The Tycoon's Son by Cindy Kirk Read Free Book Online

been set up. Obviously Stamos had asked them to do their part to get him to sign.

    Anger warred with disappointment. Though he didn’t know Katherine and Helena well, he’d been open to considering a relationship with them. In his mind, they had nothing to do with their father’s treatment of his mother and him. But Trish…well, her behavior shouldn’t have been such a surprise. She’d made it clear by her repeated attempts to convince him to sign that her allegiance was with Stamos.

    “Theo?” Helena’s concerned voice broke through his thoughts. “Is something wrong?”

    They’d been in it together. Plotting, throwing out all the stops in an attempt to get him to sign with Liberty. Katherine hadn’t contacted him because she wanted to get to know him…she’d done it to help her father. Obviously family loyalty didn’t extend to him.

    “What’s wrong?” Katherine demanded, repeating the question he’d ignored from her sister.

    Theo wanted to leave, to head down that gangway and not waste one more minute of time or emotion on either of them. But before he did that, he was going to make sure they understood he knew why they’d invited him on board.

    He leaned back in his chair and looked from Helena to Katherine. “Why didn’t you just come out and say you wanted me to sign the contract to do the Kefalonia excursion?”

    A look of puzzlement furrowed Helena’s brow. “What do you mean?”

    Katherine took a sip of brandy. “Does this have to do with that woman? With Trish Melrose?”

    “She was sent to Greece specifically to pressure me into signing the contract with Liberty,” Theo said through tightly clenched teeth. “Your father even gave her money to bribe me.”

    “It sounds like him,” Helena said with a shrug. “The man doesn’t understand the word no.”

    Theo couldn’t help the disappointment that coursed through him. Though he’d hardly admitted it to himself, he’d come tonight with cautious hope that he and these women might be able to find some common ground. Now those hopes had been shot to hell.

    “You decided to help him get what he wants.” Even to his own ears he sounded bitter.

    “I don’t know anything about excursions.” Helena waved a dismissive hand, looking bored with the topic. “I provided input on the redesign of the ship’s interior. That’s the extent of my involvement. The other stuff doesn’t interest me.”

    But Theo knew it interested Katherine. She was a public relations spokeswoman for the cruise line. And she was the one who’d called him, the one who’d arranged this meeting.

    He looked accusingly at her. “You knew, didn’t you?”

    Katherine tilted her head, her expression giving nothing away. “Knew what?”

    “That I hadn’t signed the contract.”

    “Of course,” Katherine said with an unapologetic air. “I do PR for Liberty. It’s my business to know everything that affects our ability to successfully market our cruises.”

    Though Theo had made the accusation, it was still disappointing to hear his fears confirmed. “So, I was right.”

    “Actually,” Katherine interrupted, “you couldn’t be more wrong. Yes, I knew you hadn’t signed the contract, but that had nothing to do with why I called you. Or why I wanted us to get together.”

    There was a directness about Katherine that Theo had recognized from the beginning. And he felt the first faint stirrings of hope that he might have been too hasty in his judgment. Still, while he preferred to believe that his half sisters genuinely wanted to get to know him better, he had no wish to be played for a fool.

    Somehow, he had the feeling that if Katherine had been involved in subterfuge, she’d have been the first to admit it…without making any apologies.

    “What about Trish Melrose?” he asked.

    “I never saw her before tonight,” Katherine replied matter-of-factly. “Though I knew she was on board.”

    “I didn’t even know who she was or what