A Sanctuary for Elle

Chapter 1

'Idiot,' Elle muttered as the expensive, sleek sports car whizzed past her sensible ford focus.  She was travelling down a winding country road in the heart of North Wales.  The bends were harsh and yet foolish drivers like the sports car seemed hell bent
on getting there just a little bit faster.  Ridiculous men with their fast cars and 'nothing can hurt me' attitude.  Well, if he wants to break his neck, so be it, Elle thought to herself.

Elle's heart caught as the tree laden roads gave way to an expanse
of mountainous terrain, so beautiful it made her breath catch.  What a wonderful peaceful place this seemed, well except for the idiot drivers driving like sheer maniacs. 

Snowdonia National Park stretched its way through the winding valleys and roads. Th
e journey seemed endless and Elle found herself tired and emitted a huge yawn.  It had been a long week.  Losing her beloved Grandmother the previous week had been not only heartbreaking but a wake up call for Elle.  It was time to stop trotting around th
e
globe in search of something she never seemed to find and to think about her family and becoming settled herself.  Something she suddenly felt desperate for. 

Large signs suddenly warned ARAF, SLOW the English version explained.  Elle eased the car to a
crawl as she saw the temporary traffic lights up ahead. 'Ha,' Elle muttered as she came to a halt behind the very same car which had overtaken her minutes before, 'not so far ahead now, eh?'

The lights remained red for a long time.  A stream of cars came f
rom the other side and then everything went quite and still again.  After several minutes the red still had not changed.  The lights of the brakes in the sports car ahead suddenly went off and the door opened.  A man in a suit eased himself out of the car
and pushed his sunglasses onto his head. 

'Oh. My. God,' He was a god. He was beyond a god. Simply gorgeous. Wow.  Elle stared at the man as he frowned in the direction of her car than started towards her.  Her mouth must have fell open dumbfounded as she
suddenly found herself clamping it shut.  Pull yourself together, Elle, you've been surrounded by male models for the best part of ten years and here you are gawking at some handsome stranger!

Squaring her shoulders, Elle prepared herself for the man hims
elf as he approached the car.  He reached the window and gestured to her to open it.  Elle opened the door as she had a few words for this man/god who stood before her.

My oh my, the man was even more of a god up close. Classically handsome with dark wavy
hair, expensively cut.  Eyes so velvet brown that you could drown in their silky depths.  A strong straight nose and a healthy natural tan that only a man who spent hours outside could acquire.  He spoke and his full, sensual lips aroused her as his words
flowed. 

Elle raised her eyes from the man's lips to his eyes and realised he was looking at her as if she was one spanner short of a toolbox.  Oops, what had he said?

'Sorry?  I missed what you said'

'I said, there seems to be a fault with the lights so
I'm going to go slowly down past, if you want to follow me down it..' His tone was pleasant and kindly.  Elle let go of the desire she was experiencing to give him a few choice words.

'What on earth do you think you were doing?' Elle began angrily.

'Excuse
me?'

'I said, what were you doing overtaking me like that?'

'Overtaking you?'

'Yes, damn it.  Why are you repeating everything I say?! You overtook me, not five minutes ago. On a bend. At speed. I repeat, what on earth do you think you were doing?' Elle's
eyes blazed with fury but to her annoyance the man only looked ever so slightly amused by her tirade.

'Well I seem to have upset you. I have to say, I had no intention of that at all.  You were going pretty slowly and I know these roads well. I didn't fee
l it was a risk.'

'Not a risk! It was on a bend, on the side of a mountain. We're driving through Snowdonia on winding, wet roads.  Not a risk! You need a wake up car mister!'

Mister! Mark chuckled inwardly knowing that to laugh out loud would only provoke her further.  She was really riled up.  This beautiful little creature was seriously cross with him and all he could think about was what her lips would taste like.  She was
t
he kind of stunning that you only came across in magazines.  Long dark hair, expertly styled.  Dark eyes with long flowing lashes.  Creamy skin, clear and glowing with pink heat in her cheeks.  Her mouth, oh god her mouth.  It was pert and pouty as she gl
o
wered at him, perfectly puckered and ready to be kissed.  He found it hard to take his eyes of it. 

Resisting his instinctive urges, Mark lifted his gaze to hers again. 'Consider this 'Mister' well and truly scolded then Miss.  I apologise and I will say
I will think more carefully before I overtake anyone like that again. Okay?'

Slightly mollified and ever so slightly wooed by his charming manner Elle uttered 'okay,' in response. 

'So, are we going to drive down past these broken lights then?' At that po
int he paused and looked to the sky as a strange and eerie creaking noise echoed through the valleys. 

Elle's eyes were already sky bound as the noise she had just heard registered in her ears.  'GET IN MY CAR! NOW!  DO IT NOW!' Elle grabbed at his arm, w
renched at his body and yanked him inside, over her body which was sat in the driving seat and over past to land slumped in the passenger seat.  Elle grabbed at the door and pulled it just as the world caved in from above.  The sound of falling rocks echo
e
d around them in an almighty roar. Loud bangs and crashes pounded at the car, denting the metal and smashing the windscreen as the rocks fell.  As the windscreen exploded in on them the man yelled, 'Get in the back! Go!'

Elle scrambled over the seats into
the back, the man followed then huddled into position beside her offering the comfort of another person in a life and death situation.  Loud thuds and bangs echoed all around them, heavy stone landed on the metal roof of the car and dented it severely.  E
l
le and Mark cowered as they feared being crushed in the natural disaster.  Without realising it, they had attached themselves to one another.  Mark's arm held Elle around her back and Elle's hands gripped Mark's waist in a death clasp.  She was terrified.
Her knuckles white from clenching, her mouth tense and strained as she lived through the ordeal.  Desperate for it to end, desperate to survive.  Mark was scared too, the pounding of falling rocks above made him fear for their lives.  He turned to the wo
m
an who was attached to him like a limpet.  She was absolutely terrified, could see it in the whites of her eyes.  She stared blankly, open mouthed as their only protection caved and bent around them.  He had to do something, had to help this distressed wo
m
an in some way.

