Bought To Love

She looked even more dangerous than beautiful up close. Annie's mouth left opened with shocked. She was drop dead gorgeous, yes...but faded. Like a rose which had been plucked fresh for a man's buttonhole before a wild night of partying, but which now lay wilted and drooping across his chest.

She was still fast asleep, she laid wasted on top of a white leather mattress. She was wearing a white hoody, which curved over her breasts and bottom, ending midway along amazingly long legs which seemed to go on forever. Beside her lay an empty wine glass the finger-marked crystal upended and glinting in the spring sunshine. A faint breeze drifted in from the open windows leading onto the balcony, but it wasn't enough to remove the faint smell of cigarette from the room, along with the musky scent of incense. Annie made a barely perceptible click of distaste and anger. Cliché after cliché were all here embodied in the magnificent body of Karen as she laid on the bed with her head on her hands as a pillow and her black hair pouring over her beautiful body.

Annie couldn't help but think if it had been one of her male staff she would have knocked his head till he got up, but Karen wasn't one of her male staff. She was a woman. A spoilt brat who had let her beauty and rich lifestyle get to her head a spoil brat who was now her responsibility and for some reason she didn't want to lay her hands on Karen. She didn't dare.

Damn her father, she thought viciously, remembering the old man's continuous appeal to her. "You've got to save her from herself, Annie." "You have to show her she can't carry on like this for her sake and that of her future." And curse her own stupid conscience, which made her agree to this crazy deal between her and the old man.

She decided to listen to find out if the apartment was empty and the apartment was silent but maybe she should check if truly it was empty. She moved around and found no other bodies scattered in one of the many rooms.

She moved from room to room, among all the wreckage of cold pizza lying in greasy boxes and half-empty bottles of vintage wine, she could find no one. Only once did she pause when she pushed open a door of a spare bedroom, clustered with books and clothes and a dusty-looking exercise bike. Hidden behind a velvet sofa was a stack of paintings and she walked over to them, her natural collector's eye making her flick through them with interest. The canvases were filled with swirls and splurges of paint, some of which had been highlighted with a sharp edge of black ink. She studied them for several minutes, until she was forced to remember that she was here for a purpose and she turned away from the pictures and returned to the sitting room, to find Karen lying exactly where she'd left her.

'Get up,' she growled. And then, when she received no response, she repeated it more loudly this time. 'Get up, I say.'

Finally she moved, one of her arm reached up to brush aside the thick sweep of her black hair which covered most of her face, showing Annie a sudden clear view of her face. Her cute little pointed nose and the natural thickness of her soft red lips. Her thick lashes were open and as she slowly turned her head to look at her she realized

That her eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue she'd ever seen. They made the breath in her lungs dry completely, those eyes. They made her momentarily forget what she was doing there.

'What's going on?' she questioned, in a subtle voice. 'And who the hell are you?'

She sat up, blinking as she looked around but not creating the kind of fuss she might have expected. As if she was used to being woken by strange people who had walked into her apartment at midday. She felt another feeling of distaste and disgust. Maybe she was.

'My name is Annie James,' she said, looking at her face for some kind of recognition, but seeing only a blank and poker expression filled with boredom on her frozen features.

'Oh, yeah?' Those amazing eyes swept over her and then she yawned then proceeded to stretching her body before asking her. 'And how did you get in, Annie James?'

In many ways Annie was the most old-fashioned and principled of women-an accusation thrown at her many times by disappointed women in the past and in that precise moment she felt her temper begin to flare because it confirmed everything she'd heard about her. That she was careless. That she didn't care about anything or anyone, except herself. And anger was safer than desire. Rather than allowing herself to focus on the way her breasts jiggled as she moved. Or to acknowledge that as she rose to her feet and walked across the room she moved with a natural grace and poise she had never seen, which made her want to stare at her and keep staring. Which made her nipple begin to harden and her pussy began to get wet with an unwilling kind of lust.

'You left the door open so I decided to let myself in,' she said, not bothering to hide her disapproval.

'Oh. Right. Someone must have left it open on their way out.' She looked at her and smiled the pretty kind of smile which probably had most people eating out of the palm of her hand. 'I had a party last night.'

