Synopsis
It's a ranch in the middle of nowhere...where thoroughbred stallions stand at stud for breeding. Gina's husband Manny is thinking of investing in the place, but the studs that own the place seem more interested in Gina than any business deal. While Manny does his due diligence, they take her hard and unprotected. Gina learns that Manny has ideas about what proper breeding is really all about.
~~~~~ PG Excerpt ~~~~~
As she dressed, Gina thought about how weird it was to be in South America. The only time she'd ever had any thoughts about going to South America was when she saw news stories about the Carnival in Rio. And now she was in Argentina, and even stranger, on a horse ranch, miles from anything. She was a city girl, and this definitely was not a city. She stood and looked out the window and saw an open plain with some mountains shimmering in the distance.
"Why are we here, Manny? Why a ranch?"
He scowled. "To see the horses."
She laughed. Manny didn't care about horses. In fact, he didn't know shit about them, except that he seemed to have a way of knowing when the fix was in at a race. He liked going to races and usually won. "When did you start deciding you wanted to be around horses?"
That earned her a snort of derision. "Never. I don't want to be around them. It's the business I'm interested in. Don Miguel and his sons know everything there is to know about these thoroughbred horses. He knows how to breed them and raise then. The good ones, the ones properly bred and cared for, are worth a fortune. He knows how to make sure the owner of expensive mares produce valuable offspring. So I'm interested."
"If he knows all that, why would he want you involved?"
Manny gave her a smug smile. "Because Don Miguel doesn't know shit about running a business. That means opportunity for me. Several, actually."
She told herself that she should've known. That was what Manny did. He bought failing businesses and made them profitable. He did well at it, digging out and exploiting opportunities. Other people, less visionary types, would follow his lead. Typically, thought, they invested too late. Getting in after the peak, Manny called it. "After the peak, there's still some money to be made, but the big score is early. The rest is just making do."
Gina understood peaks. Theirs had been the honeymoon. He'd taken her to Paris and let her buy any clothes she wanted. Back then, when being together was new, he'd made love to her like a young guy. But over time that had faded. The money he threw at her was nice, but she was frustrated and disappointed.
"What can you tell here that you can't figure out from looking at the account books in New York?" She liked their apartment, the way she could hop in a cab and go to a store or meet a girlfriend for lunch. She had a life in the city. But here?
Manny knotted his tie. "The most important things about the kinds of companies I'm looking for aren't in the books. And sometimes people put things in books that don't even exist. I never do a deal without looking into the eyes of the people I'm doing business with. I need to walk the production floor of a factory, or in this case, look at the horses."
Gina shrugged. She wasn't one to complain. Not a lot anyway. Not so much that he'd think she was a nag. Seeing as she'd married the guy for his money she couldn't say she was unhappy. She was happier than she'd expected to be, if not satisfied as often as she liked.
Manny honestly liked her, he was okay looking and not that bad in bed.
