I Stand With You (Gold Streaks Book 1) Read online

  “Well...” Lisa begins. “It's fairly straightforward, on paper. One of the luxury cars assembled at the plant recently malfunctioned – a faulty connection to the battery, apparently; which caused the car to stall at the wrong place and time. A woman was killed in the resulting accident. Her husband blames the company for issuing a faulty car, and is suing them.”

  Titus looks surprised, eyebrows raised.

  “That's a terrible thing, that happened.” He says, sympathetically. “That poor woman. Her poor husband.” He sighs. “Besides the sadness of the whole thing, is there a problem?” He asks concernedly.

  “No, not really.” Lisa says, eyebrows raised, “except that the man in question is Raju Patel.”

  “Hell.”

  “Quite.”

  Raju Patel is a local multi-millionaire businessman, known for his high-profile lifestyle, his support of the arts, and his slightly suspect dealings. No-one has ever accused him of anything underhanded, but there has always been a sense that he may have connections to a drug cartel or some other illegal system as a secondary means of income. Standing against him if he wants to sue someone is daunting.

  “Anything else you know about the case?”

  “Nothing much yet.” Lisa replies. “It seems pretty straightforward to me. There's no evidence that the factory sold the car that way...if there was a problem with assembly, I would imagine more than one car would have malfunctioned the same way.”

  “That sounds reasonable” Titus nods.

  The two of them sit in silence for a few moments, thinking through the details of the case, then

  “I suppose I'd better get back to my office.” Titus sighs, and stands; knees creaking. “Got a case on hand at the moment, but not as fancy as yours.” He smiles.

  “I'll let you get back to it, then.” Lisa grins. “Thanks, T; for listening.”

  “Of course.”

  After he has left, Lisa sits for a moment, thinking. Cars being mis-assembled certainly happens, but it usually happens to more than one car. Businessmen who stand to inherit from their relatives and somehow foreshorten their lives also happen. But so does sabotage, accident...dozens of other things. Until she has more information, and has met with the client and discussed their side of the case, she cannot make up her mind either way.

  Lisa sighs, turns back to her computer, to look for newspaper articles, reports, archives...anything she can find about the case. She will have to schedule a meeting with the client soon. But first, she has a commitment to attend, tomorrow evening. The celebratory gala for the new vein being dug. She smiles.

  Chapter 3

  “How was work?”

  Sue asks it, lazily. She and Lisa are sitting in the kitchen again, a bottle of red wine open and salmon steaks steaming gently on the plates between them. The kitchen is darkened; the lights low and a candle burning between them on the table. The gilded light casts soft shadows on Sue's silk-soft skin; offsets Lisa's warm hair.

  “Good.” Lisa murmurs. “Yours?”

  “Good. Tiring.” Sue stretches, easing the knots of tension in her back. “I'm quite worn out.”

  Lisa grins. “I'm sure.”

  “Any interesting cases?”

  “Yes.” Lisa nods. “A client called in today. New case. Brinkman Car Assembly.”

  Sue sits up. Blinks “L! That's wonderful! That's a huge company.”

  Lisa smiles, looks down, modestly. “I know.” Her voice is warm.

  “Well, that calls for celebration.” Sue gets up, goes to the cabinet to find champagne flutes.

  Lisa grins. “I'm glad you're celebrating! I'm more dreading the work ahead.”

  “Don't be so depressing.” Sue admonishes, the smile taking all force from the words. “I know you, you have enough energy for five people.”

  Lisa grins. “Not if one of those five happens to be you.”

  Sue laughs. “Perhaps.”

  She finds a bottle of sparkling wine; brings it to the table with the glasses.

  “Cheers?” Sue asks.

  “Cheers.” Lisa nods. They drink.

  The candlelight is warm; casting soft shadows on Sue's skin. Lisa smiles at her; desire warming the red-brown of her eyes. The look is warm, intoxicating; making the blood run and the heart pulse harder.

