Possessing Bella Ch. 10-11

"You're offering me a job?" Louise seemed stunned by the idea.

"Well, if these are anything to go by you're a wonderful designer. We could start with a trial of a month and if we are both happy after that time then we could negotiate a full-time position," Bella smiled encouragingly.

"I thought you were just here to buy some jewellery for your shop," Louise still seemed a little dazed by the idea.

"Oh, I am, there are a few things I plan to take home with me," Bella smiled. "I like it all so much and that is why I am offering you a job. Anything you make for my business would still bear your name as designer," Bella reassured her, suddenly unsure if the woman understood why Andrew and she had come to see her.

"There is no need to answer right away," Bella said. "It will take some time to get the workshop setup properly. Why don't you think about it, talk it over with your current employer, and let us know."

"Working for you would mean I could use white opal in this?" Louise picked up the elven necklace Bella had indicated that she liked. "With white gold or platinum?"

"Yes if that is how you envision it," Bella nodded, "I was thinking maybe emeralds, but I can see how opals could work well, better even." She tilted her head looking at the object.

"Do you think I could move back to the city?" Louise looked past Bella to Stephen who had remained near the door leaning against the wall.

"I don't see why not, one of the girls is looking for a new roommate," Stephen said casually. "You could still come back here on the weekends and help Sophie. Unless your new boss plans to make all her employees work weekends," he smirked causing Bella to cringe.

"When would the workshop be ready? I mean when would you want me to start?" Louise began to bubble again.

"Andrew and I will have to look into that and let you know," Bella smiled, "How does a next month sound? So you can finish up whatever you are working on at the moment. I can get Andrew to contact you by Friday with details about the initial trial contract."

Andrew stepped in to speak with Louise and get her details so that she could be contacted. The he gave her a business card with his details on it, while Bella selected the items she wanted to take with her.

"I hate to ask but could you box these up and write me an invoice? You see I don't carry any cash on me, but I send Andrew down to pick them up tomorrow with the money of you don't mind waiting a day for it," Bella said quietly.

"I'll pay for it and claim it back out of petty cash," Andrew offered.

"No need," Louise bubbled, "Everything you want has already been paid for." She looked over at Stephen then whispered. "He bought all my stock on Friday so I didn't sell out at the weekend markets so you're buying this stuff from him," She giggled.

"I guess we'll take the lot then," she turned to Stephen. "You can send an invoice to me. It's a business expense after all."

"I'll do that on the twelfth," he said with a smirk. "Sophie will be wondering why we have been up here so long, we better go and see what she has planned for lunch.

They ate lunch chatting about the restoration and Stephens plans for his castle. Dorothea was enamoured of the place and particular the opportunities it gave the marginalised people who populated the staff and restorers. When she asked why he had never spoken about it with his city friends or brought them out here to see it, he had simply shrugged and said, it was not his to show until recently. They were still working on its restoration, but he would invite everyone when it was ready for guests.

"Do you mind if we stay a bit longer please," Bella looked at both Andrew and Stephen. "I'd like to spend time with Dorothea and talk about... girl stuff," She blushed.

"My favourite sort of stuff," Dorothea grinned. "Let's go for a walk and look at the bay from that outlook Sophie was telling us about.

"Be careful and don't overdo it," Stephen warned.

"I'm old not senile," Dorothea cackled. "You boys have been mooning about for weeks like I am on my deathbed or something. The doctors have said I am perfectly fine now. Honestly, I don't know how you put up with them all the time," she said to Bella. "Let's run away while we can."

As they walked Bella related all that had happened in the last week since she had spent some time alone with Dorothea. She spoke about Stephen's admission that he wanted to share some of his lifestyle with her and Dianne's friendship and her difficulties with it. Then she mentioned the appearance of Vince as well as her decision to move into Mel's larger apartment all coming out in a great big jumble of words.

"Poor Vince," Dorothea said finally. "He sounds truly lost and alone. You did the right thing. Dianne did too, you know. Even I wouldn't have been happy to sneak off like that with you. Why would you expect her to get in trouble with Kurt for you, that's a bit selfish Bella, don't you think?"

"I need to apologise don't I?" Bella hung her head feeling guilt that she hadn't seen it from Dianne's point of view.

"You do, she loves you and was doing her best to help you, just as she has always done," Dorothea smiled and put an arm around Bella's waist. "You need a Master who will stop you acting like a spoilt brat. Rob is far too indulgent," she cackled, "Maybe lean on Kurt a little more or Stephen, now that he has thrown his hat in the ring."

