Ch 05 The Cheese Factory 2

WARNING.

There is an incident involving violence with a weapon in this chapter. Nobody is seriously hurt, but please be aware.

Carys had done her best to tidy the hotel room a little, showered, and went home soon after Alice had left. She had something to eat, found a pair of cut-off denim shorts and a T-shirt to replace the red bikini, and pottered around the house, killing time.

At lunchtime, Alice texted Carys:

Lover - Go to the clothes shop called Lady's Business on Gould Street in Bondi straight away, just across Hall Street from my hotel. Buy a business suit, and don't worry about paying. Tell the manager you work with Morgaine Conglomerates and quote the code MOR-566. She is expecting you. Then get a cab to Grosvenor Place, 255 George Street, The Rocks, by three. I want you to meet someone with me. Trust me, I love you xxx

Carys's heart fluttered excitedly as she read Alice's message, and a radiant smile spread across her face. Without a moment's hesitation, she gathered her belongings and rushed out the door to catch a bus back to the hotel.

Dropping her few bits and pieces in the room, she raced across the road, looking for the shop Alice had mentioned in her text. At the clothes shop, she told the manager what she needed and gave her the code Alice had given her. Quickly and efficiently, the manager checked her measurements. "Regrettably, Miss, we are a little limited in style choice. Yours is not a particularly common size!"

"Mmm. I can imagine!" said Carys, her eyes twinkling. "I'll bet that most of your customers are a tad smaller and more petite than me, hmm?"

The manager allowed her professional face to slip and grinned broadly as she looked up at the tall brunette: "That's a bit of an understatement if I can be so bold, Miss! We have a few styles available, and as I understand that cost is not a

major

issue, it does open a few more avenues. Perhaps you might consider this one?" Showing Carys a beautiful powder blue trouser suit, she continued: "I would not recommend a skirt and jacket combination -- with your length of leg, it would be considerably shorter on you than would be ideal! Might I also suggest this to go underneath?" She handed Carys a pale peach, open-collared blouse.

Carys nodded, went into the fitting room to try on the suit, and gasped with shock as she saw the price tag on the blouse: "My god! What the hell? This blouse alone costs more than I make in a couple of weeks at work!" She checked the tag on the suit and sat down hard. For a moment, she wondered what on earth she was getting into. "Where is all this money coming from?"

She sat for a moment, staring at the suit hanging on the back of the fitting room door, and slowly pulled out her phone and re-read Alice's text message, pausing on the last few words:

...Trust me, I love you xxx

Her heart lurched, and she whispered: "Yes, Alice, I

do

trust you, and I love

you

too!"

She stood up again, quickly stripped off her shorts and T-shirt and tried on the blouse and suit. The fabric caressed her skin like a second layer, and she couldn't help but admire how it accentuated her statuesque figure as she turned this way and that, admiring her reflection in the big mirror. She nodded to herself in the mirror and stepped out of the fitting room.

The manager eyed her critically for a second or two, then nodded. "Very nice, Miss... but you might care to do something about that...", pointing at Carys' flip-flops, with a huge grin. Carys blushed scarlet and nodded. The other woman pointed to a large display of shoes and said, "I would suggest flat heels, Miss, your suit is cut with that in mind, and probably a pair of slip-on court shoes, like these...?" Carys nodded, getting more and more out of her depth, "...and this clutch bag for your phone and the...um...items you were wearing earlier?" The smile on the woman's face told Carys that she wasn't being patronised, just teased a little!

"Can you tell I'm completely out of my comfort zone, here?" said Carys ruefully.

"Only a little, Miss," grinned the other woman, "but don't worry, you will soon get used to it! Now, are we ready?"

Carys nodded, rather self-consciously, "In which case, Miss, if I could ask for your signature just here," the manager pointed to a sales slip on the counter and handed Carys a pen, "I will call you a taxi."

The taxi whisked her across town and dropped her outside one of the office blocks. Her pulse rate climbed, and her heart was in her mouth as she walked through the revolving glass doors and scanned the entrance hall for Alice.

She spotted the tiny redhead sitting at a low table with five men, all impeccably dressed in dark business suits, talking animatedly and smiling at each other. Alice spotted her and waved. She said something to the men she was with, jumped up and rocketed across the foyer! She hugged Carys, her eyes shining with affection.

