by Faye Avalon
“One that can be easily solved. Don’t follow me.”
He strolled about the room, taking care to keep the door in sight should she decide to make a break for it. But she didn’t move, just folded her arms across her chest. It pleased him. He didn’t want her to leave before he’d set out his proposition, and before she’d given herself time to think it over.
“I’m sorry that you discovered the truth about me in such an abrupt, and perhaps brutal manner. My intention was not for that to happen, but to lead you in slowly and ensure you were given enough time to absorb and accept the reality of who I am.”
“Like I said, there isn’t enough time in the world for me to do that.”
He nudged the small selection of books on her bedside table. Every one of them non-fiction, either about kick-starting a career or changing it. He tried not to smile. “Did you forget to pack these? You must indeed be in a hurry to escape me.”
She looked down at the books, her expression alerting him to the fact she had indeed forgotten them.
“Have you made a decision?”
She met his gaze. “I wasn’t aware there was one to be made.”
He nudged the books again. “From the subject matter of your reading material, I gather you don’t intend working in dead-end jobs like this one for ever.” Pointedly, he glanced around the small, cramped room. “Or to spend your nights languishing in less than stellar surroundings. I imagine you are missing a more grandiose lifestyle. One that I am more than happy to provide you with.”
When they were together, he had lavished everything on her that a woman could desire. Designer clothes, shoes, jewels… She had left every single thing he’d ever given her behind when she’d run from him.
“I don’t need luxury to survive. I prefer the kind of simplicity that comes with truth, honesty, integrity.”
“Which you are implying I do not possess?”
“You lied to me,” she said, her arms tight across her chest. “Pretended to be something you’re not.”
“I did neither.” Surprised at how her words carved at his perception of himself, he moved toward her. “But you haven’t answered my question. About what you’re planning to do with your career.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“On the contrary. Since I received no formal notification of your desire to terminate your employment, technically I am still your employer.”
She glared at him. “Then consider this conversation formal notification.”
“That would be a pity. You showed such excellent promise with your work on security software. A shame to waste that promise simply because you have an issue with me.”
Those blue eyes went wide as her arms fell to her sides. She balled her hands into fists. “Simply because I have an issue with you? An issue? You have the ability to change into a … wolf.” She shook her head. “I can still hardly believe it.”
“Such an ability is not of my choosing.” Strange that he felt compelled to tell her that. He rarely voiced it even to himself. He’d long ago come to terms with what he was.
His nostrils flared as he scented a change in her. The harsh look in her eyes softened, her fingers unfurled, yet she seemed a little hesitant.
“What do you mean? Weren’t you born that way?”
He shrugged. He had no intention of reliving that time, or of giving away any more of his secrets. Not even to her. “I have a proposition for you.”
She turned wary again, as if anticipating he might shift into his animal state at any moment. “I’m not interested.”
“Come back to London with me,” he said quickly, not wanting to give her the opportunity to think too deeply on what he was about to offer. “You can resume your position in my company, continue your training program, and I will do everything in my power to help you progress on the career ladder.”
Briefly, her eyes widened, before turning circumspect once more. “I can pick up my career anywhere, not just in London with your company.”
“Undoubtedly you could. With the proper references.”
The look she threw him made him feel like a complete bastard. But desperate men did desperate things when the woman they wanted was determined to keep them at arm’s length.
“I want to challenge you on that,” she said, folding her arms again. “But I know you’re ruthless enough to withhold those references.”
Da. She made him feel like a bastard.
“So, what’s the catch?”
“No catch.”
Her eyes held suspicion, contempt even. He preferred it to the fear. “Come on. Obviously, to have my old job back, my old life, I have to sleep with you again.”
The front of his trousers grew tight, prompted by the thought of her back in his bed. At his mercy. Just the way he liked her. “That is one viewpoint.”
“There’s another?”
“There’s always another.” He ventured closer, as if an invisible cord drew him to her. “Remember how content you were, milaya? How pleasurable you found my lovemaking? The fullness of your breasts when I touched them, the way your nipples hardened with the merest flick of my thumb. How you moaned with delight when my tongue found your sweet spot, and how you screamed my name when you climaxed. The way you rocked your hips in time to the deep thrusts of my cock inside you.” He drew in a much-needed breath. “Ah, my nights are filled with such memories.”
Pink tinged her cheeks, her pupils dilated.
“I see I have your full attention.”
“You were very good at sex,” she said with a shrug, her breath decidedly choppy. “Probably more to do with some primal instinct rather than skill or technique.”
How easily she could cut him to the bone. “Regardless, you were always reluctant to leave my bed.”
“Simply because you would not allow it.”
