Liz Fielding - Harlequin Romance Bundle: Brides and Babies

2007

IVE printed out the PR schedule for this weeks lead-up to the relaunch. The City Lights tie-in- Louise Valentine broke off as her cell phone began to burble. Ill have to take this, she said, excusing herself from the Nash Group executives gathered around the conference table for her briefing. Im expecting a call from the editor

But as she flipped open the phone the caller ID warned her that it wasnt editor of the countrys major scene magazine.

It was Max.

For a moment she couldnt think, couldnt move, but then hed always had that effect on her. Reducing her to a quivering wreck with a look that suggested it was a toss up whether he kissed her or strangled her. Since kissing her wasnt an option, shed made a point of keeping her distance other than at family gatherings. Even then, by mutual consent, theyd chosen opposite ends of the room.

Unfortunately that was no longer a choice for either of them, but clearly Max was as unhappy about that as she was. He had certainly taken his time about making a moment in his busy schedule to talk to her about taking on marketing and publicity for the Bella Lucia restaurant group now that he was in charge.

Well, too bad. Her schedule was busy, too. She wasnt sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. On the contrary, the phone never stopped ringing. She was in demand, a success in her own right.

She hadnt looked back since the day hed fired her from the family business, leaving her in no doubt that, far from being an asset to Bella Lucia, as far as he was concerned she was nothing but a liability.

Okay, shed be kidding herself if she didnt admit that there had been moments in the last couple of weeks when shed found herself doodling ideas on her jotter, daydreaming about what shed do if she did take on PR and marketing of the Bella Lucia restaurants; the fact that it would mean working with Max never failed to tip the dream over the edge into nightmare territory.

Even now he was only calling her because hed had his arm twisted; she knew hed have refused point blank to consider it if the suggestion had come from anyone but Jack. Maxs half-brother might not have wanted to stick around and run the company himself, but as he was a major investor his suggestions carried the kind of weight that not even Max could ignore.

So far Max hadnt been able to find the time to pick up the phone and ask her if she was interested in the job, forget actually getting to the point of sitting down and talking the future through with her. Hadnt done one thing to make her feel she was needed, that her ideas would be welcome, let alone valued. Well, why would he? She wasnt a genuine Valentine-

Louise?

She glanced up, realised that everyone was waiting. She snapped the phone shut, turned it off, tried to recall where shed been in her briefing. City Lights

As you know, City Lights ran the offer for a limited number of complimentary tickets to the opening of your London flagship restaurant in todays issue. Free food, live music and the opportunity to mingle with celebrities; a chance to live the aspirational lifestyle for a night. She looked up. Youll be gratified to learn that the response was so great that it crashed the City Lights systems, a story that was reported in the later editions of the London evening papers and will run in the diary columns of tomorrows dailies.

Well done, Louise, Oliver Nash said. With luck the tickets will be changing hands on eBay for hard cash by this time tomorrow.

If they are, she replied, matter-of-factly, luck will have had nothing to do with it.

Max heard the voicemail prompt click in, then Louises cool, businesslike voice suggesting he leave a message, assuring him that she would return his call as soon as possible.

That would be about as likely as a cold day in hell, he thought, ignoring the invitation and tossing the phone onto his desk. Why would Louise bother to call him back? Why would she waste one moment of her time doing what he wanted? It had been years but shed never forgotten, or forgiven him for firing her.

As if hed had any choice.

One of them had had to go and Bella Lucia was his future, the one fixed point in his life. Even when his father had been changing wives faster than most men changed cars. When his mother had been more interested in her career, her lovers.

Everyone knew that Louise was just filling in time at the Chelsea restaurant until she fulfilled her mothers ambition for her by marrying a title so that she could spend the rest of her life swanning around a country estate, decorating the pages of Country Life, while a nanny raised her kids

Not that the problem had been all her fault.

The truth was that hed never been able to think straight around Louise and it had been ten times worse since shed returned from a summer spent in Italy with a full set of curves, blonde curls that looked as if they had been tousled by some dark-eyed Latin and eyes that seemed to mock him.

If she hadnt been his cousin

But she was. Family. Which meant that after college shed joined the company, working in his restaurant, a situation about as restful as ploughing a minefield; you just never knew when the next explosion was going to happen.

The effect on the staff had been bad enough, but when a particularly disruptive outburst had involved a group of diners hed had no choice but to fire her on the spot. No choice

He could cheerfully throttle Jack for putting him in this position.

All the time hed been in QuArim, setting up the new restaurant, hed been doing his best to convince himself that his half-brother didnt know what he was talking about.

Obviously he was right about the need to bring in some heavyweight PR muscle. It was a different world from the dreary postwar era; when his grandfather had opened his first restaurant, people had flocked to eat good Italian food served in warm and welcoming surroundings. Under the control of his father and uncle, theyd grown complacent. Theyd been living off reputation, history, for too long. The business had stagnated. The restaurant in QuArim was just the beginning of a new era of global expansion, but to make it work they needed someone who could update the image, get them reviewed, talked about; re-define them not just as a London, but a worldwide A-list restaurant group.

Except that it wasnt they any more.

The future of the company was in his hands and his alone. He needed someone. And his brother had made it clear that he didnt just need someone with Louises talent to take up the challenge.

He needed Louise.

Of course, Jack, having dropped that little bombshell, had waltzed off back to New York leaving him to convince Louise to drop everything and come and work for him.

Yes, well. Having driven her away in the first place, he had to be the one to convince her to return. Whatever it took. Because it seemed to him that just at this moment Louise needed him, just a little, too, whether shed admit it or not.

He wasnt fooling himself that it would be easy. Louise might have been a useless matre d, more interested in flirting with the customers than doing her job, but since then shed carved out a brilliant career for herself in marketing and PR. Her client list included one of the most successful restaurant chains in the country. She knew everyone in the business. Everyone in the media. And her mothers high society family gave her an in with the social elite. She was A list.