  Sue moves a hand across the table; lets it rest on Lisa's. She turns her fingers; loops them around Sue's.

  They sit for a moment, silent. Sue's head rests on Lisa's shoulder. Lisa kisses her hair. Moves her hand to stroke the soft roundness of her shoulder; kneading gently.

  Sue moans a little; presses her head to Lisa's neck. Kisses her in the hollow between her collarbones.

  Lisa gasps. Her hand moves lower; brushing the softness of a breast under the filmy cotton of Sue's dress. The skin is firm and warm; the texture of the silky cotton almost as soft as skin. Sue's fingers are at the fastening of Lisa's blouse, tugging gently but insistently at buttons; stroking at the skin below. Lisa gasps; moves to stroke the softness of a nipple; making Sue breath out, sharply, with renewed desire.

  They kiss, slowly; red hair mingling with blonde as the rigid hairstyle Sue wears starts to come undone; tumbling a pale haze of hair about her almost-bare shoulders, a gilded aura in the light.

  They embrace; the curves of Lisa's body pressed tight to Sue's; the warm skin clinging where it meets.

  They stand, unsteadily. Lisa gestures upstairs with a tilt of her head. Sue nods, and leans in again to kiss Lisa; her mouth exciting – warm, tender and tasted with sweet wine.

  Upstairs, the bedroom is velvety darkness. The light from a single bulb casts pale, exciting shadows over Sue's skin, where her shift has gaped at the buttons, revealing one breast. The skin is ethereally pale; the aureole of her nipple palest-pink.

  Lisa gasps, reverently; her fingers tender as she unfastens the rest of the buttons. She kneels on the bed; kisses her way down Sue's chest to her navel. Sue is leaning back, her head thrown back in silent pleasure. Her fingers gently tug at Lisa's blouse; working over the buttons to remove it.

  Lisa smiles, gasps, and bends to take a nipple in her mouth even as Sue works the shirt down her shoulders; fingers caressing the pink-pale skin revealed as the material slides, slowly, off Lisa's body; cloth whispering on cloth, almost silent; mingling with the soft sounds of their joined breath.

  Soon they are both naked, the soft light delicate on pale skin and Lisa's darker skin; their bodies entwined on the bed. Their curves fit together perfectly; Sue's breasts pressing to the hollow of Lisa's throat where she bends to kiss Sue's neck; the silken softness of breasts and thighs pressed together, to each other, under the soft, dappled light. Their arms are wound around each other; tenderly and firm, pressing their bodies together. Sue's fingers caress Lisa's back. Their mouths are locked together in a deep kiss.

  Lisa's fingers stroke Sue's thighs, gently. Sue moans; arching her back. Lisa gasps as she feels the sweet, pellucid dampness building there; slides her finger forward to explore it. Sue's mouth has found her breast; bites it gently as Lisa slides her fingers deeply into her; thrusting with all the force of passion behind it.

  Sue gasps; thrusts with her hips; writhes with pleasure, her fingers stroking Lisa's body, incoherent.

  Then they are lost; bodies held by a rhythm that drives and thrusts and pauses and thrusts again; a wild, unfettered dance of flesh and soul and heart, spiralling them both beyond consciousness and into a white-out of desire sated.

  The evening wind cools their skin as it flows in from outside, tender with the warmth that lingers in the hills outside.

  Chapter 4

  The Regency Hotel is a wonderful venue for big events. The hall downstairs can hold three hundred people, and in summer, it opens onto the gardens, where even more people can spill out across the lawns under the pale summer stars.

  The doors are open tonight, and a cool breeze washes in, lifting the scents of perfume and champagne and mixing them with the heady, seductive scent of jasmi
ne flowing in from the pergola outside.

  Lisa stands to one side of the hall, watching the event. The sounds in the room are high, tinkling laughter, the warm burbling of champagne into crystal glasses, murmurous words, the distant sound of a violin. Lisa looks briefly over the groups of black suited men and elegant women, shoulders bared in the warm evening, gowns in blues and blacks and wine-dark reds and mauve.

