Rebellious Mistress

Chapter One

It was the sort of January day in the late afternoon that touched London with wonder. Dusk was falling, the street lights were alight and the fat snow drops fell lazily from the black sky. White snowy dust glittered in the garden lights drifting and settling over Buckingham palace upon the gilt statutes. Some of the windows in the surrounding high rise buildings were lit with warmth and cheer. Yet the hustle and bustle of the busy London streets marred the beauty of the snow droplets turning purity into broken slush.

It was enough to make the man who stood at a penthouse suite window cynically smile within his cold rage.

Sheikh Karim Mansour, crown prince of the Kingdom of Kalladula and ruler in waiting stood proudly at the window clutching a whisky. He cut a fine figure in a tailored saville row suit of dark charcoal grey. He was 6feet 2inches with dark wavy hair cut short with a chiselled chin and hard planes for cheeks. He had a muscular chest and was a fan of martial arts holding a 3rd dan black belt in karate. Karim was a man who was rarely out of the entertainment section of the newspapers as they gobbled up anything on him. He was also well known for various models hanging off his arm at events that was lapped up by a particular set on the London scene.

One might have thought the dark brown eyes were watching the scene below but he was turned inwardly, reliving what had happened a year ago. He'd been made a fool of and the insult would soon be dealt with. Lifting the whisky to his lips, he downed the last of his whisky and let the liquid sear his throat.

The cold rage rushed restlessly beneath his cool exterior. His hand shook and his grasp tightened around the glass. His whisky rippled almost nervously. He had been lied to. He had been used. He had fallen for the oldest trick in the world. He had been humiliated by a woman.

She had deceived him, gotten under his skin and reached him in places that no woman had before. She used her delicious body, playing a game with him that he hadn't known about. The kind that he believed that he could never have fallen prey to, until her.

Her sighs, her moans, the little whispers of adoration had driven him crazy with lust and desire for her. He had been putty in her hands. Those hands had done things he thought impossible.

He could hear her voice on the wind outside.

Do that again. Touch me there, please Karim. Like that Karim, don't stop.

He had believed her words. Damn it. Her words, the memory of her sublime body, the memory of her painted upon his mind was enough to turn him on, he was angry he didn't want to desire her, he wanted to punish her.

Still he couldn't forget the feel of her. The memory of her deliciously soft mouth on his as he had plundered it for his taking. The silky softness of her skin when he caressed it and the tenderness of her inner thighs that trembled at his touch and the weight of her ample breasts in his hands were all memories that refused to be buried. It had all been a joy but none of it had been real. Her sexual appetite was real but the hunger for him had been false. It wasn't for him but what she could get from him. She had deceived him, hurt him, toyed with him and made him blind to the truth; but no longer.

How else could he describe waking up one day to discover her gone along with $5 million.

A tremor of rage shot through him. The money was nothing to a wealthy man like him; it was the fact that she had taken his honour.

Karim turned his back on the window and crossed the opulent room to a fine drinks cabinet where his favourite single malt stood and poured himself a second drink.

Although part of what he had just been thinking was an overstatement. He had never actually spent a whole night with Lacey. He had actually never awakened the following morning to find her gone before him. That has always been his role, Karim frowned. No, that wasn't entirely correct either. Once or twice he had stayed over; no more than that. And it had only been due to the lateness of the hour or bad weather. There was never any other reason. He never let be any other reason. That was the way he liked things. He had his apartment and the women of the moment had hers. Too much familiarity or togetherness no matter how good the sex led to closeness and then that inevitability led to words of relationship, even marriage would come up in conversation or things would grow boring. These sorts of words and conversations were enough for him to end any entanglement quickly. Usually a piece of jewellery, some form of expensive trinket kept most women happy. Not Lacey. Every time he tried to give her a piece of jewellery in the short time they were together, she always refused the pieces to start with. The diamond earrings, the emerald and diamond necklace; she would tell him they were far too extravagant and she couldn't possibly take them.  He never listened to her excuses maybe he should have since mere trinkets weren't what she had been looking for. He clenched his glass of whisky his knuckles white.

The last time he had seen her; he had left her bed late in the night and flown to Paris on business for a week. When he had returned a week later, she was gone and so was $5million, embezzled from his investment firm that he'd built into a formidable worldwide power. The account had been only to be accessed by him. Karim shrugged his shoulders and took a long swig of his favourite whisky. She must have seen him put the combination in. There was no other way to access the account.

He turned and walked back to the window taking in the view. The snow droplets were easing and dusk had well and truly past into the darkness of the night.

Five million dollars gone, it had never been found or recovered. The woman, who had taken it had not been found either.

But she was going to be found, oh yes she would be and soon.

He hadn't been able to think of anything else today. Not since he received a phone call from the private detective he had hired. Scotland Yard and the police had proven useless. Karim had hired the private detective after Scotland Yard and the Police had not been able to make any head way let, alone even find Lacey. He was waiting for the detective to arrive at his apartment for an update.

