J.C. Gordon's Blog, page 4

A Reluctant Love Ch 05

Chapter 4: Throw Back Thursday Story



The next few weeks breezed past in a hive of activity. True to his word, Dorian escorted Emily to Cullen’s house to collect her things. She moved into one of the company’s penthouse apartments.
Dorian wouldn’t accept any rent from her, saying the apartment was a company expense that didn’t have a cost centre so she would be messing up the accounting system if she persisted. Emily had laughed at his logic and finally stopped protesting the issue.
The apartment was tastefully decorated in a modern style and had two bedrooms and a large open plan space that included the dining kitchen and living room.
When Emily wasn’t working on the Belmont takeover, she was sorting out the rebuilding work on her house. Dorian’s policeman friend had taken her statement and assured her that they had an open and shut case against Arthur Belmont.
She’d barely seen Cullen since their Boardroom disagreement. He seemed to be spending most of his time at Belmont’s as the takeover went ahead. She received e-mail queries from him about financial matters and one day he asked her for a re-worked proposal now that they had the full financial records of Belmont Industries.
She quickly updated the figures and sent them off to him. She waited all day for a response but never received one. She snorted angrily at his complete lack of manners and resisted the urge to start banging books again. If he disliked her so much there was nothing she could do about it except get on with her job.
Emily called Alice into her office and asked her to schedule meetings with the department heads of the accounting team over the following week.
“How long for?” Alice asked scribbling in her notepad.
“Tell them I understand they’re really busy but if they could give me two hours I’d really appreciate it. It may not take that long but I won’t know until I’ve had the first meeting,” Emily told her.
She was mapping her way through the company’s accounting procedures when she heard Cullen say, “You look tired.”
Her head jerked up in surprise and she felt butterflies in her stomach as she saw him leaning against her door. His thick, brown hair hung loose around his shoulders, his golden brown eyes deep and unfathomable. He was so beautiful to look at and for once, he wasn’t scowling murderously at her.
“So you’re talking to me now?” she heard herself ask and stifled a groan at the slightly pathetic tone of her voice.
“I’m thinking about it,” he said, his mouth quirking into a crooked smile.
“Don’t do me any favours,” Emily retorted, a touch of anger in her voice.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Cullen smiled, his expression still guarded. “The last time I did you a favour, I failed miserably at it. I would hate to disappoint you like that again.”
Emily stared at him. Was this his way of apologising for his recent behaviour? She just couldn’t work him out.
“ I see Dr Jekyll’s back in residence,” she couldn’t help but jibe at him. She saw his jaw tighten and then slowly relax. She sighed and pushed her laptop away.
“Are you coming in or are you just going to stand there?” she finally asked.
Cullen straightened and entered the office. He sat down on the seat across from her.
“That was good work you did on Belmont,” he said quietly. “I wanted to personally thank you for getting the revised figures back to me so quickly. It was kind of hectic and I didn’t get a chance to get back to you about it.”
“So the takeover has gone through smoothly?” she asked, giving him a tentative smile.
“Yes,” he answered. “With practically no loss of jobs thanks to your astute financial proposal.”
Emily found herself beaming happily at the news. She had done the very best she could for the employees of Belmont. She knew it could have been a very lot worse.
Cullen watched her face radiate with pleasure. He sucked in a deep breath as her beautiful face seemed to glow. He had missed her the last few weeks. He had gone from being desperate to have her out of his home, to feeling lonely now that she was gone.
He’d finally admitted to himself that he wanted her. His recent temper was all because he couldn’t forget how soft and delicate she had felt in his arms when he had carried her to her room. Her sweet scent pulled at him like a heady aphrodisiac. He’d caught himself sitting wondering what she was doing at odd times of the day.
Feeling like this was so very wrong though. They could have no future together. He had stayed away, hoping the confused feelings inside him would go away but the more he was apart from her, the more he longed for her.
“Cullen?” Emily said again as he didn’t seem to hear her the first time.
He started with surprise and gave her a rueful smile. “Sorry, I was miles away there.”
“I was just wondering if there was anything else you needed?” she asked, looking pointedly at her laptop.
“No, that was all,” he sighed, standing up. He walked to the door and turned, staring intently at her, his expression guarded.
“Can we start again, Emily?” he asked softly.
She smiled tentatively at him. “I suppose we could try,” she agreed softly. “But if you could calm down on the ‘I want to rip your head off’ looks, I’d really appreciate it.”
His mouth fell open with shock and she almost burst out laughing at his stunned expression. But then he said in a tortured whisper, “I would never hurt you, Emily.” And her amusement vanished as soon as it came.
“I know that, Cullen,” she said softly.
He left without saying anything further and Emily turned their conversation over in her head. She had been half joking when she’d said what she’d said but the look on Cullen’s face had been so stricken. Why had he reacted like that? What was Sebastian Cullen hiding from her?
Emily had never liked problems defeating her. She was going to find out what Cullen was so guarded about. If he had any sense he would just tell her because once Emily decided she needed to know something, she dug deep until she found out.
Emily began her task that night. She had her personal laptop back so she used that instead of the work one. She ran numerous searches on Sebastian Cullen, frowning at the odd results that were thrown up. On a wild hunch, she researched Dorian Cross too and sat back stunned as she read the matching results.
Wherever Cullen appeared, Dorian was right there with him. That in itself wasn’t so surprising. What was surprising was the strange dates involved. 1854?! Maybe their fathers had been best friends too?
She decided to search the registry of births, deaths and marriages and gasped out loud when she could find no record of either of their births. The database went back a few centuries so it wasn’t as if she could have missed them. What the hell was going on? Who were Sebastian Cullen and Dorian Cross.
Determined to have some answers, she asked to meet with them in the Boardroom the next morning.
Cullen and Dorian looked at her expectantly as she entered the room and closed the door behind her. She stood with her back against the door, eyeing them warily.
“Who are you?” she asked, her voice thick with confusion. “Why can’t  I find your birth records?”
She watched them both stiffen instantly and knew she was on the right track.
“Must be a computer glitch or something,” Dorian finally said. He tacked on a smile at the end of his words but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“I don’t think so,” she snapped, angry that she was being lied to.
“Drop it, Emily,” Cullen said quietly, a hint of pleading in his golden eyes.
“Why?” she asked breathlessly, staring at him intently. “What are you hiding? Why can’t I know the truth?”
Cullen groaned and shot a murderous look at Dorian. “I told you!” he snapped between clenched teeth.
Dorian rose slowly. “Emily, please respect our privacy,” he said quietly. “I think you’ve come to know us well enough to know that we’re not bad people. We mean no one any harm.”
“I’ve just found out that my employers are not who I think they are and you expect me to just leave it?” she asked incredulously. “Do your names even belong to you or did you take someone else’s? How am I supposed to trust you both when I don’t even know who you are?”
Emily’s eyes sought out Cullen’s. His expression was hard, the look in his eyes unfathomable.
“Cullen?” she breathed softly, trying to will him to tell her what she needed so desperately to know.
He looked at Dorian and it almost seemed as if they were having a conversation she couldn’t hear. Finally he turned to her with a resigned expression on his beautiful face.
“Remember the book you were reading the night you feel asleep in my study?” he asked softly.
She stared at him confused. He wanted to discuss her reading habits? Had the world just suddenly gone mad in the last twenty four hours? She cast her mind back to that night. She’d been reading a horror novel she remembered. A novel about vampires and……..Emily suddenly froze. Was Cullen trying to tell her that he and Dorian were vampires?
She searched his eyes intently. “You’re not serious?” she whispered, her eyes wide with apprehension.
“We are,” Cullen answered quietly, a pleading note in his voice.
“They don’t exist!” she stammered. “It’s just a story! It’s bloody daylight! If you were one of those then you’d be burning up!”
“Myths and legends,” Dorian told her softly, seeing the panic building in her eyes. “Our kind circulate them to protect ourselves.”
Emily found herself slowly sliding down the door to sit on the floor. She pulled her knees against her body and wrapped her arms around them, automatically adopting a protective position. Cullen and Dorian watched her with worried expressions though they stayed away from her as if afraid she would run screaming from the room.
“This can’t be real,” she groaned wretchedly. “I can’t have walked from one nightmare straight into another. No one is that unlucky!”
“Emily,” Cullen breathed softly. “Try to take some deep breaths,”
Emily pushed herself back to her feet. “Deep breaths,” she almost shrieked at him. “You think taking deep breaths is going to make this all right, Cullen? You’re a bloody vampire!” the last word came out in a tortured whisper.
Emily could feel her panic reaching crisis point. She had to get away from them before she really lost it completely. She was almost hysterical as it was. She closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart.
“What happens now?” she asked. “Do one of you kill me so your secret is safe?”
She heard their gasps of shock and opened her eyes. They were both staring at her, appalled expressions on their faces. It reminded her of the look Cullen had given her only the day before when he had said he would never hurt her. Obviously he had meant physically hurt her. Because this current revelation was certainly tearing her up inside at the moment.
“Sorry,” she laughed bitterly. “I forgot for a moment there that you said you wouldn’t hurt me,” she shot at Cullen and saw her barb hit home.
“I need to go home,” she said suddenly. “Try and wrap my head around all this.”
“Let me drive you,” Cullen said taking a step towards her.
She flinched away from him, “I’d prefer not be alone with either of you right now, Cullen.”
She turned and hurried from the room.
Cullen and Dorian looked at each other, their expressions concerned.
“And you thought she was strong enough to handle the truth?” Cullen ground out angrily.
“It’s just been a bit of shock to her,” Dorian answered calmly. “I’m sure once she’s had time to calm down, she’ll come around to the idea.”
“And if she doesn’t, Dorian?”
“Then I’ll remove the memory and steer her away from ever looking again,” his friend replied. “I’d prefer not to tamper with her mind because she has such a wonderfully unique way of looking at things but if push comes to shove, I will do it.”
Cullen groaned and lowered his forehead to the table. The very thing he had been so afraid of happening had and he was terrified about the outcome of the situation.
Emily didn’t know how she made it back to her apartment. Her head was throbbing dully and she felt scared and confused and angry. This really couldn’t be happening to her. Surely she was just having a horrible nightmare? The alternative was just too much to contemplate.
She threw herself onto her bed and started crying. She felt an incredible sense of loss that she just couldn’t understand. She felt betrayed by Cullen and Dorian. They had lied to her, let her trust them and like them when all the time they were the stuff of horror stories.
She shuddered when she thought of the nights she had spent in Cullen’s house. He could have done anything to her and no one would have been the wiser! Her subconscious mind tried to kick in and reassure her that he hadn’t done anything bad to her. But she wasn’t up to thinking rationally at the moment. She wanted to hold onto her horror and anger and curse the two beautiful men who she now knew to be non human.
She didn’t know how long she cried but it was dark when she finally sat up and pushed her hair out of her eyes. She felt a bit calmer. She grabbed her laptop and opened it up on the dining table. She spent the next three hours painstakingly visiting web page after web page trying to find some hard facts about vampires.
She shook her head in disbelief. She was actually accepting that they were undead creatures that lived on human blood. If anyone had told her two days ago that she would even be entertaining the idea, she would have died laughing at them.
But somewhere deep inside her she had known that there was something different about Cullen and Dorian. From the very moment they appeared out of the shadows as she walked from Arthur Belmont’s house, she had felt something mysterious about them.
They were impossibly beautiful to look at. Even when they were dressed in jeans they had a slightly old fashioned look about them, what with their long hair. They used words sometimes that sounded so archaic she’d wondered if they were still in the current Oxford English Dictionary she owned.
She sat and thought of all the little things she had noticed since she’d met them. Things that seemed so innocent on their own but began to build a bigger picture when put side by side. She had to accept the fact that they really were vampires.
The hard part was trying to figure out how she felt about it. She didn’t think she was going to work that out tonight. She switched off the laptop and crawled into bed.
In the morning she had two voicemail messages waiting from her.
The first was from Cullen. “Emily, I don’t really know what to say to try and make you feel better,” his voice said sadly. “I hope you can come to terms with what you’ve learned, that you’ll come back to work and hopefully be willing to talk about where we all go from here. We need you, Emily.”
Dorian’s message was briefer, “Emily, love, give either me or Cullen a call, just so we know you’re okay.”
She ignored both of them but took time to call into the HR department and say she’d be off for the rest of the week. She called Alice and asked her to cancel the meetings she had set up for this week.
She didn’t like to lie to Alice, particularly when she sounded so concerned about her. She couldn’t very well tell her the truth though so she invented some illness that was severe enough to keep her away from the office for the rest of the week.
Emily remained holed up in the apartment for the next three days. Both Cullen and Dorian left her messages daily, messages she didn’t return. She answered Alice’s calls and knew that her PA would be letting them know that she was okay. She didn’t hold it against Alice. They were her employers and she shouldn’t have to lie to them just because of her.
She finally ventured outside when she had no other choice. She needed to buy some food. It was a gloriously sunny, warm day so she didn’t bother with a jacket and just pulled on a pair of jeans and a T Shirt. She grabbed her bag and sunglasses and headed out.
She paused on the steps to the building, her eyes peering up at the sun. The very same sun that didn’t burn Cullen and Dorian to a crisp! She snorted in annoyance and put her sunglasses on. She bet garlic, holy water and stakes through the heart didn’t work either. Bloody vampires!

To be continued... 

