Pokrewne

Start
Chelsea Handler Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (epub
Brit Brinson [Dia of the Dead Dia of the Dead (epub)
Cody Goodfellow [Radiant Dawn Radiant Dawn (epub)
Cate Tiernan [Immortal Belove Immortal Beloved (epub)
C J Busby [Deep Amber 01] Deep Amber (retail) (epub)
Carl Ashmore [Time Hunters 01 The Time Hunters (epub)
Drew Hayes [Super Powereds 02 Super Powereds Year 2 (epub) i
Beth Harbison [Shoe Addict 02 Secrets of a Shoe Addict (epub)
Cara Lynn Shultz [Dark World The Dark World (retail) (epub)
[heft] Kneifel, Hans & Hary, Wi Flucht der Solaner

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.He’d become a lawyer, then a sports agent, a powerful one.She’d been sincerely glad for him, but to tell the truth, she’d felt more glad for herself—she wouldn’t have to carry so much shame over what she’d done.But she still felt guilty and knew she should.Something in his face told her that he knew it, too.She’d made him suffer.Was that why he was here? Had he heard about her distress and decided that it was payback time? She didn’t like the cold gleam in his eye or the self-satisfied twist of his mouth.“I’ve changed, all right,” she said.His sudden reemergence had shaken her, but she held his stare with one as steady as his own.“So have you.You’ve obviously done quite well for yourself,” she said.He gave a small, noncommittal nod.“Well enough.”“I’m happy for you.”“Thank you,” he said.“But you deserve much of the credit.”He said this so coolly, with such studied poise, that she felt a palpable sense of menace.But Lori refused to play the ingénue.She didn’t widen her eyes or act innocent or ask him what he meant.She simply studied that impossibly handsome, unreadable face and waited.Let him explain himself.He stretched the silence out for half a minute and then smiled, almost to himself.But he kept watching her.“You did me a big favor once,” he said.“You threw me over.”Oh, good grief, she thought.He doesn’t want the speedway.He came here to get even somehow, to play some twisted game.But he’d always known where her thoughts were heading.“I’m not trying to play some sick joke here,” he said quietly.“You found somebody else.And it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”She lifted her chin.“Am I supposed to be flattered by that? I’m not.”He gave a low chuckle.“But I mean it.Back then, I actually wanted to get you pregnant so you’d have to marry me.Then where would I have been? A teenage father with no prospects.”He shrugged.“Your dad might have put me on the payroll here—for your sake.And I would’ve ended up spending my whole life in this lousy town.I’d have watched your father run this place into the ground and be right where you are now.And you’re in a pretty helpless situation, princess.”Lori’s ire rose dangerously.“Kane, don’t pull your punches.Just rub my nose in it really hard, why don’t you?”He grinned, showing those dimples that could seem so cheerily sinister.“You’re something,” he said approvingly.“They could tie you to a stake to burn you alive, and you’d be trying to spit in the eye of the guy lighting the match.”“It’d be smarter to spit on the match, wouldn’t it?” she retorted.The dimples deepened.“No.Because you’d be tied up, and there are too many matches in the world.Like I said, Lori, you’re trapped.”“I’m glad you’re not gloating over it,” she said acidly.He laughed again, which infuriated her.She wished she had a brick to throw at him.But he said, “I didn’t come to gloat, babe.I came to help.I have the offer in that folder.” He nodded at the black leather folder on her desk.“I came to buy this place.At your asking price.And to keep it a speedway.To restore it.”He was being deliberately cruel.Tears smarted in her eyes, but, furious, she blinked them back.“Why?” she demanded.“Why would you want to do such a thing? A minute ago, you called this a lousy town.You said…you actually said my father ran this place into the ground.”She put one fist on her hip.“And that my situation, which means being in charge of this speedway, is like being condemned to burn at the stake.You want to take my place at the bonfire? You want to go up in flames? Why?”He narrowed his dark, dark eyes.“I don’t think I’ll go up in flames.Bring this place back to what it was? You can’t do it.But I can.”“You think you can,” she shot back.“I know I can.”“But,” she said, more frustrated than before, “why would you want to?”Any trace of a smile he’d had faded.“I told you.I owe you.And frankly, I don’t like owing you.Let’s call it paying off a debt.”She squeezed her eyes tightly shut.“Again, this is not flattering, Kane.Nor funny.”“I’m not trying to be funny,” he said.“I’ve got no reason to flatter you.But I do have reason to do you a favor.”She opened one eye and studied him suspiciously.“I know exactly what you’re facing,” he said.His half-smile flirted near his scarred cheek.“I know how much Devlin offered you.I know when their deadline is.”She opened both eyes, now more distrustful than before.He raised a speculative brow and looked her up and down.“I know you have to take Devlin’s offer—unless you get a better one.Otherwise, at the end of June, the bank owns this speedway.”“You’ve been spying on me,” she accused, her voice flat, yet accusing.“My business is in sports.That includes motor racing.I know what goes on in the racing world, Lori.I know what happens.And who it happens to.And why.”She shook her head dubiously.“And you think you can transform Halesboro?”“It can be turned around with enough sweat, money—and connections.I’m an agent.It’s a good life.I enjoy it.But my accountant says it’s time I diversify.Invest.I’m making some extremely safe investments.And I’m also making this one.Because I also enjoy a challenge.And Halesboro Speedway is a big one.”Lori frowned.Had his wealth made him insufferably smug? Was he working out some crazy adolescent issues about growing up poor in Halesboro? And some even more crazy fantasy about evening the score for how she’d treated him so long ago?A small, icy, pragmatic voice inside her head whispered, To hell with his motives.Make him prove he means it.“I want to look over the contract,” she said.“Fine,” he said.“Look it over.Take your time.Take all day.I’m staying over.Meet me tonight for a business supper.We’ll talk about it.”“A business supper?” she echoed.There was no so-called fine dining left in Halesboro; all such restaurants had closed.And she didn’t intend to go out of town with him.He unsettled her too much.She wanted to be on her own turf.Again, he seemed to know her thoughts.“I saw that The Groove Café’s still open.Does Otis still run it?”“Otis died ten years ago.His son runs it.”“Do they still make that hamburger steak with fried onions and hash browns?”“Yes,” she said.The menu hadn’t changed in almost thirty years.Nor had the décor.It was the Eatery That Time Forgot.“Then let’s eat there [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]