as though he had given up hope on something.
‘All right, then.’ There was a beat of silence. ‘I suppose we should start preparing to lay off staff.’
The words were fatalistic, and yet it took Callie a while to process what she had heard. Once she did, her legs moved without her consent and she burst through the office door.
‘No!’ she said, and her voice sounded as though it came from faraway. ‘I can’t let you do that.’
‘EXCUSE ME?’ BLAKE LIFTED his eyebrows, and suddenly Callie wished her tongue had given her the chance to think before she spoke.
‘I’m so sorry, Mr Owen... Connor...’ She saw the look in her brother’s eyes and hoped her own apologised for interrupting. ‘I just heard—’
‘A private business conversation between members of management. Do you make a habit of eavesdropping?’
His eyes were steel, and she could hear the implication that he thought she had more poor habits than just eavesdropping.
‘No, of course not. I was on my way to ask Connor if he’d like to do lunch, and then I heard you because the door was open.’ She gestured behind her, although the action was useless now, since it stood wide open after her desperate entrance. ‘I didn’t mean to listen, but I did, and I’m telling you that you can’t lay off staff. Please.’
Blake’s handsome face softened slightly, and she cursed herself for noticing how his dark blue suit made him look like a model from the pages of a fashion magazine. It was probably the worst time to think of that, she thought, and instead focused on making some kind of case to make him reconsider.
‘There are people here who need their jobs. Who love their jobs.’ She could hear the plea in her voice. ‘Employees here who have families who depend on them.’
‘I’m aware of that, Miss McKenzie.’ Blake frowned. ‘I’ve thought every option through. This one is the best for the hotel. If we downsize now we can focus on operations and then expand again once we turn enough profit. It would actually be fairly simple.’
‘For you, maybe. And for the hotel, sure. But I can assure you it would be anything but simple for the people you lay off—’ She broke off, her heart pounding at the prospect. ‘This is a business decision without any consideration for your employees.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘I have considered my employees, and I resent your implication otherwise. You have no idea what any other option would require from us. This is the most efficient way to help Elegance, Cape Town, get back on its feet.’
‘Are you listening to yourself?’ she asked desperately. ‘You’ve been tossing around words like “downsizing” and “efficiency” as though those are good things. They aren’t!’
‘Callie—’
Connor stepped forward and she immediately felt ashamed of her behaviour when she saw the warning in his eyes. She knew she was embarrassing him in front of their boss. She even knew that she was embarrassing herself in front of her boss. So, even though more words tumbled through her mind, and even though the shame she felt was more for Connor than for herself, she stopped talking.
‘It’s okay, Connor.’ Blake eased his way into one of the chairs in front of Connor’s desk. ‘I understand your sister’s anger. However unprofessional.’
Callie’s heart hammered in her chest and she wished that she hadn’t said anything. But then she thought of Kate, and Connor, and of the fact that her job meant the world to her, and she straightened her shoulders. She wouldn’t feel bad for standing up for their jobs. Not when it meant that she’d at least tried to save them.
‘There is another option, Callie.’
Blake spoke quietly, and she wondered if he knew the power his voice held even so.
‘I’ve looked into other investors.’
‘Why did you dismiss the idea?’
Something shifted in his eyes, as though he hadn’t expected her to ask him about his reasons.
‘The Elegance hotels are the product of my father’s hard work, and mine, and I don’t want an outside investor to undermine that. Not at this stage of the game.’
He looked at her, and what she saw in his eyes gave her hope.
‘Of course I have considered it. Especially an international investor, since that might give Elegance the boost it needs to go international. But it would be a very complicated process, and it would require a lot of negotiation.’ He turned now, and looked at Connor. ‘Like I told you before, I would have to think through the terms of this thoroughly before I make any decision.’
‘But you’ll reconsider it?’ There was no disguising the hope Callie felt.
Blake looked at her, and those blue-green eyes were stormier than she had thought possible.
‘I don’t want another investor. This hotel group has been in my family for decades, Miss McKenzie. It’s a legacy I want to pass on to my children.’ He paused. ‘But if we can secure an international investor, that legacy might be even more than I thought possible. We’ll talk about it.’
He gestured to Connor, and then moved to sit behind the desk Connor had had put in his office for Blake.
Callie waited, but the look on her brother’s face told her she had been dismissed. She nearly skipped out of the room, because despite his non-committal response Blake Owen was considering an option other than laying off staff. If Blake chose an investor it would mean that everything her brother had worked so hard for wouldn’t have been for nothing.
He had toiled night and day to try and get the hotel running smoothly again, and the news of Blake’s arrival had been a difficult pill to swallow—it had been a clear sign that everything Connor had done hadn’t been enough. Callie knew he loved the hotel, and the last thing that he wanted was for his employees to lose their jobs. And, she thought, the last thing she wanted was for him to lose his job—and for her to lose hers.
So before she left she wanted to say one more thing to Blake.
‘Mr Owen... Blake?’
He looked up, and she smiled.
‘Thank you for reconsidering.’
* * *
Blake couldn’t sleep. He had been working with Connor until just past midnight, trying to draft an investment contract that he was happy with. A contract that would require all his negotiation skills to convince an investor to accept—although he knew it was possible. He had put out feelers even before he had spoken to Connor, when he had initially thought of finding an investor, and the response had been positive. But he still wasn’t convinced that this was something he wanted or if it was something he was being persuaded into by a pretty face.
He threw off his bedcovers and walked downstairs to the kitchen of his Cape Town house. He had bought the place without