A Reluctant Love Ch 04

Chapter 4: Throw Back Thursday Story



The next few weeks breezed past in a hive of activity. True to his word, Dorian escorted Emily to Cullen’s house to collect her things. She moved into one of the company’s penthouse apartments.
Dorian wouldn’t accept any rent from her, saying the apartment was a company expense that didn’t have a cost centre so she would be messing up the accounting system if she persisted. Emily had laughed at his logic and finally stopped protesting the issue.
The apartment was tastefully decorated in a modern style and had two bedrooms and a large open plan space that included the dining kitchen and living room.
When Emily wasn’t working on the Belmont takeover, she was sorting out the rebuilding work on her house. Dorian’s policeman friend had taken her statement and assured her that they had an open and shut case against Arthur Belmont.
She’d barely seen Cullen since their Boardroom disagreement. He seemed to be spending most of his time at Belmont’s as the takeover went ahead. She received e-mail queries from him about financial matters and one day he asked her for a re-worked proposal now that they had the full financial records of Belmont Industries.
She quickly updated the figures and sent them off to him. She waited all day for a response but never received one. She snorted angrily at his complete lack of manners and resisted the urge to start banging books again. If he disliked her so much there was nothing she could do about it except get on with her job.
Emily called Alice into her office and asked her to schedule meetings with the department heads of the accounting team over the following week.
“How long for?” Alice asked scribbling in her notepad.
“Tell them I understand they’re really busy but if they could give me two hours I’d really appreciate it. It may not take that long but I won’t know until I’ve had the first meeting,” Emily told her.
She was mapping her way through the company’s accounting procedures when she heard Cullen say, “You look tired.”
Her head jerked up in surprise and she felt butterflies in her stomach as she saw him leaning against her door. His thick, brown hair hung loose around his shoulders, his golden brown eyes deep and unfathomable. He was so beautiful to look at and for once, he wasn’t scowling murderously at her.
“So you’re talking to me now?” she heard herself ask and stifled a groan at the slightly pathetic tone of her voice.
“I’m thinking about it,” he said, his mouth quirking into a crooked smile.
“Don’t do me any favours,” Emily retorted, a touch of anger in her voice.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Cullen smiled, his expression still guarded. “The last time I did you a favour, I failed miserably at it. I would hate to disappoint you like that again.”
Emily stared at him. Was this his way of apologising for his recent behaviour? She just couldn’t work him out.
“ I see Dr Jekyll’s back in residence,” she couldn’t help but jibe at him. She saw his jaw tighten and then slowly relax. She sighed and pushed her laptop away.
“Are you coming in or are you just going to stand there?” she finally asked.
Cullen straightened and entered the office. He sat down on the seat across from her.
“That was good work you did on Belmont,” he said quietly. “I wanted to personally thank you for getting the revised figures back to me so quickly. It was kind of hectic and I didn’t get a chance to get back to you about it.”
“So the takeover has gone through smoothly?” she asked, giving him a tentative smile.
“Yes,” he answered. “With practically no loss of jobs thanks to your astute financial proposal.”
Emily found herself beaming happily at the news. She had done the very best she could for the employees of Belmont. She knew it could have been a very lot worse.
Cullen watched her face radiate with pleasure. He sucked in a deep breath as her beautiful face seemed to glow. He had missed her the last few weeks. He had gone from being desperate to have her out of his home, to feeling lonely now that she was gone.
He’d finally admitted to himself that he wanted her. His recent temper was all because he couldn’t forget how soft and delicate she had felt in his arms when he had carried her to her room. Her sweet scent pulled at him like a heady aphrodisiac. He’d caught himself sitting wondering what she was doing at odd times of the day.
Feeling like this was so very wrong though. They could have no future together. He had stayed away, hoping the confused feelings inside him would go away but the more he was apart from her, the more he longed for her.
“Cullen?” Emily said again as he didn’t seem to hear her the first time.
He started with surprise and gave her a rueful smile. “Sorry, I was miles away there.”
“I was just wondering if there was anything else you needed?” she asked, looking pointedly at her laptop.
“No, that was all,” he sighed, standing up. He walked to the door and turned, staring intently at her, his expression guarded.
“Can we start again, Emily?” he asked softly.
She smiled tentatively at him. “I suppose we could try,” she agreed softly. “But if you could calm down on the ‘I want to rip your head off’ looks, I’d really appreciate it.”
His mouth fell open with shock and she almost burst out laughing at his stunned expression. But then he said in a tortured whisper, “I would never hurt you, Emily.” And her amusement vanished as soon as it came.
“I know that, Cullen,” she said softly.
He left without saying anything further and Emily turned their conversation over in her head. She had been half joking when she’d said what she’d said but the look on Cullen’s face had been so stricken. Why had he reacted like that? What was Sebastian Cullen hiding from her?
Emily had never liked problems defeating her. She was going to find out what Cullen was so guarded about. If he had any sense he would just tell her because once Emily decided she needed to know something, she dug deep until she found out.
Emily began her task that night. She had her personal laptop back so she used that instead of the work one. She ran numerous searches on Sebastian Cullen, frowning at the odd results that were thrown up. On a wild hunch, she researched Dorian Cross too and sat back stunned as she read the matching results.
Wherever Cullen appeared, Dorian was right there with him. That in itself wasn’t so surprising. What was surprising was the strange dates involved. 1854?! Maybe their fathers had been best friends too?
She decided to search the registry of births, deaths and marriages and gasped out loud when she could find no record of either of their births. The database went back a few centuries so it wasn’t as if she could have missed them. What the hell was going on? Who were Sebastian Cullen and Dorian Cross.
Determined to have some answers, she asked to meet with them in the Boardroom the next morning.
Cullen and Dorian looked at her expectantly as she entered the room and closed the door behind her. She stood with her back against the door, eyeing them warily.
“Who are you?” she asked, her voice thick with confusion. “Why can’t  I find your birth records?”
She watched them both stiffen instantly and knew she was on the right track.
“Must be a computer glitch or something,” Dorian finally said. He tacked on a smile at the end of his words but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“I don’t think so,” she snapped, angry that she was being lied to.
“Drop it, Emily,” Cullen said quietly, a hint of pleading in his golden eyes.
“Why?” she asked breathlessly, staring at him intently. “What are you hiding? Why can’t I know the truth?”
Cullen groaned and shot a murderous look at Dorian. “I told you!” he snapped between clenched teeth.
Dorian rose slowly. “Emily, please respect our privacy,” he said quietly. “I think you’ve come to know us well enough to know that we’re not bad people. We mean no one any harm.”
“I’ve just found out that my employers are not who I think they are and you expect me to just leave it?” she asked incredulously. “Do your names even belong to you or did you take someone else’s? How am I supposed to trust you both when I don’t even know who you are?”
Emily’s eyes sought out Cullen’s. His expression was hard, the look in his eyes unfathomable.
“Cullen?” she breathed softly, trying to will him to tell her what she needed so desperately to know.
He looked at Dorian and it almost seemed as if they were having a conversation she couldn’t hear. Finally he turned to her with a resigned expression on his beautiful face.
“Remember the book you were reading the night you feel asleep in my study?” he asked softly.
She stared at him confused. He wanted to discuss her reading habits? Had the world just suddenly gone mad in the last twenty four hours? She cast her mind back to that night. She’d been reading a horror novel she remembered. A novel about vampires and……..Emily suddenly froze. Was Cullen trying to tell her that he and Dorian were vampires?
She searched his eyes intently. “You’re not serious?” she whispered, her eyes wide with apprehension.
“We are,” Cullen answered quietly, a pleading note in his voice.
“They don’t exist!” she stammered. “It’s just a story! It’s bloody daylight! If you were one of those then you’d be burning up!”
“Myths and legends,” Dorian told her softly, seeing the panic building in her eyes. “Our kind circulate them to protect ourselves.”
Emily found herself slowly sliding down the door to sit on the floor. She pulled her knees against her body and wrapped her arms around them, automatically adopting a protective position. Cullen and Dorian watched her with worried expressions though they stayed away from her as if afraid she would run screaming from the room.
“This can’t be real,” she groaned wretchedly. “I can’t have walked from one nightmare straight into another. No one is that unlucky!”
“Emily,” Cullen breathed softly. “Try to take some deep breaths,”
Emily pushed herself back to her feet. “Deep breaths,” she almost shrieked at him. “You think taking deep breaths is going to make this all right, Cullen? You’re a bloody vampire!” the last word came out in a tortured whisper.
Emily could feel her panic reaching crisis point. She had to get away from them before she really lost it completely. She was almost hysterical as it was. She closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart.
“What happens now?” she asked. “Do one of you kill me so your secret is safe?”
She heard their gasps of shock and opened her eyes. They were both staring at her, appalled expressions on their faces. It reminded her of the look Cullen had given her only the day before when he had said he would never hurt her. Obviously he had meant physically hurt her. Because this current revelation was certainly tearing her up inside at the moment.
“Sorry,” she laughed bitterly. “I forgot for a moment there that you said you wouldn’t hurt me,” she shot at Cullen and saw her barb hit home.
“I need to go home,” she said suddenly. “Try and wrap my head around all this.”
“Let me drive you,” Cullen said taking a step towards her.
She flinched away from him, “I’d prefer not be alone with either of you right now, Cullen.”
She turned and hurried from the room.
Cullen and Dorian looked at each other, their expressions concerned.
“And you thought she was strong enough to handle the truth?” Cullen ground out angrily.
“It’s just been a bit of shock to her,” Dorian answered calmly. “I’m sure once she’s had time to calm down, she’ll come around to the idea.”
“And if she doesn’t, Dorian?”
“Then I’ll remove the memory and steer her away from ever looking again,” his friend replied. “I’d prefer not to tamper with her mind because she has such a wonderfully unique way of looking at things but if push comes to shove, I will do it.”
Cullen groaned and lowered his forehead to the table. The very thing he had been so afraid of happening had and he was terrified about the outcome of the situation.
Emily didn’t know how she made it back to her apartment. Her head was throbbing dully and she felt scared and confused and angry. This really couldn’t be happening to her. Surely she was just having a horrible nightmare? The alternative was just too much to contemplate.
She threw herself onto her bed and started crying. She felt an incredible sense of loss that she just couldn’t understand. She felt betrayed by Cullen and Dorian. They had lied to her, let her trust them and like them when all the time they were the stuff of horror stories.
She shuddered when she thought of the nights she had spent in Cullen’s house. He could have done anything to her and no one would have been the wiser! Her subconscious mind tried to kick in and reassure her that he hadn’t done anything bad to her. But she wasn’t up to thinking rationally at the moment. She wanted to hold onto her horror and anger and curse the two beautiful men who she now knew to be non human.
She didn’t know how long she cried but it was dark when she finally sat up and pushed her hair out of her eyes. She felt a bit calmer. She grabbed her laptop and opened it up on the dining table. She spent the next three hours painstakingly visiting web page after web page trying to find some hard facts about vampires.
She shook her head in disbelief. She was actually accepting that they were undead creatures that lived on human blood. If anyone had told her two days ago that she would even be entertaining the idea, she would have died laughing at them.
But somewhere deep inside her she had known that there was something different about Cullen and Dorian. From the very moment they appeared out of the shadows as she walked from Arthur Belmont’s house, she had felt something mysterious about them.
They were impossibly beautiful to look at. Even when they were dressed in jeans they had a slightly old fashioned look about them, what with their long hair. They used words sometimes that sounded so archaic she’d wondered if they were still in the current Oxford English Dictionary she owned.
She sat and thought of all the little things she had noticed since she’d met them. Things that seemed so innocent on their own but began to build a bigger picture when put side by side. She had to accept the fact that they really were vampires.
The hard part was trying to figure out how she felt about it. She didn’t think she was going to work that out tonight. She switched off the laptop and crawled into bed.
In the morning she had two voicemail messages waiting from her.
The first was from Cullen. “Emily, I don’t really know what to say to try and make you feel better,” his voice said sadly. “I hope you can come to terms with what you’ve learned, that you’ll come back to work and hopefully be willing to talk about where we all go from here. We need you, Emily.”
Dorian’s message was briefer, “Emily, love, give either me or Cullen a call, just so we know you’re okay.”
She ignored both of them but took time to call into the HR department and say she’d be off for the rest of the week. She called Alice and asked her to cancel the meetings she had set up for this week.
She didn’t like to lie to Alice, particularly when she sounded so concerned about her. She couldn’t very well tell her the truth though so she invented some illness that was severe enough to keep her away from the office for the rest of the week.
Emily remained holed up in the apartment for the next three days. Both Cullen and Dorian left her messages daily, messages she didn’t return. She answered Alice’s calls and knew that her PA would be letting them know that she was okay. She didn’t hold it against Alice. They were her employers and she shouldn’t have to lie to them just because of her.
She finally ventured outside when she had no other choice. She needed to buy some food. It was a gloriously sunny, warm day so she didn’t bother with a jacket and just pulled on a pair of jeans and a T Shirt. She grabbed her bag and sunglasses and headed out.
She paused on the steps to the building, her eyes peering up at the sun. The very same sun that didn’t burn Cullen and Dorian to a crisp! She snorted in annoyance and put her sunglasses on. She bet garlic, holy water and stakes through the heart didn’t work either. Bloody vampires!

To be continued... 

Natalie Imbruglia - That Day

Marvellous Mess

Marvellous Mess
The wind whipped slowly across the rooftop, catching her hair in the soft breeze, but she was oblivious to its light caress. Her eyes stared vacantly across the skyline, her gaze failing to register the lights, the buildings, and the thrum of life being played out within each window.

She had once been one of those people, scurrying about the surface of the planet going about her business. Everything had been so important, of such significance it had to be achieved instantly.  Now, she was nothing. A solitary figure, alone and lost in a world where no one noticed her any more.
How had it come to this?
When had everything turn into a pain that felt so right, so beautiful, that it was perfection?
Had there been one instance in her life that was the harbinger of what was to come?
She couldn’t recollect an instance but that didn’t mean there hadn’t been one. Memories were hazy today, ethereal moments that eluded her grasp, vanishing completely when she tried too hard to remember. All that remained was the emptiness, the aloneness…
The wind swirled stronger, her hair obscuring her vision as her hands rose in air. This had to be what flying felt like, that moment of being utterly free. 
She was so tired, so weary of everything. All it would take was one step forward…just one tiny, little step…
“It’s okay to give up…”
The voice whispered in her mind, the same voice that had been with her for what felt like forever. It was beautiful and insidious, and the only constant she still had in her life.
A tear slid down her cheek and she nodded her agreement. She’d fought the voice for so long, and she was tired of fighting. She was tired of the perfect pain than scythed through her soul. One step…today was that day…
A flutter of colour, bright blue and so tiny…the butterfly hovered for a fraction of a second before her eyes, and then it vanished into the darkening sky. Nature’s perfection, it all its glory…the tiny harbinger of destruction or so the old saying went…”If a butterfly flapped its wings at one end of the world…”
Everything was silent. 
Everything was peaceful. 
The wind whipped her hair again and she moved, taking a step…
She took another and then another, moving back from the ledge, the bright blue butterfly emblazoned on her memory. It was beautiful and it was perfection. It was destruction and it was awe-inspiring. It was a reminder of what she has grown too weary to see for so long…Life was such a marvellous mess…