  Her eyes move across the room to a figure in the centre; from where some of the bright laughter is issuing. Sue. In a white silk dress that flows lightly about her slender figure and a chain of gold and diamonds around her neck, she catches the light and spins it back warm and pale and full. Her hair is in an elegant roll, its thick gold softness warm under the muted lights of the room. She is surrounded by a group of men in dark suits and one or two women, trying not to seem outdone by her. The laughter in the room seems to flow from that central group; the group that everyone wants to be part of.

  “...Oh, Roger. You would say something like that...” Sue's voice, arch and laughing; teasing one of the men; one of the main shareholders in Gold Ridge.

  The group around Sue laughs as well. Lisa watches them watching her, and smiles to herself. Sue is beautiful; there is no denying it. She is also striking and charismatic and, tonight, she is warm and relaxed; completely at peace with herself and everyone. Everyone wants to talk to her.

  Lisa smiles affably; moves to the trestle tables to find a glass of wine.

  “Lisa?” Sue's voice. “There you are!”

  Lisa smiles, dazzlingly. The group around Sue look dismayed, sullen and resentful by turns.

  Lisa walks over to the group.

  “Lisa, you're on the Brinkman case, yes?” Sue asks, affably.

  “Yes...” Lisa sounds cautious. “Why?”

  “Well, Cedric Brinkman is here tonight. Over there. Should I introduce you?”

  Lisa smiles. Meeting the man neutrally would probably be ideal. That way, she can interact and gain some information and impressions off the record; find out the information that no-one would probably offer first-hand, but which often leads down the right path in a case.

  “Yes. Could you? I would like that.”

  Sue takes Lisa's arm; walks with her across the room to the trestle along the back, where a formidable-looking man in a quality wool suit is standing, watching the crowd.

  “Cedric!” Sue greets him enthusiastically. “Good to see you. It's been years?”

  The man turns, sees Sue; smiles. He is solidly-built, would have made a great footballer if only he was not a CEO already. He has pale hair, slightly thinning, and, when he turns to look at Lisa, eyes of a piercing golden brown.

  “Cedric? This is Lisa. Marsden. My partner and...erstwhile lawyer. Lisa, Cedric Brinkman.”

  Sue continues, introducing them when she sees Cedric's gaze rest on Lisa.

  They shake hands. Cedric Brinkman has a firm grip. Lisa feels her fingers throb as he takes her hand and releases it. He looks at her gravely; gold eyes level. Lisa feels her skin crawl under that piercing gaze.

  She plants her feet, stares back.

  “Ms Marsden?” He asks, his voice mild. “You are the lawyer from Naidu and Marsden, yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “Pleased to meet you. You will be defending my case, I believe?”

  “Yes.”

  “I look forward to discussing it with you soon.”

  Something about that statement makes Lisa feel uneasy. She hides it. “Indeed. We have a lot to discuss.”

  “Yes.”

  They are still for a moment. Lisa feels uncomfortable under the pale gold gaze of this man. She is about to break the silence, when Sue turns back to them, from where she has been momentarily distracted by another shareholder.

  “Cedric? You must tell me about these plans to branch out into truck assembly?” Sue asks.

  Lisa smiles to herself. If there is an industry Sue does not follow or a businessman whose interests and concerns she is unaware of, Lisa has never seen them.

  Cedric and Sue become involved in an animated discussion about the possibilities of the truck-making enterprise, and about the possibility of their producing trucks that could be used on the mine.

  Lisa turns back to the trestle table, disconcerted. Something about that man has flustered her. She cannot quite put her finger on why, but she mistrusts him. He makes her feel somehow threatened. Sue's laughter spills out across the room, bright and warm as the champagne flowing into glasses around them. The sound is reassuring. Lisa smiles. Perhaps it is nothing. She could just be being fanciful. Or the heat in the room is getting to her. She sighs; makes her way across the room to the wide glass doors that have been thrown open to give the guests access to the terrace and the lawn and night outside. She finds her toes aching in the new Italian designer high-heels Sue convinced her into buying, and winces as she walks outside to take a breath of night air. Perhaps it is nothing, she tells herself again. She breathes the cool, fragrant air outside and smiles. So much of tonight is perfect.