She didn't smile back at her. 'Doesn't it worry you that someone could have walked right in and burgled you, rape you or worse?'

She shrugged her question off and said. 'Not really. Security on the main door is usually very tight. Though come to think of it you seem to have got past them without much difficulty. How did you manage to do that?'

'That's because I have a key,' she said, holding it up between her thumb and forefinger so that it shined in the bright spring sunshine.

She was walking across the room the hoody moving across her bottom to draw her unwilling attention to the attractive shape of her ass. But her words made her jerk her head back in surprise and a faint frown appeared on her brow as she extracted a pack of cigarettes from a small beaded handbag which was lying on a coffee table.

'Wait what do you mean by, you have a key?' she questioned, pulling out a filter tip and jamming it in between her lips. 'I'd rather you didn't light that,' said Annie sternly.

Her eyes narrowed. 'Oh, really?'

'Yes. Really,' she stared back sarcastically and with a look of disapproval. 'Leaving aside the obvious health risks and dangers of passive smoking, I happen to hate the smell.'

'Then you can leave. Nobody's stopping you neither did anybody ask you to remain here.' She flicked the lighter with a manicured thumbnail so that a blue-gold flash of flame flared briefly into life, but she only got as far as inhaling the first drag when Annie crossed the room and removed the cigarette from her mouth, ignoring her look of shock.

'Who the hell are you and what do you think you're doing taking away my cigarette?' she spoke with a sense of anger and disdain in her voice. 'You can't do that!'

'No?' she questioned sarcastically. 'Well watch me, baby.' she walked out to the balcony and crushed the glowing red tip between thumb and forefinger, before dropping it into another empty champagne glass, which was standing next to a large pot plant.

When she returned she could see a look of defiance on her face as she took out a second cigarette.

'There are plenty more where that came from,' she said with a smirk.

'And you'll only be wasting your time,' she said flatly. 'Because every cigarette you light I'm going to take from you and extinguish, until eventually you have none left.'

'And if I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing and harassment,' she challenged. 'What then?'

Annie shook her head. 'Sorry to disappoint you, but neither of those charges will stand up-since I think the law might find that you are the one who is actually guilty of trespassing. Remember what I just told you? That I have a key.' she paused.

She saw her look of defiance and disdain briefly waver. She saw a shadow cross over her beautiful blue eyes and she felt a wave of something which felt almost like empathy and she wasn't quite sure why. Until she reminded herself what kind of woman she was. The spoilt, manipulative kind who stood for everything she most despised.

'Yes I know but I'm asking why you have a key and it had better be a good explanation,' she said in a tone of voice which nobody had dared use with her for years. 'Who are you, and why have you come barging in here, trying to take control of my life?'

'I'm happy to tell you anything you want to know,' she said evenly. 'But first I think you need to put on some clothes.'

'Why?' A smile played at the corners of her lips as she put a hand on one angled hip and struck a catwalk pose. 'Does my appearance bother you, Miss Annie James?'

'Actually, no at least, not in the way I think you're suggesting. I'm not turned on by women who smoke and flaunt their bodies to strangers,' she said, although the latter part of this statement wasn't quite true, as the continued aching in her body testified. She swallowed against the sudden unwanted dryness in her throat. 'And since I don't have all the time in the world to waste why don't you do as I say and then we can get down to business?'

For a moment Karen hesitated, tempted to tell her to go to hell. And to carry out her threat and go over to the phone and call the police, despite the fact that she was enjoying the unexpected drama of the situation. Because it was good to feel something even if it was only anger, when for so long now all she had felt had been a terrifying kind of emotional numbness? As if she were no longer made of flesh and blood, but was made colorless and invisible like water.

She narrowed her eyes as her mind flicked back through the previous evening. Had Annie James been one of the many gatecrashers at the impromptu party she had ended up hosting? No. Definitely not. She frowned. She would have remembered her. Definitely. Because she was the kind of woman you would never forget, no matter how odd and awkward you found her.