A Reluctant Love Ch 04

Chapter 3: Throw Back Thursday Story



Cullen was true to his word and arrived back at the house at 8.30am. He disarmed the security system long enough for her to grab her bag and get into the car. He then reset it and climbed into the car with her.
He walked her to her new office, her name already on the door. He introduced her to a little dark haired woman called Alice who would act as her PA until she had time to recruit someone or decide that Alice was suitable for her needs.
Emily liked Alice immediately. She loved the slightly ethereal look the woman had and the way she teased her short, dark hair into soft spikes at the back and sides. She reckoned Alice was about ages with herself. Maybe it was the similarity in age that made them gel right from the start. By the end of the morning, Emily had officially asked Alice if she would PA for her permanently and she had agreed quickly.
Cullen called her on the internal phone line to say that he had set up a meeting in the afternoon for the various department heads in  Accounting. He warned her that there could be some resistance to her appointment as some of the heads had been with the company for a long time.
He proposed that Dorian and himself meet with them first and she could join them later. Emily didn’t like that idea. It would look like she was hiding behind them and she didn’t think that was a good way to start a working relationship with them. But Cullen stood firm and she ended up agreeing to do things his way.
Cullen and Dorian watched the ten department heads file in, their faces concerned. Cullen had agreed to let Dorian do the talking as he was better at getting his own way by using his charm. Cullen tended to become impatient quickly and become angry when he was balked.
Dorian quickly outlined the situation and Cullen watched as Rich Marley’s face set in stone. He had flagged Rich as being the most likely to openly contest the decision. He looked around the room and was surprised to see a smile on Rafael Montana’s face. A smiling face was not what he had expected to see on any of the assembled men.
“I don’t understand this,” Rich suddenly blurted out, his face red with anger. “If you needed an Executive Accountant then why wasn’t it posted internally? Surely we have all been here long enough to at least have been considered for the position.”
“Emily Swan has a unique skill set,” Dorian explained patiently. “We needed someone to look at various different aspects of this company and our subsidiaries. Quite frankly, we needed someone who did not already work here. Someone who could look at our processes with an open mind and refine them so we can run more efficiently. Hiring Emily in no way reflects negatively on any of you. You are all highly valued employees.”
“But we’re going to have to answer to her,” Rich griped sullenly.
“Yes you will,” Cullen said quietly. “And we will expect each and every one of you to furnish her with whatever data she needs to do her job.”
“How do we even know she’s up to the job?” Rich persisted. “Some of us have been working her for over twenty five years. We have way more experience than she does.”
Cullen could feel his ire start to rise. He looked up surprised when Rafael slowly raised his hand. The little Hispanic man was usually very quiet in meetings.
“Yes, Rafael,” he said questioningly.  
Rafael stood. “Perhaps Rich would feel more confident in Miss Swan’s abilities if she could prove her skill set?” he suggested.
Cullen and Dorian looked confused.
“There is a particularly difficult balance sheet scenario we give each new recruit to solve,” the little man continued. “We’ve all done it ourselves. The quickest anyone has solved the problem has been 6 hours, the longest has been three weeks. If Miss Swan was willing to take the test and complete it in less than six hours, then I am sure Rich and anyone else’s concerns about her suitability would be assuaged.”
“You want us to ask Emily to submit to a test to keep you all happy?” Cullen said quietly, his eyes flashing dangerously.
Dorian touched his arm lightly. “I’m sure Emily would be more than happy to take the test,” he smiled.
Rafael beamed happily and pulled down the white board. He quickly filled the board with numbers and words, knowing the test off by heart. He sat back down when he was finished and Dorian dialled Emily and asked her to come into the boardroom.
Emily peaked through the window and tried not to frown as she saw resentful faces watching her. She plastered a smile on her face and entered the room.
“Emily,” Dorian smiled motioning her to come over to him and Cullen. She spared a quick glance at Cullen and saw his angry expression. So the meeting wasn’t going too well.
Dorian began introducing the men around the table but Emily found her attention distracted by the white board. It was a balance sheet but it was so evidently wrong.
“Sorry, Dorian,” she said when he tried to get her attention. “Just give me a minute.”
She walked to the whiteboard and stared at it a moment longer. Then she did a quick calculation and began moving figures around and adding her calculation into the mix.
She heard the room gasp and turned round in surprise. The heads of department were sitting there with their mouth’s hanging open.
“I’m sorry, did I mess up someone’s work?” she asked concerned. “It’s just it was wrong the way it was.”
Rich Marley, the oldest man said standing up slowly. “You solved that problem in under five minutes, Miss Swan. It took me six hours and I solved it quicker than anyone else ever has. It will be a pleasure working with you.” His voice held respect in it and she smiled gratefully at him.
Her eyes met Cullen’s and he smiled at her, his face no longer wearing the scowl he had when she walked into the room.
Emily went around the room shaking everyone’s hands. A huge smile suddenly lit up her face. “Rafael?” she said. “That was you,” she laughed pointing at the whiteboard. “I thought I recognised the handwriting!” she hugged the little Hispanic man enthusiastically.
“I couldn’t believe it when Dorian said they’d hired you, Emily,” he said grinning broadly. “I knew you’d solve that straight away.”
“We need to catch up and have lunch some time soon,” Emily smiled at him.
Cullen watched Emily with Rafael. Clearly they knew each other from somewhere else, most probably university as the man had been working for him straight from completing his studies. He frowned as they hugged and talked about making lunch plans. For some reason the thought of them being very friendly annoyed him.
The meeting broke up and Cullen found himself walking back down to Emily’s office with her.
“So you know Rafael well?” he asked quietly.
“We went to university together,” she smiled. “He was my study partner. He is almost as good as me. Dorian was wrong when he said yesterday that he didn’t think any of your accounts team would have picked up the Belmont embezzlement. Rafael would have discovered it eventually.”
They had reached her office and Cullen entered it with her, closing the door behind them. He leaned back against the door as she walked around her desk.
“Study partners,” he mused, his expression unreadable. “Was that all?”
“Are you asking me if I slept with Rafael?” she asked, shocked.
“I suppose I am,” he replied watching her intently.
Emily felt her anger rise quickly. “I hardly think that is any of your business, Cullen.” Her tone was frosty and she stared back at him defiantly.
“You’re right,” he finally said, his eyes dark and unfathomable. “Please forgive my impudence.”
He watched her a moment longer. “How are you getting on with Alice?” he asked.
Emily swallowed down her anger and managed a small smile. “I’ve asked her to PA for me permanently and she’s said yes so I guess we’re getting on just fine.”
Cullen moved then, standing up straight and opening the door. “Please come along to Dorian’s office at four pm. We’ll fill you in on what we’ve been up to with Belmont.”
Emily watched him walked out her office. He really was a puzzling individual. He said such strange things sometimes. Who on Earth used the word impudence in normal everyday speech? She frowned for a moment and then turned to her laptop.
Cullen was frowning too as he walked back up to his office. Why had he asked about her personal life? It really was none of his business of his. She had a right to annoyed with him.
He stopped at Dorian’s office. “I need to head out for a moment,” he told his friend.
Dorian raised an enquiring eyebrow and Cullen sighed and entered the room, closing the door behind him.
“It’s challenging having her in my home,” he admitted ruefully, with a small smile.
“I thought you took care of your need this morning,” Dorian said quietly.
Cullen sighed heavily. “I did, but I need to do so again.”
Dorian frowned, his eyes brooding. “You need to find somewhere else for Emily to stay, Cullen.”
“There’s nowhere else that is safer than with me,” Cullen said firmly.
Dorian stood up and began to pace the room slowly. “How safe is she if you need to indulge yourself twice in one day?” he finally asked, his expression serious. It was unusual for him to be counselling Cullen. Usually it was the other way around.
“I’ve got it under control, Dorian.” Cullen frowned as he spoke. Did he have his monster under control? Who was he trying to convince, himself or Dorian?
Dorian shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever you say, Cullen.”
An hour later Emily tapped on Dorian’s door and entered. “Cullen said you would fill me in on what’s happening with Belmont,” she smiled.
Dorian gave her a cheery smile and motioned for her to sit at the meeting table. He gathered up some papers and sat down across from her.
“Cullen had to go out. He shouldn’t be long,” he said. “We may as well start without him.”
He began to shuffle through the papers.
“We’re ready to make our move,” Dorian said. “We have all the backup we need in place. Arthur Belmont is going to have a very bad day tomorrow.”
Emily’s expressive face showed her nervousness. “I take it he still thinks I was home when my house exploded?” she asked quietly.
Dorian gave her a slight nod. “I have a friend in the police department. He’s quite high up. I’ve let him know what’s going on and he’s agreed to keep the fact that the house was empty, out of the papers until we make our move. You’ll need to sit down with him and go through all of this soon, though. Then you will be free to start dealing with the unfortunate business of sorting out your financial loss with regards to the house.”
Emily sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. “That’s going to be a nightmare,” she said quietly.
“Feel free to utilise our legal team,” Dorian smiled kindly at her. “It should make the process a bit easier to deal with. Have you decided where you’ll stay after Belmont is behind bars?”
He watched her face closely as she thought about his question.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” she finally admitted. “I’m sure Cullen must be wanting to get his house back to himself as soon as possible.”
“There’s no rush, Emily,” Cullen said quietly from the doorway. His mouth twitched upwards when he saw her start in surprise. He entered the room and closed the door behind him, moving gracefully to sit next to Dorian.
“You’re welcome to stay at mine for as long as you need,” he continued, feeling Dorian’s eyes boring into the side of his head.
“That’s very kind, Cullen,” Emily said quietly. “But I do need to think about getting myself somewhere else to stay while I figure out whether or not I want to rebuild my house and move back in. I think I may just rebuild and sell it afterwards.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game,” Dorian whispered to Cullen so quietly that Emily didn’t hear.
Cullen sighed quietly and gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head. He had no idea why he had said what he just had. Having the tiny woman in his home was driving him to distraction. He should be helping her to find somewhere else to live, not inviting her to stay indefinitely.
“We have various apartments in the City which we use for visiting clients,” Dorian was saying to Emily. I’m sure we could come to some arrangement  that would allow you to rent one of them from the company while you got yourself organised.”
Emily was nodding her agreement, a look of relief on her face.
Cullen frowned as he listened to them. Was staying at his home really so disagreeable to her?
Emily watched Cullen’s expression darken slightly. She wondered what he was thinking about that he disliked so much. Did he not want her to rent one of the apartments?
He saw her watching him and quickly smoothed his expression. He smiled tightly. “Renting one of the apartments sounds like a good idea,” he said.
Happy to have that settled, Dorian moved on to the next thing he wanted to discuss about Belmont.
“How are you coming on with the Belmont Project, Emily?” he asked.
“It’s going pretty well,” she answered her beautiful face lighting up with pleasure. “Luckily I have a rough idea of the various departmental budgets. I’ve used rough estimates until I can get my hands on the books, but we should be able to claw back the missing cash by flexing the budgets,”.
She frowned and gave a small sigh. “There will need to be some job cuts,” she admitted, her voice sounding sad. “I’ve graded the key personnel so that should help with any decision making process. But I’m pretty sure that with the changes I recommend, Belmont Industries will be a viable going concern.”
“Can you mail us a copy of what you have so far?” Cullen asked. “I know it’s in rough form but I’d like to look over your proposal before we head into Belmont’s Boardroom.”
Dorian nodded his agreement and then the meeting broke up.
Cullen turned to his friend when Emily left. “You don’t have to say anything,” he grimaced. “I know I’m behaving like a fool. Things will be better once she moves to one of the apartments.”
Dorian laughed. “You know I hate being the responsible one, my friend.”
Cullen felt a smile twitch at the corner of his mouth. “It feels strange to have you try and lecture me,” he admitted. “After all the crazy stunts you’ve pulled over the years.”
Dorian feigned an innocent expression, his blue eyes twinkling merrily. His expression sobered.
“I like her, Cullen,” he said quietly. “Don’t do anything to harm her. Please.”
“I would never harm her,” Cullen growled, his expression fierce.
Dorian watched him intently and then finally nodded his head.
“Why don’t you take her home and let me get on with some work?” he said. “There’s a few more things I want to get through before I go home myself.
Emily watched Cullen out the corner of her eye as they drove home in silence. He expression was closed. She wanted to say something, to break the heavy atmosphere in the car but his body language seemed to totally discourage it.
She followed him into the house and waited as he disabled the security system. He locked up behind them and re-enabled the alarm. Without a word, he turned and walked up the staircase, disappearing to his room.
Emily sighed and went up to her own room to have a quick shower and change her clothes. She headed back downstairs and found that she was still alone.
Sighing she looked in the refrigerator. She didn’t feel very hungry so she settled on scrambled eggs and toast. She ate silently at the table.
When Cullen didn’t come back down she wandered around the lower floor, looking in all the rooms she hadn’t had time to examine before. The study enchanted her. It was so warm and cosy, full of the inevitable dark wood and brown leather furniture. She wandered to the bookcase on the far wall and began examining the titles.
There was such an eclectic array of books that she found herself smiling as she read the titles. He had the usual classics, some business manuals. There were crime novels and even some fantasy novels. She almost laughed out aloud when she came to the horror section. She would never have imagined Cullen as a lover of horror novels.
Emily ran her hand over the titles, vampires and werewolves and zombies. So strange. On impulse, she pulled out one of the vampire novels and settled into a large armchair. She tucked her feet beneath her and opened the book.
Cullen stayed in his rooms as long as he could. He listened to her moving about his home and forced himself not to go down to her.
His mood was black. The scent of her was driving him crazy. Dorian was right, the sooner she moved out the better it would be. It had been a very long time since Cullen had been so sorely tempted as he was now. It was as if Emily had managed to somehow burrow inside his defences.
He suddenly became aware that it had gone quiet. He silently left his room. Emily was still downstairs somewhere. He could hear her heart beating slowly and evenly. She must have fallen asleep.
Cullen found her in his study. She was curled up asleep in his favourite armchair, a book lying discarded on the floor. He stared at her for a long moment. She looked so peaceful. He wondered if she was dreaming.
Silently he crossed the room and bent to retrieve the book. He grimaced when he read the title. Why had seen picked that book? Was her deadly intuition trying to warn her?
He put the book on the coffee table and then lifted her gently into his arms. She stirred and murmured softly and then rested her head against his chest.
Cullen froze as her sweet scent reached his nose and her soft body melted against his. He sucked in a deep breath and tried not to inhale again as he swiftly carried her upstairs to her room.
He gently lay her on the bed and literally dragged his arms away from her. She sighed softly and rolled onto her side. Cursing under his breath, Cullen pulled a blanket over her and all but ran from the room.
He leaned against the door taking deep breaths. His body had hardened when he’d held her. He struggled desperately to get some kind of control over himself.
Finally he walked back to his rooms and headed straight to the little refrigerator. He drank straight from the bottle, trying to satisfy the need that was building steadily within him.
Emily was confused by Cullen’s behaviour. She had barely seen him the last few days and when she had, he was cold and remote, his beautiful face seeming to be carved into a perpetual scowl.
His Jekyll and Hyde routine was finally starting to really grate on her nerves. It was obvious he didn’t want her in his home anymore, despite him telling her she could stay as long as she liked. She only ever saw him when he took her to work and then drove her home.
She’d taken to spending her time either in her room reading, or sometimes reading in the study. She made sure not to fall asleep again when she was in the study. That first time, Cullen must have carried her to her room because she had woken up fully clothed on the bed. That had really unsettled her.
Emily banged a book down on her desk in frustration just as Alice entered her office.
“Everything okay?” the little woman asked, arching an eyebrow in surprise.
“Sorry, Alice,” she said sheepishly. “I was just imagining my desk was Cullen’s thick skull.”
Alice laughed, the sound so sweet and light that Emily couldn’t help but laugh too. She rolled her eyes and muttered ‘Men’ under her breath.
“Here’s the reports you wanted,” her PA said, handing over a bound document. “You sound like you need a coffee. Can I tempt you with a mocha?”
“Alice, you’re the best!” Emily said with a groan. “A coffee would cheer me up no end.”
Alice left with a promise to be back shortly.
Emily’s phone rang and she picked it up. “Emily, can you come to the Boardroom?” Dorian asked cheerily.
“I’ll be right there,” she sighed. She hung up and picked up a notepad and pen. She probably wouldn’t need it but having something to do with her hands was probably a good idea if Cullen was going to be there. It would stop her hand from itching to smack him across the face to see if it would make him react to her.
She marched up to the Boardroom and entered after knocking. Cullen was there with Dorian. She avoided looking at him and sat down, automatically twiddling the pen in her hands as she looked at Dorian expectantly.
“Belmont’s been arrested,” Dorian said without any fanfare.
Emily let out a huge sigh of relief. She could literally feel some of the tension ooze out of her at the news. “Finally!”
Dorian’s mouth twitched in a smile. “I thought you’d be pleased about that.”
“Does this mean I can move to the apartment now?” Emily asked, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on Dorian. She saw Cullen shift slightly at her words. He probably couldn’t wait for her to move either.
Dorian looked at her in surprise but nodded. “I see no reason why you can’t, Emily.”
“Great,” Emily said jumping up. “Is tonight too soon?”
“I’m sorry you’ve found my hospitality so lacking,” Cullen finally spoke. His voice was cold and hard and Emily found herself turning to look at him.
“Oh, it was fine when Dr Jekyll was in residence but it became a bit of a chore when Mr Hyde showed up,” she snapped waspishly.
She saw his jaw tighten and a flash of anger spark in his golden eyes. So he didn’t like being called up about his unreasonable behaviour.
“Horror story analogies?” he said shortly, his voice dripping with disapproval. “Very droll, Emily.”
Her face reddened as he slapped her down and her own anger heightened.
“I can’t for the life of me understand why I even bother to care about your boorish behaviour, Cullen,” she hissed. “No wonder you live alone. No one couldn’t possibly put up with you for longer than two days.”
Cullen’s eyes flashed dangerously and he slowly stood up.
“Children!” Dorian called. “Play nice, now,” he laughed, placing a warning hand on Cullen’s arm. Emily was surprised to hear the strain in his voice. Although he laughed, it was a forced laugh.
Cullen spun around and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Emily realised she was holding her breath and slowly exhaled.
“Sorry, Dorian,” she said quietly. “He’s just been rubbing me up the wrong way for the last few days. I shouldn’t have reacted as I did.”
“I think it would be best if I took you to get your things, Emily,” Dorian answered, his expression thoughtful. “Give Cullen some time to calm down.”
She sighed with relief again. “Thanks. I don’t really fancy being alone with him right now. He looked as if he wanted to rip my head off just then.”
Dorian patted her arm reassuringly. “He’d never hurt you, Emily,” he said quietly. “Please, don’t be afraid of him.”
“I’m not,“ she lied unconvincingly.
Dorian went looking for Cullen the moment Emily left the Boardroom. He flew into his office and glared furiously at his friend.
“Are you out of your bloody mind?” he hissed. “You scared the life out of Emily! And me!”
“I’m sorry,” Cullen groaned, taking deep breaths. “You need to get her out of my house, Dorian. Tonight.”
“I have every intention of doing so,” Dorian snapped angrily. “You just stay out of the way until I call you and tell you she’s gone. I swear, Cullen, if you do anything to harm that girl you and I are going to have a serious problem.”
“I wouldn’t,” Cullen protested angrily.
“The look on your face just now, could have fooled me,” Dorian retorted and left the room.

