Curvaceous Heart Read online

  “Sure, son. For now at least. I’ll find a way to see you married to a good woman sooner or later. You know I will.” Neil smiled and straightened the tie he wore.

  “No, I don’t. I won’t date someone just because you want me to. And the sooner you learn that the easier things will be between us.”

  “Now, Alan. There’s no need to…”

  “Yes, there is.” Alan rose slowly and walked around from behind his desk. When was his father going to learn? Trying to coerce him into a date wasn’t the sort of thing he tolerated.

  “Now, Alan. Listen to me for a minute. I’m not going to put up with this from you.”

  “Dad, this isn’t going to work.” Alan frowned and watched his father pace across the office. “I don’t care how many wealthy women you try to pair me up with I’m not going to go out with someone based on your thinking that -- shit, I don’t know what you were thinking. Vicky just isn’t my style.”

  “Victoria Shelby comes from a good family and has more than enough money behind her that she wouldn’t be looking to leach from the company.” Neil Martin scowled and sat down. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you, Alan. Most men would give their right arm to be seen with Victoria. She and your mother even belong to the same club.”

  Alan tried not to laugh. His father’s temper was showing through his otherwise cultured veneer. Though his father would have denied it, the signs were all too clear to Alan. The carefully practiced B.B.C. English had slipped in places, granting life to a hint of the Scouse accent his father had grown up with. The older man put his feet up on the table and crossed his ankles.

  He’d come a long way from the narrow houses of Bootle with their cobbled back alley ways. Strange, it was the twenty-first century and those little places still existed. Had they changed much since his dad was a young man? Or had the basics remained the same? It wasn’t the type of place Alan had any desire to go and explore for himself, but at times like this he had to wonder just what it had been like to grow up in such a place.

  “I’m not most men, Dad. Never have been, never will be.” Alan looked down at the waiting files on his desk. “Oddly enough the work here, getting things back on track, is more important to me than finding some attractive and empty headed bimbo to have on my arm for the right functions.”

  “Alan!”

  “Well, if she’s anything like the last three women you’ve tried to pair me up with then she doesn’t have an original thought in her head. First there was Caroline, who had a hard time deciding what color shoes to wear with her latest outfits. Then Naomi, who had the meanest temper I’ve ever seen. And let’s not forget Ginny who thought the world revolved around her spa appointments.”

  “So I want to see my son settled down and married to a woman of good breeding. Isn’t it about time you did something about giving us grandchildren?”

  “Shit, Dad. This isn’t the nineteenth century any more. It’s the twenty-first. You can’t go around trying to match me up with every woman you stumble across. I’m twenty-five for pity’s sake. I’ve got my whole life ahead of me. Why would I want to go looking for a wife right now? I can’t even imagine myself as a father.”

  “Because you need to settle down. Besides, don’t you want to still be young enough to raise your children?” Neil brushed a nonexistent piece of fluff off his trouser leg.

  “I’m not even sure I want kids.” There it was, out there, open on the table. It wasn’t exactly the way he’d wanted to tell the old man, but once said it couldn’t be taken back. Maybe when the time was right, when he was settled and finally found someone who -- who understood him. Who wanted to explore the type of relationship Alan already knew he needed, then it would be a different matter entirely.

  “What!” Neil sat bolt upright, the color draining from his face. “You can’t be serious about that. How could you think of not wanting kids? It’s a natural part of life, men want heirs.”

  “I didn’t say that, I said I wasn’t sure I wanted them. There’s a difference. Dad. I’m too young to be worrying about all that.”

  “You’ve no idea just how fast life can catch up with you. And when it finally hits you, then you’ll regret not finding a wife earlier.”

  Well, he hadn’t wanted it to go this far but there was one threat the old man would have to listen to. “Dad. I am not going to be pushed into a date and the next time you try to fix me up with someone I’ll quit the company. Is that clear?”

  “Now, Alan, there’s no need to make irrational threats like that. We both know you wouldn’t walk out on the company.” His father cracked a half smile.

  “That’s where you’re very much mistaken. I can and I will. If walking out on you, this place, and the company as a whole is the only way to get you to see sense and quit your matchmaking schemes then you bet I’ll leave the lot behind.”

  The color drained from his father’s face as the senior Martin turned and half paced the room, muttering beneath his breath. Alan tried not to smile, but kept his face, with effort, under control. Walking away from the company, or his father, wouldn’t be that easy, but he’d follow through with his threat if that’s what it took. If nothing else he’d learned one thing all too well. Never use a threat unless you were willing to see it through to the bitter end.

  “Fine. I’ll stop asking you to bring a date. But I can’t be held responsible for any women approaching you at events. You’re a wealthy young man, Alan. That does draw interest.”

  “And no handing my number on to them either.”

  “I never did -- all right I did it once but only once. It won’t happen again.” Neil offered a sheepish smile. “Besides I thought you two would make a cute…”

  “Dad!”

  “Yes, you’re right. Bad idea.” Neil glanced up at the clock on the wall. “Shit, I’m going to be late and your Mum will never forgive me.”

  “Understandable. Give my love to her, will you?”

