windows showed a picture-perfect landscape of the cliffs and below it, the Pacific Ocean. Sparkling liquid silver in the moonlight, the waves undulated against a starry sky.
Pulling her attention back to the here and now, she noted the room only boasted of two doors. One she just entered with Andrea and the other sat on the opposite side of the room. The way to the kitchen and from there a door leading to outside? She really needed to find the way out of here because, yep, as soon as she found an opening she was gone.
Muffled sounds of pots clattering hung in the oppressive silence. All eyes centered on her. Boy didn’t that make her feel special. Especially since most of the stares were downright hostile.
What the hell? What did she do to garner so much animosity?
The smell of food filled the air, twisting her insides as nausea clawed its way up her throat. No way could she eat.
She would have tuned and fled the way she came, but at that moment, Arthur moved to her side, effectively thwarting her escape. She was quick to note he kept quite a bit of space between them as if he loathed to brush up against her. Well, that suited her just fine.
“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t come.”
His deep baritone did a wicked slide over her skin, making her think of hot southern nights filled with even hotter sex. Damn the man. Steeling her resolve, she cast him a wide-eyed look of innocence. “What, and miss all of this?” she waved her hand in the air to encompass the room, her tone thick with derision.
“Have a care, Miss Gwen, I have little patience for waspish females.”
“Then let me go and you won’t have to suffer my waspishness.”
“What part of no don’t you understand?”
Her eyes narrowed on him, anger making her pulse pound in her temples. Giving him her back, she turned her attention to the room. She recognized several of the men who busted into her home with the intent to save her, along with the bitch on wheels named Merci looking tough as nails as she gave her a challenging glare. Juliet moved up alongside Andrea, her smile welcoming as she maneuvered her away from Arthur and further into the room.
“Come let me introduce you around. Don’t be concerned about their gruffness, they are a bit protective of Arthur. Gave me a hard time the first time I met them, too.” Juliet confessed in a conspiratory whisper as she took hold of her arm and led her to two men standing off by themselves. “This is Simon and the one with all that glorious hair is Darius.”
Gwen craned her neck to look up at the wall of solid muscle and found herself caught in a pair of cold ice-blue eyes framed by jet-black hair. She wondered if being gorgeous was a prerequisite to working for Arthur because if so, she landed in every woman’s fantasy. The one named Darius stood a few inches shorter, but just as beautiful. Dark eyes held a gleam of speculation. His long dark-brown hair was pulled back from a face of an angel and yet nothing stirred in her as she looked at them.
Juliet continued leading her through the men and women, some she already had the misfortune to meet. Merci the ball busting bitch just raised an eyebrow, a smug smile playing over her lips as she stood near her husband Drake. Next Andrea introduced her husband Neil with his military buzz cut and deep navy blue eyes. The smile he gave didn’t come close to thawing the coolness in his gaze.
Gwen found herself being pulled toward a beautiful woman with white-blonde hair tumbling down to her waist. A long sheath dress the color of liquid gold hugged every curve. Gwen decided she could be a goddess from mythology standing as cold as a marble sculpture before her. The man at her side a perfect counterpoint to her fairness with his dark sultry looks. Still, her knees never once wobbled and no butterflies flittered in her stomach.
“This is Viviane and Lancelot,” Juliet’s voice only wavered slightly as the tension ratcheted up in the room.
Gwen
Pulling her attention back to the here and now, she noted the room only boasted of two doors. One she just entered with Andrea and the other sat on the opposite side of the room. The way to the kitchen and from there a door leading to outside? She really needed to find the way out of here because, yep, as soon as she found an opening she was gone.
Muffled sounds of pots clattering hung in the oppressive silence. All eyes centered on her. Boy didn’t that make her feel special. Especially since most of the stares were downright hostile.
What the hell? What did she do to garner so much animosity?
The smell of food filled the air, twisting her insides as nausea clawed its way up her throat. No way could she eat.
She would have tuned and fled the way she came, but at that moment, Arthur moved to her side, effectively thwarting her escape. She was quick to note he kept quite a bit of space between them as if he loathed to brush up against her. Well, that suited her just fine.
“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t come.”
His deep baritone did a wicked slide over her skin, making her think of hot southern nights filled with even hotter sex. Damn the man. Steeling her resolve, she cast him a wide-eyed look of innocence. “What, and miss all of this?” she waved her hand in the air to encompass the room, her tone thick with derision.
“Have a care, Miss Gwen, I have little patience for waspish females.”
“Then let me go and you won’t have to suffer my waspishness.”
“What part of no don’t you understand?”
Her eyes narrowed on him, anger making her pulse pound in her temples. Giving him her back, she turned her attention to the room. She recognized several of the men who busted into her home with the intent to save her, along with the bitch on wheels named Merci looking tough as nails as she gave her a challenging glare. Juliet moved up alongside Andrea, her smile welcoming as she maneuvered her away from Arthur and further into the room.
“Come let me introduce you around. Don’t be concerned about their gruffness, they are a bit protective of Arthur. Gave me a hard time the first time I met them, too.” Juliet confessed in a conspiratory whisper as she took hold of her arm and led her to two men standing off by themselves. “This is Simon and the one with all that glorious hair is Darius.”
Gwen craned her neck to look up at the wall of solid muscle and found herself caught in a pair of cold ice-blue eyes framed by jet-black hair. She wondered if being gorgeous was a prerequisite to working for Arthur because if so, she landed in every woman’s fantasy. The one named Darius stood a few inches shorter, but just as beautiful. Dark eyes held a gleam of speculation. His long dark-brown hair was pulled back from a face of an angel and yet nothing stirred in her as she looked at them.
Juliet continued leading her through the men and women, some she already had the misfortune to meet. Merci the ball busting bitch just raised an eyebrow, a smug smile playing over her lips as she stood near her husband Drake. Next Andrea introduced her husband Neil with his military buzz cut and deep navy blue eyes. The smile he gave didn’t come close to thawing the coolness in his gaze.
Gwen found herself being pulled toward a beautiful woman with white-blonde hair tumbling down to her waist. A long sheath dress the color of liquid gold hugged every curve. Gwen decided she could be a goddess from mythology standing as cold as a marble sculpture before her. The man at her side a perfect counterpoint to her fairness with his dark sultry looks. Still, her knees never once wobbled and no butterflies flittered in her stomach.
“This is Viviane and Lancelot,” Juliet’s voice only wavered slightly as the tension ratcheted up in the room.
Gwen
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