A Reluctant Love Ch 03

Chapter 3: Throw Back Thursday Story



Cullen was true to his word and arrived back at the house at 8.30am. He disarmed the security system long enough for her to grab her bag and get into the car. He then reset it and climbed into the car with her.
He walked her to her new office, her name already on the door. He introduced her to a little dark haired woman called Alice who would act as her PA until she had time to recruit someone or decide that Alice was suitable for her needs.
Emily liked Alice immediately. She loved the slightly ethereal look the woman had and the way she teased her short, dark hair into soft spikes at the back and sides. She reckoned Alice was about ages with herself. Maybe it was the similarity in age that made them gel right from the start. By the end of the morning, Emily had officially asked Alice if she would PA for her permanently and she had agreed quickly.
Cullen called her on the internal phone line to say that he had set up a meeting in the afternoon for the various department heads in  Accounting. He warned her that there could be some resistance to her appointment as some of the heads had been with the company for a long time.
He proposed that Dorian and himself meet with them first and she could join them later. Emily didn’t like that idea. It would look like she was hiding behind them and she didn’t think that was a good way to start a working relationship with them. But Cullen stood firm and she ended up agreeing to do things his way.
Cullen and Dorian watched the ten department heads file in, their faces concerned. Cullen had agreed to let Dorian do the talking as he was better at getting his own way by using his charm. Cullen tended to become impatient quickly and become angry when he was balked.
Dorian quickly outlined the situation and Cullen watched as Rich Marley’s face set in stone. He had flagged Rich as being the most likely to openly contest the decision. He looked around the room and was surprised to see a smile on Rafael Montana’s face. A smiling face was not what he had expected to see on any of the assembled men.
“I don’t understand this,” Rich suddenly blurted out, his face red with anger. “If you needed an Executive Accountant then why wasn’t it posted internally? Surely we have all been here long enough to at least have been considered for the position.”
“Emily Swan has a unique skill set,” Dorian explained patiently. “We needed someone to look at various different aspects of this company and our subsidiaries. Quite frankly, we needed someone who did not already work here. Someone who could look at our processes with an open mind and refine them so we can run more efficiently. Hiring Emily in no way reflects negatively on any of you. You are all highly valued employees.”
“But we’re going to have to answer to her,” Rich griped sullenly.
“Yes you will,” Cullen said quietly. “And we will expect each and every one of you to furnish her with whatever data she needs to do her job.”
“How do we even know she’s up to the job?” Rich persisted. “Some of us have been working her for over twenty five years. We have way more experience than she does.”
Cullen could feel his ire start to rise. He looked up surprised when Rafael slowly raised his hand. The little Hispanic man was usually very quiet in meetings.
“Yes, Rafael,” he said questioningly.  
Rafael stood. “Perhaps Rich would feel more confident in Miss Swan’s abilities if she could prove her skill set?” he suggested.
Cullen and Dorian looked confused.
“There is a particularly difficult balance sheet scenario we give each new recruit to solve,” the little man continued. “We’ve all done it ourselves. The quickest anyone has solved the problem has been 6 hours, the longest has been three weeks. If Miss Swan was willing to take the test and complete it in less than six hours, then I am sure Rich and anyone else’s concerns about her suitability would be assuaged.”
“You want us to ask Emily to submit to a test to keep you all happy?” Cullen said quietly, his eyes flashing dangerously.
Dorian touched his arm lightly. “I’m sure Emily would be more than happy to take the test,” he smiled.
Rafael beamed happily and pulled down the white board. He quickly filled the board with numbers and words, knowing the test off by heart. He sat back down when he was finished and Dorian dialled Emily and asked her to come into the boardroom.
Emily peaked through the window and tried not to frown as she saw resentful faces watching her. She plastered a smile on her face and entered the room.
“Emily,” Dorian smiled motioning her to come over to him and Cullen. She spared a quick glance at Cullen and saw his angry expression. So the meeting wasn’t going too well.
Dorian began introducing the men around the table but Emily found her attention distracted by the white board. It was a balance sheet but it was so evidently wrong.
“Sorry, Dorian,” she said when he tried to get her attention. “Just give me a minute.”
She walked to the whiteboard and stared at it a moment longer. Then she did a quick calculation and began moving figures around and adding her calculation into the mix.
She heard the room gasp and turned round in surprise. The heads of department were sitting there with their mouth’s hanging open.
“I’m sorry, did I mess up someone’s work?” she asked concerned. “It’s just it was wrong the way it was.”
Rich Marley, the oldest man said standing up slowly. “You solved that problem in under five minutes, Miss Swan. It took me six hours and I solved it quicker than anyone else ever has. It will be a pleasure working with you.” His voice held respect in it and she smiled gratefully at him.
Her eyes met Cullen’s and he smiled at her, his face no longer wearing the scowl he had when she walked into the room.
Emily went around the room shaking everyone’s hands. A huge smile suddenly lit up her face. “Rafael?” she said. “That was you,” she laughed pointing at the whiteboard. “I thought I recognised the handwriting!” she hugged the little Hispanic man enthusiastically.
“I couldn’t believe it when Dorian said they’d hired you, Emily,” he said grinning broadly. “I knew you’d solve that straight away.”
“We need to catch up and have lunch some time soon,” Emily smiled at him.
Cullen watched Emily with Rafael. Clearly they knew each other from somewhere else, most probably university as the man had been working for him straight from completing his studies. He frowned as they hugged and talked about making lunch plans. For some reason the thought of them being very friendly annoyed him.
The meeting broke up and Cullen found himself walking back down to Emily’s office with her.
“So you know Rafael well?” he asked quietly.
“We went to university together,” she smiled. “He was my study partner. He is almost as good as me. Dorian was wrong when he said yesterday that he didn’t think any of your accounts team would have picked up the Belmont embezzlement. Rafael would have discovered it eventually.”
They had reached her office and Cullen entered it with her, closing the door behind them. He leaned back against the door as she walked around her desk.
“Study partners,” he mused, his expression unreadable. “Was that all?”
“Are you asking me if I slept with Rafael?” she asked, shocked.
“I suppose I am,” he replied watching her intently.
Emily felt her anger rise quickly. “I hardly think that is any of your business, Cullen.” Her tone was frosty and she stared back at him defiantly.
“You’re right,” he finally said, his eyes dark and unfathomable. “Please forgive my impudence.”
He watched her a moment longer. “How are you getting on with Alice?” he asked.
Emily swallowed down her anger and managed a small smile. “I’ve asked her to PA for me permanently and she’s said yes so I guess we’re getting on just fine.”
Cullen moved then, standing up straight and opening the door. “Please come along to Dorian’s office at four pm. We’ll fill you in on what we’ve been up to with Belmont.”
Emily watched him walked out her office. He really was a puzzling individual. He said such strange things sometimes. Who on Earth used the word impudence in normal everyday speech? She frowned for a moment and then turned to her laptop.
Cullen was frowning too as he walked back up to his office. Why had he asked about her personal life? It really was none of his business of his. She had a right to annoyed with him.
He stopped at Dorian’s office. “I need to head out for a moment,” he told his friend.
Dorian raised an enquiring eyebrow and Cullen sighed and entered the room, closing the door behind him.
“It’s challenging having her in my home,” he admitted ruefully, with a small smile.
“I thought you took care of your need this morning,” Dorian said quietly.
Cullen sighed heavily. “I did, but I need to do so again.”
Dorian frowned, his eyes brooding. “You need to find somewhere else for Emily to stay, Cullen.”
“There’s nowhere else that is safer than with me,” Cullen said firmly.
Dorian stood up and began to pace the room slowly. “How safe is she if you need to indulge yourself twice in one day?” he finally asked, his expression serious. It was unusual for him to be counselling Cullen. Usually it was the other way around.
“I’ve got it under control, Dorian.” Cullen frowned as he spoke. Did he have his monster under control? Who was he trying to convince, himself or Dorian?
Dorian shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever you say, Cullen.”
An hour later Emily tapped on Dorian’s door and entered. “Cullen said you would fill me in on what’s happening with Belmont,” she smiled.
Dorian gave her a cheery smile and motioned for her to sit at the meeting table. He gathered up some papers and sat down across from her.
“Cullen had to go out. He shouldn’t be long,” he said. “We may as well start without him.”
He began to shuffle through the papers.
“We’re ready to make our move,” Dorian said. “We have all the backup we need in place. Arthur Belmont is going to have a very bad day tomorrow.”
Emily’s expressive face showed her nervousness. “I take it he still thinks I was home when my house exploded?” she asked quietly.
Dorian gave her a slight nod. “I have a friend in the police department. He’s quite high up. I’ve let him know what’s going on and he’s agreed to keep the fact that the house was empty, out of the papers until we make our move. You’ll need to sit down with him and go through all of this soon, though. Then you will be free to start dealing with the unfortunate business of sorting out your financial loss with regards to the house.”
Emily sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. “That’s going to be a nightmare,” she said quietly.
“Feel free to utilise our legal team,” Dorian smiled kindly at her. “It should make the process a bit easier to deal with. Have you decided where you’ll stay after Belmont is behind bars?”
He watched her face closely as she thought about his question.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” she finally admitted. “I’m sure Cullen must be wanting to get his house back to himself as soon as possible.”
“There’s no rush, Emily,” Cullen said quietly from the doorway. His mouth twitched upwards when he saw her start in surprise. He entered the room and closed the door behind him, moving gracefully to sit next to Dorian.
“You’re welcome to stay at mine for as long as you need,” he continued, feeling Dorian’s eyes boring into the side of his head.
“That’s very kind, Cullen,” Emily said quietly. “But I do need to think about getting myself somewhere else to stay while I figure out whether or not I want to rebuild my house and move back in. I think I may just rebuild and sell it afterwards.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game,” Dorian whispered to Cullen so quietly that Emily didn’t hear.
Cullen sighed quietly and gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head. He had no idea why he had said what he just had. Having the tiny woman in his home was driving him to distraction. He should be helping her to find somewhere else to live, not inviting her to stay indefinitely.
“We have various apartments in the City which we use for visiting clients,” Dorian was saying to Emily. I’m sure we could come to some arrangement  that would allow you to rent one of them from the company while you got yourself organised.”
Emily was nodding her agreement, a look of relief on her face.
Cullen frowned as he listened to them. Was staying at his home really so disagreeable to her?
Emily watched Cullen’s expression darken slightly. She wondered what he was thinking about that he disliked so much. Did he not want her to rent one of the apartments?
He saw her watching him and quickly smoothed his expression. He smiled tightly. “Renting one of the apartments sounds like a good idea,” he said.
Happy to have that settled, Dorian moved on to the next thing he wanted to discuss about Belmont.
“How are you coming on with the Belmont Project, Emily?” he asked.
“It’s going pretty well,” she answered her beautiful face lighting up with pleasure. “Luckily I have a rough idea of the various departmental budgets. I’ve used rough estimates until I can get my hands on the books, but we should be able to claw back the missing cash by flexing the budgets,”.
She frowned and gave a small sigh. “There will need to be some job cuts,” she admitted, her voice sounding sad. “I’ve graded the key personnel so that should help with any decision making process. But I’m pretty sure that with the changes I recommend, Belmont Industries will be a viable going concern.”
“Can you mail us a copy of what you have so far?” Cullen asked. “I know it’s in rough form but I’d like to look over your proposal before we head into Belmont’s Boardroom.”
Dorian nodded his agreement and then the meeting broke up.
Cullen turned to his friend when Emily left. “You don’t have to say anything,” he grimaced. “I know I’m behaving like a fool. Things will be better once she moves to one of the apartments.”
Dorian laughed. “You know I hate being the responsible one, my friend.”
Cullen felt a smile twitch at the corner of his mouth. “It feels strange to have you try and lecture me,” he admitted. “After all the crazy stunts you’ve pulled over the years.”
Dorian feigned an innocent expression, his blue eyes twinkling merrily. His expression sobered.
“I like her, Cullen,” he said quietly. “Don’t do anything to harm her. Please.”
“I would never harm her,” Cullen growled, his expression fierce.
Dorian watched him intently and then finally nodded his head.
“Why don’t you take her home and let me get on with some work?” he said. “There’s a few more things I want to get through before I go home myself.
Emily watched Cullen out the corner of her eye as they drove home in silence. He expression was closed. She wanted to say something, to break the heavy atmosphere in the car but his body language seemed to totally discourage it.
She followed him into the house and waited as he disabled the security system. He locked up behind them and re-enabled the alarm. Without a word, he turned and walked up the staircase, disappearing to his room.
Emily sighed and went up to her own room to have a quick shower and change her clothes. She headed back downstairs and found that she was still alone.
Sighing she looked in the refrigerator. She didn’t feel very hungry so she settled on scrambled eggs and toast. She ate silently at the table.
When Cullen didn’t come back down she wandered around the lower floor, looking in all the rooms she hadn’t had time to examine before. The study enchanted her. It was so warm and cosy, full of the inevitable dark wood and brown leather furniture. She wandered to the bookcase on the far wall and began examining the titles.
There was such an eclectic array of books that she found herself smiling as she read the titles. He had the usual classics, some business manuals. There were crime novels and even some fantasy novels. She almost laughed out aloud when she came to the horror section. She would never have imagined Cullen as a lover of horror novels.
Emily ran her hand over the titles, vampires and werewolves and zombies. So strange. On impulse, she pulled out one of the vampire novels and settled into a large armchair. She tucked her feet beneath her and opened the book.
Cullen stayed in his rooms as long as he could. He listened to her moving about his home and forced himself not to go down to her.
His mood was black. The scent of her was driving him crazy. Dorian was right, the sooner she moved out the better it would be. It had been a very long time since Cullen had been so sorely tempted as he was now. It was as if Emily had managed to somehow burrow inside his defences.
He suddenly became aware that it had gone quiet. He silently left his room. Emily was still downstairs somewhere. He could hear her heart beating slowly and evenly. She must have fallen asleep.
Cullen found her in his study. She was curled up asleep in his favourite armchair, a book lying discarded on the floor. He stared at her for a long moment. She looked so peaceful. He wondered if she was dreaming.
Silently he crossed the room and bent to retrieve the book. He grimaced when he read the title. Why had seen picked that book? Was her deadly intuition trying to warn her?
He put the book on the coffee table and then lifted her gently into his arms. She stirred and murmured softly and then rested her head against his chest.
Cullen froze as her sweet scent reached his nose and her soft body melted against his. He sucked in a deep breath and tried not to inhale again as he swiftly carried her upstairs to her room.
He gently lay her on the bed and literally dragged his arms away from her. She sighed softly and rolled onto her side. Cursing under his breath, Cullen pulled a blanket over her and all but ran from the room.
He leaned against the door taking deep breaths. His body had hardened when he’d held her. He struggled desperately to get some kind of control over himself.
Finally he walked back to his rooms and headed straight to the little refrigerator. He drank straight from the bottle, trying to satisfy the need that was building steadily within him.
Emily was confused by Cullen’s behaviour. She had barely seen him the last few days and when she had, he was cold and remote, his beautiful face seeming to be carved into a perpetual scowl.
His Jekyll and Hyde routine was finally starting to really grate on her nerves. It was obvious he didn’t want her in his home anymore, despite him telling her she could stay as long as she liked. She only ever saw him when he took her to work and then drove her home.
She’d taken to spending her time either in her room reading, or sometimes reading in the study. She made sure not to fall asleep again when she was in the study. That first time, Cullen must have carried her to her room because she had woken up fully clothed on the bed. That had really unsettled her.
Emily banged a book down on her desk in frustration just as Alice entered her office.
“Everything okay?” the little woman asked, arching an eyebrow in surprise.
“Sorry, Alice,” she said sheepishly. “I was just imagining my desk was Cullen’s thick skull.”
Alice laughed, the sound so sweet and light that Emily couldn’t help but laugh too. She rolled her eyes and muttered ‘Men’ under her breath.
“Here’s the reports you wanted,” her PA said, handing over a bound document. “You sound like you need a coffee. Can I tempt you with a mocha?”
“Alice, you’re the best!” Emily said with a groan. “A coffee would cheer me up no end.”
Alice left with a promise to be back shortly.
Emily’s phone rang and she picked it up. “Emily, can you come to the Boardroom?” Dorian asked cheerily.
“I’ll be right there,” she sighed. She hung up and picked up a notepad and pen. She probably wouldn’t need it but having something to do with her hands was probably a good idea if Cullen was going to be there. It would stop her hand from itching to smack him across the face to see if it would make him react to her.
She marched up to the Boardroom and entered after knocking. Cullen was there with Dorian. She avoided looking at him and sat down, automatically twiddling the pen in her hands as she looked at Dorian expectantly.
“Belmont’s been arrested,” Dorian said without any fanfare.
Emily let out a huge sigh of relief. She could literally feel some of the tension ooze out of her at the news. “Finally!”
Dorian’s mouth twitched in a smile. “I thought you’d be pleased about that.”
“Does this mean I can move to the apartment now?” Emily asked, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on Dorian. She saw Cullen shift slightly at her words. He probably couldn’t wait for her to move either.
Dorian looked at her in surprise but nodded. “I see no reason why you can’t, Emily.”
“Great,” Emily said jumping up. “Is tonight too soon?”
“I’m sorry you’ve found my hospitality so lacking,” Cullen finally spoke. His voice was cold and hard and Emily found herself turning to look at him.
“Oh, it was fine when Dr Jekyll was in residence but it became a bit of a chore when Mr Hyde showed up,” she snapped waspishly.
She saw his jaw tighten and a flash of anger spark in his golden eyes. So he didn’t like being called up about his unreasonable behaviour.
“Horror story analogies?” he said shortly, his voice dripping with disapproval. “Very droll, Emily.”
Her face reddened as he slapped her down and her own anger heightened.
“I can’t for the life of me understand why I even bother to care about your boorish behaviour, Cullen,” she hissed. “No wonder you live alone. No one couldn’t possibly put up with you for longer than two days.”
Cullen’s eyes flashed dangerously and he slowly stood up.
“Children!” Dorian called. “Play nice, now,” he laughed, placing a warning hand on Cullen’s arm. Emily was surprised to hear the strain in his voice. Although he laughed, it was a forced laugh.
Cullen spun around and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Emily realised she was holding her breath and slowly exhaled.
“Sorry, Dorian,” she said quietly. “He’s just been rubbing me up the wrong way for the last few days. I shouldn’t have reacted as I did.”
“I think it would be best if I took you to get your things, Emily,” Dorian answered, his expression thoughtful. “Give Cullen some time to calm down.”
She sighed with relief again. “Thanks. I don’t really fancy being alone with him right now. He looked as if he wanted to rip my head off just then.”
Dorian patted her arm reassuringly. “He’d never hurt you, Emily,” he said quietly. “Please, don’t be afraid of him.”
“I’m not,“ she lied unconvincingly.
Dorian went looking for Cullen the moment Emily left the Boardroom. He flew into his office and glared furiously at his friend.
“Are you out of your bloody mind?” he hissed. “You scared the life out of Emily! And me!”
“I’m sorry,” Cullen groaned, taking deep breaths. “You need to get her out of my house, Dorian. Tonight.”
“I have every intention of doing so,” Dorian snapped angrily. “You just stay out of the way until I call you and tell you she’s gone. I swear, Cullen, if you do anything to harm that girl you and I are going to have a serious problem.”
“I wouldn’t,” Cullen protested angrily.
“The look on your face just now, could have fooled me,” Dorian retorted and left the room.

