Pirate's Gold by Lisa Jackson Read Free Book Online Page B

schedule, does it?”
    â€œYou’re asking for more time?”
    Maren shook her head. “I’m trying to explain that you’re asking the impossible.”
    Kyle felt his teeth grinding together in frustration. So this was what Ryan Woods had attempted to warn him about: Maren McClure’s clever way of turning the game around to suit her needs. Just when he had expected her to jump at the juicy morsel of bait he had offered her, she had turned him down flat, not accepting it until some other business had been accomplished. He would have staked his life on the fact that Ms. McClure would do practically anything for the contract he was offering her. He had been wrong; seriously wrong.
    â€œAll right, Maren, I think we can stop playing games.”
    She managed a thin smile over the rim of her wineglass. “Good. It’s getting a little cumbersome, isn’t it?” Had she pushed him too far? She couldn’t afford to offend the head of Sterling Records; too much was at stake. Her heart began to pound, but her gaze remained outwardly calm.
    Kyle twisted the stem of his glass in his fingers. “I know that J. D. Price of Mirage thinks that you’re single-handedly responsible for the group’s success. And, for whatever it’s worth, I’m sure he’s at least partially correct. Without that first videotape of ‘Danger Signs,’ the song might never have hit the charts.”
    Maren disagreed. “It was a good release.”
    â€œIt was a bomb. No one bothered to listen to the record until your video hit cable TV.”
    Maren smiled at the memory of making that tape. The dusty on-location shooting of the videotape for “Danger Signs” had run over budget, had several lighting flaws in scenes that had to be reshot and everything that could have gone wrong did. But it had been the beginning of Festival Production’s fame. “We were lucky.”
    â€œMaybe. But the point is that J. D. Price will have no one but you and your company produce this series of videotapes for Mirage’s album.”
    â€œIs that right?” she asked with a satisfied smile.
    â€œWhat do you think?”
    â€œI think I need more time to come up with what you want.”
    Kyle Sterling smiled despite the uncomfortable feeling that he was being manipulated. “And I think you drive a hard bargain.”
    â€œJust wait,” she volunteered. “We haven’t begun to talk money.”
    â€œI was just coming to that.”
    She inclined her head as she took a swallow of wine, encouraging him to continue.
    â€œActually, it’s not the money that’s the problem,” he allowed. She waited, sure that he was finally coming to the point of this intimate business meeting. “You see, I think it would be better if Sterling Recording Company had more control in the making of the videos.”
    Her eyes narrowed as she put her empty glass on the table.
    â€œMore control?” she repeated. “How?”
    â€œWe’re considering producing the tapes in-house.”
    Maren somehow managed to smile faintly. “I don’t understand. You just offered me a very specific and expensive piece of business.”
    â€œThat’s because I was trying to make my offer attractive to you.”
    â€œWhat offer?” Her pulse was racing and she had trouble keeping her voice even. The bottom was falling out of her world and Kyle Sterling was the man responsible.
    â€œI want to buy out Festival….” He read the look of disbelief and dismay in her cool eyes.
    â€œWhy?” She swallowed back the apprehension rising in her throat.
    â€œBecause I want you to work for me. You would still have complete discretion concerning the making of the videos, and you would be paid very well.”
    â€œBut I would only be able to work with your artists.”
    â€œThat’s true,” he agreed. “But you would be able to work with all