“I don’t care if I sound conceited.”
“So you think nothing of just telling me I’m going to end up sleeping with you. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?”
He leaned forward. “I’m not being mean, Kate. Just honest, probably more honest than any man you’ve dealt with before.”
She knew about at least one past business discrepancy which wasn’t completely honest but this wasn’t the time for that, not when she was getting so much out of their little discussion.
Shaking her head, she said, “Daniel, this is not a done deal.”
“Isn’t it?”
Kate nearly choked on her wine. “Of course not. You can’t make me do something I don’t want to do.”
He smiled. “Oh, I won’t be forcing you.”
One thing was for sure. If she ever got together with this man, it would be on her terms. She would be in charge.
“I’m surprised you manage to get any woman into bed if you talk like that,” she said.
He held her gaze. “I’m very frank when it comes to business but I don’t normally talk this way out of the boardroom. You must be bringing out the worst in me.”
Perhaps he was right. She recalled the words he’d said to her when they first met. Before they met, in fact. What else would explain that particular outburst? But she didn’t want to bring that up again.
“You’re very successful at what you do,” she said. “But if that’s the way you talk in the boardroom you must really have rubbed a few people up the wrong way.”
“I hope that’s not what I’ve done to you. Upset you.”
“Actually, I’m made of fairly sturdy stuff.”
She hadn’t always been. Her upbringing, though wonderful, had been quite sheltered. She’d been a good student at school, always had lots of friends and got on well with her older sister. Her parents, both teachers, had a loving relationship, the kind she wanted.
Kate only wished she’d had a relationship that had gone nearly as well as that of her parents’. She seemed to have got off to a bad start at university when she’d chosen a boyfriend who ended up telling her she was boring, then followed up with a series of other lousy choices.
She could really pick them. Still, the experiences had hardened her, made her determined with what she wanted out of life.
“So, tell me, what happens in the boardroom?” she asked. “It’s a callous business you’re in.”
He shrugged. “I’m always getting someone’s nose out of joint. It happens when you’re the one who wins the deals. One person wins and someone else loses. But I don’t believe in being underhanded. I think if you do that, it always comes back to bite you. I just tell it the way I see it. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
She wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. Mark had told her bits and pieces, and she’d worked out that Daniel was the kind of man who didn’t care who got in his way, didn’t care who he had to tread on to get what he wanted. There was the Mills building for one thing, a recent purchase he’d won through ruthless tactics.
“So everything you do at Webb Corp is one hundred percent honest?” she asked.
“It’s all above board, all legal.”
“Legal is one thing, and honourable is another. I’m sure you have a team of lawyers finding loopholes and other ways of helping you along. I just don’t see how you could have got so far ahead in business with honesty as your motto.”
“Getting ahead was never the problem. That’s easy once you’ve got started. I had a helping hand.” He shrugged. “I’m not ashamed to admit it. I still had to make something of myself after that.”
Kate thanked the waiter who delivered her soup, then waited while Daniel’s first course was placed in front of him.
She was intrigued. “Go on.”
“My father is an entrepreneur, a property developer. Always knew how to spot a good opportunity and make the most of it. That’s one thing I got from him even though he was never much of a father to me.”
“You said your parents were divorced?”
He shook his head. “They never officially divorced but they haven’t been together for decades. Dad left when I was nine. Went to live in Singapore and we barely saw him. Then, a few years later, he noticed all his children were growing up and he didn’t know them any more. For whatever reason, he decided he wanted to do something for the kids. So he