A Reluctant Love

Chapter 3: Throw Back Thursday Story



Cullen was true to his word and arrived back at the house at 8.30am. He disarmed the security system long enough for her to grab her bag and get into the car. He then reset it and climbed into the car with her.
He walked her to her new office, her name already on the door. He introduced her to a little dark haired woman called Alice who would act as her PA until she had time to recruit someone or decide that Alice was suitable for her needs.
Emily liked Alice immediately. She loved the slightly ethereal look the woman had and the way she teased her short, dark hair into soft spikes at the back and sides. She reckoned Alice was about ages with herself. Maybe it was the similarity in age that made them gel right from the start. By the end of the morning, Emily had officially asked Alice if she would PA for her permanently and she had agreed quickly.
Cullen called her on the internal phone line to say that he had set up a meeting in the afternoon for the various department heads in  Accounting. He warned her that there could be some resistance to her appointment as some of the heads had been with the company for a long time.
He proposed that Dorian and himself meet with them first and she could join them later. Emily didn’t like that idea. It would look like she was hiding behind them and she didn’t think that was a good way to start a working relationship with them. But Cullen stood firm and she ended up agreeing to do things his way.
Cullen and Dorian watched the ten department heads file in, their faces concerned. Cullen had agreed to let Dorian do the talking as he was better at getting his own way by using his charm. Cullen tended to become impatient quickly and become angry when he was balked.
Dorian quickly outlined the situation and Cullen watched as Rich Marley’s face set in stone. He had flagged Rich as being the most likely to openly contest the decision. He looked around the room and was surprised to see a smile on Rafael Montana’s face. A smiling face was not what he had expected to see on any of the assembled men.
“I don’t understand this,” Rich suddenly blurted out, his face red with anger. “If you needed an Executive Accountant then why wasn’t it posted internally? Surely we have all been here long enough to at least have been considered for the position.”
“Emily Swan has a unique skill set,” Dorian explained patiently. “We needed someone to look at various different aspects of this company and our subsidiaries. Quite frankly, we needed someone who did not already work here. Someone who could look at our processes with an open mind and refine them so we can run more efficiently. Hiring Emily in no way reflects negatively on any of you. You are all highly valued employees.”
“But we’re going to have to answer to her,” Rich griped sullenly.
“Yes you will,” Cullen said quietly. “And we will expect each and every one of you to furnish her with whatever data she needs to do her job.”
“How do we even know she’s up to the job?” Rich persisted. “Some of us have been working her for over twenty five years. We have way more experience than she does.”
Cullen could feel his ire start to rise. He looked up surprised when Rafael slowly raised his hand. The little Hispanic man was usually very quiet in meetings.
“Yes, Rafael,” he said questioningly.  
Rafael stood. “Perhaps Rich would feel more confident in Miss Swan’s abilities if she could prove her skill set?” he suggested.
Cullen and Dorian looked confused.
“There is a particularly difficult balance sheet scenario we give each new recruit to solve,” the little man continued. “We’ve all done it ourselves. The quickest anyone has solved the problem has been 6 hours, the longest has been three weeks. If Miss Swan was willing to take the test and complete it in less than six hours, then I am sure Rich and anyone else’s concerns about her suitability would be assuaged.”
“You want us to ask Emily to submit to a test to keep you all happy?” Cullen said quietly, his eyes flashing dangerously.
Dorian touched his arm lightly. “I’m sure Emily would be more than happy to take the test,” he smiled.
Rafael beamed happily and pulled down the white board. He quickly filled the board with numbers and words, knowing the test off by heart. He sat back down when he was finished and Dorian dialled Emily and asked her to come into the boardroom.
Emily peaked through the window and tried not to frown as she saw resentful faces watching her. She plastered a smile on her face and entered the room.
“Emily,” Dorian smiled motioning her to come over to him and Cullen. She spared a quick glance at Cullen and saw his angry expression. So the meeting wasn’t going too well.
Dorian began introducing the men around the table but Emily found her attention distracted by the white board. It was a balance sheet but it was so evidently wrong.
“Sorry, Dorian,” she said when he tried to get her attention. “Just give me a minute.”
She walked to the whiteboard and stared at it a moment longer. Then she did a quick calculation and began moving figures around and adding her calculation into the mix.
She heard the room gasp and turned round in surprise. The heads of department were sitting there with their mouth’s hanging open.
“I’m sorry, did I mess up someone’s work?” she asked concerned. “It’s just it was wrong the way it was.”
Rich Marley, the oldest man said standing up slowly. “You solved that problem in under five minutes, Miss Swan. It took me six hours and I solved it quicker than anyone else ever has. It will be a pleasure working with you.” His voice held respect in it and she smiled gratefully at him.
Her eyes met Cullen’s and he smiled at her, his face no longer wearing the scowl he had when she walked into the room.
Emily went around the room shaking everyone’s hands. A huge smile suddenly lit up her face. “Rafael?” she said. “That was you,” she laughed pointing at the whiteboard. “I thought I recognised the handwriting!” she hugged the little Hispanic man enthusiastically.
“I couldn’t believe it when Dorian said they’d hired you, Emily,” he said grinning broadly. “I knew you’d solve that straight away.”
“We need to catch up and have lunch some time soon,” Emily smiled at him.
Cullen watched Emily with Rafael. Clearly they knew each other from somewhere else, most probably university as the man had been working for him straight from completing his studies. He frowned as they hugged and talked about making lunch plans. For some reason the thought of them being very friendly annoyed him.
The meeting broke up and Cullen found himself walking back down to Emily’s office with her.
“So you know Rafael well?” he asked quietly.
“We went to university together,” she smiled. “He was my study partner. He is almost as good as me. Dorian was wrong when he said yesterday that he didn’t think any of your accounts team would have picked up the Belmont embezzlement. Rafael would have discovered it eventually.”
They had reached her office and Cullen entered it with her, closing the door behind them. He leaned back against the door as she walked around her desk.
“Study partners,” he mused, his expression unreadable. “Was that all?”
“Are you asking me if I slept with Rafael?” she asked, shocked.
“I suppose I am,” he replied watching her intently.
Emily felt her anger rise quickly. “I hardly think that is any of your business, Cullen.” Her tone was frosty and she stared back at him defiantly.
“You’re right,” he finally said, his eyes dark and unfathomable. “Please forgive my impudence.”
He watched her a moment longer. “How are you getting on with Alice?” he asked.
Emily swallowed down her anger and managed a small smile. “I’ve asked her to PA for me permanently and she’s said yes so I guess we’re getting on just fine.”
Cullen moved then, standing up straight and opening the door. “Please come along to Dorian’s office at four pm. We’ll fill you in on what we’ve been up to with Belmont.”
Emily watched him walked out her office. He really was a puzzling individual. He said such strange things sometimes. Who on Earth used the word impudence in normal everyday speech? She frowned for a moment and then turned to her laptop.
Cullen was frowning too as he walked back up to his office. Why had he asked about her personal life? It really was none of his business of his. She had a right to annoyed with him.
He stopped at Dorian’s office. “I need to head out for a moment,” he told his friend.
Dorian raised an enquiring eyebrow and Cullen sighed and entered the room, closing the door behind him.
“It’s challenging having her in my home,” he admitted ruefully, with a small smile.
“I thought you took care of your need this morning,” Dorian said quietly.
Cullen sighed heavily. “I did, but I need to do so again.”
Dorian frowned, his eyes brooding. “You need to find somewhere else for Emily to stay, Cullen.”
“There’s nowhere else that is safer than with me,” Cullen said firmly.
Dorian stood up and began to pace the room slowly. “How safe is she if you need to indulge yourself twice in one day?” he finally asked, his expression serious. It was unusual for him to be counselling Cullen. Usually it was the other way around.
“I’ve got it under control, Dorian.” Cullen frowned as he spoke. Did he have his monster under control? Who was he trying to convince, himself or Dorian?
Dorian shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever you say, Cullen.”
An hour later Emily tapped on Dorian’s door and entered. “Cullen said you would fill me in on what’s happening with Belmont,” she smiled.
Dorian gave her a cheery smile and motioned for her to sit at the meeting table. He gathered up some papers and sat down across from her.
“Cullen had to go out. He shouldn’t be long,” he said. “We may as well start without him.”
He began to shuffle through the papers.
“We’re ready to make our move,” Dorian said. “We have all the backup we need in place. Arthur Belmont is going to have a very bad day tomorrow.”
Emily’s expressive face showed her nervousness. “I take it he still thinks I was home when my house exploded?” she asked quietly.
Dorian gave her a slight nod. “I have a friend in the police department. He’s quite high up. I’ve let him know what’s going on and he’s agreed to keep the fact that the house was empty, out of the papers until we make our move. You’ll need to sit down with him and go through all of this soon, though. Then you will be free to start dealing with the unfortunate business of sorting out your financial loss with regards to the house.”
Emily sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. “That’s going to be a nightmare,” she said quietly.
“Feel free to utilise our legal team,” Dorian smiled kindly at her. “It should make the process a bit easier to deal with. Have you decided where you’ll stay after Belmont is behind bars?”
He watched her face closely as she thought about his question.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” she finally admitted. “I’m sure Cullen must be wanting to get his house back to himself as soon as possible.”
“There’s no rush, Emily,” Cullen said quietly from the doorway. His mouth twitched upwards when he saw her start in surprise. He entered the room and closed the door behind him, moving gracefully to sit next to Dorian.
“You’re welcome to stay at mine for as long as you need,” he continued, feeling Dorian’s eyes boring into the side of his head.
“That’s very kind, Cullen,” Emily said quietly. “But I do need to think about getting myself somewhere else to stay while I figure out whether or not I want to rebuild my house and move back in. I think I may just rebuild and sell it afterwards.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game,” Dorian whispered to Cullen so quietly that Emily didn’t hear.
Cullen sighed quietly and gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head. He had no idea why he had said what he just had. Having the tiny woman in his home was driving him to distraction. He should be helping her to find somewhere else to live, not inviting her to stay indefinitely.
“We have various apartments in the City which we use for visiting clients,” Dorian was saying to Emily. I’m sure we could come to some arrangement  that would allow you to rent one of them from the company while you got yourself organised.”
Emily was nodding her agreement, a look of relief on her face.
Cullen frowned as he listened to them. Was staying at his home really so disagreeable to her?
Emily watched Cullen’s expression darken slightly. She wondered what he was thinking about that he disliked so much. Did he not want her to rent one of the apartments?
He saw her watching him and quickly smoothed his expression. He smiled tightly. “Renting one of the apartments sounds like a good idea,” he said.
Happy to have that settled, Dorian moved on to the next thing he wanted to discuss about Belmont.
“How are you coming on with the Belmont Project, Emily?” he asked.
“It’s going pretty well,” she answered her beautiful face lighting up with pleasure. “Luckily I have a rough idea of the various departmental budgets. I’ve used rough estimates until I can get my hands on the books, but we should be able to claw back the missing cash by flexing the budgets,”.
She frowned and gave a small sigh. “There will need to be some job cuts,” she admitted, her voice sounding sad. “I’ve graded the key personnel so that should help with any decision making process. But I’m pretty sure that with the changes I recommend, Belmont Industries will be a viable going concern.”
“Can you mail us a copy of what you have so far?” Cullen asked. “I know it’s in rough form but I’d like to look over your proposal before we head into Belmont’s Boardroom.”
Dorian nodded his agreement and then the meeting broke up.
Cullen turned to his friend when Emily left. “You don’t have to say anything,” he grimaced. “I know I’m behaving like a fool. Things will be better once she moves to one of the apartments.”
Dorian laughed. “You know I hate being the responsible one, my friend.”
Cullen felt a smile twitch at the corner of his mouth. “It feels strange to have you try and lecture me,” he admitted. “After all the crazy stunts you’ve pulled over the years.”
Dorian feigned an innocent expression, his blue eyes twinkling merrily. His expression sobered.
“I like her, Cullen,” he said quietly. “Don’t do anything to harm her. Please.”
“I would never harm her,” Cullen growled, his expression fierce.
Dorian watched him intently and then finally nodded his head.
“Why don’t you take her home and let me get on with some work?” he said. “There’s a few more things I want to get through before I go home myself.
Emily watched Cullen out the corner of her eye as they drove home in silence. He expression was closed. She wanted to say something, to break the heavy atmosphere in the car but his body language seemed to totally discourage it.
She followed him into the house and waited as he disabled the security system. He locked up behind them and re-enabled the alarm. Without a word, he turned and walked up the staircase, disappearing to his room.
Emily sighed and went up to her own room to have a quick shower and change her clothes. She headed back downstairs and found that she was still alone.
Sighing she looked in the refrigerator. She didn’t feel very hungry so she settled on scrambled eggs and toast. She ate silently at the table.
When Cullen didn’t come back down she wandered around the lower floor, looking in all the rooms she hadn’t had time to examine before. The study enchanted her. It was so warm and cosy, full of the inevitable dark wood and brown leather furniture. She wandered to the bookcase on the far wall and began examining the titles.
There was such an eclectic array of books that she found herself smiling as she read the titles. He had the usual classics, some business manuals. There were crime novels and even some fantasy novels. She almost laughed out aloud when she came to the horror section. She would never have imagined Cullen as a lover of horror novels.
Emily ran her hand over the titles, vampires and werewolves and zombies. So strange. On impulse, she pulled out one of the vampire novels and settled into a large armchair. She tucked her feet beneath her and opened the book.
Cullen stayed in his rooms as long as he could. He listened to her moving about his home and forced himself not to go down to her.
His mood was black. The scent of her was driving him crazy. Dorian was right, the sooner she moved out the better it would be. It had been a very long time since Cullen had been so sorely tempted as he was now. It was as if Emily had managed to somehow burrow inside his defences.
He suddenly became aware that it had gone quiet. He silently left his room. Emily was still downstairs somewhere. He could hear her heart beating slowly and evenly. She must have fallen asleep.
Cullen found her in his study. She was curled up asleep in his favourite armchair, a book lying discarded on the floor. He stared at her for a long moment. She looked so peaceful. He wondered if she was dreaming.
Silently he crossed the room and bent to retrieve the book. He grimaced when he read the title. Why had seen picked that book? Was her deadly intuition trying to warn her?
He put the book on the coffee table and then lifted her gently into his arms. She stirred and murmured softly and then rested her head against his chest.
Cullen froze as her sweet scent reached his nose and her soft body melted against his. He sucked in a deep breath and tried not to inhale again as he swiftly carried her upstairs to her room.
He gently lay her on the bed and literally dragged his arms away from her. She sighed softly and rolled onto her side. Cursing under his breath, Cullen pulled a blanket over her and all but ran from the room.
He leaned against the door taking deep breaths. His body had hardened when he’d held her. He struggled desperately to get some kind of control over himself.
Finally he walked back to his rooms and headed straight to the little refrigerator. He drank straight from the bottle, trying to satisfy the need that was building steadily within him.
Emily was confused by Cullen’s behaviour. She had barely seen him the last few days and when she had, he was cold and remote, his beautiful face seeming to be carved into a perpetual scowl.
His Jekyll and Hyde routine was finally starting to really grate on her nerves. It was obvious he didn’t want her in his home anymore, despite him telling her she could stay as long as she liked. She only ever saw him when he took her to work and then drove her home.
She’d taken to spending her time either in her room reading, or sometimes reading in the study. She made sure not to fall asleep again when she was in the study. That first time, Cullen must have carried her to her room because she had woken up fully clothed on the bed. That had really unsettled her.
Emily banged a book down on her desk in frustration just as Alice entered her office.
“Everything okay?” the little woman asked, arching an eyebrow in surprise.
“Sorry, Alice,” she said sheepishly. “I was just imagining my desk was Cullen’s thick skull.”
Alice laughed, the sound so sweet and light that Emily couldn’t help but laugh too. She rolled her eyes and muttered ‘Men’ under her breath.
“Here’s the reports you wanted,” her PA said, handing over a bound document. “You sound like you need a coffee. Can I tempt you with a mocha?”
“Alice, you’re the best!” Emily said with a groan. “A coffee would cheer me up no end.”
Alice left with a promise to be back shortly.
Emily’s phone rang and she picked it up. “Emily, can you come to the Boardroom?” Dorian asked cheerily.
“I’ll be right there,” she sighed. She hung up and picked up a notepad and pen. She probably wouldn’t need it but having something to do with her hands was probably a good idea if Cullen was going to be there. It would stop her hand from itching to smack him across the face to see if it would make him react to her.
She marched up to the Boardroom and entered after knocking. Cullen was there with Dorian. She avoided looking at him and sat down, automatically twiddling the pen in her hands as she looked at Dorian expectantly.
“Belmont’s been arrested,” Dorian said without any fanfare.
Emily let out a huge sigh of relief. She could literally feel some of the tension ooze out of her at the news. “Finally!”
Dorian’s mouth twitched in a smile. “I thought you’d be pleased about that.”
“Does this mean I can move to the apartment now?” Emily asked, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on Dorian. She saw Cullen shift slightly at her words. He probably couldn’t wait for her to move either.
Dorian looked at her in surprise but nodded. “I see no reason why you can’t, Emily.”
“Great,” Emily said jumping up. “Is tonight too soon?”
“I’m sorry you’ve found my hospitality so lacking,” Cullen finally spoke. His voice was cold and hard and Emily found herself turning to look at him.
“Oh, it was fine when Dr Jekyll was in residence but it became a bit of a chore when Mr Hyde showed up,” she snapped waspishly.
She saw his jaw tighten and a flash of anger spark in his golden eyes. So he didn’t like being called up about his unreasonable behaviour.
“Horror story analogies?” he said shortly, his voice dripping with disapproval. “Very droll, Emily.”
Her face reddened as he slapped her down and her own anger heightened.
“I can’t for the life of me understand why I even bother to care about your boorish behaviour, Cullen,” she hissed. “No wonder you live alone. No one couldn’t possibly put up with you for longer than two days.”
Cullen’s eyes flashed dangerously and he slowly stood up.
“Children!” Dorian called. “Play nice, now,” he laughed, placing a warning hand on Cullen’s arm. Emily was surprised to hear the strain in his voice. Although he laughed, it was a forced laugh.
Cullen spun around and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Emily realised she was holding her breath and slowly exhaled.
“Sorry, Dorian,” she said quietly. “He’s just been rubbing me up the wrong way for the last few days. I shouldn’t have reacted as I did.”
“I think it would be best if I took you to get your things, Emily,” Dorian answered, his expression thoughtful. “Give Cullen some time to calm down.”
She sighed with relief again. “Thanks. I don’t really fancy being alone with him right now. He looked as if he wanted to rip my head off just then.”
Dorian patted her arm reassuringly. “He’d never hurt you, Emily,” he said quietly. “Please, don’t be afraid of him.”
“I’m not,“ she lied unconvincingly.
Dorian went looking for Cullen the moment Emily left the Boardroom. He flew into his office and glared furiously at his friend.
“Are you out of your bloody mind?” he hissed. “You scared the life out of Emily! And me!”
“I’m sorry,” Cullen groaned, taking deep breaths. “You need to get her out of my house, Dorian. Tonight.”
“I have every intention of doing so,” Dorian snapped angrily. “You just stay out of the way until I call you and tell you she’s gone. I swear, Cullen, if you do anything to harm that girl you and I are going to have a serious problem.”
“I wouldn’t,” Cullen protested angrily.
“The look on your face just now, could have fooled me,” Dorian retorted and left the room.

