Chapter 11 –

Natalie was woken from her sleep by the phone ringing loudly on her bedside table. She grasped blindly at it, only managing on her third attempt to actually reach and hold the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" She muttered, her voice dry from lack of moisture.

"Where did you go yesterday?"

Natalie's eyes snapped open and she pulled herself up into a sitting position, "Hello to you to. And I went back to the conference."

"Without me? You didn't even say goodbye."

Natalie rolled her eyes and hauled herself out from under the extra warm duvet, "I decided not to interrupt what seemed like a riveting conversation between you, Mr Bowman and his two lady friends." Natalie felt so childish saying that. 'Lady friends', god it made her sound like a seven year old.

"Mr Bowman is a very dedicated businessman and a good friend of mine. And the two lady friends, as you called them, were called Isabelle and Carrie. They, too, are also my good friends."

Natalie scowled at herself in the mirror, "Just friends?" She slapped herself on the forehead. Why the hell had she said that? Could she sound anymore jealous?

"You sound very jealous."

"Well, I'm not. I'm only thinking of my poor elder sister, who was probably sitting at home while you were cavorting with two tall, blonde women!" Natalie huffed; annoyed that Matthew was thinking the exact same thing as her.

"Can I remind you that my wife is also blonde and rather tall, and that she wasn't sitting at home, she was on a shopping spree in Tiffany's."

Natalie frowned, "And she didn't invite me?" She demanded, hurt.

"Not really the point I was trying to make, but if it helps she was with Claudia and Susan, I think, so you may not have wanted to join them."

Natalie sighed, "I suppose."

"Anyway, I've now completely forgotten the point of me calling you at nine in the morning."

"Nine in the morning!? Why the hell have you called me at nine?" Natalie half shouted, afraid she'd wake Cassie.

"As I've just said, I've forgotten. It was probably about how I'm angry at you for just leaving me like that yesterday."

"Well, I had no choice unless I interrupted your conversation. God, we've just been over this."

He sighed down the line, making it crackle, "Okay, so, what are you doing today?"

Natalie ran a hand through her hair, wincing as she came upon hundreds of knots and pulled on her head, "I don't know. I'm going to an interview this afternoon. Looking for a new job still. I also need to go shopping for food, so I might drag Cassie along for that. Oh, and I'm also meeting Sheila, Nathan, Danielle and Adam for lunch."

"So you basically have the whole day fully booked?"

Natalie smiled, "Yeah, basically. What you doing today?"

"I have meetings all day."

"Interesting day then." Natalie joked, standing up from the bed and opening her wardrobe to find something to wear.

"Well, not today but this evening should be fun."

Natalie stopped looking for clothes and concentrated on what he was saying, "Why? What are you doing this evening?"

"I'm taking a beautiful blonde woman to the opera. I'm going to treat her to a gourmet meal in a small Spanish restaurant before hand."

Natalie let out the breath she was holding in, "Right, well, have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Don't you want to know who the blonde woman is?" Matthew asked.

Natalie sighed and grabbed some jeans and a jumper, "I assumed it was my sister."

"Well, you assumed wrong. It's you."

She nearly dropped the jeans and jumper, "It's what?" She snapped.

"It's you."

"You're taking me to dinner and a opera?" Natalie demanded, not believing her ears.

"Yes."

"Well…" Natalie gaped for a moment, "What if I'm doing something tonight?"

"You would have said. But, if you do, tough. You're coming with me. I'm not taking no for an answer. I'll pick you up at eight fifteen."

He hung up.

Natalie disconnected the phone with a painful jab and threw it forcefully down onto the bed. She sat down next to it and sighed, burying her head in her hands.

Her brother-in-law had just asked her out on what could probably be called a date. Though 'asked' was probably stretching it a bit too far. Ordered was more like it.

"Argh!" Natalie couldn't stand the puzzlement and confusion she felt. She needed to talk to someone. Sheila annoyingly had been on the night shift so probably wouldn't appreciate a call so no major talking could be done until lunchtime.

