Dark Demands 01: Taken for His Captive

“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 m
e 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.