A Reluctant Love Ch 02

Chapter 2: Throw Back Thursday StoryCullen also did some homework when he got home. He looked up Emily Swan online and found that she had indeed been a child prodigy, specialising in mathematics and accountancy. She had graduated Harvard with the highest honours when she was only sixteen. She was known to be one of the finest minds in the accountancy field and usually freelanced, offering her skills as a trouble-shooter to assist various companies. She was now twenty two years of age and very successful. Cullen cursed out loud when he saw how easy it was for him to find out all about her with just a few keystrokes. He'd even managed to track down her home address for Christ sake! The woman was a bloody sitting target.Cullen paced around his study for a while and then decided to check the office voice mail. He was expecting a call from Tokyo and they were a bit dumb when it came to the time difference. It wouldn't be the first time they'd left a voicemail message at two in the morning. He breathed in sharply as he heard Emily's voice on the voicemail. She'd contacted them for another meeting. Maybe his words had gotten through to her.He found himself climbing into his car ten minutes later. He drove to where Emily lived. He told himself he was just keeping an eye on their investment but what he really wanted was to see her house. He wanted to check that there weren't any suspicious characters hanging around her place. He was just coming up to her street when there was a huge explosion. He did an emergency stop at the side of the road and got out the car. Cullen sprinted at superhuman speed into the night, coming to an abrupt standstill. Number twenty seven was totally destroyed. Emily's house was number twenty seven. He stood staring in shock, feeling as if he had just lost something important. He heard fire engines and saw neighbours starting to file out of their homes. He quickly blended into the night and made his way back to the car.He brooded all the way back home. He dialled the office again and listened to Emily's message. On impulse he dialled the cell number she had given. It went to voicemail. Cullen hesitated a second and then decided to leave a message, just in case. "Emily, it's Cullen. I'm really hoping you get this message and that you weren't at your house tonight when it blew up. This is my cell number. You can trust any call that comes from this number. Don't answer any other calls to your cell. Call me when you get this."Emily stared at her cell when it rang. It was an unknown cell number. She was too afraid to answer it in case Arthur had passed her number to someone. For the moment, whoever had destroyed her house would assume she was in it. That bought her some time to figure out what she was going to do. Her cell beeped to say she had a voicemail. She dialled the messaging service and listened. She breathed a deep sigh of relief as she heard Cullen's voice. She quickly added his number to her cell and then dialled it."Emily?" Cullen asked quietly when he picked up the phone."Cullen," she breathed softly, her voice shaky. "He blew up my house!""I know. I was on my way over when it blew. I thought you were in there," Cullen said, relief in his voice. "Where are you?""At a hotel," Emily replied. "There was something about the look on your face tonight that set me on edge so I packed an overnight bag and booked into a hotel a few streets away from mine. The fire engines woke me up.""Tell me the name, Emily, and I'll come and get you," Cullen said, his voice sounding determined."Why were you on your way over to mine?" she asked, just registering what he'd said before.Cullen sighed. "I did some online research and found your address in next to no time. I was concerned about how easily it was to find you. I know Belmont well, Emily. I know what he's capable of. I decided to come over and check you were okay and then all hell broke loose."She was silent on the other end of the line for a moment, then she gave him the hotel name and her room number."I'll be there in twenty minutes," Cullen told her. "Don't answer your phone to anyone and don't open the door to anyone but me."He rang off and Emily jumped up and quickly packed her overnight bag. She sat on the bed and waited.Cullen couldn't understand the relief that came over him when his cell had rang and he recognised the number as Emily's. She was alive. Now he just needed to keep her that way until Belmont was taken care of. He drove quickly to her hotel and reached her room unobserved by human eyes. He knocked softly, "Emily, it's Cullen," he called.He heard her approach to door hesitantly and guessed she was looking through the peek hole. He stood still so she could see his face clearer. Finally the door unlocked and he slipped inside quickly, locking the door behind him.Cullen examined her face and saw that she had been crying and she was afraid. She was also very angry too. He smiled at her bravery and she glared at him, her violet eyes flashing."What are you grinning at?" she snapped angrily. "My house has just been blown up. I fail to see anything funny in that."Cullen struggled to contain another smile. "I was just admiring your bravery," he said honestly, his voice heavy with approval. "Your whole world has just gone pear shaped but you're not giving into the fear. I admire that."Emily watched him intently and saw that he was being honest. "I'm scared to death," she said quietly. "But I'm also hopping mad that he blew up my house. I guess the anger is sustaining me at the moment.""Did you lose anything irreplaceable?"  he asked gently.She shook her head. "I'm a child of the digital age," she said with a small smile. "All my photographs etc are on my laptop hard drive with an online backup. It's just material things that have been lost and they can be replaced."He commended her spirit and reached down for her laptop and overnight bag after handing her a long coat. "Put your hat on and slide into the coat," he said. "I don't think there is any further danger tonight but there's no point in being reckless."She did as he said and then followed him from the room. "Don't bother checking out," he told her. "Just head straight out to my car, it's the silver Volvo."Cullen was quiet as he drove to his house. He saw her glance at him a few times with a thoughtful look on her face but she never spoke. He activated the gates to his house and quickly drove up the long driveway."I thought we were going to your house, not a palace," Emily said with a snort when the house came into view.Cullen laughed. "It's not a palace. It's just a big house. You didn't ask the size of it.""It's a monster!" she gasped getting out the car. "How many people live here?"Cullen looked slightly embarrassed. "Just me."She stared at him and then shook her head. "Some people have way too much money," she muttered under her breath.Cullen didn't let on that he heard her perfectly. She was very observant as it was. He was really going to have to watch himself while she was around.He opened the door and stood back to let her enter first. Emily stopped in the large hallway, her eyes wide. She wasn't sure what she was expecting from the outside but the stripped wood on the floor and the beautifully carved wooden staircase wasn't it. Despite the hallway being large, the dark wood gave it a cosy feel as well as the plush rug in the centre of the floor."Wow," she said softly, her eyes trying to take in all the different details of the room at once.Cullen felt a smile tug at his mouth. He was surprised to note how pleasing it was to him that she liked his home."The sitting room‘s to the left," he said, setting her bags down on one of the hall chairs. "I'll just be a moment."He checked the house was secure and then activated his security system. No human could breach it and he was almost certain that no supernatural being could either.He watched Emily walk around the sitting room slowly, her little hands trailing over the furniture as she examined every nook and cranny. She was smiling slightly."So is this another wow or is it just okay?" he asked with a slight smile."Your home is beautiful," she said softly. "You really like wood and the colour brown.""I guess I do," he replied choosing to sit in his favourite brown leather armchair.She was right. Most of his furnishings were brown or cream and all the lower part of the house had stripped floorboards. He hadn't consciously chosen that colour scheme. He had just filled the house over the years with things that he liked.Emily moved to sit on one of the large leather sofas. She chose the one directly across from him and watched him intently."So, do you have a plan of action?" Cullen asked. He had his own ideas but from their brief conversation earlier on he had quickly deduced that she would not react favourably to being told what to do."Only one," she said with a frown. "To take Belmont down whilst trying to not jeopardise the livelihoods of his employees."Cullen watched her with a thoughtful expression. "That may not be possible," he finally said. "It's to your credit that you care about the people working at Belmont Industries but they're not your responsibility, Emily. They're Belmont's and he has sold them down the river.""These people have families, children," she said angrily. "Why should they lose everything because of Arthur's greed?""That's how it is sometimes in the business world," Cullen sighed, his jaw tightening. "It's unfortunate, but it happens.""So if Cullen and Cross acquire the company, you're going to lay off the staff? Break up the company and sell off the bits you don't want? What, Cullen? Tell me what you'd do.""Emily, you need to be realistic in the business," Cullen said, his voice hard. "It's all very well to have lofty goals and ideals but when push comes to shove you have to do what is best for your own financial security."The look of total disappointment on her face bothered Cullen."I thought Cullen and Cross was better than that," she said, her tone heavy with disappointment. "I read up about you tonight before I called. Your website is exemplary, Cullen. It sucked me right in, hook, line and sinker. You should give your web designer a bonus for their sterling work."Her words angered him and he glared at her. "Emily," he started to say but she stood up, cutting him off."I'd really like to try and get some sleep now. It's been a pretty traumatic night. Could you show me to the room I can use?Cullen frowned at her and then nodded and escorted her to one of the guest bedrooms. He carried her things up for her and showed her the en-suite bathroom. Then he left her and headed downstairs to his study.He dialled Dorian's number and filled him in with what had happened."You took her home," Dorian said in disbelief. "Was that smart?"Cullen chuckled. "Probably not. She's irritating the hell out of me already. I've already earned her disapproval for not promising to save the jobs at Belmont Industries once we acquire it.""But we haven't decided what we're going to do yet," Dorian answered."She jumped to conclusions when I was trying to explain the harsh realities of business life. She seemed determined to find fault with me and I couldn't be bothered to argue with her.""But she will give us the proof she gathered?""She has no choice," Cullen sighed. "Belmont tried to kill her tonight. We're her only hope of getting out of this in one piece.""Okay, I'll see you both at the office tomorrow. Make it about ten," Dorian said and rung off.Emily couldn't understand why she felt so disappointment at Cullen's cavalier attitude towards Belmont's workers. She called him a few rude names under her breath as she put on her pyjamas and climbed into the huge four poster bed.She lay there trying to figure out what she was going to do. If she couldn't protect Belmont's staff then there was no point giving the information to Cullen. She'd be just as well going straight to the authorities first thing tomorrow. But Arthur may have someone watching for her doing that. She groaned and then settled down to sleep. Maybe tomorrow would bring her answers.Cullen headed to his room. He paused outside her bedroom door and listened to the sound of Emily's deep, slow breathing. He could hear her heart beating slowly as she slept. He was tempted to peek into the room but decided against it and continued down the hall to his personal wing of the house.TO BE CONTINUED. ....

A Reluctant Love

Chapter 2: Throw Back Thursday Story

Cullen also did some homework when he got home. He looked up Emily Swan online and found that she had indeed been a child prodigy, specialising in mathematics and accountancy. She had graduated Harvard with the highest honours when she was only sixteen. She was known to be one of the finest minds in the accountancy field and usually freelanced, offering her skills as a trouble-shooter to assist various companies. She was now twenty two years of age and very successful.

