Page 144 of Guilty Pleasures

‘Possibly,’ said Alan sagely. ‘But in my opinion, in the light of the favourable press she’s been getting, Emma might be able to raise the funds to buy you out even if a company valuation went higher than fifty million pounds.’

‘Well she’s going to have to pay me top-whack, same as everybody else.’

Alan looked awkward.

‘Ah, well, there’s your problem, Roger. Should Emma or any other shareholders wish to buy your shares they can do so on the “fair valuation” principle. It’s a fairly standard clause in family-owned companies.’

Roger stopped pacing and looked at Alan.

‘So we fix a mutually agreeable price?’

‘In principle, yes. However, fair valuations in my experience tend to be at a rate far below the price you would get on the open market. Because as you yourself point out, the company has only just turned a corner, Emma could get them for a steal.’

Alan puffed out his cheeks and looked up to the ceiling. ‘If the company did have a valuation of fifty million, to sell a 20 per cent shareholding to a fellow shareholder … I don’t know. I suspect she’d be looking to pay about two million quid.’

Roger looked at him in horror. ‘For 20 per cent of the company! I thought you said fair valuation! That doesn’t sound bloody fair to me!’

Alan put up his hands.

‘Don’t shoot the messenger, old boy. You’ve come to me as a friend, Roger, and I’m telling you how it is – or could be.’

A cloud of anxiety crossed Roger’s face. He thought of Rebecca in her St Tropez villa or at the penthouse suite in Ricardo’s Bahia development or the Chelsea townhouse, all the places they’d always talked about owning when they finally realized their money. But two million? Two million quid wouldn’t even buy them a three-bedroom flat in Cadogan Square, let alone the beautiful Glebe Place mews Rebecca had her eye on.

‘So what should I do?’

‘If you want the maximum worth of your shareholding, the last thing you want is for Emma to buy them. You need to persuade the other shareholders to sell, to off-load Milford lock, stock and barrel to a luxury goods conglomerate or a private equity house.’

‘And how do I do that?’

Alan laughed.

‘Put the feelers out to the big boys on the quiet. If the price is right, I think the shareholders will snap their hands off – it could even tempt Emma. However well Milford is doing at the moment, it’s a volatile business and if one of the big luxury firms comes knocking she’d be crazy to turn them down.’

For a moment, Roger smiled, thinking of the prospect of all that money, but then he remembered Emma and her ludicrous ideas of running a business and his smile faded. It might take a bomb to shift her from that chairman’s seat.

‘Thanks, Alan,’ said Roger, raising his glass, ‘you’ve given me an excellent idea.’

48

Rob didn’t call Emma the Monday she knew

he was returning from New York. He didn’t call her on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, by which point the silence was hurtful and distracting. Analytical by nature, Emma ran through in her head the reasons why she had not heard from him. There was a slim possibility he was still in the States, but as hope paled into disappointment, the likely explanation was that he was avoiding her and that in his mind at least, the night in Somerset had been a grade A mistake.

It was almost ten o’clock on Thursday night and she was still at work. She loved the security of her office, a space where she felt in control, and vocation filled the loneliness.

Closing down her computer, she yawned and slipped on her coat, knowing the last few hours hadn’t been especially productive and mocked herself; she was the CEO of a company, why couldn’t she do something as simple as call him? But the thought of the conversation, of Rob’s apologies and polite excuses, made her squirm. The truth was, she’d been stupid. She knew Rob’s reputation and his limited attention span with the opposite sex. She should have known better and now she had to deal with it, wondering how best to do that as if she were stamping out a business problem.

Her phone went as she strode out of the foyer.

‘Emma,’ she said briskly.

‘It’s Rob. Sorry it’s late.’

She felt a surge of pleasure.

‘How are you?’ she said as casually as possible.

‘I got back from New York yesterday. It’s been hectic’