Lord and Master: Lord and Master, #1

By Jules Jones

When Mark's PhD supervisor sent him for a job interview with an old university friend, he didn't mention that the friend was devastatingly handsome. He also neglected to mention to either that the other was gay.

 Steven was just looking for a young scientist to train as a PA to help him run his technology company. No extra services required. But watching other people react to a young, pretty man playing secretary to an openly gay CEO amused them both. Watching people wonder if they were having an affair was an entertaining game.

 But when the game became real and caught them both up, Mark was left wondering... how real? Because he's the one PA in the building who can't marry the boss.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jules Jones
• Release date: Sep 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393503187

Jules Jones

Jules Jones is a materials scientist with a degree in maths and physics, and as such should really be writing hard sf. The output is in fact sf & fantasy, erotica and romance, often all at the same time. Jules has lived in more countries than she wishes to think about. She has moved often enough to have learnt that there is in fact such a thing as too many books, and and even too much yarn. Her novel Spindrift was an Eppie finalist, and both the novel and its sequel were nominated for the Gaylactic Spectrum Award. You can find Jules online at: [e-mail] http://www.julesjones.com http://julesjones.dreamwidth.org http://twitter.com/bookfetishist http://www.librarything.com/profile/JulesJones http://www.goodreads.com/JulesJones

Book preview

Chapter One

I think you should seriously consider finding a job somewhere else.

Mark stared at his manager, too taken aback to speak. This was not what he’d expected to hear at his appraisal meeting.

True, the only guarantee he had as an industry-sponsored PhD student was three years of being paid the same salary as a graduate recruit while he worked on a PhD project that was of interest to the company. But it was understood that companies who offered such sponsorship did so because they expected to offer a permanent job at the end of it. It didn’t always happen, but if he wasn’t a good fit, it would have been made clear to him by now. And Sanjay had always been pleased with his work.

Finally he found his voice. This isn’t because I’m gay, is it? He’d felt safe with Sanjay, not felt that he had to keep part of himself hidden. Sanjay had never been bothered by it, or at least had never shown that he was. But someone higher up the chain might be.

His manager shook his head. No, I haven’t been told to ease you out. Senior management realised years ago that they couldn’t afford to restrict themselves to white male graduates. Sanjay grinned at him, teeth showing white in a brown face. Six months after I joined I was dragged off to be interrogated by Personnel on how they could better appeal to minority graduates. They were very blunt about it having nothing to do with equal opportunities and everything to do with realising that they were missing out on some of the best graduates because the kids didn’t even bother to apply here. He shrugged. It’s taken them a bit longer to come to terms with gays. But as long as you don’t rub people’s noses in it —and you don’t —Personnel will tell any bigots complaining about you to get lost.

Then why? Mark trusted Sanjay not to lie to him about this, but why else would Sanjay advise him to look elsewhere? They’re not cutting back on recruiting. I know they aren’t. There ought to be a vacancy for me after I finish the PhD.

"No, they aren’t cutting back. This year. Listen — Sanjay leaned forward and tapped him on the knee with his personnel file. — I’ve been asked by an old university chum if I know of anyone suitable for a job he needs to fill. Normally I’d tell him to push off and not poach my people. Sanjay leaned back again, placing the file on his desk. I probably wouldn’t even tell you about it, let alone encourage you to apply. At least here you’ll get time to finish writing up your PhD thesis, and I’m not convinced you’ll get that chance with Steven. Not that he wouldn’t think it important, but you’ll be run off your feet learning a new job."

Even if he’d wanted to leave, which he didn’t, that would have to be a consideration. He’d started writing his thesis, but there was a good three months of work still to be done even if he could work on it full-time, and fitting it in around learning a new job wouldn’t be easy. He’d rather spend six months doing it part-time with Sanjay’s support, and Sanjay knew that. So you think there’s going to be cutbacks.

Maybe. I might just be paranoid. But it’s a cyclical business, and we’re due for a downturn in a year or so. This would be a big change of direction for you, but it’s a good opportunity, and I think you might enjoy it.

Well, he might as well hear more about it. All right. What’s the job?

Steven started his career just like you and me, one more science graduate working for a big industrial company. But Steven was a very bright boy, and a very lucky one. Now he owns his own small company, and he’s far too busy being a chief executive to do any science himself. Sanjay grinned. Which he still bitches about. And he needs a new personal assistant. But he wants a young scientist with excellent project management skills. It’s easier to give someone like you training in the usual PA skills than give a good PA the science background to make technical decisions in his absence.

Personal assistant. His own prejudices said glorified typist, even though he knew a real PA did a lot more than that. It hadn’t been in his career plans at all. But ... this sounded interesting. It’s certainly a novel way to get management training.

Exactly. Sanjay patted his personnel folder. There’s a risk you’ll end up categorised forevermore as a PA, that you won’t ever get back to the lab. But it could be a good opportunity as well. You’ll get a lot of experience that will stand you in good stead if you come back here in a couple of years —which I wouldn’t rule out doing. Oh, and he knows he’ll have to pay someone like you at least as much as you’d earn by staying right where you are.

