Afraid to Love

By Catherine Carson

Rafe Fleming travels to the north of England to finalise the takeover of a printing workshop catering for the needs of independent writers and owned by Selwyn Pickles; but finds that the sale will only go ahead if Selwyn's granddaughter Maggie is given a secure position within Fleming Associates. He is angry that a pampered heiress should take up a position she would be unsuitable for.
When he is finally introduced to her he is somewhat taken aback to find his preconceived ideas are totally unfounded.
What he does not know is that Maggie believes she has a very valid reason for acting as she does and finds it necessary to fight her growing attraction to him for his own good…..

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781326150983

Book preview

Afraid to Love

Afraid to Love

By Catherine Carson

Content Copyright © Catherine Carson 2015

ISBN  978-1-326-15092-1 Paperback

ISBN  978-1-326-15098-3

About the author

I live in the North West of England and have been married to the same man (whom I left my native Scotland to be with) for some considerable time. We have three grown up children who between them have given us six grandchildren who are the light of our lives.

Writing was always something I enjoyed but confined it to letters, but over the years the recipients of those missives used to say I could write a book, to which my set answer was ‘I daresay I could but who would want to read it’.

Thanks to my very good friend Lisa who convinced me to have a go I found the courage to release the stories which had always been in my mind.

I hope anyone who reads my stories will enjoy them, and the characters I have created as much as I loved writing them.

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Dedication

To my sons who always say they are not interested in my writing but never stop asking me about it…….?

The characters in this book are completely fictional and bear no resemblance to any living person.

Other books by this author

The Mouse in the Library

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Family Ties

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Tapestry of Love (Book 1)       

Twins Exchanged (Book 2) 

Highland Feud (Book 3)         

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Overall Construction

Wounded Wolf

Coffee and Cakes

Memories Rekindled

Wholesale Love

Hope’s Conflict

Estates of the Heart

Sibling Rivalry

Fighting for Custody

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Soil, Seed & Betrayal (Book 1)

Desert Prince, Exiled Princess (Book 2

Body Language (Book 3)

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White Knight Black Knight

Through the Garden Gate or The Girl Next Door

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An Open Book (Book 1)

Afraid to Love (Book 2)

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A Second Chance (Book 1)

Taming the Playboy (Book2)

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Love Lost and Found

Chapter 1

Rafe I need you to hold the fort in case any emergency arises.  Jane has finally worn me down and we are going to look at a house with a garden.  Rafe sat back in his chair and looked at his brother with a broad smile on his face. Off you go big brother I think I can manage to look after our interests for a few days without bringing the company to its knees.

Yeah but will my nerves survive the demands of my little wife.  I tell you Rafe this pregnancy has turned her into a positive ball of energy even her mother has told her to slow down and try not to do everything in one day.  Brett ran his hands through his hair as he left Rafe’s office to return to the apartment and collect his wife and son.

Shaking his head at the harassed look on his once arrogant brother; Rafe marvelled that a woman who only came to her husband’s shoulder could wreak such havoc.  Brett had brought his wife Jane into the company as a junior executive in an effort to prove she was not all she seemed to be.  It soon became clear not only was she an innocent but that Brett had fallen hard for her.

His brother had gone from a cold hearted arrogant workaholic to a loving husband and father and when their sister too married the man she loved, there were times when Rafe considered that he might like to settle down and share his life with someone he could love and cherish.

Those thoughts were fleeting and only when…as now…he was between lady friends.  He had been in a relationship with Janette Hodge one of his sales team but they had come to a mutual understanding their relationship was going nowhere and had ended it.

Going through the monthly sales figures Rafe was happy that his team were continuing to maintain their present quota of clients and in fact gaining new ones.

The book business was very competitive, especially in these modern times of internet publishing companies and electronic books being readily available to everyone who owned one of the many reading devices and of course personal computers.

In particular Rafe was interested in expanding Fleming Associates to cover this aspect of the trade and had asked the Finance Director, Alan Hepburn to look into the feasibility of approaching a small company in the north of England which catered for the needs of authors who found it difficult to have their work published by conventional publishing houses.

As well as being Finance Director, Alan was married to Rafe’s sister Wilma, the Human Resources Director.  Alan had joined the company at the same time as Jane and had been appointed Accounts Manager but it soon became clear that his previous experience as a stock broker was proving invaluable and after his marriage to Wilma he was appointed Finance Director with the approval of the full Board of Directors.

Alan had originally worked in the General Office, a large open plan room shared by Accounts, IT and Sales with special soundproof screens dividing each section.   With his promotion to Finance Director an office had been constructed within the floor space and this was where Rafe now found his brother-in-law.

Brett has finally conceded and taken Jane off to look at some houses.  I expect he will be back in a couple of days by which time I was hoping you would have some news for me about that company we discussed at the last board meeting.  Rafe sat down in one of the comfortable leather chairs Alan had insisted were necessary for visiting clients.

You may need to travel north and check things out personally.  The company is run by the owner Selwyn Pickles and he is insisting that you go up there to talk to him personally. I think it is something to do with his granddaughter. Old man Pickles’ father started the print company back in the day of typesetting and he has not taken too kindly to the modern innovation of computers.  He wants to retire and sell the lot but as I said he wants to discuss something with you.  Alan had spoken to Selwyn Pickles and he was hinting that there may be a glitch in the sale unless he could talk direct to Rafe.

As soon as Brett gets back I shall arrange to pay a visit to Pickles Printing Works and point out the advantages of being part of Fleming Associates.  I am sure when I get there everything will be a formality.  Rafe left Alan and returned to his own office.

Chapter 2

Feeling some pride as the printed sheets were coming out of the printing machines Maggie supervised the small workforce who had been loyal to Pickles Printing Works for a number of years.

The sheets were taken from the printer to the large guillotine to be cut to size ready to be passed to the women who would bind them together before finally having the paperback or hardback covers attached depending on the authors’ choice.

When her grandfather had started the business the floor space had been taken up with the large print presses required to produce the finished books and magazines; but those had long since become obsolete and had been replaced by the modern laser printers which could produce the printed sheets in a fraction of the time.

In its heyday the printing works had employed over fifty people but now Maggie relied on seven people not including her to keep the business running.

The laser printers were attended to by a man and woman who ensured the ink cartridges were always full and the paper feed topped up at all times.  Although their correct names were entered in the files Selwyn Pickles could never remember what they were and had christened them Jack and Jill and over the years they no longer tried to correct him and simply accepted the names.

The burly figure of Stan Whittle was in complete control of the large guillotine and woe-be-tide anyone who came within a yard of him when he was cutting and trimming pages with the precision of a micro surgeon carrying out a delicate operation.

Mavis and Angela Tipping were a mother and daughter team who worked in the glue room putting together the pages of the books.  Mavis was a widow in her late sixties and her spinster daughter in her mid forties.  The elder Tipping had been an employee of Pickles Printing Works since her early twenties and her daughter had joined the workforce straight from school.  They worked in silence and when Maggie had once queried why they never spoke to each other she had been informed that if they talked at work they would have nothing to say when they got home.

Maggie thought it was more likely the smell of the glue which kept them silent, as talking would draw the dreadful odour into their mouths and affect their taste buds.  It certainly had that effect on her and she avoided the room as much as possible.  Large extractor fans were always in use to take the odour from the room and these too probably contributed to the silent working partnership as the noise of the whirring fans could be heard throughout the building.

Completion of the books was the work of Harold Broadbent book binder and craftsman, as he liked to describe himself.  Certainly Maggie