A Proposal Worth Millions. Sophie Pembroke
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‘Didn’t you read the info I sent over?’
‘Of course I did.’ Well, he’d scanned through it on the plane, which was practically the same thing. It wasn’t that Dylan wasn’t interested in the stats for the Azure Hotel, it was just that he had a lot of other projects on his plate, plus new opportunities coming in. Besides...he hadn’t really been able to imagine any of it until he was actually here.
‘She needs more than your money, Dyl. She needs your business brain.’
And, okay, yes, it was bad timing, but it wasn’t really his fault that his brain’s automatic response to a comment like that was a feeling of smug pride, right? ‘Doesn’t everyone?’
‘Okay, that? That’s exactly what I don’t want you to do this week.’
The puff of pride disintegrated as fast as it had appeared. ‘Fine. So I’m here in a business advisor capacity only?’
‘No, she needs your money, too,’ Neal said. ‘She’s insanely committed to Adem’s dream of making the Azure a successful hotel. Doesn’t matter that he’s not there to see it—she’s going to make it happen anyway.’
Only Sadie. Other people walked out on commitments every day—families, marriages, financial and business obligations—and never looked back. Only Sadie would remain committed to a dead man’s schemes. And only because she had loved Adem so much.
Dylan sighed. ‘That’s not going to be easy.’ He knew that much from the information Neal had sent him—and the fact Sadie had agreed to let him help at all. If she’d thought she could do it herself, she would have. Sadie was nothing if not bloody-minded and determined.
‘Probably not,’ Neal allowed. ‘But it might save Adem’s dream. And Sadie.’
And so, of course, he would do it, without question. He just hoped no one ever pressed him to say exactly which of those motivations was strongest for him.
‘I’m having dinner with her tonight.’ He tugged a sheet of writing paper branded with the Azure logo closer to him and grabbed a pen. ‘Where do I start?’
‘She needs this to be business,’ Neal said. ‘Not a pity save, even if that’s what it is.’
It was more than that, Dylan knew. This wasn’t just pity. He couldn’t bear to see Sadie struggling, so he’d do whatever it took to save her. He suspected that Neal knew that too.
‘So how do I convince her it’s not?’
‘By letting her pitch the Azure and Kuşadasi to you as a real investment opportunity. As something you’d want to put money into even if she wasn’t involved. Let her present her proposal for the place, then decide if you will invest.’
Suddenly, a plan began to form, right at the back of Dylan’s brain, where he always got his most inspired ideas.
‘I can do that,’ he said, and smiled.
* * *
Standing in front of her wardrobe, Sadie shifted her weight from one foot to the other, squinted, then sighed and gave up. Nothing she could do right now changed the clothes hanging there for her to choose from. If Neal had told her Dylan was coming, she’d have had time to go shopping. Not that she would have done. The last thing she wanted to do was give Dylan Jacobs the impression that his presence was new-clothes-worthy.
Either way, her options now were limited.
She flicked through the hangers again, dismissing each outfit in turn. Black suit? Too conservative for dinner with someone who was, business opportunities aside, an old friend. Navy shift dress? Might have worked, if it didn’t have hummus smeared down the front of it, courtesy of Finn. She tossed it in the laundry hamper. Grey shift dress? She supposed it could work. The neckline was demure, the fit okay... It was just boring and made her look even greyer than she felt.
Hadn’t she once had more interesting clothes? The sort with colour and pop and stuff? She was sure that once upon a time she’d dressed to fit her happy and in-love mood. Maybe that was the problem. When Adem had died he’d taken all her colour and brightness with him—and it even showed in her wardrobe.
Trapping her lower lip between her teeth, Sadie reached right to the back of the closet and felt slippery satin slide through her fingers as she tugged one more dress to the front. The dress. The bright red, sexy dress her sister had talked her into buying on their last shopping trip to London before she and Adem had left for Turkey. She’d never yet found the courage to wear it, for all of Rachel’s suggestions that it would be the perfect dress to wear if she wanted to convince Adem they should give Finn a little brother or sister.
She let it fall from her grasp. Definitely not the right dress for tonight.
Instead, she pulled out her standard black function dress—the one she’d worn for every single event since she’d arrived in Kuşadasi, and the dress she’d known she’d end up wearing all along, if she was honest with herself. It was well cut, didn’t reveal too much, looked more dressy than a work dress, but still had the aura of business about it.
Sadie sank to sit on her bed, her hands clutching at the fabric of the dress. Business. She had to focus on that. This was her last and only chance—she couldn’t afford to think of Dylan as Adem’s twenty-two-year-old university buddy, or the best man who’d brought Adem home from his stag night with an almighty hangover, a blow-up sheep and no recollection of where they’d spent the last two days. Dylan wasn’t that person any more.
She swallowed, blinking away sudden tears of guilt and loss at the memory of her husband. Because that was the problem. She wasn’t thinking of that Dylan at all. Instead, she couldn’t help remembering another one, sitting up too late in a bar after someone else’s wedding, talking too much and too deeply.
Despite herself, she couldn’t help remembering the man who had once asked her if she’d ever imagined what might have happened if he’d met her first, instead of Adem.
Rushing to her feet, too fast, Sadie shook off the memory with the resulting light-headedness. She loved her husband—now, then and always. And she planned to preserve his memory for their son by saving the hotel. Business, that’s all any of it was for her now. And she was sure that was all it was for Dylan too.
She knew business now, and she needed to show Dylan that—needed him to see that she wasn’t the same girl she had been then either. She’d grown up, learned and changed. She could save the Azure all by herself—she just needed his money.
Nodding to herself, Sadie pulled on her black dress and added her work jacket and heels. A business-casual compromise, she decided. It was perfect.
* * *
Heading down to the bar, Sadie was pleased to realise she’d beaten Dylan there, despite her clothing dilemma delay. After a moment’s thought she ordered them both a glass of a local white wine—showcasing the specialties of the region had to be a good way to convince Dylan that Kuşadasi was worth his time and interest. Following her theme, she also asked the bartender to check in with the chef on the menu. He returned in short order, carrying both wine and a daily menu. Sadie scanned it quickly and told him to instruct the chef to serve them both the best local food on offer, once they made it through to the restaurant.
She settled back onto her bar stool and took a sip of her wine, feeling in control for the first time that day. Dylan may have caught her off balance when he’d arrived, but it took more than that to rattle Sadie Sullivan. She had everything in hand now—and it was the upper one.
Then he appeared in the doorway, looking far too good in his navy suit and open-collared shirt, and she struggled to swallow her wine without spluttering. Dylan, Sadie was sure, hadn’t bothered agonising over what to wear at all. He’d just thrown on what he liked and looked...perfect in it.
It was strange; she didn’t remember him being quite so attractive. Oh, he’d always been good looking, but it had been in a single-guy-about-town, flirt-with-the-girls-and-take-them-home