Chapter 1

"Damn this traffic," Annabelle Daescher said to herself. The drive from the city to her fiancé's home wasn't a long one, but at rush hour on a Friday evening it was. She was on a tight schedule and she knew that David would be upset if she was late.

David Hunter, Annabelle's fiancé, wasn't an abusive man but he didn't tolerate tardiness and tonight was no exception. She knew that this party had been on their agenda for the last month. David impressed on her how important it was to his career so she had purchased a new black dress. It met with his approval and he had even arranged for someone to do her nails and hair at his home. She was only five minutes away and knew that the women he had hired would arrive soon. Given the traffic she knew that she would really be cutting it close.

Full of anxiety, she felt her body tense up. "I need a vacation," she said to herself with a sigh. To her delight the cars in front of her began to lurch forward and then move at a steady pace. It seems it was the break she had been hoping for and she could see her exit 30 yards away. Barring any other unforeseen obstacles she should arrive promptly, avoiding causing undo stress for him. She sighed with her relief and sped off the exit ramp. When the light remained green she giggled with delight because she was able to turn before it changed.

David's house was just outside of the city in an old area of town. The homes were old but beautiful and his was no exception. Annabelle, or Belle as she insisted friends call her, knew architecture and design as well as she knew how to breathe. She was an Interior Designer with Markus Architects & Engineers for six years and loved to read and study the history of architecture in her spare time.

At her firm the architects usually headed the projects with one Interior Designer assisting them. But there were certain projects that didn't require an Architect where no load bearing walls were being touched or space planning and décor were involved. Those were assigned to an Interior Designer Project Manager. After four years with the firm she was promoted to that status and began working with her own clients. She met David when he had hired her firm shortly after buying his house. At the time she had been working for Markus Architects for five years when her firm gave her his project. She had headed several jobs in the year since being promoted and was well equipped for a job of his nature due to her extensive study of architecture and historical accuracy.

At the first appointment she met David at his new house and while the house was slightly dilapidated, she was attracted to him right away. Since he was a client she had to ignore the attraction and be professional. The house was a Queen Anne style and it had all the beautiful features that one would find in a historic house of its type. It had a porch that wrapped around both sides of the house. The left side of the porch was more angular in its roof line and on top was a beautiful corner tower with oriel windows. To the right of the tower was the main section of the house, where the entrance was marked on the porch by a pitched roof. Above that were two additional stories with the third story nestled within the pitched section of the roof. The house was the picture of perfect asymmetrical design with gorgeous ginger breading just below the pitch of the roof. When they were finished with the refurbishing the exterior was a rich blue that was called "Southern living" and was selected from the palate of Victorian Era colors. The exterior was completed with the quintessential Queen Anne, white wood trim that was crisp contrast to the siding.

The house was mammoth, especially for a single man but he had accurately restored the house to its former glory. It sat in a historical part of town, surrounded by other large homes of the same era, just north of the city proper. It was an area were the well-to-do city-dwellers moved to. The homes had manicured lawns and flower beds adorned with vibrant arrays of flowers that bloomed during each season. The selections had been made by a Landscape Architect because the owners of the home spared no expense and wanted everyone who drove by to be aware of that fact.

Once the house was finished she was disappointed with the thought that she would not be able to see David on a regular basis. To her surprise, and delight, he phoned her at work a week after the projects completion and asked her out. The year had been a whirlwind since that time with him proposing only a month previous. He had popped the question on the anniversary of the day that they had met. She realized that while David was not terribly romantic he was very thoughtful, quite sweet and, to her delight, great in bed.

David had started his own company after college under the name Hunter & Company. At 34 David was six years her senior. He was CEO and President of his own company and, despite coming from a middle class family, had amassed his own fortune. He had never been close with his parents and younger brother, always feeling the outsider within their ranks. But what really did them in was after his company finally began to make good money. His family began to treat him differently. They were not afraid to let it be known that they wanted a cash-cow and he was their target. It was easy for Belle to understand why he was estranged from them. At the same time it was disappointing for her that he didn't have a family that she could marry into. But she loved David and in the end, that was all that mattered. Being an only child herself she wondered what it would be like to have a sibling to visit and talk to on the phone. Someone to turn to and to exchange Christmas gifts with. How would it be to have someone to seek advice from, bounce ideas off or even to share funny stories and life goals with? Her closeness with her parents had always been something she cherished and the absence of a sibling became even more painful after they had been killed in a car accident her senior year in college.

She had been executor of their will and their only beneficiary and while they didn't have a lot she had been the heir to it all. It had been further disappointing to watch her Aunts and Uncles bitch that they had not been remembered in their will and so she rarely made it back for family reunions. Due to her being the sole beneficiary they had decided to turn their backs on her. To her delight now, she had David and he had her and they were no longer alone in the world.

David's company had grown by leaps and bounds and it had become quite lucrative for him. He was an Independent Financial Advisor and Independent Mortgage Broker. With numerous employees and a booming business, Belle presumed that the success of his company would make David happy. She felt he had earned the right to sit back and appreciate what he had built but he wasn't finished, in his mind. With a plan to expand to bigger and more lucrative dealings, David wanted to move into commercial. He wanted to have a section of the company deal with placement of commercial mortgages that valued a million dollars and up. It would be the type of mortgage that would enable business people to finance office space, retail, multi-family apartment buildings, shopping centers and more. The party that night would be the opportunity for him to rub elbows with the movers and shakers in commercial land development who could throw business his way.

It had been the end of a long day that capped an even longer week. She longed for a five minute, hot shower before the hair stylist and manicurist arrived. She and David would not need to leave for about two hours and while she knew she could easily be ready in one, David had insisted on having a beautician assist her. The party was going to be packed full of important people and he wanted the jewel on his arm to be polished, at least that's what he told her.

While it was hard, she tried to not feel insulted by the gesture. Her long strawberry-blonde hair was never unkempt. Sure it had natural curl to it that fell in spiral springs over her shoulders. It could easily be pulled into a tasteful up do or even straightened if she was in the mood. She knew how to style her hair quite aptly and she worried about what it might look like with someone else doing it.

She pulled her silver Audi into the driveway and could see that David's black BMW was parked in the left stall of the detached garage. Both garage doors were open so she was able to pull into the vacant stall. There was little doubt, for her, that he was anxious and probably keeping a close watch on the time and her arrival.

Once she had turned off the car she got out, filled her hands with her briefcase, purse and books and rushed to the back door. It was unlocked for her so she easily entered the kitchen. After closing the door behind her she contemplated unloading her parcels onto the island counter, but thought better of it. David preferred the counters to be left clean and clear of clutter. She had to admit she liked it that way too. The kitchen was large and although it was modernized in many ways, they had managed to keep the vintage feel of the original house. The tall white cabinets and white tiled backsplash were contrasted by the dark granite countertops. It was the most modernized room in the whole house, other than the Master Bath. All of the design aspects had David's touch and insight. He did appreciate her knowledge and suggestions but all final decisions were his, as she would expect from all of her clients. What David had accomplished with the house fit nicely with Belles taste and now that she would be moving in his insistence on the accuracy of the renovation pleased her.

She walked through the house, still clamoring to her books and such, and emerged into the parlor that was in the opposite, front corner of the house from the kitchen. David had made it into an elegant home office with his desk and credenza opposite the angular window wall that was part of the tower. The room had built in bookcases and they recently added a desk and drafting table off in the corner for Belle.