There was a knock at the door.

She looked up, "What?" She snapped, stretching up from the bed and grabbing her trousers.

The door opened slowly and Cassie's head poked through, "Hey, you want breakfast?" She asked, her dark blue eyes sparkling.

"Is… Steven still here?" Natalie demanded, rubbing her nose.

Cassie grinned, "No, he's up and left. I kicked him out half an hour ago." She tilted her head, "Well? I'll make you bacon and eggs!"

Natalie raised her eyebrow, "You're going to make me bacon and eggs? You!"

Cassie's grin fell, "Why? What's wrong with that?"

"Honey, you can't even make toast!" Natalie said, smiling slightly, to show she didn't mean the anger that her voice showed.

Cassie rolled her eyes, "Well, I'll have a go. It'll be ready in about fifteen minutes."

Fifteen minutes later, Natalie emerged from the bedroom to find the kitchen in complete disarray. Cassie was standing in the middle of the kitchen happily scrapping burnt eggs off the frying pan.

Natalie gazed around, not sure whether to laugh or cry, "Cassie! What have you done!?" She walked up to the nearest kitchen counter and stared at the masses of burnt pans, "Why are there so many burnt pans?"

Cassie looked up, her face red from the effort of scrapping the stuck eggs, "It took me a couple of goes to actually cook the eggs properly."

Natalie stared at the burnt eggs now on two plates, "You're telling me, that that's cooked to you?"

Cassie nodded, frowning slightly, "Yeah, have you changed the oven? Because believe me, it was not that hard to turn on last time I cooked here."

Natalie shrugged and took the plate Cassie handed to her, "How many eggs did you use?"

"Six." Cassie replied, digging in to the burnt eggs.

"And the bacon? Did you not cook any?"

"You didn't have any left. I think Stephen had a lot last night. He got hungry around midnight."

Natalie nodded, pushing the eggs back off the plate and into the bin, "I'm going to go shopping for some real food. Want to come?"

She watched in amusement as Cassie shook her head, "Alright, fine, I'll go without you, but you have to promise me, you'll clean the apartment, okay?"

The brunette nodded.

"And the rent's due this Sunday. Put the money on the table next to the door." Natalie looked back at her sister, her eyes narrowing, as she gathered up her bag and keys, "Promise, Cassie."

Cassie glanced up and made the scouts sign.

Natalie smiled, "Good. I'll see you later."

"And Julia says that pale blue is the fashion now, not pale pink."

Natalie frowned, "But aren't the flowers going to be pale pink and white?"

Sheila shrugged, "She wants them changed."

"I don't see why we had to hire a bloody wedding planner in the first place." Nathan snapped irritably.

"Urgh, I know!" Sheila muttered sulkily, "But mom insisted."

"But it's your wedding," Natalie retorted, "If you want pale pink bridesmaid dresses then so be it."

"Why can't you just fire this Julia woman?" Danielle spoke up, coming back with Adam with the drinks.

Sheila rolled her eyes, "Because if I do, I know mom will want to take over and then everything will go wrong!"

Natalie smiled her thanks as Adam passed her her drink, "I'm sure my mom would love to help organize everything. She could help keep your mom under control."

Sheila brightened, "Yes! I'd love her to do that!" She turned to Nathan, "What do you think?"

Nathan looked at her the redhead before turning to Natalie, "Do you think she'd want to?"

Natalie snorted, "She thinks me and Cassie have no chance of marriage and despairs of never helping to organize a another marriage, so yeah, I'd say she'd love to. But I'll ring her to check."

Nathan nodded, "Great. Well, ring us to tell us what she says and then, hopefully, we can fire Julia." He smiled slightly at Sheila, "That make you feel better?" He asked softly.

Sheila smiled back and nodded.