One year, one month and 5 days and now he would finally get what he hungered for. An old concept, that his ancestors would have agreed with him on. Vengeance.

He swallowed the remainder of his whisky and waited for the warmth of the fine Scottish single malt to slide down his throat. Unfortunately nothing warmed Karim anymore. He needed to finish what he started last year, when he had taken Lacey Abbot as his mistress.

There was nothing unusual in that. He was after all male and in his prime. He never had to go searching for women, they flocked to him hoping to capture the sheik into marriage, but he never stayed with any one woman long enough to call the sex a relationship. What had been unusual was the fact that he had chosen an employee to be his mistress and the sex had lasted a lot longer than was usual for him. The one rule that he never broke, never sleeping with employees, well not until Lacey came along.

The women that he took as lovers tended to be beautiful, model type women who could be charming and sex demons in the bedroom. He believed that a woman should beguile her man.

He had been educated in London at Oxford taking a first in Business. A man of the world, he definitely was. But where he came from tradition was tradition and a woman needed to know that if she wanted to be capable of holding a man's interest.

Lacey had been none of these things. She was 5-4, not tall like a model. She only came up to his shoulder with heels on. She had large breasts and was not petite like a model but did have curves in all the right places. Her hair was a golden blonde shade and came down to her waist. The first time he had seen her, he itched to take the clip out of hair and let those golden tresses fall to her little waist. When it came to pleasing a man she didn't. She was polite, well spoken, dressed conservatively and very direct in her opinions. She never hesitated to air opinions either. She was beautiful but never sent out any signals that most women did when they were interested in a man. Nevertheless, he noticed her deep blue eyes used to light up at the sight of him but they quickly cooled to utter professionalism when they were with anyone else.

Now it made sense. She wasn't interested in him. She had been trapping him from the start and he hadn't seen it. He had only noticed that she was different from all the other women he had known. She had played on that. His jaw tightened. Damned right, she had been different, she had worked for him.

He never mixed business with pleasure. It was a sure fire way to lead to problems in the workplace.

She had come into his life unexpectedly. His chief financial officer had had a heart attack and had to take early retirement. One day he was at his desk and the next he was hooked up to tubes in hospital for a few weeks. Now he was recuperating at home with his wife and a nice retirement package from Karim.

They had needed a replacement and quickly. It was a senior role and needed to be filled immediately. Karim did what was logical. He promoted the assistant CFO Andy Green, to the top job. That led to another gap in the organisation. He needed a replacement assistant CFO. Karim had told Andy to hire someone appropriate and fast.

Bugger. His whisky glass was empty again. His impatience for the detective to arrive would have been obvious to all if anyone had been in the room with him. Of course the private detective that he had hired was only known to him. Karim couldn't afford anyone else apart from his chief CFO knowing what had happened and the man had the good sense to keep his mouth shut. He looked at his watch. It was five o'clock. The appointment was for five fifteen. Karim shrugged his shoulders well aware of his impatience. He refilled his whisky from the bar. His impatience was getting to him and he had to calm down. He had waited this long, he could wait a little longer. He ran his empty hand through his hair rumpling the waves.

Whilst the darkness of the night suited his mood he needed to put the lights on for his impending guest. He tried to look over some reports while he continued to wait.

As usual, his mind drifted back to how he had met Lacey. His chief CFO had stepped in one day a couple of weeks later and had told him that he had two possible candidates to be his assistant. Green had said, "Great news. I've found two possible candidates and one in particular I think is promising."

}Karim was busy with a large investment that he was concluding and didn't have time. "Just pick one."

Andy had said, "I'm new into the role and the assistant will also be new. I thought I should run it past you."

Karim had muttered but knew his chief CFO Andy was right. He ran his company. It was his and his alone. He was happy for his people to act with full authority so long as he was kept in the loop. He had realised that he would be working closely with Andy and his new assistant. Arrangements were made to meet with both candidates the following day. Andy had been right. One person had stood out. Her name was Lacey.

He wasn't biased towards women in general but she would be working in a male dominated business and she needed to be able to cope with that. It turned out that she was brilliant at her role.

Lacey Abbott had degrees from Stanford and Oxford in accounting and business. She had worked in America on Wall Street as well as being articulate and beautiful. She was polite yet very reserved. She kept her distance from him. She had been hired on the spot and started almost straight away. She was quiet and had performed her job very well. She attracted attention even with her understated clothing and efficiency. He had noticed that most of the males in the firm had taken to passing her desk to say hello in the morning. She just smiled and got on with her job never showing more than polite interest. That should have warned him, but it hadn't.

He made the mistake of calling one of his dates Lacey when he was in bed with her. That had been the end of that short lived affair. That incident had made him aware that he was drawn to Lacey.

