Read Online Executive Perks by Angela Claire - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Angela Claire
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between Business Titans Ends in Disaster.
“Virginia Beckett?”
“Yeah. Sure, Tammy talked to her herself. This charity was very big with her late father. She bought tickets for her whole family. They show up every year, evidently.”
“Rye, if this really means that much to you and Tammy, I’ll see what I can do. I’ll talk to Julie about it.”
* * * * *
After hustling Rye out of his office, Aaron turned back to the report he had been scanning when Rye showed up. “PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL—FOR THE EYES OF AARON WINSTON ONLY”, the envelope had been marked. Mrs. Fields had brought it in, still sealed, without a thought. A great deal of confidential information passed to Aaron this way. It was safer than email sometimes.
Only this wasn’t about business. The report, which Aaron had commissioned from a reputable private detective agency on the morning after his disastrously frustrating car ride with Virginia, was entitled: “Personal Affairs of Miss Virginia Beckett.” A more appropriate title, Aaron thought after reading the few sheets of paper, would have been “Lack of Personal Affairs of Miss Virginia Beckett.” They had not found out anything. Or there was nothing to find out. She was either incredibly discreet or she was a nun. Aaron could not quite believe the latter given her hot response to him in the car. But the report detailed no known current lover or even escort and no record of any past marriages or relationships that would have been serious enough to merit mention anywhere. Even the few discrete interviews with acquaintances that the agency had managed on such a tight timeframe turned up the same seeming pattern of complete lack of romantic involvement. He dialed his contact at the detective agency and instructed him to continue digging until he found something. This just did not make sense. Why would a woman as beautiful and accomplished as Virginia Beckett be so alone that way? She wasn’t cold. They’d proven that. It was as much of a mystery to him as his own inability to accept her brush-off.
Aaron felt a slight twinge of guilt at his tactics—he had never had a woman in whom he was interested investigated before. Let alone a woman who had told him in no uncertain terms to stay away.
Can anyone say stalker ?
But he couldn’t get her out of his head.
On that unlikely note, he picked up the phone and dialed Julie. “How would you like to go to a charity ball tomorrow night?”
* * * * *
The Museum of Natural History was magically illuminated by the blue light of the huge fish tanks that lined the walls of the main gallery. The charity event, at 8:00 that Saturday night, was already in full swing. All of the members of Virginia’s immediate family were seated at a large, green-velvet-covered table, chatting over drinks. Allie, Virginia’s oldest sister by a decade, had flown in from Maine with her husband Pat for a romantic weekend at the Four Seasons away from their two adorable but mischievous little girls. Nora, Virginia’s next oldest sister, had come by herself and Virginia worried as she watched her sometimes-temperamental sister down another gin that this might indicate trouble in Nora’s marriage. The family had seen little of Nora’s husband, Brian, in the last year or so despite that the couple only lived in Boston, a few hours’ drive from Manhattan. That was fine with her. She wasn’t much of a fan of Brian, but she hoped that he and Nora would work out their apparent troubles, whatever they were, at least for the sake of their three teenaged children. Brendan was also at the table, Virginia noted, with his stunningly sophisticated girlfriend of the night in a black chiffon and silk confection, long pearls hanging to her waist.
Missy and Mindy, twins and the youngest members of the Beckett clan as well as by far the most boisterous, were jabbering away animatedly at their respective dates. The two young men seemed mesmerized by the nonstop
“Virginia Beckett?”
“Yeah. Sure, Tammy talked to her herself. This charity was very big with her late father. She bought tickets for her whole family. They show up every year, evidently.”
“Rye, if this really means that much to you and Tammy, I’ll see what I can do. I’ll talk to Julie about it.”
* * * * *
After hustling Rye out of his office, Aaron turned back to the report he had been scanning when Rye showed up. “PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL—FOR THE EYES OF AARON WINSTON ONLY”, the envelope had been marked. Mrs. Fields had brought it in, still sealed, without a thought. A great deal of confidential information passed to Aaron this way. It was safer than email sometimes.
Only this wasn’t about business. The report, which Aaron had commissioned from a reputable private detective agency on the morning after his disastrously frustrating car ride with Virginia, was entitled: “Personal Affairs of Miss Virginia Beckett.” A more appropriate title, Aaron thought after reading the few sheets of paper, would have been “Lack of Personal Affairs of Miss Virginia Beckett.” They had not found out anything. Or there was nothing to find out. She was either incredibly discreet or she was a nun. Aaron could not quite believe the latter given her hot response to him in the car. But the report detailed no known current lover or even escort and no record of any past marriages or relationships that would have been serious enough to merit mention anywhere. Even the few discrete interviews with acquaintances that the agency had managed on such a tight timeframe turned up the same seeming pattern of complete lack of romantic involvement. He dialed his contact at the detective agency and instructed him to continue digging until he found something. This just did not make sense. Why would a woman as beautiful and accomplished as Virginia Beckett be so alone that way? She wasn’t cold. They’d proven that. It was as much of a mystery to him as his own inability to accept her brush-off.
Aaron felt a slight twinge of guilt at his tactics—he had never had a woman in whom he was interested investigated before. Let alone a woman who had told him in no uncertain terms to stay away.
Can anyone say stalker ?
But he couldn’t get her out of his head.
On that unlikely note, he picked up the phone and dialed Julie. “How would you like to go to a charity ball tomorrow night?”
* * * * *
The Museum of Natural History was magically illuminated by the blue light of the huge fish tanks that lined the walls of the main gallery. The charity event, at 8:00 that Saturday night, was already in full swing. All of the members of Virginia’s immediate family were seated at a large, green-velvet-covered table, chatting over drinks. Allie, Virginia’s oldest sister by a decade, had flown in from Maine with her husband Pat for a romantic weekend at the Four Seasons away from their two adorable but mischievous little girls. Nora, Virginia’s next oldest sister, had come by herself and Virginia worried as she watched her sometimes-temperamental sister down another gin that this might indicate trouble in Nora’s marriage. The family had seen little of Nora’s husband, Brian, in the last year or so despite that the couple only lived in Boston, a few hours’ drive from Manhattan. That was fine with her. She wasn’t much of a fan of Brian, but she hoped that he and Nora would work out their apparent troubles, whatever they were, at least for the sake of their three teenaged children. Brendan was also at the table, Virginia noted, with his stunningly sophisticated girlfriend of the night in a black chiffon and silk confection, long pearls hanging to her waist.
Missy and Mindy, twins and the youngest members of the Beckett clan as well as by far the most boisterous, were jabbering away animatedly at their respective dates. The two young men seemed mesmerized by the nonstop
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