Page 53 of Love Is: Two Bodies One Soul

Lexie said, ‘You don’t think one will come forward.’

‘It’s unlikely.’

‘So, what happens?’

‘Like I said, WIV closes.’

‘So it really is doomed?’

‘Not necessarily. It could survive if it moved online and faced the fact that print will inevitably decline to levels too small to sustain costs. The brothers need to invest in the future, and that’s part of the problem. They won’t.’

‘Have you spoken to George about this?’

‘No point. I don’t think he would listen to me, and the brothers certainly wouldn’t want my advice.’

‘Can’t you make George listen?’

‘Doubt it. There was a time when George respected what I had to say, but I trashed that respect along with my career. Now he thinks I’m an alcoholic who’s stewed his grey cells.’

‘That’s not true,’ Lexie argued.

Owen half-smiled. ‘You can’t argue with the facts, Lex. You know I trashed my career.’

‘Maybe you did, but from what Kate’s told me, George still has a lot of respect for you. He thinks you’re a genius who can save the magazine.’

‘He’s wrong.’ Plainly irritated, Owen pushed his plate aside. ‘WIV needs money and a modern, forward-thinking owner who understands the industry.’

‘So, it’s all about who buys WIV?’

‘It is.’

Lexie put down her chopsticks. ‘I know someone who could buy the magazine.’

Owen stifled a cynical laugh. ‘I don’t think you do. Whoever buys WIV needs to be seriously loaded.’

Lexie’s hackles rose as Owen smiled indulgently at her. ‘Ah! There he is!’ she declared.

Owen looked confused.

Shaking her head, she said, ‘You almost had me fooled today.’

‘What do you mean? I’m not trying to fool you, Lex.’

‘Do you know, I was actually beginning to like you? Thinking I’d misjudged you, and you weren’t an arrogant misogynist, after all.’

‘What?’ Owen gaped at her.

She shook her head and quoted his words back at him, even managing a slight Welsh accent. “I don’t think you do. Whoever buys WIV has to be seriously loaded.” She paused, measuring the impact on Owen before she asked, ‘And what makes the high and mighty Owen Kingsley so certain I don’t know exactly the right person to buy WIV?’

‘I – I’m sorry, Lex. I didn’t think.’ He lifted his hands in supplication. ‘It just seemed improbable. I mean, apart from the cost of buying WIV, it will take thousands, maybe millions, of investment money in the new setup. People with that sort of cash don’t grow on trees, do they?’

‘No. True,’ Lexie agreed, calming a little. She looked at Owen’s bewildered expression. Perhaps she’d overreacted. Maybe she should cut him some slack, as George had suggested. ‘I’m sorry, Owen … I guess I’m still a little sensitive about the things you say to me. But I really know someone. He’s a billionaire, not as rich as Bill Gates, but not far off. He lives in Sussex, and I’ve known him all my life. He is exactly what you said WIV needs.’

‘Who is he?’

‘Roger Carver-Phelan.’

Owen frowned. ‘I know that name from somewhere.’ He shook his head as if unable to make the connection and asked, ‘How do you know him?’

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