Four months later he had bedded her. It had been a Friday night and they had both worked late. Andy had to go home to take his children to a play with his wife leaving Karim and Lacey alone together. Karim had offered Lacey a ride home due to the late hour. She lived in Kensington due to some keen investments her father had made years before. He had mentioned that he had been invited to a New Year party on the Saturday night by some business acquaintances of his.  He asked her if she would like to go with him. He hadn't meant to make the suggestion or even bring it up, it had just come out. And he told himself it was too late to take the invite back. Purely a business arrangement he told her when he say her hesitate. He joked telling her that he really didn't enjoy these sorts of things and usually left it to others but these people were potential clients and he had to put in an appearance. He should have realised then when she laughed and said, "ok why not?" Instead, he had dropped her off and said a polite good night.

He had picked up Lacey the next evening and tried to be professional from start to finish at the New Year's party, making sure she had a drink and was introduced to the right people. He had lightly rested his hand in the small of her back when making introductions and she hadn't pulled away. The facade of polite professionalism had lasted until they arrived back at her apartment. Their eyes had met and he knew that he had been kidding himself. He had never made any sort of move on her; yet he had been hungering for her for weeks. He had opened her car door for her and as she stepped out he had gathered her in his arms out in the quiet street.

"No." She had said and then his mouth had claimed hers. Her mouth was soft and sweet. Her kisses belied that sweetness as they were hot and wild as his. The taste of her was a drug. A drug that he needed to possess at all costs.  The way her eyes had widened, and darkened into dark midnight pools of blue. The way her mouth had shaped a O in shock. He wanted to drown himself in her, possess her has his. His hands had slipped down to her waist and pulled her top from her waistband. The exposed skin almost made him come there and then.

"Karim, stop," she had whispered as his hands came back up and framed her face looking into the dark depths of her eyes. "We must stop..." he had kissed her again, stopping her protests. Slamming the car door shut he had taken control of the situation and had picked up Lacey in his strong arms and taken her up the steps and she roughly handed her keys to him. They maintained their kiss. They got no further than inside the front door.
His hands had slipped under her winter coat and ran up her sides to her arms where he shrugged the coat off. Her dress was a little black affair; knee length skirt and a halter top tied at the back of her glorious neck. A gorgeous dress for the occasion they had attended. He slipped his hands inside the halter top of the dress, his fingertips grazing her erect nipples. She sighed in enjoyment at his touch. He had his shirt open and she had been rubbing her hands up and down his chest delighting in the roughness of his chest hair. She fumbled with his belt trying to undo it and open his trousers.

There was no more time to waste. They needed each other now. He had her against the wall, her sexy skirt pushed up to her hips and her little black panties ripped off. He found the very centre of her and delighted in her ready moistness. He slipped a finger inside and she moaned in his mouth as they continued to kiss. He stood in front of her holding her against the wall with one arm and pulled her leg up and against him with his other arm. He thrusted in her in one go. He filled her to the hilt as he continued to kiss her drowning out her cries of passion. He was claiming her as his own; as he had longed to since he first saw her. Their passion continued as he thrusted hard and fast. Lacey clung to him crying out in her need for him. They both had come together and come down together breathing heavily from the heat of their passion.

They had left their strewn clothes on the floor shrugging off the rest as they moved from the hallway to her bedroom where he had promptly made love to her again and again, all night long. He needed her.
For the next two months they had made love at any opportunity they could find. Her apartment, his apartment, a weekend away at a discreet B & B; and even his office. He had been so besotted with her they had had sex in his office where anyone could have walked in. That had been part of the desire and charm of Lacey. He had been in a passionate affair, blind to everything, focussed totally on her. He had been more involved with Lacey than he had ever been with any woman. Then she had disappeared along with five million dollars of his money and his honour.

He wasn't' aware of throwing his glass across the room until it landed with a thump on the deep piled carpet. His anger had carried him through. He had blamed Andy at first but there had been no point really as he knew that he was ultimately responsible. He had apologised to Andy for his appalling behaviour and was grateful that Andy had covered up the missing money. Feminine wiles, her scheming duplicity, her angelic face and devious ways blinding him with sex...and why was he reliving it all...again.

He had had to tell the Scotland Yard, the Police and the private detective. He endured the knowing looks. He had to admit that he had been involved with her. Took the humiliation when they asked him questions about what access she had. To his home...yes; his study...yes, his computer...yes. But no one had been able to find her or the money...until now. That was the reason for the private detective coming to see him. He had found out what Scotland Yard and the Police hadn't been able too. Meeting the detective here kept the whole sordid matter out of the public view as well as his employees. Even his chief CFO didn't know that he had employed a private detective.

The door buzzer went. One of his security people attended to it and buzzed on the intercom. "Your appointment is here sire."