Unwillingly, her gaze drifted over Annie. Her stern but sexy features would have been perfect were it not for the fact that she had stormed into her house and ordering her around. Her hair was dark though not quite as dark as hers and her eyes were the color of midnight. Her nails and hair looked somewhat unkempt as tho she hadn't visited the saloon in decades, looking as if she's had more than her fair share of sexual urge raging around her body. And what a body. Karen swallowed. She looked as if she would be perfect for the role as a swimsuit model with a well-rounded breast that stands firm on her chest and a very slim and slender body curving where it needs to curve in and curving out where it needs to curve out even though she could tell that her spotless crimson red gown must have cost a fortune.

And meanwhile the inside of her mouth felt as if it had been turned into the Sahara desert and she was certain her breath must smell awful because she had fallen asleep without brushing her teeth. Her fingers crept up stealthily to her face. Yesterday's make-up was still clogging up her eyes and beneath the hoody her skin felt warm and sticky. It wasn't how you wanted to look when you were presented with a lady as spectacular as her.

'Okay,' she said care free attitude. 'I'll go and get dressed.'

She enjoyed Annie's brief look of surprise-as if she hadn't been expecting her sudden capitulation-and that pleased her because she liked surprising people. She could feel Annie's gaze on her as she padded out of the room towards her bedroom, which had a breathtaking view over some of London's most famous landmarks.

She stared at the perfect circle of the London Eye as she tried to gather her thoughts together. Some women might have been freaked out at having been woken in such a way by a total stranger, but all Karen could think was that it made an interesting start to the day, when lately her days all seemed to bleed into one meaningless blur. She wondered if Annie James was used to getting everything she wanted. Probably. She had that unmistakable air of arrogance about her. Did she think she would be intimidated by her strict stance and bossy air? Well, she would soon realize that nothing intimidated her.

Nothing.

She didn't rush to get ready-although she took the precaution of locking the bathroom door first. A power shower woke her into life and after she'd dressed, she carefully applied her make-up. A quick blast of the hairdryer and she was done. Twenty minutes later she emerged in a pair of skinny jeans and a clingy white T-shirt to find Annie still there. Just not where she'd left her-dominating the large reception room with that faintly hostile glint in her midnight-blue eyes. Instead, she was sitting on one of the sofas, busy tapping something into a laptop, as if she had every right to make herself at home. Annie glanced up as she walked in and she saw a look in Annie's eyes which made her feel faintly uncomfortable, before she closed the laptop and surveyed her coolly.

'Sit down,' Annie said.

'This is my home, not yours and therefore you don't start telling me what to do. I don't want to sit down.'

'I think its better you do.'

'I don't care what you think.'

Annie's eyes narrowed. 'You don't care about very much at all, do you, Karen?'

Karen stiffened. She said her name as if she had every right to. As if it were something she'd been rehearsing. And now she could make out the faint eeriness in her voice. Her heart lurched because suddenly this had stopped feeling like a whacky alternative to a normal Sunday morning-whatever normal was-and had begun to feel rather...disturbing.

But she sat down on the sofa opposite Annie's, because standing in front of her was making her feel like a naughty schoolgirl who had been summoned in front of the principal. And something about the way Annie was looking at her was making her knees wobble in a way which had nothing to do with anger.

She stared at her. 'Just who are you?'

'I told you. Annie James.' He smiled. 'Name still not ringing any bells?'

She shrugged, as something drifted faintly into the distant recesses of her mind and then drifted out again. 'Maybe.'

'I know your brother, William-'

'Half-brother,' she corrected with cold emphasis. 'I haven't seen William in years. He lives in America.' She gave a brittle smile. 'We're a very disorientated family.'

'So I believe. I also used to work for your father.'

'My father?' She frowned. 'Oh, dear. Poor you.'

The look which greeted this remark showed that she'd irritated her and for some reason this pleased her. Karen reminded herself that she had no right to storm in and sit on one of her sofas, uninvited. Or to sit there barking out questions. The trouble was that she was exuding a disturbing air of confidence and certainty-like a magician who was saving his show-stopping trick right for the end of his act...

