The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (32 page)

‘This is Natasha Sinclair,’ Jared
introduced her. ‘She will be my personal assistant for the next few days until
Lisa returns.’

‘Lisa’s gone?’ Maggie, the head of
the department asked the question that everyone wanted to ask, but was too
afraid to.

‘Only for a short while,’ Jared
tried to re-assure her and the rest of the ladies in the office. ‘But I trust
that you will find Natasha equally up to the task. If there’s anything at all
that you need from me, please do not hesitate to give her a shout.’

The women nodded and then resumed
their tasks.

‘You make quite an entrance,’ Jared
whispered as they left. ‘That’s the third department you’ve single-handedly
brought to a grinding halt.’

Natasha smiled. ‘Must be the dress.’

Jared eyed the dress.
Not bad at
all, if I do say so myself.
‘Well, it is a stunning dress, if you don’t
mind me saying so.’

‘Not at all.’

Jared liked her calm and cool
attitude. He could see that she was one that could get the job done, regardless
of how daunting the task might be.

‘Jay,’ Shaun said as he approached
them. ‘We have an urgent...’ his voice trailed off and he stood there, saying
nothing as he gawked at the woman standing at Jared’s side.

‘Nice to see that she has that
effect on you too, Shaun,’ Jared smirked. ‘This is Natasha, by the way; the one
I was telling you about.’

Shaun shook his head to clear his
thoughts. ‘Um...urgent...we...’

Natasha took his hand and shook it.
‘Pleased to meet you, Shaun.’

‘We have...Patterson...’

‘We do?’ Jared asked and chuckled.
‘Focus, my friend.’

Shaun jerked as if he woke from a
terrible dream. ‘Sorry,’ he said as he locked eyes with Jared. ‘The workers at
one of our couriers are on strike and they’re holding up three of our clients.’

‘I take it from your earlier attempt
that Patterson is one of them, right?’

Shaun nodded. ‘It doesn’t look good.
Twice in the span of a week.’

Jared shot a glance at Natasha. ‘And
what do you propose we do?’

‘Oh, I’m sure that your colleague
here is capable of figuring it out,’ she said and walked off, swaying her hips
just a fraction with each step she took. ‘It was nice meeting you, Shaun,’ she
called without looking back.

The two men just stared at her and
finally Jared snapped them out of it. ‘Gotta go,’ he said. ‘Have to show her
the rest of the building.’

‘But what about the strike? What
about Patterson?’

‘You heard the lady,’ Jared said
over his shoulder as he joined up with Natasha. ‘Figure it out.’ With that, the
two of them disappeared into Jared’s office.

*   
-    -    -    *

 ‘This is nice,’ Natasha said
and walked to the massive wall made entirely of glass.

‘I aim to please,’ Jared said with a
smirk. ‘Mind if I pour you a drink?’

‘Not at all,’ she said.

‘Anything specific you would like?’

‘Sssurprise me,’ she said with a
slight purr in her voice.

Jared merely smiled as he made his
way to the liquor cabinet. He took out a small martini glass and placed it down
on the shelf. He then took a few ice cubes and dropped them into a shaker where
he added a measure of coffee liqueur, cherry liqueur, and amaretto. Jared then
shook the shaker and latched the strainer. With the skill of a professional
bartender, he poured the chilled drink into the martini glass, making sure that
no ice escaped through the strainer. Next came the hard part where, with a
steady hand, he poured a layer of cream, using a bar spoon to float the cream
on the alcohol before he finished it off with a cherry on top.

‘Impressive,’ she said as he handed
her the Black Forest cocktail.

‘I picked up a few things here and
there,’ he said modestly.

There was a moment of comfortable
silence as the two of them stared out over Kelwick together. In the distance,
tiny people drove tiny cars. Jared couldn’t help but feel massive as he stood
at the window next to Natasha, watching the tiny people get on with their tiny
lives.

‘Would you care to join me for a
function tomorrow evening?’ Natasha asked. ‘Or do you have something else
planned?’

‘No plans,’ Jared said immediately.
‘What function is it?’

‘Oh, just a small fund-raiser that a
few people I know are holding over at the town hall.’

‘Here in Kelwick?’

She nodded.

‘Okay,’ he said. ‘What time is the
function?’

‘It starts at six.’

‘Great,’ he said. ‘We can finish up
some things here and then go together in the Vanquish.’

‘That would be splendid,’ she said.
‘But now I have to go. There are some items on your itinerary that I need to
work through.’ She took his hand and gave it a quick, yet sensual squeeze before
handing him the empty martini glass. ‘If there’s anything you need,’ she said,
‘please buzz me.’

Jared merely stared at her as she
gracefully moved toward the door in a motion so fluent that it almost appeared
as if she was floating. She gave him one last smile before she left the office.

*   
-    -    -    *

 ‘Your mother called today,’
Amy said once they ran out of conversation. ‘She wanted to speak to you about
something.’

‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘I’ll call her in
the morning.’

There was a moment of silence before
Amy spoke again. ‘So,’ she said. ‘You mentioned something about making up for
last night, right?’

Jared nodded.
Trying to watch the
news here, do you mind?

‘So would you like to go out and do
something?’

He looked at her. ‘Maybe tomorrow,’
he said and focused his attention on the news again.

Amy bit her lip, wondering if
everything was all right. She wanted to ask him about his day and if Natasha
could indeed manage the job. She wanted to ask what was so obviously bothering
him, but instead, she just cuddled up against him and pretended to watch the
news with him. Something was distracting him and she couldn’t suppress the gut
feeling that it was a certain new staff member at Whyte & Greene
International.

