Bound By His Desire

by Nicole Flockton

  ‘You make me feel so special, Nick.’ Pam whispered into his ear, her breath tickling the sensitive flesh of her neck.

  ‘Ditto, sweetheart, ditto.’

  ‘Any idea what you’ll be working on next?’ Pam asked as Nick drove them to the office. Her body was still relaxed from the morning wake up call Nick had treated her to.

  ‘Not sure, Luc wants to meet with me when I get in. He mentioned something about us sitting in on the marketing presentation for Jeffrey’s new jewellery line.’

  Pam recalled how Luc had been able to entice the brilliant but reclusive jewellery designer, Jeffrey Courteux, out of hiding to design a collection for the Regent Hotel chain Luc had bought a year ago.

  ‘I can’t wait to see the collection. Jasmine’s rings are gorgeous and the necklace Luc bought for her while they were in Broome is breathtaking. How on earth did Luc convince Jeffrey to design a new collection? Do you think he’ll be at the meeting?’

  Nick laughed at her excitement and she knew she sounded like a gauche school girl, but everyone she knew wanted to own a piece of Jeffrey’s jewellery and she had every chance of meeting him today.

  ‘I would imagine Luc presented a convincing case as to why designing a new collection would be of benefit to him. And yes, Luc would also make sure Jeff attended today’s meeting. It helps that the three of us went to university together too.’

  Pam swivelled in her seat in surprise. ‘You went to university together? All three of you? I didn’t realise you had to go to university to design jewellery. I would’ve thought art school would’ve been the place to study.’

  ‘Yes, we did all meet up at university. Jeff initially majored in business and minored in fine arts. But he found he definitely preferred the arts to business so he switched his majors and went from there.’

  Pam was having a hard time comprehending the information Nick had imparted to her. She also couldn’t believe that in a few short hours she’d be getting to meet a world-famous designer.

  ‘Why does he keep himself away from everyone?’

  ‘I don’t know. He’s never told Luc or I what happened. He finished his course and went over to Europe to study further. When he came back he bought a property on the outskirts of Broome and kept his contact with us to a minimum.’

  ‘So something happened while he was away but he never told you or Luc about it?’

  They pulled into the underground car park and, once Nick turned the engine off, he turned to her. ‘No, he didn’t. He pretty much kept to himself. Luc obviously saw him more than I did. Luc was determined not to let Jeff forget he had people who cared, so he made sure he contacted him regularly. So if at some stage Jeff confided in Luc, Luc hasn’t told me.’

  ‘I’m glad that you and Luc didn’t give up on him.’

  Nick gave a negligent shrug of his shoulders. ‘Friends don’t give up on each other. They’re always there to help when things get difficult.’ He reached out and ran a finger down her cheek. ‘Don’t forget that.’

  Pam recognised a hidden message when given one. Nick hadn’t forgotten about what they’d talked about that morning, he’d just given her the impression that he had.

  ‘I won’t.’

  Pam exited the car and they made their way to the underground elevator that would take them to the executive floor. Excitement corralled through her. She’d enjoyed being Nick’s assistant in New York and she couldn’t wait to continue in the position.

  The moment they arrived at the office, one of the marketing personnel immediately took Nick aside to discuss the upcoming meeting. Nick pointed her to an office at the end of the hallway.

  ‘I’ll be with you in a few minutes, Pam,’ he got out, before the other man ushered Nick into another room.

  Pam headed down the hallway and opened the door of the office Nick indicated. It was a large room, which had a desk she figured would be hers, and another door just to the left of the desk. Walking in, she placed her handbag on the desk and then opened the other door. As she’d suspected, it opened up to another room; a large desk dominated the room, and two sofas with a table in between them were placed to take advantage of the spectacular city view.

  She walked over to the windows and looked out. The river sparkled in the morning light as it wound its way around the city. It felt good to be home.

  ‘Pam, you’re back. How was New York?’