'Anyway,' she said, with an entirely unnecessary glance at the diamond bracelet which was glittering furiously at her wrist. 'I really don't have time for all this. I'll admit it was a novel way to be woken up but I'm getting bored now and I'm meeting friends for lunch. So cut to the chase and tell me why you're here, Miss Annie James. Is my dear daddy having one of his occasional bouts of remorse and wondering how his children are getting on? Are you one of his heavies who he's sent to find out how I am? In which case, you can tell him I'm doing just fine.' She raised her eyebrows at her. 'Or has he grown bored with wife number...let me see, which number is he on now? Is it six? Or has he reached double figures? It's so-o-o difficult to keep up with his hectic love life.'

Annie listened as she spat out her spiky observations, telling herself that of course she was likely to be mixed up and angry and combative. That anyone with her troubled background was never going to end up taking the conventional path in life. Except she knew that adversity didn't necessarily have to make you spoilt and petulant. She thought about what her own mother had been forced to endure-the kind of hardship which would probably be beyond Karen's willful understanding.

Her mouth tightened. She wouldn't be doing her any favors by patting her on her pretty, glossy head and telling her it was all going to be okay. Hadn't people been doing that all her life-with predictable results? Quite frankly, she was itching to lay Karen across her lap and spank a little sense into her. She felt an unwanted jerk of lust. Though maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

'I have just concluded a business deal with your father,' she said.

'Bully for you,' she said flippantly. 'No doubt he drove a hard bargain.'

'Indeed he did,' he agreed steadily, wondering if she had any idea of the irony of her words-and how much she secretly agreed with them. Because if anyone else had attempted to negotiate the kind of terms Peter had demanded, then Annie would have given an emphatic no and walked away from the deal without looking back. But the acquisition of this imposing tower block in this part of London wasn't just something she'd set her heart on-a lifetime dream she'd never thought she'd achieve just shy of her thirtieth birthday. It was more than that. She owed the old man. She owed him big time. Because despite Peter's own car crash of an emotional life, he had shown Karen kindness at a time when her life had been short of kindness. He had given her the break she'd needed. Had believed in her when nobody else had.

'You owe me, Annie,' he'd said as he had outlined his outrageous demand. 'Do this one thing for me and we're quits.'

And even though Annie had inwardly objected to the blatant emotional blackmail, how could she possibly have refused? If it weren't for Peter she could have ended up serving time in prison. Her life could have been very different. Surely it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility that she could teach his mixed-up daughter a few fundamental lessons in manners and survival.

She stared into her blue eyes and tried to ignore the sensual curve of her mouth, which was sending subliminal messages to her body and making a pulse at her heart begin to hammer. 'Yesterday, I made a significant purchase from your father.'

She wasn't really paying attention. She was too busy casting longing looks in the direction of her cigarettes. 'And your point is?'

'My point is that I now own this apartment block,' she said.

She had her attention now. All of it. Her blue eyes were shocked-she looked like a cat which had had a bucket of icy water thrown over it. But it didn't take longer than a couple of seconds for her natural arrogance to assert itself. For her to narrow those amazing eyes and look down her haughty little nose at Annie.

'You? But...but it's been in his property portfolio for years. It's one of his key investments. Why would he sell it without telling me?' She wrinkled her brow in confusion. 'And to you?'

Annie gave a short laugh. The inference was as clear as the blue spring sky outside the penthouse windows. Annie wondered if she would have found the news less shocking if the purchase had been made by some rich aristocrat-someone who presumably she would have less trouble twisting around her little finger.

'Presumably because he likes doing business with me,' she said. 'And he wants to free up some of his money and commitments in order to enjoy his retirement.'

Another frown pleated her perfect brow. 'I had no idea he was thinking about retirement.'

Annie was tempted to suggest that if she communicated with her father a little more often, then she might know what was going on in his life, but she wasn't here to judge her. She was here to offer her a solution to her current appalling lifestyle, even if it went against her every instinct.

'Well, he is. He's winding down and as of now I am the new owner of this development.' Annie drew in a deep breath. 'Which means, of course, that there are going to be a number of changes. The main one being that you can no longer continue to live here rent-free as you have been doing.'

'Excuse me?'

You are currently occupying a luxury apartment in a prime location,' she continued, 'which I can rent out for an astronomical monthly sum. At the moment you are paying precisely nothing and I'm afraid that the arrangement is about to come to an end.'