Cullen cursed out loud when he saw how easy it was for him to find out all about her with just a few keystrokes. He'd even managed to track down her home address for Christ sake! The woman was a bloody sitting target.

Cullen paced around his study for a while and then decided to check the office voice mail. He was expecting a call from Tokyo and they were a bit dumb when it came to the time difference. It wouldn't be the first time they'd left a voicemail message at two in the morning. He breathed in sharply as he heard Emily's voice on the voicemail. She'd contacted them for another meeting. Maybe his words had gotten through to her.

He found himself climbing into his car ten minutes later. He drove to where Emily lived. He told himself he was just keeping an eye on their investment but what he really wanted was to see her house. He wanted to check that there weren't any suspicious characters hanging around her place. He was just coming up to her street when there was a huge explosion. He did an emergency stop at the side of the road and got out the car.

Cullen sprinted at superhuman speed into the night, coming to an abrupt standstill. Number twenty seven was totally destroyed. Emily's house was number twenty seven. He stood staring in shock, feeling as if he had just lost something important. He heard fire engines and saw neighbours starting to file out of their homes. He quickly blended into the night and made his way back to the car.

He brooded all the way back home. He dialled the office again and listened to Emily's message. On impulse he dialled the cell number she had given. It went to voicemail. Cullen hesitated a second and then decided to leave a message, just in case. "Emily, it's Cullen. I'm really hoping you get this message and that you weren't at your house tonight when it blew up. This is my cell number. You can trust any call that comes from this number. Don't answer any other calls to your cell. Call me when you get this."

Emily stared at her cell when it rang. It was an unknown cell number. She was too afraid to answer it in case Arthur had passed her number to someone. For the moment, whoever had destroyed her house would assume she was in it. That bought her some time to figure out what she was going to do. Her cell beeped to say she had a voicemail. She dialled the messaging service and listened. She breathed a deep sigh of relief as she heard Cullen's voice. She quickly added his number to her cell and then dialled it.

"Emily?" Cullen asked quietly when he picked up the phone.

"Cullen," she breathed softly, her voice shaky. "He blew up my house!"

"I know. I was on my way over when it blew. I thought you were in there," Cullen said, relief in his voice. "Where are you?"

"At a hotel," Emily replied. "There was something about the look on your face tonight that set me on edge so I packed an overnight bag and booked into a hotel a few streets away from mine. The fire engines woke me up."

"Tell me the name, Emily, and I'll come and get you," Cullen said, his voice sounding determined.

"Why were you on your way over to mine?" she asked, just registering what he'd said before.

Cullen sighed. "I did some online research and found your address in next to no time. I was concerned about how easily it was to find you. I know Belmont well, Emily. I know what he's capable of. I decided to come over and check you were okay and then all hell broke loose."

She was silent on the other end of the line for a moment, then she gave him the hotel name and her room number.

"I'll be there in twenty minutes," Cullen told her. "Don't answer your phone to anyone and don't open the door to anyone but me."

He rang off and Emily jumped up and quickly packed her overnight bag. She sat on the bed and waited.

Cullen couldn't understand the relief that came over him when his cell had rang and he recognised the number as Emily's. She was alive. Now he just needed to keep her that way until Belmont was taken care of. He drove quickly to her hotel and reached her room unobserved by human eyes. He knocked softly, "Emily, it's Cullen," he called.

He heard her approach to door hesitantly and guessed she was looking through the peek hole. He stood still so she could see his face clearer. Finally the door unlocked and he slipped inside quickly, locking the door behind him.

Cullen examined her face and saw that she had been crying and she was afraid. She was also very angry too. He smiled at her bravery and she glared at him, her violet eyes flashing.

"What are you grinning at?" she snapped angrily. "My house has just been blown up. I fail to see anything funny in that."

Cullen struggled to contain another smile. "I was just admiring your bravery," he said honestly, his voice heavy with approval. "Your whole world has just gone pear shaped but you're not giving into the fear. I admire that."

Emily watched him intently and saw that he was being honest. "I'm scared to death," she said quietly. "But I'm also hopping mad that he blew up my house. I guess the anger is sustaining me at the moment."

"Did you lose anything irreplaceable?"  he asked gently.

She shook her head. "I'm a child of the digital age," she said with a small smile. "All my photographs etc are on my laptop hard drive with an online backup. It's just material things that have been lost and they can be replaced."

He commended her spirit and reached down for her laptop and overnight bag after handing her a long coat. "Put your hat on and slide into the coat," he said. "I don't think there is any further danger tonight but there's no point in being reckless."

She did as he said and then followed him from the room. "Don't bother checking out," he told her. "Just head straight out to my car, it's the silver Volvo."

Cullen was quiet as he drove to his house. He saw her glance at him a few times with a thoughtful look on her face but she never spoke. He activated the gates to his house and quickly drove up the long driveway.

"I thought we were going to your house, not a palace," Emily said with a snort when the house came into view.

Cullen laughed. "It's not a palace. It's just a big house. You didn't ask the size of it."

"It's a monster!" she gasped getting out the car. "How many people live here?"

Cullen looked slightly embarrassed. "Just me."

She stared at him and then shook her head. "Some people have way too much money," she muttered under her breath.

Cullen didn't let on that he heard her perfectly. She was very observant as it was. He was really going to have to watch himself while she was around.

He opened the door and stood back to let her enter first.

Emily stopped in the large hallway, her eyes wide. She wasn't sure what she was expecting from the outside but the stripped wood on the floor and the beautifully carved wooden staircase wasn't it. Despite the hallway being large, the dark wood gave it a cosy feel as well as the plush rug in the centre of the floor.

"Wow," she said softly, her eyes trying to take in all the different details of the room at once.

Cullen felt a smile tug at his mouth. He was surprised to note how pleasing it was to him that she liked his home.

"The sitting room‘s to the left," he said, setting her bags down on one of the hall chairs. "I'll just be a moment."

He checked the house was secure and then activated his security system. No human could breach it and he was almost certain that no supernatural being could either.

He watched Emily walk around the sitting room slowly, her little hands trailing over the furniture as she examined every nook and cranny. She was smiling slightly.

"So is this another wow or is it just okay?" he asked with a slight smile.

"Your home is beautiful," she said softly. "You really like wood and the colour brown."

"I guess I do," he replied choosing to sit in his favourite brown leather armchair.

She was right. Most of his furnishings were brown or cream and all the lower part of the house had stripped floorboards. He hadn't consciously chosen that colour scheme. He had just filled the house over the years with things that he liked.

Emily moved to sit on one of the large leather sofas. She chose the one directly across from him and watched him intently.

"So, do you have a plan of action?" Cullen asked. He had his own ideas but from their brief conversation earlier on he had quickly deduced that she would not react favourably to being told what to do.

"Only one," she said with a frown. "To take Belmont down whilst trying to not jeopardise the livelihoods of his employees."

Cullen watched her with a thoughtful expression. "That may not be possible," he finally said. "It's to your credit that you care about the people working at Belmont Industries but they're not your responsibility, Emily. They're Belmont's and he has sold them down the river."

"These people have families, children," she said angrily. "Why should they lose everything because of Arthur's greed?"

"That's how it is sometimes in the business world," Cullen sighed, his jaw tightening. "It's unfortunate, but it happens."

"So if Cullen and Cross acquire the company, you're going to lay off the staff? Break up the company and sell off the bits you don't want? What, Cullen? Tell me what you'd do."

"Emily, you need to be realistic in the business," Cullen said, his voice hard. "It's all very well to have lofty goals and ideals but when push comes to shove you have to do what is best for your own financial security."

The look of total disappointment on her face bothered Cullen.

"I thought Cullen and Cross was better than that," she said, her tone heavy with disappointment. "I read up about you tonight before I called. Your website is exemplary, Cullen. It sucked me right in, hook, line and sinker. You should give your web designer a bonus for their sterling work."

Her words angered him and he glared at her. "Emily," he started to say but she stood up, cutting him off.

"I'd really like to try and get some sleep now. It's been a pretty traumatic night. Could you show me to the room I can use?

Cullen frowned at her and then nodded and escorted her to one of the guest bedrooms. He carried her things up for her and showed her the en-suite bathroom. Then he left her and headed downstairs to his study.

He dialled Dorian's number and filled him in with what had happened.

"You took her home," Dorian said in disbelief. "Was that smart?"

Cullen chuckled. "Probably not. She's irritating the hell out of me already. I've already earned her disapproval for not promising to save the jobs at Belmont Industries once we acquire it."

"But we haven't decided what we're going to do yet," Dorian answered.

"She jumped to conclusions when I was trying to explain the harsh realities of business life. She seemed determined to find fault with me and I couldn't be bothered to argue with her."

"But she will give us the proof she gathered?"

"She has no choice," Cullen sighed. "Belmont tried to kill her tonight. We're her only hope of getting out of this in one piece."

"Okay, I'll see you both at the office tomorrow. Make it about ten," Dorian said and rung off.

Emily couldn't understand why she felt so disappointment at Cullen's cavalier attitude towards Belmont's workers. She called him a few rude names under her breath as she put on her pyjamas and climbed into the huge four poster bed.

She lay there trying to figure out what she was going to do. If she couldn't protect Belmont's staff then there was no point giving the information to Cullen. She'd be just as well going straight to the authorities first thing tomorrow. But Arthur may have someone watching for her doing that. She groaned and then settled down to sleep. Maybe tomorrow would bring her answers.

Cullen headed to his room. He paused outside her bedroom door and listened to the sound of Emily's deep, slow breathing. He could hear her heart beating slowly as she slept. He was tempted to peek into the room but decided against it and continued down the hall to his personal wing of the house.

TO BE CONTINUED. ....