  She swivelled around to see Jasmine standing in the doorway, looking gorgeous. She moved towards her to give her a hug. ‘Jasmine, it’s good to see you. You’re looking beautiful today.’

  Jasmine laughed and patted her protruding stomach. ‘Thank you. So what did you think of New York? It’s amazing, isn’t it?’

  Pam thought about all she’d seen and done in the short time she had visited New York. ‘Amazing doesn’t even begin to describe it. I don’t think there are enough adjectives in the vocabulary.’

  ‘It is a bit that way. So, with you being here, does this mean you’re going to stay working with us? Just because I am taking a step back, doesn’t mean you have to leave.’

  Pam acknowledged the truth in Jasmine’s words. She’d reacted instinctively about resigning. ‘No, I plan on staying, that is if you think Luc will want to keep me on.’

  ‘I’m sure he will, you proved your worth in getting that deal back on track in New York. I knew you would be fantastic.’

  Heat crept up her neck from Jasmine’s compliments. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘You’re welcome, and now that you don’t have the stress of looking after your mother, may she rest in peace, you can travel and live a little.’

  Pam was saved from answering the question by the phone ringing. Her mum dying had left her with more stress but Jasmine didn’t know that. No one did.

  Jasmine waved on her way out as Pam dealt with the person on the phone. Pam smiled her goodbye.

  When she’d finished with the call and made the necessary notes to pass onto Nick, she reached into her purse and pulled out her mobile. Scrolling through the numbers, she found the one she was after.

  The time had come to find out exactly what she had to do to lift the caveat and be able to sell the house. Then she could concentrate on her career and Nick.

  Nick perused the papers outlining the goals and objectives of the upcoming meeting. He paused outside the suite of rooms housing his office. With the door ajar, Pam’s voice floated out to him. His hand hovered over the handle to push it open and let her know he was there, but something compelled him to wait.

  ‘I just need a little more time,’ her voice rose with each word and his curiosity was piqued. She needed more time for what?

  ‘I told you I was in the process of making arrangements to get you the money.’

  What was Pam talking about? He should make his presence known, he really should, but he wanted to see what she would say next. Did she have a gambling problem? If she did, she’d showed no signs of it while they were away. She showed no signs of any sort of addiction that would cause her to owe people money.

  ‘Look, I’m trying a different avenue now, something I’m pretty sure is going to work out, and then money will be no problem, trust me, I’ll have plenty to pay you and then have some left over.’

  Dread filled Nick’s stomach. There was a cynical edge in her tone. An edge he’d never heard before. Had he gotten Pam wrong? Was she like every other woman he’d gotten involved with, only interested in him because of his bank balance?

  Surely he couldn’t have read her wrong? It didn’t seem possible that everything he thought about her was the opposite of what she really was.

  ‘Fine, I’ll speak to you next week. By then I hope to have everything sorted out.’

  Nick heard the phone being placed on her desk and the soft curse she emitted. He would act as if he hadn’t heard her basically admitting she had found her ticket out of a financial hole and he happened to be that ticket. Taking a deep breath, he walked into the room, pushing the door open with more force than was s
trictly necessary.

  ‘Nick, you scared me.’

  He narrowed his eyes, watching her reaction with interest. Her eyes shifted between him and the door. He knew what was going through her mind — how much had he heard? A guilty flush crept up her neck, fanning out over her cheeks as she squirmed a little on her chair.

  ‘Did I interrupt something?’ He cocked an eyebrow in query.

  ‘No, no, not at all.’ She glanced at her computer screen and then back at him. ‘Are we heading into the meeting soon?’

  ‘Yes, I need to make a phone call and then we’ll head to the boardroom.’ His words were clipped and he could tell Pam didn’t know what was going on, which was fine with him. The thoughts he had earlier of taking their relationship to the next level, where he’d imagined a possible future, were slowly disintegrating with every passing second. He didn’t know if he could trust Pam now, and that hurt. It really hurt.

