How To Marry A Billionaire. Ally Blake
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It’s been over a year since he last took a holiday, so think of it that way if it helps.’
‘It doesn’t help. I have worked my backside off to sell Revolution Wireless as a serious company, as serious competition against the giants who have cornered the market for years, and just as we’ve made the leap Chris is about to go and make us all look like amateurs.’
‘Not amateurs,’ Dean said, eyeing Adam down. ‘Human. And human ain’t such a bad angle to give a company this size, if you ask me.’
Adam blinked and Dean cocked an eyebrow at the move.
‘So you back him on this?’ Adam asked.
‘A hundred per cent. I think he’s a brave, brave fellow. He’s putting it all out there and that takes guts. And I don’t see why Revolution Wireless should suffer for showing that one of our leading lights has guts to spare.’
Adam let the idea wash over him. He was being shot down from all angles and he knew it would not do anybody any good if he fought against such diminishing odds.
‘OK, then. If that’s your decision, I want us to sponsor the show.’
Dean stopped his pacing at once. He ran a hand through his sandy hair, though it fell back into the same shambles instantly. ‘You want us to sponsor the show?’
‘Well, it certainly looks like I can’t stop the show, so why not make the most of it? Why not take advantage of the fact that it will be a significantly supported prime-time television event with the opportunity for intensive branding that is set to rake in viewing numbers like none other has done before?’
And that way he could wangle his way onto the set, insist that he be able to stay in the hotel with the cast and crew, because only then could he keep an eye on Chris. Make sure his magnanimous friend did not lose his heart and along with it his wallet to some conniving, manipulative schemer. Because for the life of him he could not see how the whole episode could end any other way.
Dean’s smile dawned slowly. ‘Sure, why not? You’re the marketing guru, my friend, so if you think it will float, you have my vote.’
Adam nodded. Decision made. ‘So will you be OK with the two of us AWOL for the next couple of weeks?’
‘Of course. So long as you’re on the other end of the phone. I mean, if we couldn’t run our business by mobile phone and email we would be in a heap of trouble!’
Adam could not help but smile. ‘Too true.’
Three of Dean’s phone lines lit up almost simultaneously.
Adam stood. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’
Dean nodded, and his pacing resumed. He gave Adam a brief wave as he left the room.
Cara had her assistant offload the couple of jobs she had pencilled in for the next fortnight. But she called her main client, Maya Rampling, the editor of Fresh magazine, herself.
‘Cara, darling! I hear congratulations are in order!’
‘Maya, you are the darling. I know you’re half the reason I got this job. Even though it means I have had to pass the styling of your lingerie shoot onto a colleague.’
‘I will miss your light touch, Cara, but don’t give it another thought. This job was simply made for you.’
‘Did they call you or did you call them?’
‘Darling, they would be afraid for me to find out anything after everyone else. Just take this one piece of advice. Watch your back. TV jobs are notoriously precarious. Half the crew will be turned around by the end of the shoot. It’s like the big boys are so scared of losing their jobs themselves, they have to keep everyone else on their toes.’
‘OK…’ Cara felt the brick in her chest grow a kilogram heavier.
‘So be good. Keep your head down. Don’t cause trouble. Do your job with a minimum of fuss and you’ll be fine. Above all have fun, and I’ll see you soon.’
Then Maya hung up.
Have fun? Cara thought. With those last pieces of advice hanging over her she would be afraid to smile at the wrong person in case she did the wrong thing. No. She would keep her head down and do her job. She would keep her job and she would pay off her mortgage. Her mantra well and truly re-established, she felt ready again.
She showered, changed into cut-off denim jeans, a white collared T-shirt and white flat Mary-Janes, closed her suitcase, checked all the electrics at home were shut off, and then left.
A big black limousine awaited her at the front door. She wound down the window so she could have a good look at her old red stucco building. A smattering of coloured perennials swayed lightly in the front garden. Lights shone from most of the windows. Music spilled from a second-floor apartment. The next time she would see it, she would own it outright.
The car took off, its engine humming softly. They drove past girls in G-string bikinis parading the beach. Boys lined the walkways, acting as though they were simply pausing to check out the ships in the distance, but the girls in the G-string bikinis knew better.
It drove Cara to wonder about the mysterious Chris Geyer, putting himself on the line for love. She wondered what it would take for someone to go to that sort of length to find themselves a partner.
She, who had never considered going on a dating show, had never looked up an internet dating agency, had only gone to nightclubs for the dancing with her friends, simply could not see herself in his shoes. When it came down to it she knew she was actually spending a good deal of time not looking to find herself a partner.
Still, no matter what Chris’s reasons were, they had afforded her the opportunity of a lifetime and for that she would be for ever indebted to his romantic nature. So long as the anti-romantic nature of his friend did not turn the idea sour.
As the big car turned towards the city, Cara sank back into the soft seat feeling as if the rest of her life were waiting around the next corner.
‘It’s a done deal,’ Adam said as he shook hands with Jeff of the unironed clothes and the too much hair gel. ‘Revolution Wireless will be the main sponsor of this series of The Billionaire Bachelor and as such I will be allowed access to all areas of the set.’
‘So long as you stay at the hotel,’ Jeff qualified, ‘and are bound by the same rules as the rest of us for the next two weeks, that’s fine.’
Adam shot the younger man a wry smile. ‘Of course. That went without saying.’
‘Yet I said it anyway,’ Jeff said, returning the smile. ‘So if you can be at the hotel by eight o’clock tonight we will have a room for you—’
‘On the same floor as Chris.’
‘You will have the suite next door,’ Jeff agreed. ‘So here is a copy of the schedule, a timetable of the events that will occur within the confines of the show.’
Adam flicked through the document, which had no header and no front page. If anyone on the street found it they would think it a terribly dull, unimportant business memo, not the breakdown of the best-kept secret in Australian television.
‘The Billionaire Bachelor is going to be huge,’ Jeff promised. ‘You won’t regret this.’
No matter that Adam was now officially one of the gang, all the connotations implied by that title still made him fume. Chris sure needed him if he was going to come through this ordeal unscathed. And if Adam had anything to do with it, his friend would come out of this a billionaire and a bachelor still.
The front doors of the Ivy Hotel were guarded with big burly bouncers and a metal detector. They scanned the bar-code on Cara’s pass and let her through the doors. Once inside, a whole other set of security guards searched her luggage for recording equipment and found only a Polaroid camera, which was listed against her name as an allowable item. The place was really locked down