Dark Demands 01: Taken for His Captive (2 page)

“You can’t know that for sure, Miss Haddon,” he reinforced.  “And I’ve no intentions of continuing this pointless interview.  Take it as read that you are not suitable.  Women have their place, and in my experience that’s not in business,” he smirked at her again.  “I have nothing else to say on the matter, so I can only wish you luck with your career in the future “

He smiled, a smile that said ‘I’ve finished with you so be a good little girl and get out of my office’.  But Gina held her ground glowering at him.  How could such a successful, young business man in this day and age imagine he could get away with this sort of behaviour in the workplace?

“If I don’t get this job then I won’t have a future, Mr Dark.  Word will get round that you won’t hire me and so no one else will either.  You know how these things work.  I’m the best candidate so just what is your problem?”

“The problem’s yours, Gina, and it’s one of gender, nothing else.  But if you quote me I’ll deny it.  So don’t be foolish and look elsewhere.”  Matthew Dark sighed and regarded her again but perhaps she was right.  Once word got out that she’d been turned down by him then her chances of a good job would be nil.  “Ok, I take your point, perhaps there is something I can do,” he allowed.  “Just give me a moment,” he added leaving the office.

Was this progress?  Gina could only hope so.  For weeks she planned and plotted just how today was going to go and this wasn’t it.  She was supposed to walk in here, chat, impress and walk out again with the job, her old job. 

But now that she was here and she’d met him, she just might have to think about Matthew Dark a little differently.  She felt another involuntary shiver snake down her back.  He was just so good looking, so damn sexy, why oh why hadn’t her step mum warned her?  He was younger than she’d imagined too, probably no more than thirty.  And, of course, he was rich.  So rich, in fact, as to be obscene, Grace had told her with derision.

As her imagination took this unexpected little detour Gina began to wonder if he had a woman in his life currently.  Then the image of him wrapping her in a lovers embrace gave rise to sudden flush in her cheeks and she felt the familiar sizzle of attraction again.   And as this train of thought raced on and in her head somehow got completely out of control, she wondered what he’d be like in bed.  Her eyes flashed around his office, for Heaven’s sake she was alone and blushing just thinking about him.  What was happening to her?

The job, Gina reminded herself, you’re here because of the job, nothing else.  She hadn’t expected it to be easy Grace had warned her that his employment practices were a joke.  Apparently he’d narrowly missed a law suit after one particularly messy run in with a female ex-employee.  How messy, Gina pondered, had she had the temerity to ask for a rise or a promotion?  Well whatever she’d done hadn’t gone well for her because Dark obviously felt free to dismiss the employment laws as if they were just mere inconvenience. 

“Sorry to keep you,” he apologised returning with a handful of papers.  “However, there may be something I can do.  Sit down,” he smiled, more benignly now, and sitting down himself gestured to the chair on the other side of his large oak desk.

Dark couldn’t know it but this had been her father’s desk Gina thought to herself as she did as he’d asked and slipped easily onto the chair.  She’d sat here many times in the past, as a child finishing her school homework when her dad had owned the business.  And more recently as she’d helped him tidy up his accounts before the administrators had done their dirty work.   How would this super confident business man react if he knew who she really was and her true purpose for being here?    The reality was it probably wouldn’t even bother him, having just had a taste of the ‘law according to Dark’ herself, Gina realised.

But Gina couldn’t let this rest; she was like a dog with a bone and she had to keep knawing away at it.  Somewhere along the line he’d cheated her father, she was sure of it.  Suspicions, flamed by rumour, that Dark had carefully orchestrated what had happened to Deverell Electronics were rife around the industry.  A cancelled order here, a late payment from a customer there, until finally the only option was the administrators.  Those orders might have made all the difference.  Had Dark had a hand in this?  Grace thought so and her reasoning was compelling.

After careful consideration Gina had come to the conclusion that the buy out had been part of a grand plan engineered by the Scotsman.  But why and how to prove it?  Well a job working for him would help.  Gina believed that if she was working here then she could find out the truth and then hit Dark where it would hurt most, in his wallet and his reputation.

“I won’t keep you,” he looked up.  “I’ll just make sure all these are suitable,” he added scanning the paperwork he’d gone to fetch.

As she waited Gina looked around at the changes he’d made.  He’d gutted the office space.  The familiar clutter her dad surrounded himself with had gone to be replaced by clean lines and modernity. 

Plush, luxurious furnishings were everywhere from the thick carpet to the raspberry coloured, leather sofa against the wall.  But the most dramatic change of all was that the wall separating this office from the rest of the building had gone to be replaced by large glass panels allowing Dark to keep a close eye on this small part of his large empire. 

Her dad wouldn’t recognise the place and it had only been a few weeks.  Would he be upset?  Gina knew that he’d accepted what had happened with a degree of inevitability and with some relief had simply packed a suitcase and gone off abroad to rest.

But Grace, her step mum, was finding the upheaval difficult to handle.  Her marriage to James Deverell had been over for years but they had remained friends and still lived under the same roof.  Grace had always taken an interest in the business; after all it was vital to the family’s well being.  Grace blamed Dark for James finally leaving so as far as she was concerned the Scotsman had a lot to answer for.