  The words of the advertising executive washed over him. Any other time, he would notice how attractive she was. He would even consider asking her out on a date, but at present his thoughts were a mass of tangled vines. He didn’t know where to start to unravel it. It also didn’t help that one of the other women from the agency kept staring at him. She was an older woman and he didn’t think he’d met her before, but her eyes had glommed onto him the moment he’d walked into the room. Even the stunning pieces of jewellery Jeffrey had laid out on the table hadn’t pulled the older woman’s contemplation from him. It was unnerving.

  Finally the meeting wound up. The general feeling around the table was that while the campaign was impressive, it didn’t stand out. Being a generic type of campaign it could be success or it could fall flat on its face, and that wasn’t the type of publicity the company or Jeffrey would want.

  He shook the hand of the young, pretty ad executive and nothing sparked his body to life. Not like a simple touch from Pam had him looking for the nearest horizontal surface on which to take her.

  The anger that had been simmering during the meeting, after overhearing Pam’s telephone conversation, flared to high burn. He could kick himself for his stupidity in thinking Pam was any different to any other woman. Women couldn’t be trusted.

  ‘Excuse me, Nick?’

  ‘Yes?’ He found himself looking at the woman who had been watching him through the whole meeting. His anger increased a notch, irrational as it was as — the woman hadn’t done anything to him except observe him. ‘What do you want?’

  When she took a step back, as if trying to get away from his anger, he ran his hand through his hair. He didn’t want to mess up the fledging relationship they had with the ad agency. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Jeff in a deep conversation with the executive who had done the presentation.

  He sighed and gave himself a quick mental slap to get a handle on his anger. ‘I’m sorry, how can I help you?’

  His body went on high alert when Pam stepped up to stand beside him. He didn’t want her standing beside him, but he acknowledged that moving away from her wouldn’t make a difference. He would still be aware of her.

  ‘I wanted to say that I knew your father. He would be very proud of what you’ve achieved.’ The older woman paused and, as she swallowed, Nick looked into her eyes, shocked to see the sheen of tears in her eyes. ‘I’m so sorry that he couldn’t be here to see what a wonderful and accomplished businessman you’ve become.’

  Something about the way she spoke about her father struck a chord deep inside of him. A chord that had been so deeply buried, he hadn’t identified its existence until right now. In that moment he became aware she had known his father — intimately. And there was only one way she could possibly know how his father would feel.

  ‘It was you, wasn’t it?’ He spat the words out at her. ‘It was you who wrecked everything that ever meant anything to me.’

  ‘Nick?’ Pam laid her hand on his arm.

  He shook Pam’s hand off and stepped closer to the other woman, his anger making him oblivious to her distress. ‘Do not speak to me about how my father would be proud of him. He’s not here because of you.’

  He stormed away, uncaring of the looks he was receiving from the people still in the room. As he walked past Jeffrey, his friend tried to stop him. He sent a look Jeffrey’s way, which had him giving a brief nod, knowing the way good friends know, that Nick needed to be by himself.

  He headed straight for the elevator, not caring that it was the middle of the day. He needed to get away. What had once been a haven was now going to be a bitter reminder of the day he’d met his father’s mistress. The woman who had been the catalyst for his mother to murder his father and then take her own life. The woman who had taken away his innocence.

  Chapter 17

  Pam comforted the woman Nick had yelled at.

  ‘I didn’t mean to upset him. His resemblance to David is uncanny.’

  Pam had no idea what to say to the other woman, and her mind was totally on Nick and wanting to find him to see if she could ease his hurt. It had to have cut deep to meet the woman who had caused him so much pain.

  ‘Can I get you something to drink?’ Pam asked, easing the awkward silence that had sprung up between them.

  ‘No, I’m fine. I need to leave, I can’t imagine what the others from the agency think.’

  ‘I’m sure they’re worried about you, that’s all.’

  ‘Like you’re worried about Nick?’ Even in her distress the other woman had picked up on Pam’s preoccupation. ‘Does that mean he told you about what happened?’

