Anatomy of a Nightmare, M J Marlow [best romance books of all time .TXT] 📗

eyes was quite plain. “The car again?”
“It won’t start,” Lily told him. “Can I borrow the phone to call my brother?” He looked hesitant. “Please, Chuck. I won’t be long and I’ll wait in my car until he gets here. Consider it a favor to a former employee.”
“Former?” Chuck choked. “Oh Lily. Did that bastard actually get you fired?” He nodded to the phone. “You go on ahead and make your call.”
“That won’t be necessary,” a man’s voice sounded behind and above her. Lily turned and saw Doctor Gabriel Talbot, the owner of Talbot Pharmaceuticals, standing on the landing above. He was everything a successful man looked like in her imagination: tall, chestnut-haired, brown eyed, with a lean physique clothed in expensive suits. She had never met the man but his picture and that of his two twin sons were in the lobby where all the employees could see them.
“Doctor Talbot,” Chuck nodded to the man. “This is Lily Randall. Her car won’t start.”
“I heard that, Weaver,” Gabriel replied. He held his hand out to Lily. “I also heard someone in our company did something to get her fired. I want to know about that.” For a moment he seemed to freeze as he saw her face and then he recovered and smiled at her graciously. He was right. This girl was an exact duplicate of the woman Gregory needed to replace. “Come on up to my office. Weaver will call your brother while you use the bathroom to dry off.” He saw her hesitate and frowned. Why was she afraid of him? He was only trying to help her. “I’d hate for you to get a chill, Miss Randall.”
“For a minute,” Lily nodded. She was shaking for a reason other than being cold as their eyes met. This man radiated power and arrogance and she did not feel at all comfortable around him. His attitude was warning her that there was more going on in his mind regarding her than letting her borrow his phone.
“Do you know her brother’s number, Weaver?” Gabriel asked the guard. Chuck nodded and picked up the receiver. “Call him.”
“Home or work, Lily?” Chuck asked her. He had known the girl’s grandparents so he was quite familiar with the kids and their comings and goings. Living down the block from them in the small coastal town of Bayview didn’t hurt, either.
“He’ll be at work,” Lily told the guard as she checked her watch. She hadn’t realized it was so late. Chuck nodded and she followed Gabriel upstairs, dripping all over the immaculately clean floors. She decided to make a call of her own to make certain it was made. She followed Gabriel to an elevator and they went up to the top floor where the offices of Talbot and his sons took up half the floor. Beyond them, unknown to her, and accessible only through each office, was a private apartment for the family’s use. “This is impressive, Doctor Talbot,” she said softly as she looked around his office with the immense mahogany desk, wood paneled walls set with bookshelves and large comfortable brown leather chairs and a couch. One wall was filled with windows that looked out over the front of the building.
“It serves its purpose,” Gabriel shrugged. “You can remain here until your brother comes to collect you.” He saw her relief and was intrigued. He wasn’t used to young women being afraid of him when he was doing them a kindness. “Did you think I was going to bring you up to my office and seduce you, Miss Randall?”
“Other men in this company have tried,” Lily said before she could catch herself. She saw his frown. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t saying that you were like them…” She was mortified when he merely nodded. “I’m just upset I got fired because one of them lied and said I was…” She bit her lip to keep from talking. Unfortunately, Gabriel was now interested. He went to the bathroom and brought her a big, thick towel and made her sit down on the couch.
“Tell me,” he ordered as she dried her hair. “It sounds like I might be looking for a new employee.”
“I’ve worked here for seven months as a part-time research secretary, Doctor Talbot,” Lily told him as she dried her hair. “I actually thought scientists would be too wrapped up in their work to start making comments and finding ways of cornering me so they could – could touch me.” She could feel the tears pricking at her eyelids as she looked down at the floor and wished she could disappear. “I never encouraged any of them. Honest.”
“But this man said you did?” Gabriel guessed. “That would be Ken Crawford, wouldn’t’ it?” He saw he was right when she looked even more miserable and hung her head. If he hadn’t already put the man’s name on the cut list, this would have done it.
“He timed his attack so that my supervisor would catch us,” Lily replied. “He was twisting my wrist but Inez didn’t see that from her angle. She fired me on the spot.” She looked at him. “I needed this job, Doctor Talbot. My brother and I are going to lose our home without the additional income I am bringing in.”
“Write it all down for me, Miss Randall,” Gabriel told her. “I’ll look into it in the morning.” He got to his feet. “
“Thank you, Doctor Talbot.”
“You are very welcome, Miss Randall,” Gabriel nodded. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to rescue a damsel in distress.” He found himself wondering how two such different women could be physical duplicates of each other. He needed to check this girl’s background a bit more thoroughly. He shook himself and returned his mind to the business at hand. “If you need anything,” he said as he went the bookshelves and pushed them aside to reveal a hallway, “the red button on the phone rings to the apartment. I have something I need to get there.”