"Ohhh...Carys...I

have

missed you! Wonderful news, and I'll explain as we go...follow my lead and don't be surprised!"

Carys stole a quick glance at the five men who were watching the exchange between Carys and Alice with great interest. Her brow furrowed slightly in curiosity as she bent to whisper in Alice's ear: "Are these the people you want me to meet?"

"Indeed, I do," said Alice, lecherously eyeing the statuesque beauty and wishing they were alone! She bit her lip to stop herself from giggling and whispered, "Shush! Stop tickling my ear, I'm already horny enough seeing you in that stunning suit! Now just play it by ear, and all will come clear soon enough"

Carys' cheeks flushed at Alice's whisper, her azure eyes sparkling with mischief. Alice gently squeezed Carys' arm; her touch electric, even through the sleeve's fabric.

"As you wish, mistress," Carys murmured with a grin, her voice low and sultry. "I'm yours to command." Alice gasped as Carys' deep contralto seemed to vibrate through her body: "Oooh...don't

do

that!" and giggled.

Hand in hand, they walked slowly across to the five men who stood as the two approached, carefully appraising the tall brunette. One of the men extended his hand, and Carys shook it as Alice said, "Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce my new business partner, Miss Carys McDonald, who also happens to be my fiancée."

Carys' eyes almost widened in surprise as Alice introduced her to each of the men, naming each one. She quickly recovered, offering them each a warm smile as she shook hands with them in turn: "It's a pleasure to meet you all," she said smoothly, her other hand tightening around Alice's in a silent show of affection, desperately wondering what the hell was going on. Being out of her depth in the clothes shop was

nothing

like this!

The man Alice had introduced as the Chief Executive, Colin Humbert, said, "On behalf of Brighstone Holdings, welcome, Miss McDonald." Turning to Alice, he said, "Shall we go back upstairs, Miss Morgaine, and we can start to finalise the arrangements?"

Alice ignored Carys' sharp intake of breath when Humbert used her surname but squeezed her hand gently, telling her to trust her. "Thank you, Mr Humbert, but I would be grateful if you would give Carys and me a few minutes to sort a few things out. A transcontinental relocation is no small matter, and I will need to start getting the wheels in motion."

"Oh, absolutely, Miss Morgaine. Please take all the time you require. Let Jo, our receptionist, know when you wish to continue, and we can show you to your new offices."

As the men walked towards the lifts, Alice turned to the towering beauty next to her and gently placed her hands on Carys' hips. "That solves the problem of me finding a job here so we can be together, but I think I have some serious explaining and apologising to do to you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything; there hasn't been time...we've been a bit...um...preoccupied. I'm really sorry, honey, please forgive me and trust me; we will sail through this, I promise!" She fixed her eyes on the sparkling azure eyes of her lover and blew her a tiny kiss.

"To bring you up to speed with developments...as you know, I was here to close a contract for my company in Europe. Unfortunately, the international courts declared the contract null and void yesterday, and the company has been put on notice for having broken European Fiscal Law.

"However, as I was not a party to the various offences, I have been exonerated from all involvement. As the contract involved a hostile takeover of Brighstone Holdings, whose offices we will go to in a minute, I was left in quite an awkward position. However, after a few phone calls, I was able to secure funding to bolster up Brighstone, allowing them to repurpose their holdings. To cut an already long story short, Brighstone has offered me, us, a position as a legal consulting agency to the firm. Hence my rather cryptic message at lunchtime!"

"Legal consulting agency, Alice? I don't know anything about the law!" said Carys, almost in shock.

"No, but I do...I'm a lawyer, and I specialise in Corporate Law!" She reached up and gently closed Carys' open mouth as the tall girl stared at her, dumbfounded. "Stop catching flies, love!" Standing on tiptoes, she dragged Carys' head down to hers and kissed her soundly!

A few metres away, a lift started to ascend, carrying the five men from Brighstone Enterprises. "Well," said Colin Humbert, "That caught me on the hop, I must say. In this day and age, I shouldn't automatically assume anything, but I was sort of expecting a man, and a Scot to boot, not an Australian girl!"

"Yes," said Jack Pitman slowly, "and quite a looker at that!"