*   
-    -    -    *

The phone rang.

Jared tightened his grip on the
receiver.

From across the room, Natasha read a
magazine, looking up every now and again to smile at Jared.

The phone rang.

Natasha nibbled the end of a pen as
she pretended to be in deep thought.

The phone rang.

‘Hello?’

‘Hi, love,’ Jared said. ‘How are
you?’

‘Oh, hey,’ Amy said. ‘I’m fine.
Finishing off some stuff and then I have to head to the grocer to get us some
apples for tonight’s desert.’

‘That sounds promising. What are we
having?’

‘It’s a surprise,’ she said. ‘You’ll
have to see when you get here.’

Jared bit his lip. ‘About that,’ he
said and paused. For a moment the thought of declining Natasha’s invitation and
rather going home after work crossed his mind. One look at Natasha removed all
doubt. ‘I’m going to a function after work,’ he said and closed his eyes. ‘Came
up at the last minute.’

‘A function?’

‘Fund raiser. Very important people.
It’s an executive-only thing, so I can’t take guests this time, I’m afraid.’

‘And Natasha?’

‘She’s not a guest, Amy. She’s my
personal assistant.’

Natasha looked up.

Silence.

‘Amy?’

‘What time will you be back?’

‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘Ten; maybe
eleven.’

‘So we’re not going out?’

Damn it!
He had completely forgotten about
that! ‘Sorry hun,’ he said. ‘We’ll go out tomorrow evening or Friday. I
promise.’

‘Should I wait up?’

He thought for a moment. ‘Nah, it’s
fine. Don’t wait up. Who knows what time this thing will actually finish?’

Amy sighed. She was looking forward
to a nice evening with him. ‘Should I leave your food in the oven?’

‘No need. I’ll eat at the function.’
He wrapped up the rest of the call as quickly as he could and hung up. Jared
exhaled deeply. He then looked at Natasha and smiled victoriously. ‘Sorted.’

‘Are you sure you want to come?’
Natasha asked in a voice as sweet as honey. ‘You could always attend the next
benefit.’

‘Of course I want to come,’ he said.
‘It’ll be fun.’

For a moment Natasha didn’t say
anything. ‘What does she do for a living?’ she finally asked.

‘Who?’

‘Your fiancé.’

Jared frowned. ‘She’s not my fiancé.
Not yet, anyway. But to answer your question, she’s an Admin Assistant for a
Christian book shop.’

‘Well, she’s a very lucky Cinderella
to have hooked someone like you.’

Jared forced a change of topic.
‘Come,’ he said. ‘The benefit starts in half an hour and I always like to be
early.’ He held his arm in an arc toward her. ‘Shall we?’

She hooked her arm into his. ‘Sure.’

Arm-in-arm they strode down the
hallway. Jared’s heart boomed in his chest. He looked at her and she blushed.
He didn’t know exactly how or when it happened, but by the time they reached
the car, they were holding hands.

*   
-    -    -    *

Thirty five people in total showed
up at the fund raising benefit. Multi-millionaires networked and made small
talk as they waited in eager anticipation for the guest speaker to deliver his
keynote speech. Most of those present were bankers, movers and shakers from all
over who controlled the economy.

‘How can all these people be super
rich without me knowing at least one of them?’ Jared asked as he surveyed the
crowd.

Natasha shrugged. ‘They prefer to
stay out of the lime light. But I can assure you, they have all heard about
you.’

Jared suddenly felt aware of himself
and looked at those around him. No one seemed to pay him any attention.
Why
would they all know me? Where does Natasha know them from?
‘What is the
purpose of tonight’s benefit?’ he asked. ‘What are we raising funds for?’ He
initially thought it would be a simple save-the-whale campaign, but as he met
the people around him, he realised that something much larger was at stake.

Natasha didn’t have time to answer.
The lights dimmed and a well-dressed gentleman walked onto the makeshift stage
at the front of the room and briskly made his way to the podium. He tapped the
microphone twice with his finger and gently blew into it before speaking. ‘I
would like to thank you all for attending,’ the man said in a husky voice. ‘If
you would all be so kind as to take your seats, we will commence this evening’s
schedule.’

Jared and Natasha made their way to
their designated seats and sat down at a large round table with six other
people. The man left the stage and took his seat at his own table while
Tuxedo-clad waiters made sure that drinks were in ample supply.

A tall, self-assured man walked onto
the stage in perfect stride and took his place behind the microphone. The
clapping subsided as the background music faded.

‘We are gathered here tonight
because a brother needs our help,’ the man said. ‘Aaryan Omar, a young but
powerful leader for the Colombian Armed Forces, has been captured by local
militia.’

Definitely not save-the-whale.

‘A small band of rebels plan to free
him, since he is a key player in a major upcoming event. The problem is that
they are under-supplied on foodstuff, weapons, and ammunition.’

Jared finished his drink and a
waiter appeared as if from nowhere to replace his glass with a clean one. The
waiter also re-filled his glass and just as stealthily as he came, disappeared
again. Jared caught a glance of Natasha and for a moment lost track of the
speaker as he gazed at her, mesmerized by her enchanted beauty in the dim
light.

‘Since we support young Aaryan’s
cause, we would like to see him succeed. We would like him to accomplish the
tasks laid out to him.’

Random clapping resounded through
the audience, though not enough to evoke emotion.

‘Let us unite our hearts and our
wallets for one single objective tonight. Let us be one voice for one cause.’

Jared didn’t know who this stranger
was talking about or what cause they supported, but something in the man’s
voice made him want to give him everything he needed. ‘How much do people
donate at functions like these?’ he whispered to Natasha.