“I’ll admit your qualifications are impressive, Miss Haddon,” Dark agreed looking again at her application in front of him.  “And although I can’t hire you I can give you contact names and numbers for people who might,” he smiled.  “I will speak to them and recommend that they do.  I’m sure you’ll be a considerable asset to one of them.”

“So I’m good enough for some one else but not good enough for you?”  She fired back.  This wasn’t what she’d wanted but given his attitude it was probably the best she was going to get

“But you know this isn’t right and trying to help me is just your way of covering your guilt,” she fired at him.  “But don’t think I’ll take this lying down, Mr Dark.  You’re making a big mistake.”

Dark regarded the young woman in front of him the smile still lightening his handsome features. Feisty little thing, wasn’t she?  And beautiful, he thought staring at her lovely face and those full, sexy lips pouting their fury at him. If he did hire her she’d become a problem in no time.  Every young man in his organisation would be trying to date her and he knew they’d have to queue up behind him.

“My firm, my choice I’m afraid Miss Haddon,” he shrugged with a ‘I own the place so can do as I please’ look on his face

Gina narrowed her eyes with growing rage and watched as he studied the printed list in front of him.  She wanted to shout at him, to make him understand how wrong he was.  But she knew she was wasting her time, he wasn’t the type to listen.  It was obvious to her now that Dark lived and operated within his own set of rules and it was very unlikely she had the power to change that.

However, what Gina didn’t know was that she’d actually made more of an impression on Dark than she realised.  But it had nothing to do with the information on her job application.  He’d felt the thrill of the chase the moment she’d walked into his office.  She was blonde, big breasted and very pretty, just the type he liked to play around with. 

Watching her now, roused with temper, she excited him.  He didn’t usually go for women who were wilful and argumentative.  His natural choice was a much more submissive type who wouldn’t fight his demands. He smiled to himself as he wondered just how argumentative she’d get in the bedroom. He looked at her again, his eyes still and searching roving over her body, how would she react to his special requirements, he wondered.  

But there was no chance of him employing her not even to get her into his bed.  Should he relent, perhaps take her on for a trial period?  But almost immediately the thought entered his head he dismissed it.  No matter what he might want he couldn’t do that.  She’d parade her success in such a way that it just might open the floodgates for others and he couldn’t let that happen.  In Matthew Dark’s world women had their place and it wasn’t in his boardroom.

But he couldn’t just let her go either.  He toyed with her a little and she’d parried very well, unusually he’d liked that.  Getting to know Gina Haddon better, he’d already decided, would be very enjoyable. He needed a way to keep her in his sights.  She was a rare breed of woman, the type that could arouse an urgent passion in him.  A dark passion he knew well.

“I will fight your decision, Mr Dark.  You know very well that I am the best candidate and it’s just your own personal prejudice that’s keeping me out.”

Gina watched his eyes cloud.  Shrewd eyes that appeared to have the ability to see right through her, she hoped not.  She’d been very careful to keep her true identity secret, even to the extent of using a false name, so he couldn’t possibly know who she really was.

He didn’t reply but went back to studying the list in front of him carefully for a few moments.  Then after crossing off one or two of the names he handed it over to her.

“Give these people a ring, Gina,” he suggested using her Christian name for the first time.  As I said I will speak to them and give you my support and I promise you, you will have the position you want very soon.”

Dark decided he had to ensure they met again.  He glimpsed her application one last time before filing it in his desk drawer.  It had her telephone number and address on it.  He’d give her a week then he’d contact her again.

Gina took the paper he’d given her and stuffed it into her bag as if it had no importance at all.  She’d failed.  Given the type of man Dark was she’d simply wasted her time applying for the damn job and her plans to get even with the young entrepreneur were dead in the water.

“At least you tried,” Grace
Deverell
consoled her step daughter.  “But
it’s no more or less than we expected, is it?
 
We’re both aware of h
is reputation for not employing females
and frankly I think it’s the best outcome you shouldn’t go anywhere near that man.”

“He’s such a chauvinist and he doesn’t even care,” Gina told Grace exasperated by what had just happened.  “And he made me feel like a silly schoolgirl for even trying.  I feel such a fool, Grace, brow beaten, intimidated and thoroughly put down, the man’s a menace to womankind.”

“
There’s no excuse for his behaviour but i
f you want my opinion you’ve had a lucky escape.  This is big business, Gina, and
if crossed,
men like
Dark
can play very dirty indeed.  So imagine the repercussions if he
had hired you and then found out what you were really up to?
”

Grace
Deverell
was a realist.  Gina’s plan had been almost do
omed to failure from the start because Matthew
Dark
was no fool
.
She shivered;
the man might try to keep his private life a mystery but what was out there didn’t make good reading
.
  And after her recent meetings with him she felt there was something about him, something she couldn’t quite fathom.  But one thing all her instincts told her was that there was a side to Matthew Dark that he tried to keep well hidden and Gina was probably best out of it.

As Grace
started the car engine and began the short drive to their home
Gina
fastened her seat belt
and gave her a thin smile. 
“I was prepared to take my chances,” she replied.
 
“But now I’m never going to get to the bottom of what really happened, am I.” 

“Try not to
get too
upset about this,” she told her with concern. 
“
Your father has accepted what’s happened, and
he was the on
e most affected after all.  And a
lthough we might not like it, perhaps
we’ve just got to do the same
.”