'HEY! LADY, IT'S OKAY, ITS GOING TO BE OKAY.' Mark had to shout to be heard above the cacophony of sound around them.  The woman looked up at him, huge brown eyes swelling with tears and to his horror she burst into huge heaving silent sobs
.  She didn't wail and cry, she just crumpled into his shoulder and cried quietly, his only clue to her distress, the frequency heaving intakes of breath her crying created.

Mark was torn. He had known his fair share of crying females but this one upset hi
m.  He was scared himself, but how to help this woman from falling apart escaped him. 

One final crash and then the rumbling of rocks abruptly stopped.  Elle lifted her face from his shoulder, looked to the car's roof and exhaled.  Mark looked down at her
and their gazes met.  Emotions flooded between their gazes.  Hope, it had stopped, fear, they were trapped, astonishment, how had this happened? And then, attraction.  It hung in the air around them.  Their gaze held and lingered.

Elle and Mark took stock
of their situation.  They were stuck.  There had been a landslide.  She had saved his life.  He had saved hers, one crash had been a large rock which had fallen through the open windscreen into the drivers seat.  They owed each other.  Big time. 

'Are yo
u okay?' Elle looked blankly at the man as he questioned her. 

'Are you okay?' he repeated, reaching to cup her elbows.  The touch jerked Elle out of her stupor. 

'I, uh.  What just happened?  Are we? Am I? Am I going to die?' Elle choked out on a pitifu
l sob.

'Hey, its going to be okay.  Look there's clearly been a landslide.  It looks like we're stuck for now.  But hey, we're in Snowdonia.  Landslides happen here all the time.  The rescue services will be here to help us.  We're not going to die.  You'r
e not going to die.  The worst is actually over.  Okay?'

'Okay,' Elle murmured hypnotised by his steady, reassuring gaze.  His eyes were in fact a deep pool of violet up close.  Deep and welcoming, complimented by his darkly tanned skin.  He was stunningly
handsome.  In Elle's job she was surrounded by handsome men but this male had a charisma she had never encountered before.  Energy and chemistry arced in the air around them as they held each others gaze.  His hands still cupped her elbows and the skin t
h
ere felt hot and burned under his touch.

''What's your name?' His gaze still didn't falter.

'Elle.  And yours?'

'I'm Mark.  It's nice to meet you, Elle.'

'Mark.  I know you said about the rescue and everything, but a lot of rock came down.  What if they do
n't know we're buried underneath it?'

The same thought had crossed Mark's mind but he said, 'They will find us Elle.  It's standard procedure. They have to check for anyone-man or animal after a landslide has struck, in the hope of saving them.'

'Well, if you're sure.'  Elle didn't know the man but decided she would put her trust in this man as she had never been in a situation like this before.  For now, he would protect her.  He seemed like a strong, powerful man and eluded a presence of author
i
ty.  That would surely help in a situation such as this.

'We do need to get comfortable though Elle, we're literally stuck together for the foreseeable future. Elle, it's getting cold and late now. The fact is its going to get even colder.  We're going to
have to talk about what we're going to do.'

'What do you mean?' she asked confused.

'Well, we're going to get tired, when our bodies are immobile we're going to get cold, if we get cold we could get hypothermia.'

'Right.  Okay, well I may have some a few t
hings that could help.  In the boot is sleeping bag, some clothes in mu suitcase, a torch, water maybe a few snacks I packed.'

'That's good Elle, especially the sleeping bag.  Do you know how the seats release to lie flat?'

'Yes, its this lever here.' Elle
reached to the lever and pointed it out to Mark.  After a few grunts and shoves, the release gave way and the seat moved.  Her went to the other side of the car and released the other side. 'Okay, now we need to climb over so we can push the seats down t
o
a flat position, they should fold over and down to allow us a complete flat section of back.'

'Okay,' Mark and Elle clambered and struggled over seats and managed to manoeuvre themselves into the boot and push the seats into their flat position.  They wer
e left with a much bigger expanse of car than they had previously and also gave them access to the items Elle had stored in the boot.  'Aha! A sleeping bag! I am over the moon this is in your boot but what possessed you to pack it?'

'I was given all the essentials of survival in the country by my best friend before I left.  He was concerned for my welfare, out on my own, in strange new surroundings.  I thought it rather funny when he turned up with a sleeping bag, compass and torch b
u
t now I'm just incredibly grateful that I actually bothered to put the things in my car!'

Mark was bothered by the 'he' she referred to and wasn't sure why.  He should have no concern over potential boyfriends she may have.  They were strangers.  It did th
ough.  She intrigued him, she was beautiful.  He didn't want to think that she was not free for him to pursue and explore.  He couldn't help himself.  'He?'

'Yes, Matthew, my best friend.  I couldn't have managed without him in the last few months.  He and
his partner James have been so supportive.'

Ah! A wave of relief washed through him.  A gay best friend he didn't mind at all.  'What happened in the last few months, if you don't mind me asking?'

'I lost someone close to me.  My grandmother.  She was an
amazing woman and I miss her dearly.  Unfortunately she left a lot of things to sort and it fell to me.  I have no other close family.  Matthew was supportive and a shoulder to cry on through it.'  Her gaze had become saddened and he felt for her loss. He
couldn't imagine having so little family. He had a large, busy family which he loved and despised at times but he would never be without them.