A Reluctant Love Ch 01

Chapter One:  Throw Back Thursday StoryCullen also did some homework when he got home. He looked up Emily Swan online and found that she had indeed been a child prodigy, specialising in mathematics and accountancy. She had graduated Harvard with the highest honours when she was only sixteen. She was known to be one of the finest minds in the accountancy field and usually freelanced, offering her skills as a trouble-shooter to assist various companies. She was now twenty two years of age and very successful. Cullen cursed out loud when he saw how easy it was for him to find out all about her with just a few keystrokes. He'd even managed to track down her home address for Christ sake! The woman was a bloody sitting target.Cullen paced around his study for a while and then decided to check the office voice mail. He was expecting a call from Tokyo and they were a bit dumb when it came to the time difference. It wouldn't be the first time they'd left a voicemail message at two in the morning. He breathed in sharply as he heard Emily's voice on the voicemail. She'd contacted them for another meeting. Maybe his words had gotten through to her.He found himself climbing into his car ten minutes later. He drove to where Emily lived. He told himself he was just keeping an eye on their investment but what he really wanted was to see her house. He wanted to check that there weren't any suspicious characters hanging around her place. He was just coming up to her street when there was a huge explosion. He did an emergency stop at the side of the road and got out the car. Cullen sprinted at superhuman speed into the night, coming to an abrupt standstill. Number twenty seven was totally destroyed. Emily's house was number twenty seven. He stood staring in shock, feeling as if he had just lost something important. He heard fire engines and saw neighbours starting to file out of their homes. He quickly blended into the night and made his way back to the car.He brooded all the way back home. He dialled the office again and listened to Emily's message. On impulse he dialled the cell number she had given. It went to voicemail. Cullen hesitated a second and then decided to leave a message, just in case. "Emily, it's Cullen. I'm really hoping you get this message and that you weren't at your house tonight when it blew up. This is my cell number. You can trust any call that comes from this number. Don't answer any other calls to your cell. Call me when you get this."Emily stared at her cell when it rang. It was an unknown cell number. She was too afraid to answer it in case Arthur had passed her number to someone. For the moment, whoever had destroyed her house would assume she was in it. That bought her some time to figure out what she was going to do. Her cell beeped to say she had a voicemail. She dialled the messaging service and listened. She breathed a deep sigh of relief as she heard Cullen's voice. She quickly added his number to her cell and then dialled it."Emily?" Cullen asked quietly when he picked up the phone."Cullen," she breathed softly, her voice shaky. "He blew up my house!""I know. I was on my way over when it blew. I thought you were in there," Cullen said, relief in his voice. "Where are you?""At a hotel," Emily replied. "There was something about the look on your face tonight that set me on edge so I packed an overnight bag and booked into a hotel a few streets away from mine. The fire engines woke me up.""Tell me the name, Emily, and I'll come and get you," Cullen said, his voice sounding determined."Why were you on your way over to mine?" she asked, just registering what he'd said before.Cullen sighed. "I did some online research and found your address in next to no time. I was concerned about how easily it was to find you. I know Belmont well, Emily. I know what he's capable of. I decided to come over and check you were okay and then all hell broke loose."She was silent on the other end of the line for a moment, then she gave him the hotel name and her room number."I'll be there in twenty minutes," Cullen told her. "Don't answer your phone to anyone and don't open the door to anyone but me."He rang off and Emily jumped up and quickly packed her overnight bag. She sat on the bed and waited.Cullen couldn't understand the relief that came over him when his cell had rang and he recognised the number as Emily's. She was alive. Now he just needed to keep her that way until Belmont was taken care of. He drove quickly to her hotel and reached her room unobserved by human eyes. He knocked softly, "Emily, it's Cullen," he called.He heard her approach to door hesitantly and guessed she was looking through the peek hole. He stood still so she could see his face clearer. Finally the door unlocked and he slipped inside quickly, locking the door behind him.Cullen examined her face and saw that she had been crying and she was afraid. She was also very angry too. He smiled at her bravery and she glared at him, her violet eyes flashing."What are you grinning at?" she snapped angrily. "My house has just been blown up. I fail to see anything funny in that."Cullen struggled to contain another smile. "I was just admiring your bravery," he said honestly, his voice heavy with approval. "Your whole world has just gone pear shaped but you're not giving into the fear. I admire that."Emily watched him intently and saw that he was being honest. "I'm scared to death," she said quietly. "But I'm also hopping mad that he blew up my house. I guess the anger is sustaining me at the moment.""Did you lose anything irreplaceable?"  he asked gently.She shook her head. "I'm a child of the digital age," she said with a small smile. "All my photographs etc are on my laptop hard drive with an online backup. It's just material things that have been lost and they can be replaced."He commended her spirit and reached down for her laptop and overnight bag after handing her a long coat. "Put your hat on and slide into the coat," he said. "I don't think there is any further danger tonight but there's no point in being reckless."She did as he said and then followed him from the room. "Don't bother checking out," he told her. "Just head straight out to my car, it's the silver Volvo."Cullen was quiet as he drove to his house. He saw her glance at him a few times with a thoughtful look on her face but she never spoke. He activated the gates to his house and quickly drove up the long driveway."I thought we were going to your house, not a palace," Emily said with a snort when the house came into view.Cullen laughed. "It's not a palace. It's just a big house. You didn't ask the size of it.""It's a monster!" she gasped getting out the car. "How many people live here?"Cullen looked slightly embarrassed. "Just me."She stared at him and then shook her head. "Some people have way too much money," she muttered under her breath.Cullen didn't let on that he heard her perfectly. She was very observant as it was. He was really going to have to watch himself while she was around.He opened the door and stood back to let her enter first. Emily stopped in the large hallway, her eyes wide. She wasn't sure what she was expecting from the outside but the stripped wood on the floor and the beautifully carved wooden staircase wasn't it. Despite the hallway being large, the dark wood gave it a cosy feel as well as the plush rug in the centre of the floor."Wow," she said softly, her eyes trying to take in all the different details of the room at once.Cullen felt a smile tug at his mouth. He was surprised to note how pleasing it was to him that she liked his home."The sitting room‘s to the left," he said, setting her bags down on one of the hall chairs. "I'll just be a moment."He checked the house was secure and then activated his security system. No human could breach it and he was almost certain that no supernatural being could either.He watched Emily walk around the sitting room slowly, her little hands trailing over the furniture as she examined every nook and cranny. She was smiling slightly."So is this another wow or is it just okay?" he asked with a slight smile."Your home is beautiful," she said softly. "You really like wood and the colour brown.""I guess I do," he replied choosing to sit in his favourite brown leather armchair.She was right. Most of his furnishings were brown or cream and all the lower part of the house had stripped floorboards. He hadn't consciously chosen that colour scheme. He had just filled the house over the years with things that he liked.Emily moved to sit on one of the large leather sofas. She chose the one directly across from him and watched him intently."So, do you have a plan of action?" Cullen asked. He had his own ideas but from their brief conversation earlier on he had quickly deduced that she would not react favourably to being told what to do."Only one," she said with a frown. "To take Belmont down whilst trying to not jeopardise the livelihoods of his employees."Cullen watched her with a thoughtful expression. "That may not be possible," he finally said. "It's to your credit that you care about the people working at Belmont Industries but they're not your responsibility, Emily. They're Belmont's and he has sold them down the river.""These people have families, children," she said angrily. "Why should they lose everything because of Arthur's greed?""That's how it is sometimes in the business world," Cullen sighed, his jaw tightening. "It's unfortunate, but it happens.""So if Cullen and Cross acquire the company, you're going to lay off the staff? Break up the company and sell off the bits you don't want? What, Cullen? Tell me what you'd do.""Emily, you need to be realistic in the business," Cullen said, his voice hard. "It's all very well to have lofty goals and ideals but when push comes to shove you have to do what is best for your own financial security."The look of total disappointment on her face bothered Cullen."I thought Cullen and Cross was better than that," she said, her tone heavy with disappointment. "I read up about you tonight before I called. Your website is exemplary, Cullen. It sucked me right in, hook, line and sinker. You should give your web designer a bonus for their sterling work."Her words angered him and he glared at her. "Emily," he started to say but she stood up, cutting him off."I'd really like to try and get some sleep now. It's been a pretty traumatic night. Could you show me to the room I can use?Cullen frowned at her and then nodded and escorted her to one of the guest bedrooms. He carried her things up for her and showed her the en-suite bathroom. Then he left her and headed downstairs to his study.He dialled Dorian's number and filled him in with what had happened."You took her home," Dorian said in disbelief. "Was that smart?"Cullen chuckled. "Probably not. She's irritating the hell out of me already. I've already earned her disapproval for not promising to save the jobs at Belmont Industries once we acquire it.""But we haven't decided what we're going to do yet," Dorian answered."She jumped to conclusions when I was trying to explain the harsh realities of business life. She seemed determined to find fault with me and I couldn't be bothered to argue with her.""But she will give us the proof she gathered?""She has no choice," Cullen sighed. "Belmont tried to kill her tonight. We're her only hope of getting out of this in one piece.""Okay, I'll see you both at the office tomorrow. Make it about ten," Dorian said and rung off.Emily couldn't understand why she felt so disappointment at Cullen's cavalier attitude towards Belmont's workers. She called him a few rude names under her breath as she put on her pyjamas and climbed into the huge four poster bed.She lay there trying to figure out what she was going to do. If she couldn't protect Belmont's staff then there was no point giving the information to Cullen. She'd be just as well going straight to the authorities first thing tomorrow. But Arthur may have someone watching for her doing that. She groaned and then settled down to sleep. Maybe tomorrow would bring her answers.Cullen headed to his room. He paused outside her bedroom door and listened to the sound of Emily's deep, slow breathing. He could hear her heart beating slowly as she slept. He was tempted to peek into the room but decided against it and continued down the hall to his personal wing of the house.This is Caleb (Sebastian)  & Annie's (Emily) orginal story that Jaz wrote and so every kindly decided to share with us. This is only the first part much more to come.Cullen was bored. He was leaning against an ornate fireplace in a large, elegant ballroom. The room was full of people all dressed up in their best finery. Everyone in the business world wanted an invitation to Arthur Belmont’s summer ball. Everyone except Cullen. He was here because his oldest friend Dorian had convinced him that they needed to do some investigative work to find out if the whisper they had heard about Belmont was true.Cullen’s golden brown eyes surveyed the room until he spotted Dorian. His friend was surrounded by a bevy of beauties as per usual. Cullen’s generous lips twitched in a small smile as he watched his friend dazzle the ladies. Women flocked to Dorian. He was incredibly beautiful to look at, his face handsome and strong, with sparkling deep blues eyes and a ready smile. Throw in the long blond hair and lean, six foot four frame and women melted at his feet. The slight hint of mystery and danger that surrounded his friend wooed the ladies in. If only they knew what he really was.Cullen sighed and pushed a lock of long golden brown hair over his shoulder. He was almost as tall as Dorian, just an inch shorter. His frame was more muscular, his shoulders wide and strong. He knew he looked impressive to the ladies too. His face was strong and beautiful like Dorian. He had bucked convention by adding a black silk shirt to his black suit and forgoing a tie. Dorian had frowned when he saw him earlier but had wisely kept his mouth shut. He knew Cullen would simply refuse to go to the party if he gave him any grief about his attire.Cullen sighed and ran his bored eyes quickly around the room again. He almost missed the tiny woman standing off to the side of the buffet table. He sipped at his glass of red wine as he ran his eyes quickly over her. It was the shock of auburn curls cascading down her back which had caught his initial attention. Her hair was beautiful, like a living flame under the light shining down on her. He examined her face, taking in the violet eyes and small upturned nose and wide generous lips. Put together they made up a very beautiful face. He drew his eyes down her body. She was so small, barely five foot tall. Her dress stopped just above her knees. It was deep purple and had a low cut bodice and thin straps. The dress hugged her breasts and waist snugly before flowing gently into a wide skirt. Her calves were very shapely and her tiny feet were encased in three inch purple sandals.Cullen was surprised to feel his body stir as he looked her over. She was far from his usual type. He preferred tall women with generous curves, usually blondes. But something about this tiny woman captured his interest.He felt, rather than heard, Dorian arrive at his side, meaning his friend was trying to sneak up on him.“Tired of the ladies?” Cullen asked drolly still looking at the woman.His friend followed his gaze. “Very nice,” Dorian smiled appreciatively. “Not your usual type though.” He turned back to Cullen and sipped at his wine. “I’d kill for some blood to slip in this glass,” he grumbled. “Red wine is practically intolerable without it.”“Not here,” Cullen admonished.“I wasn’t going to,” Dorian sighed dramatically. “I was just saying it would be nice.”“Have you heard anything?” Cullen asked, changing the subject.Dorian shook his head. “It would help if you mingled a bit, Cullen, instead of leaving me to do all the work,” his voice was slightly petulant.“Fine,” Cullen breathed deeply. “I’ll mingle.” He straightened up and began to make his way towards the buffet table. He felt an irresistible pull to be closer to the tiny woman. He hovered close enough to catch her scent. He smelled lavender on her creamy white skin. It was a very heady scent.From the corner of his eye he saw Arthur Belmont approaching and stiffened but the man was headed towards the woman who had caught his interest, not himself. He didn’t like the suggestive way the fat, balding, middle aged man looked at the girl as he approached. He was old enough to be her father. Cullen smiled inwardly as soon as the thought crossed his mind. What would that make him, being almost two millennia old. He couldn’t even begin to work out how many ‘Greats’ would be involved.“Emily,” Belmont crooned as he reach the tiny woman. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here tonight. You should have told me you were coming, my dear.”“It was a last minute decision, Arthur,” the woman called Emily answered, allowing him to kiss her cheek lightly. Emily, Cullen mused. The name seemed to roll off his tongue nicely and her voice had a distinctive musical lilt about it. His reaction to her was surprising him more with each passing moment.“So what changed your mind, my dear?” Belmont was saying. “You were adamant earlier that you wouldn’t be attending.”“Something cropped up that I wanted to speak to you about,” she answered, her face serious.“Couldn’t it have waited until tomorrow at work?” Belmont asked, his voice not as jolly as it had been.“Oh, there were two and half million reasons why it couldn’t wait,” Emily said pointedly.Cullen saw Belmont freeze and the oily smile slip off his face. “I don’t know what you mean,” he finally said.The tiny woman frowned at him, her expression annoyed. “I think you do, Arthur,” she replied. “You’re not very bright, are you?”It was obvious she wasn’t expecting an answer to that question. “You should have hired an accountant who was an idiot, Arthur, not a child prodigy who would pick up your embezzlement in less than three months,” she continued her voice thick with distain.“Keep your voice down,” Belmont hissed grabbing her arm tightly. “I don’t know what you think you know, Emily, but you will forget it right away. Am I making myself clear?”“You’re hurting my arm,” she said coolly, not the least intimidated by him. “I suggest you let go before I decide to act all helpless and terrified and start screaming the house down.”Belmont let go of her immediately. “What are you going to do, Emily?” he finally asked.“Well that depends on whether or not you have the money, Arthur,” she said quietly. “If you have the money then I suggest you put it back into the company straight away. I can cover your tracks so that no one will find out it was ever missing. Then you can resign from the board and accept a nice annual salary from the company but have no further dealings with the day to day running of the company,” she paused and let that sink in. “If you don’t have the money then we have a big problem,” she continued. “Your company will be bankrupt and ripe for a hostile takeover and at a rock bottom price. Not only that, but if I don’t report your embezzlement then I risk being locked up for the rest of my life even though I had nothing to do with your greed. I’m not going to let that happen, Arthur.”“You could leave now without anyone being any the wiser,” Belmont countered. “You’ve only been at the company a few months. No one would guess that you had any prior knowledge of the missing money. And I would give you an excellent settlement figure.”Emily stared at him in disgust. “You have over three hundred people working for you, Arthur,” she said, her voice dripping with disapproval. “They rely on you for their livelihoods. You’re stealing their pensions, their security. They have no idea that their lives are about to come crashing down around them because you’re a greedy bastard. I don’t want your money and I have no intention of turning a blind eye either. Return the money, Arthur. I’m giving you one week and then I’m going to the authorities and turning you in. Hopefully most of the staff would be able to keep their jobs if the business is taken over.”Belmont flashed a look of pure hatred at the woman. “You are making a grave mistake, Emily,” he said, his voice full of venom. “I suggest you think about my offer very carefully before you dismiss it. Accidents can happen very easily.”He spun on his heels and walked away. The tiny woman watched him go, a slight frown on her face. Belmont’s meaning was perfectly clear to her. He had just threatened her life. Cullen watched her mull over Belmont’s last words for a moment, then she crossed the room and headed for the coat check area. Cullen shot a quick thought to Dorian and followed her.Dorian met him outside and he quickly filled his friend in on the overheard conversation as they waited for the girl to come out of the house.“So he’s been embezzling,” Dorian crowed with delight. “He’s handed us the company on a plate.”“We need to convince the girl to give us the proof,” Cullen said. “She’s a tough cookie but I think Belmont may have rattled her a bit with his parting shot. He all but said he’d have her killed if she didn’t keep her mouth shut.” He frowned as he spoke. He had felt anger when Belmont had said that to the tiny woman. It had surprised him but then everything about the woman was surprising him tonight. He guessed her to be about twenty three but she was a fully qualified accountant by the sounds of things. She had mentioned something about a child prodigy though. Maybe that explained things.The woman exited the house and walked down the stairs. Cullen and Dorian moved towards her and she stopped in her tracks and stared at them, her expression guarded.Oh my God, Emily thought when two Greek Gods appeared in her path. She knew they weren’t really Gods but they were so stunningly beautiful they took her breath away. Was long hair on men back in style? she wondered as she looked them over. Squaring her shoulders she decided to take the bull by the horns. “Let me guess, Arthur sent you?” she asked, her voice tense.“On the contrary, I believe Belmont would be most upset if he knew we were talking with you,” the blond man said giving her a charming smile. She sucked in her breath as he literally dazzled her and then she frowned.“I bet you get a lot of women that way,” she said dryly. “Won’t work on me though. Men don’t call me the Ice Maiden for nothing.” She saw the brown haired man’s lips twitch in a smile as the blond one looked crestfallen.“Forgive my friend, he’s not used to rejection,” the brown haired man said quietly. “I’m Sebastian Cullen and this is Dorian Cross.”“Emily Swan,” she said. “So, Cullen and Cross. Guess I now know who’s been sniffing around Belmont’s recently.”Cullen looked surprised and Emily couldn’t help but smile as she realised that she was probably one of only a handful of people who could put these two self assured men on the back foot.“I was always a nosey child,” she said. “My mum always said it would get me into trouble. You’ve been very subtle about it but I picked up a rumour last week. I just didn’t know who it was.”“You didn’t tell Belmont that there was someone already looking at the company,” Cullen said.Emily frowned at him. “Were you listening to our conversation?” she asked suspiciously.“To every word,” he admitted his expression unrepentant. Emily suddenly continued down the stairs. “I’m not going to help you ruin Belmont Industries,” she said firmly, stepping around them and onto the pavement.“We don’t want to ruin the company, Miss Swan,” Dorian said following her. “We just want to buy it.”“Then pay full market value for it and stop trying to find a backdoor in,” she called over her shoulder.“There’s two and a half millions reasons why we won’t pay full market value for it,” Cullen said coolly.Emily halted and turned around. “You really did hear every word,” she said thoughtfully.“The part I found really interesting was when Belmont talked about accident’s happening,” Cullen answered. “You don’t seem very concerned, Emily.”“I suppose this is the part when you try and play on my fears so that I’ll gratefully accept your protection in exchange for handing over the proof of Arthur’s embezzlement,” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.“I’m not playing on anything,” Cullen snapped. “Belmont is not to be taken lightly. He wouldn’t think twice about getting you out of the way to protect his secret.  You’re not a stupid woman, Emily. Don’t play dumb now.”Emily stared at them both and then shook her head. “Thank you for your concern and advice. I will take it under advisement. Now if you’ll excuse me, I reckon I have less that twenty four hours to get some protection in place. I figure it will take Arthur that long to really make up his mind. Good evening to you both.” She spun around and headed off down the street.“Interesting woman,” Dorian said quietly. “We could use someone like her.”“She’s a bloody fool,” Cullen growled angrily. “She has no concept of how dangerous Belmont is, despite her brave words.”Dorian eyed his friend thoughtfully. “It’s not like you to let a human woman get under your skin,” he laughed. “Have your hormones kicked in? Just follow her home and glamour her. I’m sure she’ll be receptive to your charms once you get started.”Cullen snorted and shot his friend a murderous glare. “It’s the proof against Belmont I want, not her.” He muttered angrily.Emily hurried home, glancing back a couple of times. It didn’t appear the two men were following her. She was worried. She could see that Cullen seriously believed that she was in danger from Arthur. She had initially thought that Arthur’s words had been all bluster but now she wasn’t so sure. Cullen and Cross were well known in the business community. They seemed to have a finger in many pies and were always one step ahead of the competition. If they were concerned about Arthur Belmont then so should she be.On impulse, she packed an overnight bag when she got home and headed back out to find a room for the night in one of the local hotels. She felt a bit better once she was securely ensconced in her hotel room. She flipped open her laptop and connected wirelessly to the internet. She did a quick background check on Cullen and Cross. She liked what she read. Their business ethics were above reproach and they supported quite a few local charities.She picked up her cell phone and dialled the number on their website. Voicemail picked up her call as she expected. “This is a message for Sebastian Cullen,” she said quickly. “It’s Emily Swan. I’d like to meet with you and Cross again and discuss things further. You can contact me on 07938 444555.” She hung up and turned off her laptop and went to bed.She was woken by screaming sirens in the early hours of the morning. There was a large bang and the windows of her room shook. Jumping up, Emily ran to the window and stared outside. The night sky was red and orange off in the distance. Something was on fire. Fire engines were screaming down the road past the hotel.Emily threw on a pair of jeans and a T shirt then gathered her hair up and pulled on the old woollen hat she’d had forever. She slipped on her jacket and headed outside towards the glowing red sky. She moved quickly, her heart starting to beat faster and faster as the wailing engines and bright flames drew her closer and closer towards the street where she lived. She just knew what she would see when she turned the corner. Her house was on fire. It was totally destroyed and firemen were trying to put the blaze out. She moaned in distress and quickly headed back the way she had come. She made it back to her hotel room before the fear sank in and then she burst into tears. If she hadn’t acted on impulse tonight because of Cullen’s words, she would be dead. She lay down on the bed and took deep breaths to try and calm herself down. She couldn’t go to pieces. She had what she really needed with her. Now she needed to make a plan of action.To be Continued......