Doukakis's Apprentice Read Online Free PDF

young women? He is thirty years older than Arianna. He’s been divorced
four times
. That’s a sign of an unstable personality.’
    ‘Or a sign of an eternal optimist, Mr Doukakis.’ Her voice was husky. ‘My dad continues to believe in love and the institution of marriage.’
    If it hadn’t been his sister they were talking about, Damon would have laughed. ‘The institution of marriage doesn’t require endless practice, Miss Prince.’ Her defence of her father drove his opinion of her lower still. ‘When I walk out of here, I’ll be giving a statement to the media. Within the hour news of my takeover will be all over the internet. Once he finds out I have control of the company, your father
will
make contact. When that happens, I want to know. And I want to know immediately.’
    ‘My father doesn’t like the internet. He says it inhibits the development of personal relationships.’
    At the mention of personal relationships, sweat broke outunder his collar. ‘Bad news has a habit of travelling fast and we both know I’m the last person he would want at the helm of his precious company.’
    ‘I agree. He won’t be pleased. He considers you to be a man whose only goal is profit. He didn’t like me mixing with you when we were teenagers.’
    Transfixed by that altogether unexpected revelation, Damon stared at her with genuine astonishment. ‘He considered
me
a bad influence?’
    ‘My father has a real thing about people who only judge the world in financial terms. That isn’t the way he runs his life and it certainly isn’t the way he runs his business. To my father a successful business is as much about the people as the profits.’
    ‘It took me a single glance at your company accounts to work that out. Prince Advertising is afloat through good fortune and the accidental success of a few of your campaigns,’ Damon snapped out, noticing that a faint frown appeared on her forehead. ‘The company is in profit despite your father’s approach to business, not because of it. As for the people—your headcount is severely bloated and you need to slim down. You’re carrying dead wood.’
    ‘Don’t you dare describe these people as dead wood. Everyone here has an important part to play.’ Her voice shook. ‘Your fight is with my father, not with the innocent people working for this company. You can’t make them redundant. It would be wrong.’
    ‘Business tip number one,’ Damon said softly. ‘Never let your opponent know what you’re thinking. It gives them an advantage.’
    Those narrow shoulders straightened. ‘You already have the advantage, Mr Doukakis. You’ve bought my father’s company. And I’m not afraid to tell you what I’m thinking. I’m thinking that you’re as ruthless and cold as they say you are.’ Hereyes shone and he wondered if he should warn her that it was dangerous to wear her emotions so close to the surface. And then he realised how hypocritical that would be because, for once, his own were similarly exposed.
    Acting on an impulse he didn’t want to examine too closely, Damon reached out and caught her chin in his hand, feeling the softness of her skin under the hard pads of his fingers as he forced her to look at him. ‘You’re right. I am as ruthless as they say I am. You might want to remember that. And tears just irritate me, Miss Prince.’
    ‘I’m not crying.’
    But she was close to crying. He recognised the signs and he could feel the betraying tremble of her jaw. She was the same age as Arianna and yet that was where the similarity ended. For a fleeting moment he wondered what her life must have been like—an only child brought up by her father, a notorious playboy.
    ‘I took nothing your board of directors did not readily give.’
    ‘You made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.’ Her emotional accusation almost made him smile.
    ‘I’m Greek, not Sicilian. And the people working for me would never sell me out, no matter how good the offer.’
    He