  How did she answer that? Nick hadn’t exactly told her what had caused the tragedy he had stumbled upon. ‘He told me that his parents had died, and the circumstances of their death. But he never told me the what the catalyst was for his mother’s actions.’

  ‘David and I were the catalyst. We pushed his mother over the edge. I had a breakdown after I’d heard the news of David’s death. I couldn’t function. I never meant to fall in love with David. I knew he was married,’ she sent Pam a wry grin. ‘But he was so charismatic and handsome and I could see he wasn’t happy. I tried to fight it but it was impossible. I think David tried to fight it too, until things got too much for him and he gave into his basic needs. Needs I could provide and was happy to.’

  What did you say to a woman like that? Pam could tell she was lost in her memories. She stole a look at the other woman’s left hand. It was bare of any rings. Had she ever found another person to care for again, or had she gone through life lonely?

  The thought scared her. Life without Nick in it. She didn’t want to contemplate it.

  ‘I’m thinking you’ve been exposed to the Rhodes charm too, and who can blame you. Nick is as every bit as handsome as David.’ She sighed and absently rubbed at the locket that hung around her neck. ‘I tried so many times to break things off. Tried to end things. But when you’re in love like David and I were…’ Her voice trailed off to a whisper. ‘We didn’t mean to do it. It just happened. Never did I imagine that my actions would cause so much pain for David’s son. He loved Nick and wanted him to succeed. I hate knowing that because I couldn’t stop my feelings, Nick grew up without his parents. And David never saw what a wonderful man Nick had turned into.’

  Pam could sympathise with the other woman, but that didn’t mean she agreed with her actions. Nick’s world had been ripped to shreds by the actions of two people. No one wins when an affair happens. Someone always gets hurt. In this situation, so many lives had been affected.

  No wonder he didn’t believe in love. She acknowledged in all likelihood her love would never be returned by Nick. He’d said he wasn’t capable of loving and didn’t want love. Didn’t believe in love. Now, after meeting this woman, being confronted with his past, he would push the idea of love so far away it would take a miracle for him to start believing in it.

  When the other woman stood, her spine tightened and Pam could see she had pushed the memories of her failed love affair behind h
er.

  ‘If you love Nick, and I have a feeling you do, don’t let him push you away. Don’t let what happened to his family hurt him for the rest of his life. I know it’s wrong of me to say this seeing as I caused it. Love is wonderful and I wouldn’t change what I had with David for anything. Fight for Nick. Fight for yourselves. Don’t ever give up on love, like I did when David died. Don’t end up lonely.’

  With those parting words, she walked out the door. A sad, lonely woman who’d made the mistake of falling in love with the wrong man. Was Pam looking at her future self?

  Pam walked into Nick’s home, hoping he was there. She had no idea where he’d gone when he’d walked out of the boardroom. Her conversation with his father’s former lover still sounded loudly in her mind. She wouldn’t give up on Nick. She’d told him she wouldn’t on the plane.

  ‘Nick? Are you here?’

  Her voice echoed around the entryway. She wandered through the apartment, going from room to room, finding each one empty. Her mind was coming up with horrible scenarios of Nick having had an accident on the way to wherever he was going. Of him doing something completely stupid, like… She stopped herself. She wasn’t going to go there. If Nick had survived the tragic loss of his parents and had built up a business with Luc, there was no way he was going to do something stupid just because he was confronted by his father’s mistress.

  She wandered through the apartment, hope that he was there fading with every step. She ended up back in the living room, looking at the gorgeous panoramic view, wondering where to go next to find Nick. She’d have to take a cab, seeing as she didn’t have a car.

  Her distinctive ring tone sounded faintly around the room. She raced towards where she’d dumped her handbag by Nick’s front door, frantic to get to it in case it was Nick. She reached her bag just as it stopped. Cursing, she pulled the device out and saw that the missed called was from her real estate agent. The last thing she wanted to do was hear more bad news from her agent, so part of her was glad she’d missed the call.