Dark Demands - Taken for His Captive Read online

  Dark Demands

  Part 1 – Taken for his captive

  By

  Nell Henderson

  Copyright – Nell Henderson 2012

  Chapter 1

  “You’re a woman!” Matthew Dark voiced with distaste in his rich Scottish voice as he regarded the young applicant in front of him.

  His chocolate coloured eyes ran over every inch of her as he considered just how easily she’d duped him. She really shouldn’t have made it to the final interviews, but the fact that she had was probably down to his London staff being new and still innocent of the way he liked to operate. But despite this show of irritation at her being female he had to admit she was an interesting diversion on an otherwise unproductive and drab day. She was a delight to look at with a curvy figure, luxuriant wavy blonde hair bobbing over her shoulders and full pink lips that now pouted their annoyance at him.

  “Well there’s no fooling you, is there Mr Dark,” Georgina Haddon replied sarcastically, her nose in the air and apparently not at all embarrassed by his close scrutiny. “And why exactly should the fact that I’m a woman be an issue?”

  He saw the scorn in her eyes as she watched him, intensely blue and wide, daring him to give the answer that would confirm her doubts about him. Well, he wouldn’t disappoint her so suppressing the urge, for the moment, to send her packing, he voiced his reply.

  “Because I don’t employ women at this level in my organisation, Miss Haddon,” he told her with the kind of smile on his face that suggested he knew very well just how out of line this policy was. “And I think you must already know that given the name you used on your application,” he added tapping lightly at the paperwork in front of him.

  Gina knew she had to hold her nerve. This man might be head of the global organisation, Dark Industries, and very wealthy but this was her one chance to get this right. True, she’d conned her way this far but now that she’d made it to the CEO’s office even he must see how right she was for this job.

  “People often call me George, its short for Georgina,” she explained with a shrug. “But I do prefer Gina,” she told him cheekily while trying to ignore his icy stare. “I don’t think I could carry off being called ‘George’ do you?”

  Looking at her voluptuous figure, no she definitely couldn’t, Dark thought to himself. But no matter how attractive she was he still had no intention of giving this post to a woman, so she was wasting her time, and if she tried to fight him over this then she’d loose. So why continue with this charade of an interview, he asked himself well it was simple, she appealed to him.

  He’d felt his errant senses stir the moment she’d walked into his office, but now it was more than that, now he was curious. She was standing up to him, challenging his decisions and fighting her corner. Not something he encouraged from the women in his life and it intrigued him. He’d enjoy playing with her a little, seeing how far he’d have to go before she capitulated or, even better, he had her squirming with embarrassment.

  “It’s no big deal anyway.” She continued watching him wide eyed and almost gasping as he casually removed the jacket of his designer suit, his silk tie and then flipped open his top shirt buttons.

  That nervous discomfort was back. What was he trying to do to her? That fitted white shirt displayed his well formed chest to perfection. Gina coughed lightly and looked away trying to steady her racing mind and the wild thoughts spinning around in it. Calm down, she told herself, he was simply preparing to finish the days work in a more relaxed mode. Then getting back to the business in hand, she wondered if that meant her interview was over before it had even begun?

  “I’ve held this sort of post before,” she told him and thinking you don’t know it but this very post in these very offices in fact. “Look at my references.”

  He was standing with both hands placed on the desk top and leaning over towards her as he looked again at her application. He was so close Gina could smell the expensive cologne he was wearing, musky and very masculine. Her mouth went dry; she hadn’t planned for this. She’d never met him before and therefore couldn’t have known just how good looking he was. A disadvantage she realised, because now he was making her edgy in a way that was new and surprisingly exciting.

  Why hadn’t her step mum, Grace, warned her, after all she’d met him several times recently? Why hadn’t she told her just how unnerving the man’s deep, dark eyes were? How come the only thing Grace had felt the need to comment on were the lurid tales of his fractured love life while completely failing to mention what a hunk he was? But Grace’s tales seemed incredible now that she was stood here in front of him. Surely this stunning man couldn’t really treat the women in his private life as badly as Grace had said. And just how bad could that be, she wondered recalling her step mother’s words of warning. This urbane, well dressed young man in front of her just didn’t look the type. But then what was the type and what did the world really know about Matthew Dark anyway? Well, if her own extensive efforts were anything to go by then very little, she realised, and what was in the public domain was sketchy at best.

