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!"
