Surprise widened her eyes. "For?"
"Seaborn Mine."
She laughed, a brittle sound devoid of amusement. "Dream on."
He sat forward and braced his elbows on his knees. "On the contrary, you're the one who's dreaming if you think for one second you have what it takes to achieve what your sister couldn't."
Her hands clenched into fists. "What's that?"
"MakeSeaborna success."
He only just managed to duck an incoming book.
Chapter 6
Ruby didn't have a violent bone in her body.
Well, maybe one, considering she grabbed the nearest thing handy, a brilliant dystopian thriller, and flung it at Jax Maroney's insufferably big head.
Pity she'd never been good at sports and her aim missed.
"That's quite a temper you've got." He picked up the book and scanned the back blurb with slow deliberation, giving her time to compose herself.
It didn't work. Fury flushed her cheeks and she pressed her palms against them in an attempt to cool down, dragging in calming breaths until she trusted herself to speak.
"And that's quite an imaginationyouhave." She lowered her hands, clasped them tightly in her lap, and shook her head. "Buying our mine? You've got to be kidding."
He stood so fast her head snapped back. "I don't joke, or have time for games."
He stepped around the scarred antique coffee table she'd picked up at a Brunswick Street second-hand dealer and towered over her.
As if she'd stand for cheap intimidation tricks.
She leapt to her feet and stood toe to toe. Pity his six-three trumped her five-eight as she momentarily wished she'd kept her heels on.
"If you're as smart as your sister, you'll understandSeabornhas a month or two tops to survive before you go under." His mouth curved into an infuriatingly sardonic grin, like a crocodile toying with a wingless chicken on the banks of a river. "I'm giving you a profitable way out. You get to keep making your precious jewellery, and all that's changed is that I own you."
Her palm itched to wipe his smirk as he amended, "Well, I own your mine."
The pit of her stomach griped at her family business's perilous position, but she'd be damned if she let him know how tempting his offer sounded.
"I have one answer for you."
The triumphant glint in his eyes made her response all the sweeter.
"When hell freezes over."
It took ten minutes of pacing the showroom after Jax left for Ruby's blood pressure to lower.
She'd never been prone to rage or theatrics, but in the last half-hour she'd almost succumbed to both.
Who the hell did Jax Maroney think he was?
She'd been so irate over his offer she'd forgotten to ask how he'd got onto the exclusive invite-only guest list. Probably greased someone's palm, like his dear old dad. Unfair? Maybe, but she wasn't in a forgiving mood.
Livid, she snatched the evening's inventory list from behind the chrome counter and scanned it again, hoping a few moregold foil sold stickers would've miraculously appeared since she'd checked it with Opal.
Nope, still the same glaring truth: they'd barely made enough tonight to cover their gem costs.