  “I beg to differ, Miss Haddon. You see I think it is a big deal,” he nodded knowing full well the squirming had started. “Because I think you deliberately set out to deceive me. Not only did you use a man’s name on your application but the boxes marked ‘male’ or ‘female’ have been left intentionally blank,” he noted and then held the form out to her so that she could see for herself.

  Gina moved towards him and as she reached for the form Dark took her hand holding it fast in his while he pulled her closer to him. Gina’s eyes flew to his face in disbelief, what was he doing and why the heat, she thought realising his touch had sent a sear of something electric down her spine.

  “Unless, of course you can’t make up your mind,” he put to her raising a dark eyebrow in amusement as she tried to tug away from him. “If you wish I could always check that out for you,” he teased with a half smile while his other arm encircled her waist.

  “Let me go at once,” she flared.

  Gina shook her head and pushed him sharply. How dare he behave like this? But despite the show of indignation her spine was fizzing with yet more of that nervous excitement.

  “How dare you manhandle me,” she fumed then as his grip slackened she pulled away from him. “You’ve really crossed the line now; do you harass all your female employees like that, Mr Dark?” She challenged while running her hands over her jacket and smoothing out imaginary creases.

  “You’re not one of my employees, Miss Haddon,” he smirked and watched as she continued to check her clothing was straight. “And I’m afraid you’re not likely to be.”

  He was incorrigible, damn him. But while he spoke Gina was desperately trying to dispel the uninvited images in her head of him immobilising her further and putting his hand in her panties to check for himself the very feminine evidence of her gender.

  She had to stop this. It was ludicrous she’d only just met the man! She placed her hands on her shapely hips and faced him squarely, trying to hold his gaze but his dark velvety eyes didn’t even flinch. This man was arrogant enough to think he could ride rough shod over the laws regarding sex discrimination. Well she’d just have to show him that he couldn’t. For a number of reasons, professional and personal, this job mattered to her. Gina had her own agenda. Dark didn’t know it yet but he owed her some answers and she fully intended to get them.

  “We have laws regarding such practises in this country, Mr Dark. And you can’t tell me that you’re not familiar with them. In fact if I was to take this sorry little tale to the press they’d have a field day tearing your organisation apart.”


  The Scotsman’s dark eyes narrowed now as he considered her words. Was it possible that there was any substance behind her threat? Probably not, he decided looking her up and down and noting the cheap high street bought suit she was wearing. This young woman couldn’t have the contacts that would help her or the money to hire the legal team she’d need to take on someone like him. She was bluffing.

  “An organisation of this size with no women on the board,” she reminded him. “In fact no women in managerial positions at all, what do you think they’d make of that?”

  “That I have my reasons and damn good ones,” was his stark reply.

  Gina could well imagine what those reasons were. Some archaic idea of a woman’s place in the scheme of things and obviously that wasn’t in his boardroom.

  “Have you ever considered that women on the board might bring something fresh to the company mix Mr Dark?”

  He raised one of those dark eyebrows again and nodded. “A number of women have experienced my boardroom, Miss Haddon,” he told her sarcastically. “But what went on there was strictly personal and very private and had nothing at all to do with business.”

  Gina felt the heat rise in her cheeks and for some reason her mind suddenly filled with yet more images of herself in a similar situation with him. He was deliberately baiting her. Obviously this sexy man was getting some perverse delight out of being so suggestive and embarrassing her like his.

  “I made it onto the short list; the very least I deserve is an interview. You are being grossly unfair. As everyone else has been told to go I presume that if I’d been male you would have hired me?” Gina tried again, she needed to get the conversation off sex and back to the job.

  He met her eyes again, big and blue and glittering back at him with unvoiced anger. She was right. If she’d been male there would have been no hesitation. Her experience and qualifications were excellent. But Matthew Dark didn’t hire women, not in a position of importance and I.T. Manager for his growing UK operations was a very important post. It was unfortunate that she’d used this subterfuge; it only served to confirm his belief that women in the workplace couldn’t be trusted.

  “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 answe
r 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