True. He wouldn’t. It had taken him six months to persuade her into his bed. Six long months. He liked to think his seductive skills would have been sharper had it not been for his numerous trips to the Far East where he was negotiating a particularly sensitive, and lucrative, deal. On his rare visits back to London he had taken every opportunity to seduce her. He’d even tried to get her to join him in Singapore, under the guise of work requirements, but she had knocked him back as relentlessly as he had pursued her.
When she had finally become his, it had taken one intimate taste of her, one intimate joining, and he had been driven to possess her, really possess her, to keep her captive, to make her his.
“Regarding your proposition,” she said dragging him from a private hell where his desire for her seemed only to escalate with each moment. “It’s simple then. You’re giving me the choice to either come back with you as your mistress and you’ll help me in my career. Or I can stay here and start from scratch, with nothing.”
He almost smiled. “Good try. But that’s not even close. Indeed, you have a choice, but not a particularly simple one. You can return with me, resume your career, your life. Or you can resign yourself to a future without prospects, without roots. For not only will I withhold a reference ensuring you would find it impossible to resume your career, I will make it my mission to track you wherever you run. You would never be free of me.”
“Why? Why would you do that?”
He had asked himself the question many times during the last four weeks, and he was no closer to an answer now than he was the moment he realized she had gone. All he knew was that he wanted her understanding and acceptance.
“I would do it because you leave me no other choice. All I ask is that you come back with me, give me the opportunity to prove to you that I am not something to be feared.”
“Not something to be feared? You’ve just told me that you’d be prepared to follow me, to stalk me.”
“I would be prepared to do anything to have you.” He hadn’t meant to reveal his innermost thoughts, but she had taken a few steps back from him again, and he feared she was about to reject his proposal. “I wou
ld make you my captive, my prisoner, if that is what it took.”
Her hand flew to her throat. “What?” Her eyes flicked nervously around the room before landing back on him. “You can’t do that. You’d never get away with it.”
“Test me on this and find out.”
Her face lost all color, and she rubbed her hand across her throat. “I can run out of here now. Tell the authorities that you intend holding me against my will.”
“You wouldn’t get far. And you would only succeed in pissing me off. Trust me, you would not want to do that.”
She swallowed, paling even more as her eyes fixed on his. Something pinched in his chest, but he wasn’t about to confess that his threats had been issued out of desperation. Indeed, they gave him little pleasure. But at heart he knew he would be prepared to do anything, would do whatever it took to have her back, and if he had to pressure her into realizing that, he would do so without compunction.
For one unsettling moment, he thought she would faint. Her eyes went blank, and she swayed a little. When he reached for her she snapped out of it.
“You are a monster.”
“No, my sweet. I am a wolf. And as you said earlier, I have sharp teeth and will not hesitate to use them.” He waited a beat. “And so, I would have your answer to my offer. What is it to be?”
Chapter Two
Connie wondered at what exact moment she had stepped into this nightmare. And how come she had never guessed that Tor was not the man she thought he was. Dear God, he had the ability to change into a wolf. How had she never guessed that there was something off about him? Maybe because there wasn’t, she thought now as she stared at him and tried to look past the shockingly civilized good looks to the wild animal beneath.
But she saw only lush dark hair, magnetic gray eyes, and a tall, muscular body that made her mouth water. And his hands… Hands that had the ability to manipulate her body into a frenzied mess before finally taking her to a dizzying completion.
Oh, why was she thinking such things? And at a time like this. When this man, this virtual stranger—for she hadn’t really known him at all—was effectively telling her that he would have no compunction in holding her a virtual prisoner should she decline his offer.
How quickly everything had slipped from unbelievably good to desperately bad.
From the moment she’d set eyes on him she’d found him attractive and compelling. He had taken little notice of her at first, seeming not to even know she existed. Until the night she’d played courier and walked in on him with two women in his bed. After that he had noticed her well enough, had pursued her relentlessly. But she’d been determined not to get involved with the boss. Her career meant far too much to her.
Images of her parents flashed through her mind. Connie had been their only child, arriving as a complete but entirely welcome surprise after her parents had given up hope of ever having a family. They had lived modestly, but Connie was never aware of lacking anything—emotionally or materially. Theirs had been a house of love, of nurture and support. She had received the best education, thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of her parents. It was only after their deaths that Connie discovered they had withdrawn a huge chunk of their pension plan in order to cover her university fees so that Connie could concentrate on getting the best degree possible. She had vowed there and then that she would honor them and not waste the opportunities they had given her.
It was one of the reasons she had tried so hard to resist Tor. She’d heard tell of too many occasions when a boss and employee relationship went bad, often leaving the employee to mourn the loss of their job while questioning their sanity in getting involved with the boss in the first place.
Despite how hard she’d tried to keep him at arm’s length, things had changed when he came into her office on a night she was working late. One minute they were talking, the next she was sprawled underneath him on her desk. They had become lovers, and she had delighted in his possessive nature, his overprotective streak, never before having enjoyed such single-minded attention from a man.