Natalie looked away as they kissed slowly. Sipping her drink, she rolled her eyes at Adam who grinned, "So, Danielle," She said suddenly, "When are you and Adam going to get married?"

Adam cast her a death glare as Danielle gushed with excitement.

"Well! He has to ask me first of course, but I was thinking of a summer wedding. I'd wear a cream strap dress while my bridesmaids would wear yellow. The flowers would be sunflowers and daisies and our honeymoon would be in Ireland, which, you know, is my favourite country, even though I've never been there."

Natalie nodded seriously, ignoring Sheila's snort of laughter and Adam's look of complete disgust, "Interesting. And who'd be your bridesmaids?"

"Of course you and Sheila as you're two of my best friends. My sister Jennifer would be my maid of honour and Carol, a high school friend, would be another bridesmaid."

Again, Natalie nodded, hoping the marriage never happened. She did not look good in yellow.

"Though, of course, Adam needs to ask me!" Danielle giggled.

Sheila nudged Adam, "Get in there!"

He sent her a scowl, "Dani, we need to go."

Natalie frowned, "But we haven't had lunch yet!" She protested, sipping her drink.

"Well, I'm not hungry anymore. Come on Dani."

Natalie watched him as he dragged the protesting Dani out of the small café. She turned back to the table and exchanged a knowing look with Sheila.

"Commitment phobe, right?" Nathan asked, catching the glance.

Sheila nodded, "Yep. This is the longest relationship he's been in for, well, ever." She looked at Natalie, frowning slightly, "You know you shouldn't have mentioned to Dani about her and Adam getting married, Nat! Why did you?"

Natalie shrugged and grinned shamefully, "I don't know. I felt he should make something of their relationship instead of sitting on his ass all day!"

Nathan raised an eyebrow, "So you basically felt like stirring something up?" He guessed.

Natalie stared at him, "You know me very well after so little time." She commented, finishing off her drink.

He smirked, "I've had updates and stories from the best friend." He answered, glancing at his fiancée.

"I hope you haven't told him everything about me, Sheila."

"No, just all the gruesome and embarrassing bits."

Natalie rolled her eyes, looking up as a waiter approached the table.

"Your order?"

"Can I have the soup of the day and a Caesar salad, please." Natalie said, closing the menu and handing it to him.

"Um, can I have the same but without the Caesar salad." Sheila ordered.

"And I'll have the lasagne."

The waiter left with their menus.

Natalie leaned forward, resting her arms on the table, "I have something to tell you."

Nathan glanced between the best friends, "Do you want me to go?"

"No, no." Sheila rested her hand on his arm to stop him from getting up, "Natalie knows that I'll only tell you later."

Natalie raised an eyebrow, "I do." She smiled slightly at Sheila's scowl, "Oh, right, of course you would. Anyway, yeah, I have to tell you something that's important and I need your advice."

Sheila leant forward, her eyes bright with curiosity, "Shoot."

"Matthew asked me to go to dinner and the opera with him."

There was silence; Sheila was still leaning forward but now had her mouth open and Nathan who was calmly eyeing the blonde with interest.

"I'm sorry, what?" Sheila was the first to break the increasingly uncomfortable silence.

Natalie shrugged, "He asked me to dinner and then to go the opera with him."

The redhead nodded, "With Kathryn right?" She nodded to herself, "Phew, God, you had me worried."

"Sheila." It was Nathan's turn to lay a hand on her arm.

She fell silent and all Natalie could do was watch the display of emotions flitting across her face. Fear, worry, horror and, if Natalie's emotion detecting skills weren't at fault, a small bit of excitement.

"Have you agreed?" Nathan asked her quietly.

"No. Though he didn't really ask, more like demanded." Natalie ran a hand through her hair and grabbed a piece of bread from the basket in the middle of the table.

"But… but… he's your sisters husband!" Sheila snapped. Her green eyes darting around the small café, an almost wild look in her eyes.

Nathan met Natalie's eyes; "He's also Matthew Harding." He added.

