calmly, „is no longer a problem in my life. I have all I need and the means to make more if I wish. I may not be precisely able to buy and sell Rylan Enterprises, but Manning Development Corporation can certainly hold its own when it comes to assets! The day your father comes to my home and offers to buy me off will be a fascinating one indeed. It will give me great pleasure to tell him to go to hell.“

    „You just want to hurt,“ Stacy murmured. „The way you were hurt.“
    „The way my father was hurt,“ he corrected immediately, frowning.
    „Did he put this notion of revenge in your head?“ Stacy asked deliberately, eyeing the set features above her.
    „I told you, my father lost everything after he lost the business,“
    Hunter growled. „He didn’t even have the will to seek revenge.“
    „So you’ve appointed yourself the one to do it for him. But he’s gone now, so who will appreciate your efforts?“ Stacy pressed