Dark Love

10

In the evening, when Lemuel's SUV pulled up at Inara's place, she watched from her bedroom window, petrified.

She was already dressed and pulled herself away from the window as her father entered to see her in her room the second time since she had gotten prepared for the evening.

The first time was he informing her that they would be meeting Lemuel's family a day after the engagement. It was an information she had received with trepidation, overwhelmed by how fast things were going, based on a single lie.

"Is there a particular reason why I'm the one who had to give this address to your prospective husband? Are you not communicating?" her father asked.

"Maybe it is his way of bonding with you." Inara responded without thinking, surprising herself. It was official, she was a liar.

"That makes sense. Well, he's outside. Come with me."

He held his hand open to her and she put her hand in his. They came to stand at the doorway.

"I know that you've already eaten the forbidden fruit but I need you to behave yourself out there. An act of foolishness that repeats itself is indeed, foolishness. Remember that."

"I will. Thank you daddy."

He led her into the living room where her mum and sister were waiting. They all escorted her out onto the front porch to find Lemuel all suited up in black, standing by the passenger side of the door of his SUV which was parked on the curb before their home.

"He is very handsome." Amara commented.

"That he is." her father agreed.

"And seems capable of being a gentleman." her mother observed as they saw him open the passenger side of the door before waving at them, a small smile splayed across his lips.

Her family returned his wave and watched her go to him. And all she could think about was how someone so handsome could be so scary.

Feeling her legs getting shaky from nervousness, Inara was glad that she was wearing comfortable, mid block heel sandals. She had never been too girly anyway but tonight seemed inevitable that she looked lady like, hence, she had to go with the flow.

She held her purse tightly as if it could protect her from her fears as she walked, looking straight at his chest so that she wouldn't have to meet his gaze.

Lemuel held the door open for her and caught a whiff of her rose perfume as she carefully put herself into the car.

He liked the fragrance. As a fragrance person, he was always objective about the perfume people wore, regardless of whether he liked them or not.

Her dress was also cool. She didn't have the body for tight clothes and seemed to know it. Not that he preferred women wearing tight clothes but he believed that the reason for not wearing one shouldn't be because of an unfit physique.

Looking at the girl, it was easy to see that she was beautiful with a perfect oval face but damn, the plump look had to be remedied and that was an address for another day.

He also liked the fear that he was seeing all over her. It was sick of him but hell, who cared? He was on his own when she came looking for trouble. He shut the door, waved one last time to her family and took the driver's seat.

When he started the car, he saw her give a slight wave to her family and they waved back before letting themselves back inside the house.

She didn't say a word and kept staring at the dashboard as he drove off into the evening. Her silence was welcoming. He didn't want to hear her voice.

Three minutes on the road and it occurred to her that she didn't have any idea about where they were going and she felt that it behooved on her to ask. Pulling her eyes away from the dashboard, she directed her gaze at his hands on the steering.

"May I know where we're going?" She asked, her voice small.

"I'm sorry, did I say that you could speak?"

Inara froze and slowly regained the little bit of composure that she had left.

"I...I only wanted to..."

"If I were you, I wouldn't try that again."

Painfully, she understood that she was not allowed to speak until he permitted her. She had thought that her parents were not permissive. Now she knew that she had been living in paradise. Her gaze returned to the dashboard, switching between it and the streets from her side of the window.

"Now, since you were so bent on speaking earlier, tell me, how did a clergy man like your dad, manage to father a liar like you?"

Inara didn't know how to respond to that, so she remained silent. After all, he was right, she was a liar.

"I see that the cat got your tongue." He commented. "Good. I was not expecting you to answer that. I know that you don't have the answer. But anyway, when I'm ready to find out exactly who is responsible for the child growing inside of you, the answer will come spilling out from those lips of yours. You can count on that."

Inara's hand tightened on her purse at his subtle threat. She wished that her mother was there to hold her but that wasn't the case and she was really scared of him. Silently, she prayed that she would be able to survive the outing and quickly return home where she would be safe, even for the shortest time.

Few minutes later, she noticed him driving towards the Oxbow, a high-class restaurant that she had always longed to experience. It was pricey and Zee had promised to take her there. She would have been so excited if the condition was right but it wasn't, so it didn't mean anything to her now.

He drove to the entrance and received a parking space card from the security before driving to the assigned spot and parking there. Now what? She thought.

"Look at me." his deep voice commanded.

He allowed her a few seconds to gather some courage and do just that, lifting her fearful eyes to meet his.

"That's better. I have chosen to call you Nara. And henceforth, when I talk to you, your eyes dare not be anywhere else or I will get mad. And I hate being mad. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir."

"Is that how you plan to address your future husband?"

"Be... because you scare me."

"Well, you should be very afraid."

He killed the engine and her nervous hands slowly reached for the door handle.

"That's my job tonight." he said, stopping her with his voice. Then he stepped out of the car and circled over to open it for her.

She was sure that anyone watching would think that she was in heaven. But it was true what they say; The grass always looks greener on the other side. And Not everything that glitters is gold.