"You dirty old man, Jack," laughed one of the others, "Certainly not," protested Pitman, with a grin. "I just like to admire beautiful things, and they are both worthy of a great deal of admiring! Plus... I think things will get very interesting around here, now the Duke has his fingers in our pie..."

Alice eased back down, breaking off the kiss which was threatening to get very interesting and sighed: "Ohhh...that'll have to do until later, I suppose!"

Alice went on: "Yes, my uncle is Duke Alex Morgaine of Morgaine Conglomerates and probably one of the richest men in the world, but he has made me work for every penny that I have earned, and I have worked

bloody

hard. I was on secondment to Gruber in Frankfurt, and it was I who uncovered their financial double-dealing. I'm known in Morgaine Conglomerates as The Terminator; it was my job to infiltrate firms and find out what was going on...an industrial spy, if you like. I guess you can see why I was so wound up emotionally and why all the tears when you finally broke through my steel armour!"

She giggled and continued: "I'm far too emotional now, thanks to you, to ever do that job efficiently again... and I don't think I'd want to... and have I told you recently that I love you? No? Then...I love you...dearly and absolutely." Her voice dropped to a whisper and she said "And I am so horny right now, I'm almost tempted to call a cab and go back to the hotel now!" She sighed. "But we need to make our future rock solid before we can do that." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Carys full on the lips again: "Thank you for trusting me."

Carys stared at her, still trying to process all the new information: "Um...so you're not a contracts manager?" Alice shook her head.

"Your Uncle is a Duke?" Alice nodded.

"You're the heiress to a massive fortune?" Alice nodded.

"You're an industrial spy?" Alice nodded.

"You're my girlfriend?" Alice's head nearly fell off, she nodded so hard: "Oh god...yes...yes...

YES!

I love you so much, I think my chest is about to explode!"

For the second time in as many hours, Carys sat down hard, so confused, so far out of her comfort zone that she didn't know whether she was coming or going! Alice plonked herself down on her knee and wrapped her arms around the big brunette's neck. "Sweetheart, I know it's a hell of a lot to take in all at once, and I am so sorry to put you through it...but please...trust me...

please!

" Her voice cracked, and a tear welled up in the corner of her eye as she saw the utter confusion on the tall girl's face.

Carys took a deep, shuddering breath. "Bloody hell..." she whispered, taking Alice's hands in her own and squeezing them gently, "Oh...bloody hell!"

Bright blue eyes stared unblinking into sea-green eyes for a long time, and Alice's heart sank. She had gambled and lost -- her one true love, her heart's desire...everything...

Then she saw those beautiful blue eyes crinkle at the corners, those gorgeous full lips start to curve upwards, and her heart sang! She hugged Carys in a huge bear hug: "Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she blurted. "I'll explain everything soon; please forgive me...please!"

"My darling Alice," Carys murmured, her voice thick with emotion. "There is nothing to forgive!"

She gently pulled the tiny redhead into her arms. "I am yours, now and forever," she whispered, her lips brushing against Alice's forehead. "Whatever challenges we face, we will face them together."

Alice cupped Carys' face tenderly, her thumb tracing the contours of her beloved's face. With a soft, adoring smile, she leaned in, capturing Carys' lips in a searing, ardent kiss.

"I love you," Carys' murmured against Alice's trembling lips. "Nothing else matters to me but you."

With a mischievous grin, she pulled Alice even closer, her muscular frame enveloping the other woman in a bubble of safety and passion. "And as for being 'horny'," she purred, her lips grazing Alice's neck, "I can assure you the feeling is very much mutual!"

She nuzzled Alice's hair, inhaling the intoxicating scent that was uniquely hers. "But you're right," she sighed reluctantly. "We should focus on solidifying our future first. Though I can't promise I'll be able to keep my hands off you for long!"

The relief on Alice's face was so obvious that Carys laughed gently, poking Alice in the nose the way she had done to her a few hours ago. "Come on, you! We need to go and sort things out with those guys...and you'll have to tell me their names again...brain overload, I think, I've forgotten them all, except the boss man, Colin Humbert, you said?

Hand in hand, they walked to the lift and headed up to the Brighstone offices. As the doors slid back, the receptionist greeted them with a smile: "Welcome back, Ms Morgan...and...?"

"Hi, Jo!" said Alice, "This is my partner, Carys McDonald...and, please, call me Alice..." she dropped her voice conspiratorially and winked, "...unless that goes against company policy? In which case, I'll need to give you some tuition on how to pronounce my name!"

