Night Over Water - Ken Follett [184]
Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of another man she had once driven away: Nat Ridgeway.
He stood in front of her, took off his hat politely and said: “It seems you’ve defeated me—again.”
She studied him for a moment. He could never have started a company and built it up the way Pa had built Black’s Boots: he did not have either the vision or the drive. But he was very good at running a big organization: he was clever, hard-working and tough. “If it’s any consolation, Nat,” said Nancy, “I know I made a mistake five years ago.”
“A business mistake, or a personal one?” he said, and there was an edge to his voice that betrayed underlying resentment.
“Business,” she said lightly. His departure had ended a romance that had hardly begun: she did not want to talk about that. “Congratulations on your marriage,” she said. “I saw a picture of your wife—she’s very beautiful.” It was not true: she was attractive at best.
“Thank you,” he said. “But to revert to business, I’m rather surprised that you’ve resorted to blackmail to get what you want.”
“This is a takeover, not a tea party. You said that to me yesterday.”
“Touché.” He hesitated. “May I sit down?”
Suddenly she was impatient with formality. “Hell, yes,” she said. “We worked together for years, and for a few weeks we dated, too; you don’t have to ask my permission to sit down, Nat.”
He smiled. “Thanks.” He took Mervyn’s deck chair and moved it around so that he could look at her. “I tried to take over Black’s without your help. That was dumb, and I failed. I should have known better.”
“No argument here.” That sounded hostile, she realized. “And no hard feelings, either.”
“I’m glad you said that—because I still want to buy your company.”
Nancy was taken aback. She had been in danger of underestimating him. Don’t let your guard down! she told herself. “What did you have in mind?”
“I’m going to try again,” he said. “Of course, I’ll have to make a better offer next time. But more important, I want you on my side—before and after the merger. I want to come to terms with you, and then I want you to become a director of General Textiles and sign a five-year contract.”
She had not expected this, and she did not know how she felt about it. To gain time she asked a question. “A contract? To do what?”
“To run Black’s Boots as a division of General Textiles.”
“I’d lose my independence—I’d be an employee.”
“Depending on how we structure the deal, you might be a shareholder. And while you’re making money, you’ll have all the independence you want—I don’t interfere with profitable divisions. But if you lose money, then yes, you’ll forfeit your independence. I fire failures.” He shook his head. “But you won’t fail.”
Nancy’s instinct was to turn him down. No matter how he sugared the pill, he still wanted to take the company away from her. But she realized that instant refusal was what Pa would have wanted, and she had resolved to stop living her life by her father’s program. However, she had to say something, so she prevaricated. “I might be interested.”
“That’s all I want to know,” he said, standing up. “Think about it and figure out-what kind of deal would make you comfortable. I’m not offering you a blank check, but I want you to understand that I’ll go a long way to make you happy.” Nancy was faintly bemused: his technique was persuasive. He had learned a lot about negotiating in the last few years. He looked past her, toward the land. “I think your brother wants to talk to you.”
She looked over her shoulder and saw Peter coming. Nat put on his hat and walked away. This looked like a pincer movement. Nancy stared resentfully at Peter. He had deceived her and betrayed her, and she could hardly bring herself to speak to him. She would have liked to mull over Nat Ridgeway’s surprising offer, and think about how it fitted in with her new feelings about her life; but Peter did not give her time. He stood in front of her, put his head on one side in a way that reminded her of his boyhood, and said: “Can we talk?”
“I doubt it,” she snapped.