Shadows and Light Ch. 08

Isabelle rolled over, her body aching with the remnants of the most erotic dream she had ever had. Ian had been making love to her, with his mouth and fingers, bringing her to the brink before her treacherous mind had pulled her from sleep. She opened her eyes to her dim bedroom and was relieved to see that Ian was not in bed with her. She could faintly hear the shower running in her adjoining bathroom. 'Thank God' she whispered as she disentangled herself from the covers and pulled her t-shirt down from where it had ridden up to her armpits.

She snuggled back down under the covers and tried to calm her frantically beating heart. Ian had been kissing her, touching her, and she had liked it. Not only liked it, she had wanted it with an intensity that left her breathless. She imagined Ian's on her, caressing and stroking her. He had ignored the ugly scars that covered her and left her on the verge of begging for more.

'It was a dream,' she told herself. There had been absolutely no indication that Ian felt anything other than sympathy and maybe guilt for what had happened to her. No matter how much she dreamed about him, naked in her bed, it was not likely to happen. She may have been a victim but she had still killed the older brother that he had loved and idolized from childhood. She was just lucky that he was kind enough to understand that she had done what she had to do. Falling for her just wasn't in the cards. She sighed; she just wished that she could convince her body and heart of this.

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Isabelle woke again, snuggled into Ian's pillow, surrounded by the spicy scent of his aftershave. Daylight filled the room, streaming in through the tall windows. Remembering pieces of the erotic dream she had been having, she groaned and pulled the pillow over her head. She had to get the images of a naked Ian out of her head or she would never be able to speak to him without blushing. She wanted him. She wanted him badly. Groaning again, she got out of bed and headed to the shower.

She didn't think that it was just because he had saved her life. He was smart, funny, gentle. Oh God, she had it bad. Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she admitted to herself that he was exactly the kind of guy that she had always dreamed of and never expected to find. Except for the drinking blood part, but who would anticipate that?

Even the idea of Ian feeding from her was exciting, scary but exciting. She brought up a hand and felt the tiny scars on her neck. The idea of him caressing her with want and need instead of comfort, brought a tingle to her body. She imagined him taking her from behind, watching him in the mirror as he pleasured her, his hands on her body, his mouth on her neck licking, sucking and finally biting as she climaxed. Shivering, she ran her hands over her t-shirt clad body, wishing it was his hands instead of hers.

Showering didn't really help. Hyper aware of her body, even the act of lathering up the soap felt erotic. And sliding her hands over her body left her achingly aroused. Drifting into fantasies of Ian's hands on her, she brought herself to a wrenching climax that left her weak kneed and shaky.

Slipping back into the bedroom wrapped only in a towel, the first thing that she noticed was that there were several packages on the neatly made bed. Blushing, she crossed to the bed, hoping that whoever had made it hadn't heard her in the shower. Some of the clothes she ordered had already arrived as well as some of her art supplies.

Feeling like a child at Christmas, Isabelle tore into the packages. She smiled and wondered what Ian would think of her in real clothes for a change. Maybe he would start to see her as something other than his brother's victim. She hoped so. She opened another package and silky pj's were revealed. Maybe she would have to wear one to sleep in tonight. 'Get a grip girl,' she told herself. 'Let's not humiliate yourself and embarrass him silly to boot.' Daydreams were one thing. Actually acting on them was another thing altogether.

Opening up her new sketchbook, Isabelle caressed the blank pages with a gentle hand. Was she ready to draw again? She was almost afraid that the only thing that would come out would be images of what had happened to her. Maybe that would be a good way to get them out of her head, then she could shut them away and get on with living.

She took it with her, along with her charcoals and headed out to see what marvelous concoctions had been created for breakfast. She had been putting on weight and was no longer skin and bones, just thin. Although a few more weeks of Mrs. Daily's cooking and she would have to go on a diet, that woman could cook like nobody's business. At this thought, she grinned. Mrs. Daily's cooking skills were only occasionally utilized. For the most part, she only cooked for the staff and the occasionally guest. She did work for vampires after all.

Isabelle had been surprised to find that the servants knew exactly whom they were working for. Many of them were second and third generation. For the most part, they held the Sterlings in the highest regards. The family was well known for fair business dealings and generosity for things like the local fire departments, police departments, and local charities. She had a hard time imagining the elder Sterling as anything other than a straight-laced tyrant. She sighed; their first meeting had made her extremely uncomfortable with him, despite everyone else's high opinion of him.