The poor receptionist looked shocked and stammered: "Oh, I'm so sorry...I didn't realise..."

Quickly, Alice grinned and said: "I'm just teasing, Jo, but I'm a Miss, not a Ms, that much I

do

insist on, and so is Carys!"

The relief on the girl's face was clear, and she said, "Of course, Miss...er...Alice! But how

do

you pronounce your name? When you arrived this morning, I thought you said 'Alexandra Morgan'?"

"Scottish accent, Jo!" smiled Alice. She spelled her name and explained the pronunciation, "Roll the 'R' a bit more and clip the last syllable as short as you can, 'Morrrg'n'...and 'Alice', well I was raised by my Uncle Alex and he didn't want two Alexes in the house, so I became Alice!"

Jo grinned and said, "Alice and Carys, it shall be then! Would you like to come down and take a look at your new office? Follow me, please."

They followed her a short distance from the reception area, and she opened a glass door and showed them in. There were three desks, and the floor-to-ceiling glass gave the room a light, airy feel.

"Not the best view in Sydney," Jo said, "But you can just see the Opera House from that corner." The two girls laughed as she pointed into a far corner and mimed standing on tiptoes to peer at something unseen.

"Well, you'll be all right, Carys, but I'll probably have to sit on your shoulders!" the diminutive redhead giggled.

Jo laughed and said, "I'll leave you ladies alone now. If you need anything, dial zero on the internal phone. I'll be there until 5.30 when the building closes to the public, but if you need to stay longer, it won't be a problem." As she went out, Alice cast a smouldering look at Carys...

"Well, my little tiny bundle of fun," Carys chuckled at Alice's indignant glare, her azure eyes sparkling with mirth as she surveyed the room. "I suppose we'll just have to use your minuscule stature. I can think of a few ways I might help you reach the best vantage point."

"Do they involve using the desks in a way that desks aren't normally used?" breathed Alice.

Carys gazed at Alice thoughtfully and murmured, "I must admit, the view from here is already quite spectacular...!"

She pulled Alice close, her strong arms encircling her lover's waist, and tucked a stray lock of dark auburn behind Alice's ear, gently stroking her earlobe as she did so. Alice shivered and grinned at her: "You'd be on the floor right now if it wasn't for that glass between us and the corridor outside...you

do

know that, don't you?"

Her arms snaked around Carys' waist, and she snuggled in. "Ooh! I could stay here forever!"

Carys muttered, "If you did, we'd never get to bed tonight!"

"Wow! Talk about an incentive!" giggled Alice, disentangling herself from Carys' arms and stepping back a pace. "I suppose we had better have a look round."

It was getting close to six o'clock before the girls were satisfied that the offices were in good order and ready for them to start getting their new business off the ground in the New Year. "I'm going to need some stuff sent over from Scotland," said Alice, "just stuff that I couldn't get or replace anywhere, maybe some personal stuff from London, but the rest, computers, software and such, we can get here. Uncle Alex has given me a budget, but I am so reluctant to spend too much because part of the deal is that I have to pay him back every penny.

"It's what I expected, but what was unexpected is that he doesn't want interest on the loan. He must be getting soft in his old age!" She giggled, the little girl's giggle that enthralled Carys and made her heart do a double somersault every time!

"Your Uncle must be an amazing man," said Carys, "Just to be able to call on him and get his unwavering support...wow! That's something else!"

"Yes and no, Carys. My uncle is a very, very astute businessman, and as soon as he heard about the European Court situation, he was already planning to turn it to his advantage. He told me about it just as I was going into my meeting with Colin Humbert earlier this morning.

I

had no idea that the ruling had been given, and

he

had already set things up back in Scotland to move in.

"He has been wanting to expand his Australian holdings for some time, and this was the ideal opportunity. The Brighstone board likes it because they don't get swallowed up in a faceless European company, and they get the support of a huge Scottish company but retain their own corporate identity."

Carys pulled Alice close, enveloping the other woman in a warm, protective embrace. She pressed a tender kiss to Alice's forehead and rested her chin atop the other woman's head as a contented sigh escaped her lips. "All that matters to me is that we're together. The rest will fall into place, I'm sure of it."