"Has he really though? I mean you all seem to think so but, aside of a few chaste kisses and a little hand holding when I needed support all I have is a vague mention of showing me his lifestyle. I have no idea if I am just like every other girl at the club he cares about and protects," She shook her head. "When Mel was trying to make me his, it was very intense and intimate and I knew without a doubt what he wanted long before I accepted the idea of his collar or begging for it."

"Every Master has a different style," Dorothea said gently.

"I feel like I am an obligation for him, to be watched over and protected from all others," Bella said sadly. "Like he is putting himself in Mel's place, not out of desire or passion but because he feels he has to out of duty or something."

"Are you ready for the sort of passion you had with Mel again? Are you sure it won't scare you away from someone who could bring you great happiness? Have you really made your peace with the fact that what you had with Mel is gone and that you can't expect the same feelings anyone else? You have to discover a new way of being before you can accept a new Master properly." Dorothea's tone was abrupt. "Stephen is being cautious, guarding his own heart. He is giving you small tastes of what could be, while trying not to overwhelm you. Are you sure you want more? Once you open the gates you won't be able to shut them so easily."

"Am I being a brat again?" Bella asked quietly knowing the answer already.

"You have been rushing headlong into everything since you came back from the beach house. Look at what you have done and accomplished in that time. It's not a race baby, some things should be slowed down and savoured. Take everything he is offering, take it and enjoy it and know it is only the beginning. Rushing it could ruin it for both of you," Dorothea hugged Bella to her.

"I found a letter on Mel's desk from James. It was in a frame with my picture beside it. James loved you more than anything in his life. Mel loved me or would have loved me that deeply, I think, over time. I would like to feel that special again. To be someone's one and only and have the time to feel good about it," Bella began to cry. "I will always love Mel but a month wasn't long enough for him to love me back the way he should have and could have if he..."

"I know baby, but rushing something just because you want it now won't do you any good either," Dorothea said gently, feeling for the girl and the inner turmoil she was facing. "Would it help you to know what his intentions are? That he loves you and wants to wait until he is sure you can handle a love that will probably be more intense and burn brighter than what you had before?"

"Yes," Bella said simply between sobs.

"Then I have to ask you why, why would that help you?" Dorothea said softly.

"He confuses me so much since he..." she tried to pinpoint a time but it started before the kiss even if that had been the catalyst. "I can't stop thinking about him and wondering what is going on with him and..." her mind went around in circles again. "And when I don't see him it makes it worse than when I do. He was always so stern except that he isn't now, even when he is disappointed in me it is short lived, but he is never exactly happy with me either. It's like he is this unemotional sentry most of the time and then... then he kisses me and makes me feel..." she sighed.

"He makes you feel again," Dorothea smiled as Bella finally worked her way through her confusion. "What does he make you feel when he kisses you?" Bella chewed her lip not answer but sorting through her jumbled brain for an answer.

"You love Rob but he doesn't make you feel like this. You love me but..." She pulled Bella away from her body and looked into her tear streaked face. "Is it enough to know he is showing you how he feels by making you feel something back?" Bella considered what Dorothea was saying for a long time before nodding.

"You should be enjoying the feelings he gives you, not questioning them," Dorothea advised her. "You still have at least two more Masters to train with. Maybe more, though you didn't agree to anymore nor did Mel, so they are not part of your original commitment and you could probably talk to Charles about that. I don't imagine Stephen will declare his full intentions until you have finished that commitment. It would be cruel to make him hand you over to another when he has declared that he wants you for himself."

"God, I am such a brat," Bella began to cry again.

"No, you just lack experience. That's why you have me. As well as Dianne and all of the girls to talk to when you need us." Dorothea hugged her again. "Give Stephen a break, he has told you it is difficult for him to watch over your training and not be the focus of it. Try and do the things you think he would like, let him help you and look after you properly rather than avoiding him and making things more difficult between you."

Bella nodded and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I am sorry I am such hard work lately, I don't know what I would do without you."

"I'm here for a long time yet," Dorothea patted her chest, "I feel younger all the time with this new ticker." They stood and looked out over the bay quietly for several more minutes before turning back toward the castle.

"So when he's offers to help me with something specific I should let him because he would like that?" Bella was chewing her lip again, thinking over the feelings she had which had been wrapping her in confusion.

"Are you thinking of something specific?" Dorothea smiled. She loved that Bella was always so introspective and thoughtful about what she learned.

"I have been meeting with Nyx before going to her next week. There is so much to learn about Gor and I have been worried I will not know even the basics I need before then," Bella chewed her lip again. "Stephen offered to help me practise, he said he spent a lot of time with the men who practise that lifestyle."