  “Of course; she’ll be expecting you there on Friday night, so don’t forget.”

  “I won’t.”

  How could he. Half the local businesses were going to be there, and if all went well with the meeting earlier that day then there would be some good news to announce. Just as long as the idiot behind the information leaks was caught before then.

  * * * * *

  “Mr. Martin?” A slightly balding man peeked his head around the corner of the door. “Steph said you wanted to see me?”

  Alan frowned, his gaze narrowing on the doorway. Had he told his secretary to let anyone in? The meeting with his father had left him unsettled and it took him a moment to put his thoughts in order. “Charlie? Ah, yes. Sorry I’d forgotten you were -- never mind, come in.”

  The middle-aged man slipped into the room, closing the door behind him. With an overly confident stride Charlie straightened his hair, hiding the bald spot before speaking. “If it’s about the sales reports I know I’m running a day or so late, but I’ll have them ready for Friday.”

  “That won’t be good enough. I’ll need them no later than Wednesday night and you should have had them on my desk last week, at the very latest. I don’t like the way you’ve been getting sloppy about these things.” Charlie Welch, the man had become a thorn in his side of late, but in nothing that he could actually fire the idiot for. When pushed he did do the work, but it was seldom on time.

  Of course there were always excuses.

  His computer at home crashed, which was where he was doing the extra work, without billing the company for it, of course. Or the email didn’t go through. He’d thought he’d already sent it, or it was the copier machine’s fault for playing up at the wrong moment. He’d used every excuse short of the dog eating his homework, and still expected people to believe him.

  “I’m not sure that will be possible without putting in some extra hours, Mr. Martin.” Charlie smiled and slipped his hands into his pockets. “I’ve been running into a few problems with the accounting software and…”

/>   “You’ve had more than enough time, and we both know it.”

  “Now, Mr. Martin, you know I’ll be able to do the work if I can just focus on that instead of a dozen other matters at the same time.” He gave a half shrug.

  “Maybe if you did your work instead of doing three other things, and not chasing half the women in the office then you’d be on time.”

  “Can I help it if they find me attractive, sir?”

  “Cut the crap, Charlie. I’m not in the mood for games. If you don’t have that report to me by Wednesday then I’ll fire you. It’s as simple as that. I’m done with your late reports, your lame answers, and your wasting company time by chasing every new woman who starts work here. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. I deal with the complaints.”

  Charlie scowled and took a step back, a slight tremble running through his shoulders. “Who are you going to believe, Alan? Some kid that just started working here, or a man who’s put the best part of ten years into this place? I was here when you were still in college! Your father knows the level of work I do, what I’m capable of and…”

  “And that’s the only reason you haven’t been fired already. If I even catch a hint of any more nonsense from you I’ll have you moved to our secondary location.” No one wanted to move out of the new building into the older and smaller unit that they still used for one or two of the smaller operations.

  “You can’t pull this shit on me, Alan. You don’t have the right.”

  A cold hand clutched about Alan’s heart as he stood up, pushing back from behind the desk. “Are you trying to tell me what I can and cannot do within my own company?”

  Charlie took three quick steps backwards and blanched. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t mean it that way. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I’m sorry, sir, I’ve been under a lot of stress lately. I spoke without thinking.”

  Alan glanced at the computer screen, the papers across his desk, the work that he knew had to be done before Friday. Would firing him now do any real good? He’d only have to pass the work onto someone else and they’d have to begin it from scratch. Not a good situation, not with the limited time he had to work with.

  But it would have felt so damn good to be rid of the man.

  “I’ll have the report to you on time, Alan. You have to give me the chance to prove that to you.”

  Funny how he went from Mr. Martin to Alan in the span of a couple of minutes. As if he had the right to -- no it wasn’t worth the argument. Not when there were other, more important things to attend to.

  “This is your last chance, Charlie. I won’t tolerate any further fuck-ups from you. I don’t care how long you’ve been working for the company if you can’t do the job, on time, then I won’t have you working here.”

  For a moment, less than a heartbeat, something flickered across Charlie’s face. A flash so brief that Alan almost missed it as the other man’s eyes narrowed, darkened, and his jaw clenched, only to fade just as quickly into a mask of meek acceptance.

  “Understandable, anything you say. The report will be with you on time, on Wednesday, no later than that. You have my word on it.”

  Chapter Three

  “Sue, get your fat ass out of the way, I’m trying to get past here.” Bill smirked, his hands filled with an armload of packages. “I can’t do my job if you’re just going to stand there in the way blocking the corridor.”

  Flame danced across her cheeks, her hands clenching into tight fists as a dozen retorts tried to bubble into life. She had taken just about all she was prepared to from him today, or any other day for that matter, but it didn’t mean she needed to sink to his level. “There’s plenty of room, I don’t see why you’re making such a fuss.”

  “Sure there would be, if you weren’t taking up the space. Now get out of the damn way, fatty. I’ve got too much to do today and it’s bad enough that I have to deal with you at the pub. I’m surprised you haven’t been banned by now. A bitch like you is going to break the bar stools before much longer.”