“I think I’ll be fine, Doctor Talbot,” Lily smiled at him. She went to the phone as the shelf unit closed behind him and dialed the precinct. “Officer Randall, please,” she said to the desk sergeant. He patched her through to Edward’s patrol car. He was already on his way. “Edward? It’s Lily. My car broke down at work.” She listened to his question. “It wouldn’t start. I know Chuck Weaver called but I needed to hear your voice. I’m kind of freaked out right now.” She had that same uneasy feeling. “When will you get here?”
She heard the shelf unit moving and turned to see Gabriel coming out of the hidden hallway with another man; a tall, dark-haired man with thick wavy chestnut brown hair. His eyes were a strange cobalt-blue color with midnight blue rings surrounding them. She set the phone down but forgot to hang it up.
“Miss Randall,” Gabriel smiled as he nodded towards his companion. “I’d like you to meet my son, Gregory. He might have a job opportunity for you.”
Lily looked at the man and was struck by how handsome he was first of all. He radiated assurance and she was a bit turned off by that. He was dressed in obviously expensive clothing and she wondered what kind of job he could possibly have to offer a plain and only adequately skilled person such as herself.
“You are single, that much I have been told,” Gregory said to her in a voice accented in a way that brought the word gypsy and vampire instantly to her mind. She remembered then that Gabriel Talbot’s sons had spent most of their childhood with their mother’s family in Romanian. It had left its mark on this one, Lily mused. “Do you have a valid passport, Miss Randall?”
“Yes,” Lily nodded. “I’ve had it for years hoping one day I’d actually get to use it.” TMI, girl, she chided herself. She blushed as she pulled it out of her purse. “I carry it with me.”
“So you would not be averse to a position that would require a great deal of travel,” Gregory nodded. “That is good. Are you in a position to begin immediately?”
“I would have to talk to my brother,” she said to him and saw him frown. “We are close, Mr. Randall, and we have always used each other as sounding boards. He wouldn’t stop me from accepting a job, but he would want to know something about it.”
“I would have no problems assuring your brother that I am on the level, Miss Randall,” Gregory smiled at her. Her heart did a serious flip as that smile hit. “I have seen your employee file and I know you have the basic skills I need.” He looked her over and she blushed as his eyes ran over every inch of her body. “Yes,” he nodded; his voice going a bit huskier as he felt the attraction between them. “I think you will do quite nicely. Will your brother be at your home tomorrow at 2 p.m. so he may assure himself of my good intentions?”
“He’s going to be here in five minutes to pick me up,” Lily told him. She leaned on the desk as a wave of dizziness hit her. She sneezed and her head felt like it was going to explode. Oh God, she prayed, please don’t let me get sick now!
“You’re right, Father,” Gregory turned to the other man. “Except for the red hair, she is Evelyn all over again. I think this girl will work just fine.”
“The hair can be changed,” Gabriel nodded. “Your cousin, Esme, will love having someone to play with.”
“I haven’t said I’ll take your job,” Lily reminded them.
Gregory and Gabriel ignored her interruption and kept talking and Lily wondered why they both looked so pleased and excited. Something was going on here that she did not understand. It was something to do with her, though; and she wanted to know what was going on. She had the sudden urge to run as far and fast from this pair as possible. She left the office and headed for the elevator. She got to the front doors as Edward was pulling up, and he was surprised when she ran out and yanked the door open and got in.
“Just drive,” she said before he could ask why she was so distressed. Her life was over. Being unemployed held a greater threat for her when she remembered the bargain; her cousin would demand that she honor their bargain and marry the man he had chosen for her. Gregory’s offer was beginning to sound better and better. “Please, Edward, get me out of here.”
“You were right, Father. She’s perfect.” Gregory turned to Gabriel. “What do you know of the girl’s situation?”
“Lily is the same age as Evelyn, nineteen,” Gabriel recounted the information from the file. “She and her older brother lost their parents in a car accident when she was seven, and he was twelve; so their grandmother raised them,” Gabriel continued reciting what he had heard from the gossips he employed in his company. “She lives with her older brother in Bayview. Miss Randall’s brother, Edward, is working on a law degree while he works as a police officer. Real straight arrow according to my sources.”
“Was their father in law enforcement?”
“In the military,” Gabriel corrected. “Joseph Randall was a highly decorated Marine. He was always on duty overseas somewhere. His father, a fisherman, was lost in a storm just before Lily was born. They moved in with his mother. She died two years ago after fighting ovarian cancer and Randall’s cousin, Gordon, became the estate executor and Lily’s legal guardian until she reaches the age of twenty-one. Mrs. Randall left everything to