"He did," Dorothea said with a straight face. She was laughing internally remembering Stephen's fondness for the sexy service of the Gorean girls and could well imagine it was something he would greatly enjoy helping her practise. "He would probably be a great help to you and I believe he would like being able to add to your training," she gave a light laugh.

"I am going to get that sexy assistant of yours to drive me home," Dorothea said with a smile. "Don't rush back, take your time and enjoy the ride."

Stephen and Andrew emerged from Pete's forge as the two women walked past. "We were about to send out a search party," Andrew joked.

"Princess Bella's been crying! Did you fall?" Pete pushed past the other two men and peered into Bella's face.

"Sort of," Bella said looking from Pete to where Stephen stood stiffly watching her. "Could you show me where the bathroom is so I can wash my face please?"

"I'll take you," he said and picked her up and carried her into the house at a run with Stephen's loud voice calling after them.

"Pete put her down," his footsteps following them through the house until Pete put her down in the bathroom and took a clean facecloth, wetting it and passing it to her.

"Give her some privacy Pete," Stephen said in a low voice from the doorway.

Bella laughed as Pete apologised and Stephen practically dragged him from the bathroom and closed the door. When she emerged Dorothea and Andrew were preparing to leave and she joined with Stephen to walk them out to their car. Hugging Dorothea she wished them a safe journey.

"We should go now too, if you're ready," Stephen said, "The storage facility is on the way back and there is something I wanted to show you there."

"If you wish, Sir Stephen," she looked up at him in surprise. "I should say goodbye and thank you to Sophie and Louise first though." He nodded and led her back inside to say goodbye.

It was about thirty minutes later when they pulled into what Bella assumed to be an industrial district and drove through wire gates to a well-protected warehouse. Parking in the nearly empty lot, Stephen helped her from the car and walked with her into a large steel-clad building. Signing in with the security guard Stephen then steered her toward the back section which had an added gate and a security pad requiring a key to be punched in.

Once passed the obscuring second gates the lights flicked on as the motion sensors caught their movements. Bella gasped, she stood amongst some beautiful antique furniture. A fine layer of dust covered the rich woods and plastic that covered the fabric items.

"This stuff belonged to Mel," Stephen explained. "He had been collecting for a long. Some of it has been used in the company from time to time and the club or the rooms Mel had on the second floor of the building you live in."

"Who does it belong to now?" Bella asked.

"Some of it belongs to Rob most of it is mine now," Stephen explained. "If you are thinking about redecorating your new apartment I thought you might like to look through here."

"You'd let me buy it from you?" Bella was astounded and looked around at the huge range of furniture.

"Borrow," Stephen corrected. "Except for one or two pieces, that I would like to use at the cove when my tower is completely restored. It seems that you have only decided to get rid of the office furniture from Mel's apartment so far though."

"I haven't made up my mind about the rooms yet, I was looking at some interiors online last night trying to decide on a design and style I like," she smiled. "I hadn't even thought about antiques," she said honestly. "It's not that I don't like them, I actually love them but I always thought that they were more suited to large homes than apartments, don't you think?"

"Come," he walked through the furniture to another area of the same section. In among the dark wood stood was a cluster of boudoir furniture in white and silver. The bed frame heavily quilted in a pale silver fabric to match the detailed pressed metal that held it in place. There was a dresser with an oval mirror and a small boudoir chair in the same fabric.

"It's so lovely," Bella's hand trailed over the soft fabric.

"Not all antiques are dark, heavy and masculine," Stephen smiled. "I had thought after seeing the chaises in your office that you might be interested in this."

"How would I get it into that apartment?" Bella asked her mind imagining the fabrics she could match it with for bedding and curtains.

"Is it truly so hard for you to ask for and accept help?" Stephen frowned at her.

"I am sorry," Bella said softly taking a breath and letting Dorothea's words circle around in her mind. "I would like to borrow this suite if you could arrange for some movers for me please." She looked at it again. "Will I need to have a special size of mattress made for it?"

"Of course," Stephen said flatly, "I will arrange it all for you, even the mattress."

"Thank you," Bella turned to look up at him. "I know I have been difficult to be around and I am sorry for that. I am grateful that you have been so patient with me." She took two steps toward him and took his hand in her own smaller one. "I know it was you that arranged Dorothea to come today and I am so very happy that you did, thank you, Sir Stephen. I appreciate all that you try to do for me even though I might not always say it the right way or act like it."

"You are most welcome, little one," Stephen pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. "I know you are dealing with many things, not all of them pleasant." He tilted her face up to his and kissed her gently.

Bella closed her eyes and felt the tingles reach her toes. She smiled as he broke the kiss and opened her eyes slowly finding him looking at her with a small smile tilting his lips up at the corners to match her own.