  Chapter 5

  “That's an interesting question. Yes. I think a company is only as good as the care it provides its employees...which is why we have implemented a new retirement package and further injury on duty regulations...”

  Sue is sitting at the table in her office; two journalists from a prominent magazine opposite her. She looks composed and cool as ever, but it is obvious to everyone who know her she is glowing. She comes alive in interviews; and besides; she has come alive so fully since meeting Lisa. Everyone who works in connection with her has noticed it; the change in her. Elspeth couldn't say for sure, but she was sure she heard her singing in her office the day previously.

  The two journalists are still asking her questions, and one asks if they can do a photoshoot with her in her office...just a few pictures of her in her place of work. Sue smiles. Of course. She is dressed for it, as ever; her white silk coat and pale blue blouse striking and elegant, complimenting her styled hair and arresting blue eyes.

  They remain at the table for a while asking questions, and then they conclude. Then Sue is going over to her desk, to pose for pictures. She grins at the journalists, then schools herself to a neutral expression – her “boss face”. She radiates cold authority like that.

  They set up their equipment, ask her to sit behind her desk; pen in hand. The light from the windows opposite bathes her palely; bright on her pale hair and soft on her skin. They do a few shots straight on; then one from the side. Sue find herself enjoying it; looks over her shoulder at the camera, one eyebrow raised, a slight smile on her sculpted, pale lips.

  “Good...really good...if you can just lean back a little...” The photographer is saying.

  “Ms Montmorency? Phone for you; Mr. Van Doesberg from the engineering corps.”

  Elspeth also tries to look neutral, but a grin is suffusing her soft features.

  “Really? That sounds important. Excuse me, gentlemen?”

  Sue smiles charmingly, stands elegantly and departs for Elspeth's office. The men watch her go, patiently waiting for her to return.

  “Mr Van Doesberg?” Sue asks. “Something to report?”

  “Yes Ma'am.” The engineer sounds excited as well.

  “Well?”

  “Well; we started on the main vein this morning, and it is so near to the surface, it's a wonder no-one has seen it before now! And a rich vein, too. This is going to be a great time for the mine.”

  Sue smiles, warmth suffusing the grin.

  “Thank you for telling me, Mr Van Doesberg. And well done. Sterling effort.”

  She can hear the man smile on the other side of the phone. His voice, when he speaks, is also warm.

  “...Thank you, Ms Montmorency.”

  “Thank you.”

  Sue replaces the receiver on the phone gently; the smile still on her face. When she looks up at Elspeth, the warmth is obvious.

  “Well, thank you for calling me, Elspeth. I think I have a fur
ther announcement to make to our journalist friends.”

  Elspeth grins back. She does not know exactly what was said, but she knows it must be positive.

  Sue returns to her own office. Stands in the door opposite the two men, waiting still at her desk.

  “Well, gentlemen. Thank you for your patience. And it seems we have another announcement to make...”

  Sue decides to tell them at once; to generate positive reviews about the mine. She always takes the opportunity to build their image; make the mine attractive to investors. And it works. She has so much interest in investing that the new prospecting on the north side of the ridge has almost been financed that way. She tells the journalists the good news, then they get back to the photoshoot. Half an hour later, and they are done. The journalists make ready to leave; packing up their cameras, collecting microphones and recorders; putting themselves in order. They come over to shake Sue's hand.

  “Thanks, Ms Montmorency...it's been a pleasure.”

  “...Great interview. We've got some great pictures. Thank you, Ms Montmorency.”

  Sue shakes their hands, thanks them for the interview; sees them out. Grins at their retreating backs and drifts to her desk, smiling.