Cinnamon and other spices drifted to her nose and made her aware of the fact that her stomach was growling. She opened the door to the kitchen and was hit with a heavier scent of heavenly baking and Mrs. Daily's caroling greeting. Today would be a good day.

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"Mr. Sterling," said the agitated secretary, "surely this is unnecessary. It is an invasion of Mr. Sterling's personal office. Surely he wouldn't approve."

Ian had hoped that by showing up at the office early he would be able to avoid the regular employees that might ask too many questions. He had not planned on Prudence McKindrick, Cullen's secretary, being so dedicated to her job that she showed up early when her employer was out of the office. Ian hesitated for a moment. Cullen's death had not been made public yet and he had to think fast. "Ms. McKindrick my father owns this company. During Cullen's absence, he has asked me to retrieve some things from Cullen's office for him. Cullen will get over it."

"Surely I can assist with anything that you need to find," responded Prudence, "I have been Mr. Sterling's personal secretary for almost twenty years. I know where everything is." She gave him a brittle smile that did not reach her eyes.

Prudence McKindrick was the stereotypical middle-aged secretary. Her plain brown hair was pulled into a severe bun. The hem of her tailored suit fell below her knee and she even had a slender golden chain attached to her glasses.

"I am quite capable of retrieving things on my own," said Ian, his tone cold. "Now please excuse me." He turned and entered Cullen's office and locked the door behind him.

The office was contemporary in style, all sleek lines and minimalism. The paintings on the walls were abstract ones in bright colors. He knew them well; after all he was the one who had introduced Cullen to the artist.

Crossing to the desk, he spent the next half hour going through every bit of it. This included taking the drawers out and looking for any hidden cubbies or false bottoms. Nothing.

The shelves and books were next, every book was examined. There was nothing in the cupboards or the filing cabinet, nothing but business dealings. The bookshelves, the books, the filing cabinets and cupboards; he found absolutely nothing that wasn't related to business.

His cell phone rang and he answered it swearing, "Yeah."

"Don't sound so overjoyed, no luck?" came Finn's smiling voice.

"No," sighed Ian, "I don't think we are going to find anything here, except for a pissed off Prudence McKindrick. God that woman is a bitch. I don't know how Cullen put up with her all these years."

Finn laughed, "It is hardly a company secret that she has wanted him for the 20 years she has been working for him. She still treats me like a five year old. "

"Well, she would be the one to ask about anything Cullen was up to but I have the feeling that she wouldn't help me, unless it was maybe out of a thirty story window to a certain death."

"You always did know how to charm the ladies, brother mine," Finn replied, trying not to laugh at Ian's obvious frustration.

"How is the search of the apartment coming?"

"I have managed to find absolutely nothing," Finn's voice sounded disgusted, "I'd swear that the man didn't live here except there is hair in his brush and his favorite flavor of Gatorade in the fridge."

Ian sighed, "I didn't think that you would actually. He has a cleaning service come in every week. I don't think that he would leave anything out. If there is stuff in the apartment, it has got to be very well hidden. You may have to rip the place apart."

"Yeah, well I guess I will have to get the chainsaws out then," said Finn only half jokingly.

"You have fun with that," laughed Ian. "Just remember what happened the last time you played with tools. Handyman you are not."

Finn just laughed.

"He may have had an apartment, or a house where he kept that stuff." Ian continued. "Like the cabin. We may have to dig in the records quite a ways back to find any purchases, if he even purchased them in his name." Ian chewed his lip thoughtfully and sat in the comfortable leather chair at the desk. "I can't see him having property in someone else's name. He was too much of a control freak for that. But if he had any dummy corporations or something like that he wouldn't have to." "He definitely has the experience to do something like that. If that is the case it may take quite a while to track down." "Yeah," agreed Ian, "the council and the others may just have to wait to get everything. Problem is they want it now and are going to be on our asses until we find it." "Oh well, they will live I guess. Simon should be here sometime this afternoon. Maybe a fresh pair of eyes will help." Eagerness colored his tone. "He is coming today?" asked Ian, "I didn't think he was coming until Friday at the earliest." "I talked to him this morning," responded Finn after a moment's hesitation. Ian was thrown for a minute. He knew for a fact that Simon hadn't called the house; he also knew that Finn had been at his own apartment last night, rather than the main house. "Is there something going on between you that I should know about?" he asked teasingly.

There was a long silence. Ian was jolted, had he said something wrong?

"Would it matter?" Came Finn's quiet reply.

Ian let his breath out, realizing that he had been holding it, "Of course not. Simon and I have been friends for years. I just... you are catching me completely off guard."