He’d have to think about it. But if Sanjay was suggesting this, it was probably worth thinking about. Though, I’ll need to know more.

You’d be a fool if you didn’t. Sanjay passed him a piece of paper. Names and website. Do a bit of research when you get home.

Thanks.

Don’t thank me just yet. We’ve got the rest of this appraisal to get through. Sanjay sighed and picked up the folder again. Now, where were we?

Trying to apply forms intended for factory jobs to the way we work in the research lab.

Sanjay snorted in disgust. "And Steven thinks I’m a lucky bastard who doesn’t have to deal with paperwork. Well, let me know if you want to deal with his paperwork for a while."

They turned their attention back to his appraisal, but as they worked through the forms, Mark thought about Sanjay’s suggestion. It would be a major change, but it would be good experience and a chance to make contacts. Definitely worth checking it out.

Chapter Two

Mark glanced at his watch once again. He knew he was on time, but he couldn’t help being nervous. There wasn’t the strain of worrying about a job he desperately wanted, but he was going to be interviewed by the top man himself, not a personnel manager. And the top man was an old university friend of his current boss. The news would follow him home if he screwed this up.

He mentally ran through the facts again. Doctor Steven Frost. Forty-four. A career as a chemical engineer, first as a very small cog in an industrial machine, then as one member of a small consulting firm, then his own business with a novel product that had taken off. A good scientist who’d turned out to have a ruthless business mind and who had seen off the predators who’d made the mistake of assuming that he was an ivory-tower type.

Sanjay had warned him. He’s a genuinely nice guy. But he’s also tough enough to play with the sharks and win. Don’t underestimate him.

And then the receptionist called his name and sent him in to meet the man.

One floor up in the lift. Along the corridor, following the directions he’d been given, his footsteps muffled by the thick carpet. Frost’s company leased a sizeable fraction of this floor, but Mark found the right office number without trouble, helped by the way it was standing slightly open in invitation. He knocked and went in.

The door closed smoothly and quietly behind him, obviously carefully maintained to cause as little disturbance to the office occupants as possible. The office itself was large and well furnished, with a stunning view over the city from the floor-to-ceiling window. At the back of the office, near the window, sat the desk —L-shaped, laid out so that the arm with the computer was on a slant but facing roughly towards the office door, and the other arm had a view out through the window. More doors probably led to other rooms in a suite of offices.

There was only one man in the office. Mark recognised him from a photo Sanjay had shown him, but the photo didn’t do Dr Frost justice. The man was handsome, with the rugged good looks of an action film star, but one who wasn’t embarrassed by the first streaks of silver showing in his thick brown hair.

Just the sort of thing to hit Mark’s buttons —a good-looking older man who wasn’t ashamed of his age. If he’d seen this man in a gay bar, he’d have made a beeline for him. But this wasn’t a gay bar, and he’d better be thinking with his brain and not his cock for the next hour.

It really didn’t help when Dr Frost got up from the desk, walked over to shake his hand, and said, Good morning, Mr Paulson. Please come and sit down. Tea or coffee?

Lovely, lovely voice. Deep and rich, the words crisply articulated without being ostentatious about it. For a brief second Mark couldn’t quite control his reaction. He knew it showed —there was a faint flicker of something in Dr Frost’s expression.

He nearly panicked, wondering if he’d blown the interview before it had even started. Then he got hold of himself, forced down his fear. Dr Frost hadn’t said anything about it. Was waiting for an answer to the question. Tea, please. He was pleased to hear that his own voice was steady. Dr Frost nodded slightly, let go of his hand, and waved at a side table that held a kettle and coffee percolator. I’ll just put the kettle on.

Not afraid to make his own tea, then. Mark relaxed slightly at the hint that this wasn’t a man who insisted on formal hierarchy, and then realised that it might be quite intentional.

Dr Frost sat down at the desk. Let’s get started while the kettle’s boiling. I understand from Sanjay that you applied at his suggestion. Are you actually interested in this job, or are you just obeying orders?

Well, that was certainly blunt. But he didn’t think an honest answer would harm his chances. I wouldn’t have thought of applying for a job like this if he hadn’t suggested it to me. But when he told me a bit about it, I could see why he thought it might be a good idea.

Go on.

It’s not a complete change of career. I don’t want to get out of science, and I wouldn’t normally think about a job as a PA. He leaned forward a little, eager not to be misunderstood. But Sanjay said you were looking for a scientist, someone who could be your personal research assistant as much as doing the day-to-day running of your office. I’d be changing from lab-based to office-based research work, and along with it I’d have the opportunity to learn a lot about management techniques. He sat back again. Sanjay’s a good manager, and I’ve learnt a lot about handling people from him. And I’m good at project management. But this job would give me broader experience.

Should he say it, or would it sound like overeager flattery? He decided to risk it. I don’t know you, Dr Frost. But Sanjay does, and he says you’re a good example to learn from.

Dr Frost smiled slightly, the skin crinkling a little around his eyes. Did Sanjay prompt you with the rest of the speech?