By mutual agreement, they had kept their professional relationship separate from their personal one, and it seemed to work extremely well for both of them.
Everything was perfect. Until that night a little over four weeks ago. The night when she had become possessive herself and, suspicious of the reasons for his sudden disappearance, had followed him out to the edge of the forest…
Her body trembled at the memory, and she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Tor was still looking at her, his hands in the pockets of his leather coat, waiting for her response.
What should she do? If she chose to go back with him, how could she sleep with him again? Apart from the fact he had kept such an incredible secret from her, he was a treacherous and unscrupulous individual. How had she never seen that before?
But what was the alternative? Whatever she decided, she would in essence become his captive. There was always the chance she could escape again, but to what end? Spending the rest of her life looking over her shoulder?
Men like Tor enjoyed the thrill of the chase, so having her run from him again would provide the ultimate challenge. He would take enormous pleasure in finding her again, and again. For however long she decided to run. Surely, her best chance of getting shot of him long term was letting him believe that she’d given up the fight. That he’d won. That she was his. He’d grow bored and would soon look for another challenge.
Until then, she would simply have to find a way to close her mind to the sex. Shut herself down. She would have to stop remembering how amazing it had been between them and face up to how it really was. How he really was. A predator who liked to control, to dominate. Since she didn’t feel the same way about him as before, she could certainly keep her emotions under tight control.
All she had to do was put her entire focus on her career. So that when he grew tired of her, as he undoubtedly would, she would still have a secure and promising future that didn’t require dead-end jobs with cash-only wages, and the constant need to look over her shoulder.
Resigned, she faced him squarely. “I want my old life back.”
He showed no reaction, just stood there with his hands in his pockets. Then he simply nodded and picked up her jacket. Still saying nothing, he held it out.
Connie hated his imperious acceptance of her response, as if he had known she had no real choice but to accept, and now was simply keen to hasten their departure back to London.
“You’re not going to say anything?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Like what?”
“I don’t know. Something along the lines of you know you’re being an unreasonable bastard who likes to manipulate and blackmail women?”
He shook the jacket, as if impatient for her to turn around and slip her arms into it. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Instead, she reached out and took it then slung it over her arm. He just picked up her bag.
“Shall we?” he said and opened the door. “I have a car waiting.”
“I need to speak to Trina and to Darius,” she said, playing for time. She knew that the moment she stepped into Tor’s car, there would be no going back.
Who was she kidding? There was no going back, and there was no going forward. While she was with him she would be his prisoner. All she could hope was that he would grow tired of her sooner rather than later, that he wouldn’t enjoy the conquest of an indifferent woman, or the boring acquiescence of an unexciting lover. He would soon lose interest. And she would be free.
“You’ve got five minutes,” he said standing back to let her pass through the doorway. “I’ll be outside. Don’t keep me waiting.” He caught her arm as she went to go down the stairs and brought his mouth close to her ear. “And don’t even think of trying to spin your friends a story. You don’t know what I’m capable of, my sweet, but cross me and you soon will.”
A cold chill swept over her at the hint of menace in his deeply accented voice
, and as she went down the stairs she slipped on the jacket. Since she already knew he was capable of stalking, blackmail, and in effect kidnapping, it wasn’t a far stretch to consider other more extreme actions he might dabble in.
Bloody hell. What had she gotten herself into?
At the bottom of the stairs she turned toward the staff bathroom at the back of the bar. She needed a minute, a small space of time to compose herself. Her head reeled, her stomach spinning.
She headed into a cubicle, pushed the lid down on the toilet, and sat. A couple of deep, slow breaths did little to still her nerves. She couldn’t believe how her life had taken such a traumatic turn in such a short time.
A little over a month ago she had been so deliriously happy.
****
Tor had booked an idyllic weekend in the New Forest, a beautiful woodland area in the south of England. He had business in nearby Southampton on the Friday, but the rest of the weekend was completely for the two of them. It was a rare occurrence, as Tor’s business often took him away to various parts of the world. Her own commitments in the company meant that she couldn’t go with him even if she’d wanted to, but since Tor spent the majority of time in meetings their time together would have been even more limited than when he was home.
But that New Forest weekend had been so different. Tor had been attentive and relaxed, a far cry from his usual focus on business. Even sex had been different. While he always gave Connie his undivided attention in bed and made sure she was as satiated as he was after their lovemaking, it seemed his whole attention was centered on her.
Saturday had been amazing. They’d risen late, and Tor had cooked a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, hash browns, and tomatoes, with the most delicious freshly baked bread from the local village shop. After breakfast they’d taken a long walk through the forest, enjoying sightings of the famed New Forest ponies which roamed freely.
She’d joked about Tor seeming to know instinctively where trails and paths led, more than once getting them back to where they needed to be when Connie had lost all sense of direction.