"It happened kind of unexpectedly," Finn admitted. "I like girls, but Simon and I bumped into each other a couple of months ago and things just happened."

"A couple of months," Ian repeated, "That long?"

"You were country hopping at the time," was Finn's dry response. "What was I supposed to do, call you up and tell you 'oh by the way I think I am falling for your best friend'?"

"Point taken," replied Ian, picking up on the nervousness and tension on Finn's end of the phone. "It's just.....Simon has had a lot of heartache over being gay. His entire family turned their backs on him. That and the last person he gave his heart to pretty much ripped it out and set it on fire," he paused again, feeling awkward.

"We have talked about that a little. He doesn't say much. Just that Jason had lied to him a lot and finally just broke it off."

Ian paused. He didn't want to interfere but at the same time he didn't want to see Simon in the state he had been in when Jason had left him. "Jason had a fiancé," he said finally. "He had been hoping to keep it from Simon completely and continue the relationship. The fiancé found out about Simon and tracked him down. She pretty much laid all of the blame on Simon and did a very good job of making Simon feel like the one out to destroy her life. He called Jason to ask what the hell was going on and Jason caved. He stopped seeing Simon and ended up marrying the bitch three months later."

"Holy Shit," said Finn softly.

"He was absolutely shattered. I haven't seen him like that since the day after he came out to his family and they pretty much kicked him out of their lives. He wasn't even allowed to see his younger siblings again. He doesn't say much about it but I know that it still hurts. His younger brother is 20 now and refused to see him when Simon tried to contact him at the university where he was studying. Simon took it hard," Ian paused, "When Jason left he fell apart for a while. Just, just don't hurt him, ok? He has been through so much. If this is just a fling for you, you need to put an end to it before he gets attached to you."

"Yeah," said Finn after a pause, "He gets distant at the oddest times." He paused again, "This isn't just a fling for me Ian, I really care about him."

"I love you no matter what little brother," Ian paused, tearing up. "You know that I will back you up with Father if your relationship gets more serious. He won't approve but he will get over it eventually. I just, I wish that you had told me earlier. Don't you trust me?"

"I know," Finn sighed, "it's just taken me a while to figure things out. It's not like I have a road map for this sort of relationship. Simon just sort of happened so fast I haven't had time to take it in yet. I think I love him Ian."

Ian smiled, "You two make quite a pair. Just tread gently ok?"

"No worries there. Well we should get going; we have a lot of ground to cover before our little family paw-wow this afternoon. That and Simon should be here by then."

Ian laughed, "Great, getting ditched for a boyfriend, yeah, I love you little bro. I'll see you at five."

Ian went back to tossing the office grinning, even as he was growing more and more frustrated with the task. At noon, he gave up and was grateful that Prudence was away from her desk. He had several errands to run and an appointment to make before he could get back to the house and check in on Isabelle. She had been sound asleep when he had left her room that morning, sprawled across the bed looking tousled and beautiful. He had missed waking up with her, having spent most of the night pacing. He was tired but he had an appointment that he could not miss. He just hoped it would help him handle the next few nights.

Isabelle was healing physically. Ian was hoping she would agree to see a psychiatrist friend of his about putting herself back together emotionally. Jack was very good and also knew about Ian and his family. She would be able to tell him everything without worrying about being labeled crazy, or delusional. He just hoped that she wouldn't want to leave for a while. As hard as it was to be near her, it would be harder to have her gone.

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A few last sweeps of charcoal across the page and Isabelle sat back and looked at the almost finished sketch. Once she had begun drawing it was as if the floodgates had been opened and she had been drawing steadily since breakfast. The ones of Cullen were the worst. She finished those quickly, sometimes teary eyed before slipping them into a manila envelope that Mrs. Daily had given her. The one she was finishing was of Ian, tousle haired and sound asleep in the bed that they shared. Sexy, she admitted to herself, blending the final pieces with a fingertip. Flipping back a few pages she grinned at the drawing of Finn; his smile wouldn't stop. It radiated a kind of joy that she had seldom seen from anyone. He was a good subject, she admitted to herself. She had half-formed plans to see if he would sit for her when he had time. She smiled again; maybe he would want to give one to Simon.

Glancing at the clock, she realized that she had missed lunch entirely it was after two. She wondered where Ian was. She missed seeing him all the time. Stretching she closed the sketchbook and headed to the bathroom to wash her hands. She hoped he would be back soon. Maybe she could talk him into sitting for her.