Page 38 of The Prince's Secret Daughter
Helen wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “I was…uh…!” she stammered, feeling awkward.
“You know,” Nathan continued, shoving his hands into his pockets and trying to act normal. “We heard you’d been showing him around the construction site.” He rocked back and forth on his heels. “I just assumed that you were trying to convince him to finalize the deal.” He lifted brown eyebrows slightly. “That’s what you’ve been doing all this time, right?” He chuckled. “I wouldn’t like to think you’d just been avoiding the office.”
There was a long pause and Helen felt…dirty. Nathan was silently implying that she’d been “convincing” Raj to get on board with the deal while in bed with him. She needed a shower.
“Right,” she replied flatly. “I’ve been in contact with the head of Dark Angel Investments, but,” she paused, glaring at him, “not in the way you’re implying.”
Nathan chuckled again and shrugged. “Paul and I don’t care what tactics you use to get the deal closed.” He left that statement hanging, implying that she’d used sex to close deals in the past. That was insulting enough, but he didn’t stop there. “Just make sure this deal closes. We’ve given you the time you need to…uh…ensure that the client is on board. So, why don’tyou keep up the good work and we can meet tomorrow to sign the papers?” He grinned and tilted his head, his eyes moving up and down over her body. “Do you think your…talentscan make that happen?” His grin widened. “We’re all going to make a great deal of money once this deal is finalized.”
Mentally, Helen added a scrub brush and bleach to that shower. “Right. I’ll update you on my progress by this afternoon,” she said, then turned on her heel and walked away, not bothering to confirm nor deny that she’d slept with Raj. Because she had, although not for the reasons on Nathan’s mind. Ick!
And how dare he imply that she’d slept around to close deals! That was just…so male!
She thought about Raj and how much she wanted to hurry back to him. That wasn’t good, she thought as she pressed the elevator button to take them down to the garage level again. She was depending too much on Raj and his strong, safe, sexy arms.
Chapter 34
“Where is she?” Raj hissed, glancing over at his daughter, who had fallen asleep after the second movie. “She left her office several hours ago!”
Nazir muttered something into the microphone hidden under his sleeve, then waited a moment, obviously listening to the response. “She’s pulling into the parking garage now, Your Highness,” he replied.
Raj relaxed slightly, but he still wanted Helen here, where he could assure himself that she was safe. He didn’t trust Paul or Nathan. He had a feeling that something was wrong, but he didn’t want to leave Angela alone to make calls. His little daughter had asked him to watch movies with her. And Raj had wanted to understand why she loved them so much. And yeah, he was curious why the little darling wanted to be green. So far, that last question was still a mystery. There had been nothing in the movie with Hercules or Belle that would give him a clue on the green issue.
Still, he sighed with relief when Helen stepped into the penthouse and walked directly into his arms. He immediately wrapped his arms around her. He noticed that she was stiff for a brief moment, before her body relaxed into him and her arms wrapped around his neck.
“Where have you been?” he demanded in a murmur, then kissed her neck where he knew she was extra sensitive.
He felt her arms tighten, but then Helen pulled back. Not out of his arms, but enough to look up at him. There wasa sparkle in her eyes that warned him that she had learned something worth sharing.
“I think I know what Paul is up to.” She paused, tilting her head slightly and Raj felt her fingers slide into his hair. He nearly purred at her touch. When she did things like that, the rest of the world faded away. He didn’t give a damn about Paul or Nathan or anyone else as long as she kept her fingers against his skin.
“What’s that?” he asked, lowering his head to kiss her neck again. He lifted his gaze to check on Angela. Thankfully, she was still sound asleep with a light blanket tucked around her. Unfortunately, he couldn’t carry Helen off to a bedroom to continue this delightful prelude. Raj didn’t want Angela to wake up and be confused about where he was. And yet, he couldn’t stop touching her either.
Helen gave him a shaky laugh combined with another shiver, then pulled away again, gripping his head so that he couldn’t move closer. Raj nearly laughed out loud at her attempt. But since he wanted to hear her news, he stopped the torment, especially since it was affecting him as well.
“They don’t actually own the property, nor do they have the rights to sell the property,” she announced.
Chapter 35
Helen watched his expression shift. His dark eyebrows furrowed and his lips thinned. “They are scamming people by selling the property.” Raj shook his head slightly. “They never claimed to own the property. From what I read in their prospectus, they are acting as agents for the property owners. They say that they are merely acting as the representatives for the owners.”
Helen was shaking her head even before he finished. “They aren’t agents. They aren’t anything to the owners of the property. I went to one of the local libraries to use their computer so there wouldn’t be any trace of my search.”
“Why did you do that? The computers here are secure.”
Helen looked over at the guards, both of whom nodded. When she looked back at Raj, she shrugged. “I guess you mentioned that but…well, I was just trying to hide my trail.” She pulled out of his arms and dropped her tote bag into a chair, then started pacing. That’s when she noticed Angela sleeping and glanced at her watch, cringing when she realized how long she’d been gone.
Still, she lowered her voice so she wouldn’t wake their daughter. “What I discovered is that the owners live in Canada. When I contacted them, they hadn’t even remembered that they owned the property.” She put a finger to her lips, tapping the corner absently. “It took me a while to even learn who owned the site. But what I also found out is that Paul and Nathan have ‘sold’ this property five times over the past two years to various clients.”
Raj’s dark eyebrows scowled at this news. “How is that possible? A deal like they were proposing takes several months to put together. Even I would slow roll a deal like this. According to the proposal, the owners were asking for twenty million for the property. But I would have required the purchase of the surrounding land as well. There’s no way I would buy up a tiny parcel of land with the idea of building on it. Without the surrounding land also being developed, there would be no commercial value. I wouldn’t build a large structure on a piece of land that is surrounded by abandoned warehouses….” He stopped at the sparkle in Helen’s eyes. “What do you know?”
She pressed her hands together and stepped closer. “That’s exactly what Paul and Nathan propose. I was able to find two of the previous ‘buyers’. Paul and Nathan suggest a massive gentrification project and showed potential clients that one spot. We just happened to come in on the wrong side. You mentioned the issue at that point. If we had driven in from the opposite side, we wouldn’t have seen as much destruction. And the streets coming in from the northern area look almost quaint. The buildings on the north side are unique. The buildings on the western side are abandoned and more of a hazard, the windows broken out and trash all over the place. But the buildings in the north side of the area aren’t anywhere near as bad as the ones that we saw as we drove in.”
“I’m still not following.”
She grinned. “It’s all a scam!” she explained. “Paul and Nathan found a property where the owner doesn’t even realize they own it. Then they pretend to have a fake client who wants to sell the property and get a real client who wants to buy the property. Paul and Nathan negotiate a sale, with the idea ofdeveloping the surrounding area as well. They promise massive, long term profits because the price of the land is so reduced.”
“But no one would buy up a property to develop without first ensuring that the land around it could also be developed. That’s my point.”
