Isabelle and mr. Bête

Isabelle and mr. Bête dance

Chapter 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.'