The Playboy's Baby by Mary Lyons

Author:Mary Lyons
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin Treasury
Published: 2011-05-29T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

FEELING totally shocked and stunned by what she’d just heard, Samantha left the chairman’s office in a daze.

Taking the elevator down to her own floor, she walked slowly through the deserted corridor leading to her office. It was by now the end of a long working day, and all her colleagues had obviously gone home, leaving only the silent army of security staff and office cleaners within the large building.

With a heavy sigh, Samantha sank down into the chair behind her desk, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling as she tried to get to grips with the situation that she now faced.

‘You may well come to feel that we have handed you a poisoned chalice,’ the chairman had told her earlier, his words accompanied by a thin-lipped, sardonic smile. And he’d been quite right Although, of course, he had no idea of the extra, additional problems which she now faced.

In essence, it all boiled down to two vitally important questions: Did she have a conflict of interest in this case? And, if so, what the heck was she going to do about it?

The facts of the situation were very clear indeed.

Matthew Warner, chief executive of Broadwood Securities, was now facing an attempt by another, if smaller firm to take over, buy up and possibly dismantle his large company. And it looked as if the ensuing battle might prove to be very nasty, indeed.

Her chairman had not minced his words. ‘It is likely to be a highly acrimonious, no-holds-barred fight,’ he’d warned. ‘It’s been clear for some time that Broadwood had over-extended itself, and thus become vulnerable to just such a take-over. As I’m sure you’re well aware.’

‘Well...er...I don’t have all the facts...’

‘However, I understand that their newly appointed chief executive, Matthew Warner, has been ruthlessly sorting out the sheep from the goats, with the next half yearly accounts likely to show a distinct improvement. Although even achieving that minor miracle may prove to be too little and too late to save his company.’

‘What...er...what’s the position of the two companies at the moment?’ Samantha had asked through stiff lips, feeling distinctly sick as she struggled to master the seething ferment of fear and panic racing through her mind and body.

‘My sources tell me that Kendal-Laval were determined to get their financial backers tightly sewn up before the news became public. In which they seem to have been successful,’ the chairman had told her. ‘As for Mr Warner—having obviously realised that an outside agency was buying up large blocks of his company’s shares—I’m told, on good authority, that he’s been working flat out to shore up his defences, get his Swiss bankers on side, and is now, I hear, digging in for a long, hard fight.’

‘So, the battle lines have already been drawn up?’

‘Oh, yes—I’m afraid so, my dear,’ her boss had agreed with a rueful smile. ‘So, we’ll just have to wait and see which company will triumph in the end.’

Except, of course, that wasn’t strictly true. Because,

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