Page 58 of Modern Romance Collection February 2025, 1-4

Mary stood back, and Faye could see the way the older woman’s eyes widened as she admitted the tall, powerful form of Primo Holt. He was wearing a steel-grey three-piece suit. Hair brushed back from his forehead. He looked as if he’d stepped out of a photoshoot for male models—except he was no male model. He was too big...too imposing. She realised then that in spite of his veneer of civility there was something wild about him. Untamed. It excited her.

He walked in and Faye crossed her arms over her chest. When she’d found out that he was due to visit her father that day she’d dressed carefully in tailored trousers and a silk shirt, buttoned up. Hair pulled back into a bun. The thought of giving him any kind of impression that she fancied him made her cringe.

That sense of exposure made her say now, ‘Why the great charade last night? Why didn’t you tell me you already had a meeting planned with my father?’

He shook his head. ‘It wasn’t a charade. I did want to meet you face to face.’

She arched a brow. ‘And what? Do a bit of tyre-kicking before you pursued your real agenda? Which I presume is to take advantage of my father’s current situation?’ Before he could answer, she said, ‘You’re no better than those other vultures who were there last night, feigning concern for his welfare. You’re more devious.’

He winced. ‘I guess I deserved that.’ His expression cleared. ‘I meant what I said, though. I respect your father and I respect the business your family have built up. The truth is that, yes, I had a plan to meet with your father, but it just so happens that I’m also in need of a wife. I hadn’t specifically planned on meeting you before talking with your father, but when I found out you’d been invited to that party last night it was too good an opportunity to pass up.’

This only made Faye’s sense of humiliation more intense—especially when she remembered her reaction to him. ‘And what, pray tell, were you going to do if you decided after meeting me that I was not someone you cared to propose to?’

He made a minute movement with one broad shoulder. ‘I would have still spoken to your father, but I would have been pursuing a wife elsewhere.’

Faye smiled tightly. ‘How convenient for you that you deemed me suitable after...what...?’ She lifted her wrist and pretended to look at a watch, then looked back to him. ‘About an hour? How could you have been so sure you want me as a wife?’

A muscle in his jaw ticked. Faye didn’t care.

And then, before he could speak, something struck her and she felt slightly nauseous. ‘You had me investigated, didn’t you?’

She turned away and started to pace, her mind spinning with recrimination.Of course! How could I be so stupid?

She turned to face Primo again, folding her arms across her chest again. ‘No one in our world acts spontaneously. Tell me, where was I on the list?’

That muscle ticked again, but he had the grace not to feign ignorance. ‘You were top. Because of your association with your father.’

‘Lucky me,’ Faye said caustically. ‘And lucky you to have had such a quick search. Pity, though, that it’s come to nothing.’

‘I wouldn’t be so quick to reject a perfectly good offer.’

Faye’s jaw dropped. When she could manage it, she said, ‘You are unbelievably arrogant.’

‘Yes,’ he agreed easily, ‘I am arrogant. But I think you’ll find it’s born out of knowing I work hard. I’m very good at what I do and it’s not out of a sense of entitlement.’

His easy acceptance of what she’d just accused him of took the wind out of her sails a little. She couldn’t imagine many people accusing Primo Holt of arrogance. And getting away with it.

She hated to admit it, but he intrigued her—and he was right. He’d always had a reputation for working as hard as his employees, not expecting them to do anything he wouldn’t, and as Holt Industries encompassed everything from real estate to media corporations, that was some feat.

‘So, you’re hoping for some kind of value package deal? Is that it? Bag a wife and take over MacKenzie Enterprises at the same time?’

He put his hands in his pockets, and that made Faye want to look down. But she resisted the urge. He rocked back on his heels. Supremely at ease, in spite of the crackling undercurrents. Maybe she was the only one who could feel them?

‘You have to admit that it would be a convenient solution all round,’ he said.

Faye scoffed. ‘Convenient for you, you mean.’

Primo suddenly looked serious. ‘Do you realise how weakened your father is right now? The board could force him out within weeks if he continues as he is. He should never have taken the advice to sell off so many shares.’

Faye felt sick again. Primo spoke the stark truth. She’d said as much to her father herself. He’d given in to the lure of handing over a little more control, and at the urging of a bad advisor he’d let go of more than he’d intended.

Faye couldn’t help sounding a little bitter. ‘I suppose you’d like us to believe you have only our best interests at heart?’

‘I won’t lie and tell you that, no. Right now, you and your father have no personal relevance for me. But I do have the company’s best interests at heart because it’s a good business opportunity.’

You have no personal relevance for me.

Those words struck at Faye in a place they shouldn’t be striking. This man was a stranger.

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