  Her hands clenched quickly. Images of smashing her fist into his face, seeing the blood splatter across the walls quickly died as common sense took control.

  How much trouble would she get in if she hit him? Fired, that was certain, maybe some time in jail for assault. No, the bastard wasn’t worth it. Normally she would have let him get away with it, crammed her body against the wall and then ignored the elbow in her breasts or the phantom grab of flesh when he deliberately pressed against her on the way past.

  Not this time. Not with the memory of her conversation with Barb still fresh in her mind.

  “What’s up, Bill? Haven’t you been laid in a while?”

  The color drained from his face, lips moving silently. In a heartbeat he had turned from the office stud into a fish out of water.

  “Ah, I hit the mark there, didn’t I?” She pressed, unwilling to give up the advantage she had stumbled into. Had no one tried this tactic with him before? From the look on his face it certainly appeared that way. “You’ve been so busy moving from one woman to the next in the office that you’ve now gone through every available option. That leaves Barb and me, neither of whom would have you if you were the last man on the planet. So you’re desperate now and trying to scrape the bottom of the barrel? Don’t tell me you think it turns me on to be insulted by someone like you on a daily basis? I’m a large woman, in all ways, and that includes my level of intelligence.”

  A low giggle drifted into the corridor from a nearby office door. No calls for help, or for her to stop, no mocking little looks her way. Whoever it was had giggled approved of the little scene as it played out in the brightly lit hallway.

  Good.

  “You’re only saying that because I’ve never asked you out,” he finally stuttered.

  “No, you just cop a feel every chance you get. I guess I’m not that unattractive to you, except you’ve backed yourself into a corner with me, haven’t you? All those snide remarks, the jabs, elbows in the stomach. So you’re now trying to figure out what to do, aren’t you?”

  “A woman like you should be grateful that I’d give you a second look,” he snarled, fingers tightening on the boxes he held. “You should be thanking me for the attention. Not like you get it from anywhere else. I bet you’ve not had a man between your thighs in years. You should hear what my mates and I think about your sex life, when you do get it. What happens? The man vanishes into that cavern of yours never to be seen again?”

  “No woman wants the type of attention you enjoy giving them. You’re no better than the common lounge lizard, but I doubt you have the courage to go and try and meet women outside of work. Oh, you’re pretty enough, in that cover boy type of way, but you’re about as shallow as a baby paddling pool. Three minutes with you outside of work and a woman would quickly find out just what type of would-be man you really are. And that’s what’s now happened. You’ve run out of options so it’s back to buying cheap porno until the next new arrival in the office. Unless, of course, one of your previous conquests warns her before you manage to get your hooks into her.”

  “Bitch.”

  Powerful. His wide-eyed look, the way his lips flapped for a moment before he tried to speak and his constant change of color across his face from washed out to bright red brought with it a feeling of power she had never experienced before

  “If being a bitch means I don’t stand meekly by while you throw insults my way just because you wouldn’t know what to do with a woman in a real situation then by all means I’ll gladly take that title and wear it proudly.” God, why hadn’t she tried this before? The way he half cringed back with each new word that spilled from her lips, the horror flickering across his gaze -- both added to the new swell of confidence that bubbled through her being.

  “You can’t talk to me like this, it’s…it’s harassment. Sexual harassment!” he stammered, looking around the corridor for signs of someone that would be willing to help. “I could have you fired for that. So you better fuc
king watch your mouth, slut. I’ll drag you through a hearing the first chance I get. Just you wait. They’ll fire your ass and I’ll drink to you being sacked, knowing you can’t even afford a shandy.”

  “And how many women in the office would come forward with stories of what you’ve pulled on them, not to mention the witnesses who’ve seen and heard some of the things you’ve done to me. Who do you think is going to get into more trouble?” If she did not back down, if she kept on the offensive then she would be fine. But one sign of weakness and the whole situation would backfire on her.

  “No one would believe you.”

  “So why are you backing away? You know they’ll speak up, we’ve all seen what you can do. Shit, most of the women here have been on the receiving end of your little stunts.”

  “I…” The color, what little had been left, now faded from his skin.

  “Get out of here, Bill, before I decide to see just how many of the women here would like to see you hauled up before the boss.” She took a step towards him, pressing the point home. “Go, now! Before I lose my temper with you.”

  Bill fell silent, taking a step away from her before turning and hurrying back down the corridor without another word.

  Damn, that had felt good. Had he really always been that spineless? Shit, if she’d known that she’d have taken action against the idiot months ago. Maybe what he really needed was a strong woman to show him the error of his ways?

  A sudden image of Bill down on his hands and knees, licking the boots of some black leather dressed dominatrix brought an instant smile to her lips. Now that was something she might well have paid to see.

  And she wouldn’t have been the only one.

  If the thought hadn’t truly disgusted her then she’d have imagined Bill on his hands and knees, licking at her boots, begging to be paddled like a naughty slave from one of her erotic novels.

  “I’ve been waiting for someone to take that sleaze down now for the past few months.” A pair of wide brown eyes peeked out from behind the door that had been the source of the giggle. “He’s been working his way through the women here and I was worried he might try and go for seconds with a few of us.”