Natalie nodded slowly. She had spent the morning shopping, trying to get her mind of Matthew and what could possibly happen between them. But it hadn't worked. Every dark-haired man she saw had managed to send a jolt through her. She looked up to see the couple watching her, "So what should I do?"

Nathan ran a hand through his shoulder length hair, "Well, I'd say tell him no. He's your sisters husband and you have your morals."

Natalie nodded and turned to Sheila, an expectant look in her eyes.

The redhead sighed and raised her eyes to the ceiling, "Well," She said after a moment, "I'd go. Just to see what his intentions were, though. Nothing else. Maybe you could skip the opera and just go to the dinner."

Natalie nodded slowly, "He took me to lunch yesterday." She muttered.

"Really?"

Again she nodded, "Said he just wanted to take me lunch. He then left before we'd even started to talk to a friend and two women." She winced at her tone. She sounded so bitter and jealous.

Sheila raised an eyebrow; "He's still the same Matthew then."

Natalie snorted, "I can safely say that yes, he is." She leaned back as the waiter came back with their orders. She picked up her spoon, "So it's either go and see what he wants or don't?"

Sheila shrugged, grabbing a piece of bread, "I guess. Unless you just go out with him and do whatever."

"What do you mean 'do whatever'!?" Natalie was staring at her, the spoon halfway to her mouth, "I'm not planning to do anything with him!"

Sheila nodded firmly, "Good." She said, her mouth overflowing with soup and bread. She swallowed noisily, making Nathan frown and Natalie wince, "So, what are you going to do now?"

Natalie shrugged, "I have no idea."

She glanced down at her watch, before entering the bustling reception. Approaching the large desk, Natalie smiled slightly at the white-blonde receptionist.

"Can I help you?"

"I have an interview with Mr Harlow." Natalie replied, eyeing the crowds of people passing her as the woman dialled a number on one of the number of phones next to her.

Natalie breathed in deeply. Coffee

"He's expecting you." The receptionist answered, after replacing the phone.

"Well, I hope so." Natalie laughed. She stopped as the receptionist just stared blankly at her. "Right, um, where's his office?"

"It's Meeting Room 2. Floor 10."

Natalie nodded and left in the direction of what seemed to be two lifts. She stepped into the nearest one and pressed the button for the 10th floor. She tried not to squirm uncomfortably as the other occupants of the lift eyed her. She'd always hated being stared at.

After fifteen minutes and an uncountable number of people coming in and out, Natalie finally reached floor 10.

She walked down the long white corridor, passing few people, searching for Meeting Room 2. She finally found it, right at the end of the corridor after about five minutes of walking.

Knocking on the door, she opened it without waiting for an answer.

"Miss Winters."

She looked across the plain room to where a small portly man sat behind a large oak table, his podgy hands resting in front of him. "Mr Harlow?" She asked. At his nod, she moved further into the room and closed the door shut behind her.

He glanced at his watch, "I believe we agreed for half past three. You are fifteen minutes late."

Natalie sat down opposite him, "It takes about fifteen minutes to get to this floor." She answered, inwardly wincing at her cold tone.

"You should have used the lift."

Natalie squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye, "I did." She snapped, waiting for his order to get out and never come back.

Mr Harlow eyes glinted and a corner of his mouth turned up.

It was either a very malicious smile or a strange sneer. Natalie decided to accept it as a smile, though why he was smiling was puzzling.

"I like fire in a lawyer, Miss Winters." He commented, as if reading her mind, "We'll start on what you can offer my firm."

Natalie let her eyes roam the table in front of her, "I can offer you my skills as a lawyer. I specialise in commercial law and was a partner in one of the biggest commercial law firms."

She watched as Mr Harlow flicked through the papers in front of him, "Previously called 'Harding and Winters. Business Law Firm. '" He looked up at her, "Now, I believe, it's just Hardings."

