The Big Bad Boss Read Online Free PDF Page B

important.’
    ‘Which is why I’m the businessman and you’re the dreamer, Bronte. Without profit there can be no jobs—no people living in Hebers Ghyll. And I won’t be rushed into this. I never make a decision until I know all the facts.’
    ‘Then know this,’ she said as their exchange heated up. ‘You and I could never work in any sort of team.’
    ‘No,’ Heath agreed. ‘I’d always be the boss.’
    ‘You’re unbelievable.’
    ‘So they tell me.’
    With an incredulous laugh Bronte tossed her burnished mane and quickened her step to get ahead of him. He kept up easily. ‘If I do decide to do anything it won’t be half-hearted. It will be all about renewal and regeneration.’
    ‘Sounds impressive,’ she said. ‘Almost unbelievable.’
    Bronte had always scored a gold star for sarcasm. She was paying him back for doubting her. And why was he even discussing something that was barely a glimmer of anidea? ‘My hobby’s building things—I’ve carried out restoration work in the past so I know what’s involved.’ And now defending it?
    He got what he deserved.
    ‘Get real, Heath,’ Bronte flashed. ‘This isn’t cyberspace. You can’t conjure up an idyllic country scene on your screen complete with a fully restored castle, click your mouse and wipe out years of under-investment.’
    ‘No, but I can try. I might not be the countryside’s biggest fan, but I’m not known for running out.’
    ‘And neither am I,’ she shot back.
    ‘Are we agreed on something?’
    She huffed.
    ‘The only way Hebers Ghyll can survive is for people like you to get involved, Bronte.’
    ‘Oh, I see,’ she said. ‘People like me do all the hard work while you direct us from your city desk? Unless you’re going to live here, Heath, which I doubt.’
    ‘Do you want Hebers Ghyll to have a future or not? Yes or no, Bronte? If you’re serious about trying to get people to come back here there has to be something for them to come back to.’
    ‘So now you’re a visionary?’
    ‘No. I’m a realist.’ And he liked a challenge—especially when there was a woman involved.
    ‘This is nothing like the city, Heath.’
    ‘Isn’t it?’ he fired back. ‘The air might be polluted with pollen instead of smoke, but, like you said, jobs are just as hard to find. So you go right ahead and walk away, Bronte. Let Hebers Ghyll slide into a hole. Or you can stay and fight.’
    ‘With you? What changed your mind, Heath?’
    Heath’s face closed off. Why didn’t she know when to keep quiet? She could only guess how he must have felt coming back here. She returned to the fray to divert him. ‘You can’t just plonk down a couple of computers in the village hall, maintain a cyber presence and think that’s enough, Heath. People need proper work—and a proper leader on site to direct them.’
    ‘Are you saying you wouldn’t be up to that?’
    ‘I’d do whatever was expected of me, and more, if I were lucky enough to get the job,’ Bronte countered, rejoicing in Heath’s attack. The way he was talking could only mean he was seriously interested in keeping the estate.
    ‘Judging by your enthusiasm you’d workhappily alongside anyone who does get the job?’
    He’d got her. Damn it. Heath had always been a master tactician. She threw him a thunderous look.
    He was all logic while Bronte was the flip side of the coin—all that passion with so little curb on it made it so easy to outmanoeuvre her, it was hardly fair. He hadn’t made a final decision yet. The problems at Hebers Ghyll were nothing new for him. There had been no work in his old neighbourhood, but he had known that if there was enough money for tools and equipment there would be more than enough jobs for everyone. ‘There’s only one problem,’ he said, reeling her in.
    ‘Which is?’ she demanded on cue.
    ‘You.’ He stared directly at her. ‘You’re the problem, Bronte. If I consider you for the job I have to bear in mind you took off once