Barbara Dunlop - Beauty And The Billionaire

“I’ll be there.”

On his way to Sinclair’s house, Hunter stopped in at the office. He was pretty sure Ethan Sloan would still be around. By all accounts, Ethan was a workaholic and a genius. He’d been with Lush Beauty Products for fifteen years, practically since the doors opened with a staff of twenty and a single store.

He had developed perfumes, hair products, skin products and makeup. The man had a knack for anticipating trends, moving from floral to fruit to organic. In his late thirties now, he’d wisely set his sights on fine quality, recognizing a growing segment of the population with a high disposable income and a penchant for self-indulgence.

Hunter was also willing to bet Ethan had a knack for management and the underlying politics of the company. And Hunter had some questions about that.

He found Ethan in his office, on the phone, but the man quickly motioned to Hunter to sit down.

“By Thursday?” Ethan was saying as Hunter took a seat and slipped open the button on his suit jacket.

Ethan was neatly trimmed. Hunter had noticed that he generally wore his shirtsleeves rolled up, although he’d wear a jacket on the executive floor. Smart man.

“Great,” said Ethan, nodding. “Sign ’em up. Talk to you then.”

He hung up the phone. “New supplier for lavender,” he explained to Hunter. “Out of British Columbia.”

“We’re running short?”

“Critically. And it’s our key ingredient.” He rubbed his hands together. “But it’s solved now. What can I do for you?”

Hunter settled back in his chair. “Not to put you on the spot. And way off the record.”

Ethan smiled. He brought his palms down on the desktop, standing to walk around its end and close the office door. “Gotta say.” He returned, taking the second guest chair instead of sitting behind his desk. “I love conversations that start out like this.”

Hunter smiled in return. “Tell me if I’m out of line.”

“We’re off the record,” said Ethan. “You can get out of line.”

“What do you think of Chantal Charbonnet?”

Ethan sat back. “Sly, but not brilliant. Gorgeous, of course. Roger seems to have noticed her.”

“She was at the Bergdorf’s promotion this afternoon.”

“Yeah?” asked Ethan. “That’s a stretch for her job description.”

“It got me wondering,” confided Hunter. “Why was she there?”

“Eye candy?”

“Women were the target demographic.” Hunter had been thinking about this all the way over.

“Maybe she asked Roger really, really nicely?”

Hunter had considered that, too. But he didn’t have evidence to support favoritism. He was coming at this from another angle. “Could she have been a role model for the consumers?”

Ethan considered the idea. “There’s no denying she knows how to wear our products.”

“Lays it on a bit thick, wouldn’t you say?”

Ethan grinned. “My kind of consumer. We want them all to apply it like Chantal.”

Ethan’s words validated the worry that was niggling at Hunter’s brain. Chantal was dead center on the new target demographic. Hunter was worried that Roger had seen that in her, and it wasn’t something he’d seen in Sinclair. Sinclair was a lot of things-a lot of very fabulous, fun, exciting things-but she wasn’t a poster child for Lush Beauty Products.

He filed away the information and switched gears. “Did Sinclair mention her spa plan to you?”

Ethan nodded. “Had lots of potential. But I hear it went south with Millennium.”

“I’m going to try to revive it.”

“I hope you can. If you secure the outlet, we can provide the product.”

“Including lavender.”

“Got it covered.”

“Do you have any thoughts on a spa release overall?”

Ethan stretched out his legs, obviously speculating how frank he could be with Hunter.

Hunter waited. He wanted frank, but there was no way to insist on it.

“If it was me,” said Ethan. “I wouldn’t target a single spa, I’d go for the whole chain. And I’d try for the Crystal. The Millennium is nice, but the Crystal has the best overseas locations.”

Hunter didn’t disagree with Ethan’s assessment. The Crystal Spa chain was as top of the line as they came.

“You get into Rome and Paris,” said Ethan. “At that level. You’ll really have some momentum.”

“Tall order.”

Ethan brought his hands down on his thighs. “Osland International usually shy away from a challenge?”

“Nope,” said Hunter. When he was involved, Osland International always stepped up to the plate.

He could already feel his competitive instincts kick in. Although he’d come into the job reluctantly, making Lush Beauty a runaway success had inched its way to the top of his priority list.

He also knew he wanted Sinclair as a partner in this. He liked the way she thought. He liked her energy and her outside-the-box thinking. And, well, okay, and he just plain liked her. But there was nothing wrong with that. Liking your business associates was important.

All his best business relationships were based on mutual respect. Sure, maybe he didn’t want to sleep with his other business associates. But the principle was the same.

Sinclair hit the buzzer, letting Hunter into the building.

She didn’t know whether she’d been brilliant or stupid to take him up on his offer to paint, but there was no turning back now.

She’d dressed in a pair of old torn blue jeans and a grainy gray T-shirt with “Stolen From the New York City Police Department” emblazoned across the front. Her hair was braided tight against her head, and she’d popped a white painter’s cap on her head. She had no worries that the tone of the evening would be sexy in any way.

The bell rang, echoing through the high-ceilinged, empty room. Her living room furniture was in storage for another week. But she’d already finished the small bedroom, so it was back together.

She opened the front door and the hinges groaned loudly in the cavernous space as Hunter walked in.

“Nice,” he said, looking around at the tarp-draped counters and breakfast bar, the plastic on the floors, and the dangling pieces of masking tape around the bay window.

“It has a lot of potential,” she told him, closing and locking the oak door. There was no doubt it was smaller than he’d be used to, but she was excited about living here.

“I wasn’t being sarcastic, honest.” He held up a bottle of wine. “Housewarming.”

“That might be a bit premature.” She still had a lot of work to get done.

He glanced around the room for somewhere to set the bottle down. “In a cupboard?” he asked, heading for the alcove kitchen.

“Beside the fridge,” she called.

He got rid of the wine and shrugged out of his windbreaker. Then he returned to the main room in a pair of khakis and a white T-shirt that were obviously brand-new.

She tried not to smile at the outfit.

It really was nice of him to come and help. Still, she wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to tease him.

“You don’t do home maintenance often, do you?”

He glanced around the tarp-draped room. “I’ve seen it done on TV.”

“It’s not as easy as it looks,” she warned.

He shot her an expression of mock disbelief. “I have an MBA from Harvard.”

“And they covered house painting in graduate school?”

“They covered macroeconomics and global capitalism.”

She fought a grin. “Oh sure, go ahead and get snooty on me.”

“Dip the brush and stroke it on the wall. Am I close?”

“I guess you might as well give it a try.”

“Give it a try? ”

Her grin broadened at his insulted tone.