No. It’s how he convinced me to look at the job, but I wouldn’t have applied if it hadn’t sounded like something I’d be interested in.

Well, if that was you speaking, and not just Sanjay’s script, I can see why he thought you might suit me. Because he’s right; that’s exactly what I’m looking for. I need my own research assistant as much as I need an office manager, and it would be useful if they could be the same person. He smiled again, properly this time. And call me Steven. If you get the job, I don’t want you calling me Dr Frost all the time, so you might as well start now.

Sanjay said you don’t have time to be a scientist any more. Does that mean you don’t even have time to read the journals?

Steven shook his head. I can skim them, and I make time to read the ones that are more about recreation and keeping up a general idea of what’s going on in the world, but I really need someone who knows science themselves to do some pre-filtering for me. The kettle whistled, and Steven glanced at it. Time for a cup of tea. He got up and went over to the kettle.

Mark followed him. Even if the man was willing to make tea for a prospective underling, it would be polite not to shout milk and sugar across the office. But the job also involves office management?

Yes. There’ll be some secretarial work as well, although not much of it. Steven tapped the teapot he’d just filled. Including this, so if you object to playing the secretary, you’d better back out now. But office management is a much better description.

"So what does the job entail?"

They talked back and forth as they waited for the tea to brew, then took their cups back to the desk. It was a very informal interview, with Steven as much offering him information about the job as asking him questions. But Mark realised that he was being assessed with every question he asked Steven about the job and the business in general, every answer he gave to one of Steven’s questions. Steven was feeding him plenty of information in order to check how well he was assimilating it and using it. They spent a few minutes discussing how to fit in the remaining work on his PhD if he took the job. Steven seemed serious about making sure he did get a chance to finish it, which was a good sign.

He slowly relaxed. The job did sound interesting, and he and his potential new boss seemed to be getting on. After the first twenty minutes, he was reasonably happy that they’d be compatible and that he could do the job. He’d always been well organised, and keeping a project on time and on budget was something he’d proved to be good at in the last three years. This job would largely be a new application of skills he already had.

Steven had apparently decided the same thing. He leaned forward in his chair, propped his chin on his crossed hands, and stared at Mark for a moment.

"You can do the job; that’s obvious. But there will be people who’ll see you as just a secretary, someone they don’t need to take seriously. In fact, I want them to. People are often off their guard in front of someone they’ve mentally dismissed as menial staff. Can you deal with that?"

Mark thought about it carefully. If he couldn’t handle it, there was no point in taking the job. I think I can. But I won’t know until it actually happens. He could imagine some of his friends going ballistic the first time they were treated that way. And it won’t be just assuming that I’ve got an arts degree, if I’ve got a degree at all. I’m going to get stared at because I’m a man doing a ‘woman’s job’. He shrugged. But on the other hand, nobody’s going to be patting me on the head and assuming I’m thick, the way they would with a woman.

All right. You’ve obviously thought about the likely consequences of taking this job. Now Steven sat upright, focused totally on him. I’m not going to press you for an answer today, and I haven’t made a firm decision myself yet. But if I offer you the job, are you likely to take it?

He hadn’t been certain when he’d walked in here this morning. But now he was. I’ll need to think about it. And talk it over with Sanjay. But yes, I think I’d probably take it.

There’s one other thing to consider. You’re young and pretty, and you’re sitting in a secretary’s chair. It’s not fair to let you take this job without knowing that people will wonder if I hired you for the same reason a straight man would hire a young, pretty woman. There will be people who will assume that if you’re working as my PA, you must be gay.

Mark sat in stunned silence.

After a moment, Steven said, I wondered if Sanjay had told you. Is it going to be a problem?

No. I don’t go around wearing a pink triangle, but I’m not in the closet. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about telling Steven that.

It was Steven’s turn to sit in silence. Eventually he said, "I thought there was something ... Then I decided it was wishful thinking. You covered it up fast. He picked up his phone. Just sit there a moment, Mark."

The tones as Steven punched in a phone number sounded familiar. So was the voice that answered. Steven had set the phone to speakerphone mode, so Mark could hear the other end clearly.

Hello?

Sanjay, my dear Indian chum, are you having a bout of cultural homesickness? A little episode of imitating your mother, perchance?

Steven?

This pretty young gay man you’ve sent me. I thought you’d given up marriage arranging as a hobby.

There was a laugh at the other end of the phone line. No, I wasn’t matchmaking. Which is why I didn’t tell you about him, because you would have assumed that I was and not given the lad a fair hearing.

You didn’t tell him about me, either.

Because he doesn’t know me as well as you do, but he’d still have probably thought I was throwing you two together because you’re both gay. Now, while I certainly think you’d make a very attractive couple, I sent him because I thought the job was a good career opportunity for him. And that you’d suit each other as officemates, even without the gay thing.

Steven interrupted the flow of burble with, Incidentally, he’s listening to this conversation.

Mark! Sanjay called. "Forgive me for the surprise, but I didn’t want you turning it down because you thought I had ulterior motives. Has he had a chance to tell you about