Karim pushed the button to respond impatient to know, "send him through."

He was early. Karim liked that. He was an impatient man by nature and waiting to find out about Lacey from the detective had tested the limits of his patience.

Karim made his way through to the morning room where he greeted guests. It was also the easiest room to guard for security reasons. A man of his wealth and power as well as being a ruler in waiting, could not be too careful with who he surrounded himself with. He grimaced again at his stupidity in mixing work and pleasure.

Jonathan Francis PI entered the room. Two security guards nodded at Karim, letting him know that there were no weapons on his visitors' person. They waited outside as they would escort the detective out when he had finished. Such was the security protocols in today's society.

"Your highness."

"Mr Francis."

They shook hands. Karim motioned Jonathan to sit down in a leather bound armchair by the roaring fire.

"I take it you would like to get down to business sir?" he opened the briefcase he came in with.

"Yes."

He took out a bound pile of papers and handed them to Karim. "Well we have found Miss Abbott."

Karim flicked through the paperwork showing where Lacey was, her occupation, the company she worked for and where she lived. There were even copies of her bank accounts. "We have searched everywhere we have access too but we have not been able to locate the money sir." He paused, "she certainly doesn't live like she has come into money either sir."

}He handed a recent A4 photograph of Lacey to Karim. His loins and heart tightened. She looked frail and extremely sad.

"Where is she?"

Jonathan responded, "She is living in Edinburgh and working as an accountant for a midsized accounting firm." He paused noting the white knuckles of his employer. "She goes under the name of Linda Andrews now. I believe it was her mother's maiden name."

Karim considered this silently. It was a step down from her previous role working for him, but she had no reference. "I am puzzled, working as an accountant? What about the money?"

"I don't understand either your highness," Jonathan told him. "It is unusual for someone to have that sort of money and continue working, especially in a lessor role.  I mean she is keeping a low profile that much is obvious. I assume that she is responsible for taking the money sir?"

"Of course she is!"

Karim drew a deep breath and then recovered himself. "I apologise for my rudeness."

"Think nothing of it your highness. Perhaps she will leave the country in a year or two and start spending the money then?"

Karim nodded. Lacey was smart. She didn't want to be found but now she had been. "Why couldn't anyone else find her?"

"I don't rightly know your highness."

Karim looked at the photo again. His first impression was correct. She looked fragile and pale. She was still lovely but looked like she had lost some weight. Karim's expression tightened, he had liked her curves. Her eyes were a midnight blue but they looked forlorn, sad even, hurt and he wondered why. Her gorgeous long blonde hair was carefully tied in a tight bun and she was dressed in slightly frumpy clothing as if she was trying to not draw attention to herself. He remembered the feel of her silken hair; brushing against his body making him shiver in anticipation as she would move up and down his body raining kisses the length and breadth of him.

"Is there a boyfriend?" The question surprised him. He had not thought that he would even think that let along say it out loud. He was curious; he knew of her sexual appetite, it had been a hungry one with him.

"None that I saw. She lives alone and is polite to her neighbours but they don't know anything about her either. In fact, she keeps a low profile, no socialising with her work colleagues that I saw. Although she is having a problem with her boss, that might escalate."

"What do you mean?" He could barely form the words. She surely couldn't be lining up some other poor bloody fool to rip off.

"He takes her home some nights. Tries to angle a way in, but she is very firm with him. Though he does have a reputation from what I have heard on the grapevine. Oh there is a finance and banking conference in Fiji shortly that they are both going on. I wouldn't be surprised if her boss tries it on again. It's about a week according to the pretty little secretary I spoke too."

Karim nodded. He was surprised that Lacey would come out of hiding and run the risk of running into him. But then she could hardly say no to her employer.

"Would like me to alert the authorities sir?"

"No."

Jonathan looked at him puzzled and then he quietly smiled. "Everything you need is in that file your highness. Her address, where she works, even details of the conference and the hotel where they are staying. I believe that Miss Abbott's secretary booked single rooms but it didn't go down well with her boss."

Karim nodded stiffly. "I will take it from here, Jonathan." The detective had been brilliant where others had failed.

"Thank you detective. You have been most helpful."

Jonathan got to his feet recognising a dismissal when he heard one. "You're welcome your highness." He closed his briefcase and stood up. Karim lightly put his hand on the detective's shoulder and led him to the entrance of the morning room. "Please send me your account forthwith."

"Certainly sir."

Karim waited until Jonathan had been escorted from the building and turned and walked back to look out at the murky darkness of night. The street lights were coloured amber halos in the mist. Why was he refusing to have the authorities go after Lacey? He realised this was his time. His time for revenge and he intended to take it.

He pulled out a phone and made two calls in quick succession. One was to his assistant to find out about the conference and the other to his pilot to arrange the learjet to be ready for takeoff at his command.

He hurried from the room to put his plan into action.