Natalie swallowed, "I wouldn't know."

"You sold out. Why?"

She sighed and shrugged, "I wanted to do something new. Meet new people. Working with my brother-in-law wasn't the best of situations. Things got too personal for both of us."

"You've been a professional lawyer for two years. It's quite impressive that for so little experience you managed to create a top law firm."

"I had connections." Natalie responded, not wanting to tell him everything about her life. He already knew too much as it was. Though how he'd known she'd sold out and hadn't been fired like Matthew had spread around was puzzling.

He smiled slightly, "Connections. That's not helpful to me. Are you a people person?"

"I work well in a team and enjoy meeting new people." Natalie reeled off automatically, slightly stunned at the sudden change of topic.

"That's sounds like it's come from a textbook. Give me your real answer."

Natalie smiled, deciding she was starting to like this man, "I actually do enjoy meeting new people, but generally, I work best on my own. But if I have to work in a team, I'm not that bothered."

She watched him curiously as he nodded and looked back down at the papers, "You were working on the Reynolds case? That must have been a challenge. I heard he was in a sticky mess."

The blonde nodded slightly, "A challenge but exciting. We worked on it night and day since the moment we got it. And, yeah, he was in a pretty tight tangle." She laughed harshly, "I've no idea what's happening with it now. Apparently they're starting it over again, to check for any loopholes they missed."

Mr Harlow nodded thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair, "Yes, we had a similar situation with Bennet and Company. They refused to accept there was no loophole and paid us twice over to go back over the whole contact to check for any mistakes we may have made."

"Did you find any?" Natalie asked, her curiosity rearing its head.

He laughed slightly, "Nope. They were angry, but hey! We got three times as much as we'd originally charged."

Natalie smiled as his eyes glittered in amusement.

"Let me tell you something," He leant forward, leaning his elbows on the table, "I like you. You're smart, funny and gorgeous to boot. How about I get my secretary to ring you in a couple of days so you can come in to meet the partners?"

Natalie tilted her head, a small frown marring her forehead, "You mean silent partners?" She questioned. From the experience she'd had of silent partners, she wasn't sure whether she was looking forward to the prospect.

Mr Harlow nodded impatiently, "Yes, I know. A bother isn't it? But all new recruits go through it. What do you say?"

Natalie opened her mouth to refuse, glancing at his eager, enthusiastic face as she did so, "Why not?" She asked, smiling unsurely. Inwardly she screamed at herself. She hadn't meant to say that. She's meant to refuse it. Why did she always put herself through such terrifying ordeals?

"Great!" Mr Harlow had now stood up. Natalie followed his example, grabbing her bag as she did so, "You'll get a call from my secretary during the next three days. Leave you're number with her."

He opened the door, allowing Natalie to exit the room ahead of him.

"Mr Harlow, the Jarvis clients have been waiting for ten minutes. They're getting impatient."

Natalie watched with amusement as Mr Harlow dismissed his harassed secretary with a wave and turned to her, "Miss Winters, please leave your number with Katherine. She'll get back to you as I promised."

She watched as he strode off, ignoring his secretary, presumably Katherine, who was staring after him with despair. "I believe I'm meant to leave my contact details with you." Natalie said gently, interrupting the secretary's staring.

"Sorry?" The woman turned to her, her large eyes darting over her form, "Oh, right, yes of course, Miss Winters."

Natalie left her number and half ran towards the lift, desperate to get away from the overcrowded and overheated floor. For a company that were paid three times more than they usually charged for one case, they had a crap air conditioning system.

She sank against the lift wall, letting the cold of the metal seep through her back. That was one thing done off her list. Now she only had the dinner and supposed opera with her brother-in-law to worry about.

Natalie sighed. If only there was a way to get out of it.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter 10 –

BangBangYourDead, Mi, Lidia, lilo-azn-gurl03, kditag, Megan and Scjt.

Hope you enjoyed.

angioletto xxx