Isabelle and mr. Bête ch. 04

The party was held at a mansion belonging to the owner of a large legal firm and was tastefully decorated with lanterns. Jean-Marie stopped at the valet in front of the big stairs leading up to the large front doors. He got out of the car, took the ticket from the valet and walked around the back while another valet opened the door for Isabelle.

Jean-Marie held out his hand and helped her get out, then kept her hand in his as he escorted her up the stairs and into the mansion through the open doors. With the whole décor she felt like being taken to the ball by the prince, or perhaps the beast. They walked to a small group of people near the doors to the main hall, which Isabelle suspected to be the hosts for tonight. From the corner of her eyes she saw people whispering as they watched her and Jean-Marie pass by. She glanced over at him to see if he had noticed, then saw something that looked like a little pride in his smile.

'So good of you to come.' said a burly man in suit while he and Jean-Marie shook hands.

'Pleasure to be here.' Jean-Marie said. 'May I introduce my new personal assistant, ms. Isabelle Anderson?'

The man took her hand carefully in his. 'Bertrand Watersson, at your service.' he said. 'A pleasure to meet you.'

'And to meet you.' she said, thinking he knew how to use his charm.

'I hope you'll have a good time here. Otherwise I'll be in big trouble with your boss.' he chuckled.

'I'll make sure he won't overdo it.' she said with a smile, glancing at Jean-Marie.

They excused themselves with the promise to talk later and mingled with the other guests. The compliments Isabelle received from both men and women made her wonder if she could have gotten those on her own, without all that Jean-Marie had arranged in the afternoon. It didn't matter though, she was happy to see his eyes twinkle each time.

'I'm going to have a talk with some of my oldest clients and suppliers.' he said when he had introduced her to most of the people. 'Don't go far away.'

'Okay.' she said and watched as he went and greeted a group of men at the other side of the room.

Abigail, the wife of Bertrand called her over to her friends and for a while she feared she'd get dragged into idle gossip and housewife subjects before she learned the women talked as much business as their men. Those that didn't have their own business knew just as much about their husband's businesses. It dawned on her that many a deal between men were brokered by their women. She confessed she didn't know a lot yet about Bête Holdings, but ended up with a few leads to follow up on.

***

After a few glasses of wine she excused herself and left the room after seeing Jean-Marie still talking with the same group of people. She carefully freshened up at the bathroom and checked her make-up. Walking back to the main room she felt a cool breeze and wanted to take a breath of fresh air.

The small balcony she had found by following the breeze showed a view of the back garden of the mansion. Several lanterns added to the relaxed mood of the music in the background and she took a deep breath to clear her head.

'Isabelle..' she heard a familiar voice say behind her.

'Avery?' she said, turning back. 'What are you doing here?'

'I was invited by a friend who works for Watersson. You?' Avery said, moving closer.

'Mr. Bête took me here.'

'Ahh, of course..' he said and she noticed he'd been drinking a little more than appropriate. 'Mr. Bête. The mighty bigshot who took our ships hostage and blackmailed you to take you away from the company.. From me.'

'He didn't take me away from the company.' she said, ignoring his last words.

'Yeah, sure. It's only temporary. Until there's a replacement. And what if he doesn't accept one? If he doesn't want to give you back? Hmm!?'

'I can handle him.' she said, feeling a little irritated.

'Handle him?' he said, looking her up and down. 'I don't think he's going to give you back looking like that. He wants you all to himself.'

She felt uncomfortable with the way he looked at her and stepped toward the door. 'He's too much of a gentlemen to do something bad.'

Avery grabbed her arm. 'And how do you know that? Or do you want him to keep you?'

'Let go, Avery!' she said, trying to pull her arm free.

'Well, he can't have you!' Avery said and pulled her back, nearly toppling her over and she had to grab onto the balcony rail. 'I've had my eye on you for much longer so you're mine!'

'I'm not anybody's!' she said and tried to struggle free from his grasp. 'Let go!'

'No!' he said, pressing his body hard against hers. 'I'm going to have you!'

'Avery, you're hurting me!' she said, the rail pressing painfully into her back.

'Hey!' said Jean-Marie and yanked Avery back. 'Stay away from her!'

'You!' said Avery and swung a fist to Jean-Marie's face.

Isabelle winced at the sound of fist hitting jaw, but Jean-Marie kept his stance between her and Avery.

'Damn..' said Avery, expecting his opponent to fall down.

'It's not smart to fight while drunk.' Jean-Marie said and decked Avery with one hit.

'Jean!' Isabelle said and grabbed his arm.

He breathed deep through his nose. 'Don't worry, he'll only end up with a much bigger hangover in the morning.' he said, then looked angry at her. 'What did I say about not going far away!?'

'I wasn't that far away!' she said, getting angry at his scolding.

'I couldn't see you anymore!'

'I only went to the bathroom, then wanted to take a breath of fresh air!'

'You shouldn't have been gone for so long! I had to look for you!'

She saw the concern in his eyes, her anger slipping away. 'You were that worried about me?'

'What would I tell your father if something had happened to you, or at the office!?'

She hugged him tight, feeling grateful and guilty for his worry. 'Thank you..' she whispered. 'And I'm sorry..'

He hugged her back. 'Listen to me next time.' he said softly.

'You forgive me?'

'I forgive you.'

She pulled back and took a deep breath.

'What happened?' asked one of the staff when he heard voices on the balcony and wanted to check up on any guests.

'He never could handle his alcohol.' said Isabelle. 'It's better to call a taxi and send him home.'

Jean-Marie and the young man helped up the moaning Avery and the man took him away.

'And I was just enjoying the mood out here.' she sighed.

He looked at the garden and nodded. 'Rather romantic.'

She raised an eyebrow. 'You know about that?'

'Evening, nice weather, garden, lights, music, a man and a woman alone.'

She smiled at him. 'The woman saved by the man.. But can he dance?'

He chuckled. 'If shuffling falls under that definition.'

'It does in my book.'

He looked sideways at her with a smile, bowed and held out his arms. 'Would milady care to join me for a dance?'

'I would, milord.' she giggled, moved against him and they started shuffling to the music.

After a while Isabelle felt so comfortable she couldn't suppress a yawn.

'I guess it's time to leave.' Jean-Marie said softly.

She shook her head. 'Not if you still need to talk business with the others.'

He let go of her. 'I've done what I wanted to do. I only need to say goodbye to some of the people.'

She nodded. 'Okay then.'

They went back to the main room and while he said his goodbyes she thanked Abigail and her friends for their hospitality.

'I'm glad you came and hope you enjoyed yourself.' said Abigail. 'Although I get the feeling we didn't have anything to do with the best part so far.'

Isabelle looked confused at her. 'What part?'

She got a smile. 'The one involving a private moment between you and a certain interesting man.'

Isabelle blushed. 'You saw?'

'Just a quick peek. Looked promising.' Abigail chuckled.

'Well, I don't know about that. He can be difficult at times. I heard nobody could stand working under him for very long.'

Well, good luck either way.' said Abigail.

Jean-Marie offered his hand again to escort her to the car and she could see the proud little smile on his face again as they left and chuckled inside as she would bet on him doing this on purpose.

On the drive back home Jean-Marie gave Isabelle a quick rundown on what he had discussed during the party. She told him about the possible leads she thought might be interesting.

'There might indeed be something there.' he said. 'Look into it if you want or have someone else do that for you.'

'I'll keep an eye on it, and if it turns out viable I'll have someone look further into it.'

'I'm impressed at how far you've gotten already in such a short time. Even if you have the experience you gained at your father's company.'

'Thank you.' she said, happy with the praise.

***

At his home he wished her a good night after escorting her to her room and she felt a little giddy thinking about all that had happened that day. Careful not to mess up her new suit she placed it on a stand and admired the fine workmanship. Looking down on her underwear she knew Hilda was right, and she needed to wear something to match the quality of her clothing. He wouldn't approve of her plain panties either, then shook her head. Why was she thinking about her underwear being approved by him?

She figured she was just too tired to think straight and went to bed after making sure the alarm clock was functioning.