Page 1 of His Wife

Chapter One

Kade Hannon is the kind of sexy that you would see on the cover of Men’s Health Magazine. Middle-aged, greying hair, sharp chiseled features, the slightest tan. He doesn’t only look good for his age. He looks good for any age. And add to that that he is a billionaire, he is more than a little attractive on all fronts.

Shannon, his new PA is immediately attracted to him. But the twenty-four-year old is professional enough to keep her attraction in check. She manages to get through each day, partly by avoiding Kade when she can, partly by focusing on the work he is giving her when they are together. It’s hard sometimes. But she’s got this.

Also, Kade has an equally attractive wife in Ella Hannon; early thirties, raven hair, skin the color of milk, blood-red lips. Ella looks every bit like the real life version of Snowhite, if this Grimm character were ever to find herself living in New York and married to an eccentric billionaire.

If Kade wasn’t so obviously happy in his life, in his marriage, then maybe Shannon would have entertained the possibility. But she has a few lines that she will not cross, married men being one of them.

The delicious frustration of working closely with Kade is broken often by his wife, who seems to be at their offices more and more since Shannon’s appointment. The 24-year old knows that this isn’t jealousy. It can’t be. Maybe she just has a little time on her hands, or maybe she just wants to establish her territory. It doesn’t matter, really, because she is always pleasant enough to Shannon, and so Shannon is comfortable with her presence.

Shannon is also quite attractive, in an unassuming, demure way. You would look right past her, so perfectly does she blend into her surroundings. Until she was speaking directly to you. Then you’d notice everything that made her appealing. He perfect lips, the slightest hint of peach blossom, and her jade eyes, ever so slightly almond in shape, obvious despite her glasses. You notice flawless skin, just enough traces of natural gold to make her look almost like the sun shone from somewhere inside her.

Yes, Shannon is beautiful, made more so by the fact that she doesn’t seem to know it!

She cannot hide the fact that she is a little relieved, though, on this particular Friday when Ella doesn’t seem to make an appearance. But then again, neither does Kade, and this has her a little bit anxious. Yes, she wants to see him, to get her fix. Also, she has an important document from Dubai that needs his signature before she faxes it back to the client in the UAE. Shannon has never been to Kade’s house, but when, after a short search, she establishes that he is at home, she decides to go through with getting his signature.

“Shannon Ezra,” she says into the intercom at the gate of the sprawling Westchester compound. It was quite a drive getting here, and Shannon is a little parched. She is also mesmerized by what she sees, realizing for the first time just how wealthy her boss is.

“Come through,” a voice says on the other end, and the wrought iron gates start to open slowly. As she pulls in and makes her way up the long, tree lined drive she can’t help but feel like she has been transported into a whole other world.

Ella meets her at the door, and opens it with a huge smile on her face. Shannon returns the pleasant gesture and then follows the lady of the house through a magnificent foyer and into a living area that seems to make up a large part of the back of the house. It has floor-to-ceiling windows with the most incredible view of the backyard, which seems to stretch over several properties.

“I just need Mr. Hannon’s signature on these,” she says, holding the documents up for Ella to take. She wouldn’t dream of asking the slightly older women to go and get her husband.

“Kade’s not here at the moment, but he said that you can leave them here, he will sign them as soon as he gets back. He’s just gone to get some more champagne for tonight…” Ella says, letting her last sentence linger almost as though there is something else she wants to add, as an addendum.

“Oh, okay… It’s just that I needed to fax it back to Dubai today…” Shannon says, a little anxious, partly because she knows that Kade Hannon is all about detail, and partly because she promised the client in Dubai.

“You can fax them from here later, if you’ll join us for our little party tonight!” Ella says, throwing her eyes over Shannon as if to say that if she is coming to the party, then she certainly cannot come dressed like that.

Shannon adjusts her skirt, hating how uncomfortable she suddenly is in the presence of the boss’s wife.

“I don’t think that is appropriate…” she starts, holding on to the edge of her skirt now just because Ella’s eyes are lingering a little too long over her thighs.

“There is nothing appropriate about this party… Go home, get changed, something black, sexy, and then get back here to send this fax okay!” Ella is really looking Shannon over now, and the younger of the two women wants to ask her if anything is the matter.

Instead, she just says ‘okay’ as Ella takes the folder from her. As she drives away from the mansion two things nag at her. Firstly, why would Kade Hannon need to fetch his own champagne, and secondly, what exactly did Ella mean when she said that there was nothing appropriate about this party.

She gets home and goes straight to her closet, looking for something black and sexy, determined to make an impression on Ella Hannon.

Chapter Two

When Shannon arrives at the Hannon mansion she is again taken aback by its sheer magnificence. She parks her car at the end of a stream of luxury vehicles, and she suddenly wonders why she was invited here. Knowing that she is going to be incredibly out of place, she looks at herself in the light-soaked driveway. She looks decent enough, but she still cannot help but wonder what the other women inside look like.

“Shannon, hello…Come through,” Ella says, looking incredible in a short cocktail dress that seems to change from black to a deep midnight blue as she moves.

Shannon looks around the foyer first, and then the living room, picking out immediately the women who seem to be more comfortable in this world than she will ever be. Shannon throws her eyes to a few of the men, all middle-aged, but from what she can tell from under their perfectly cut designer shirts, all of them are incredibly well-built.

Shannon finds herself looking for Kade. She figures that the sooner she can get him to sign the documents, and the sooner she can get them faxed off, the sooner she can get out of here. Uncomfortable is an absolute understatement to describe how she is feeling right now.

“Hello dear… you came…” Kade says when he suddenly appears in the foyer from behind two women. He is holding a bowl with car keys in it, and hands it toward Shannon. She looks at the bowl, immediately realizing that this isn’t just any party. Not being naïve, she knows exactly what is going on here, and her stomach begins to knot almost immediately. She suddenly wants to run far away.

“Did you manage to sign those documents?” she asks Kade, stuttering. If she can deflect his attention just a little bit, she reasons, she can get the documents sent off quickly. Kade isn’t budging though, shaking the bowl in front of her now.

“Keys…” Ella says, raising her eyebrow at Shannon. Clearly she is waiting for Shannon to hand hers over.

Shannon thinks quickly. She thinks of lying, saying that she took a cab here. But how can she when there are probably cameras all over the place and her arrival was seen by her hosts? She clutches her keys tightly, realizing that they are still in her hand. Throwing her eyes from Kade to his wife, the anxiety in her stomach makes its way up to her face.

“I won’t be staying,” Shannon says when she catches her breath.

“Nonsense,” Ella says, throwing a look at Kade that says maybe he shouldn’t put too much pressure on the newbie.

She walks Shannon into the living-room, taking two glasses of champagne off one of the trays dotted around the elaborately decorated space. After handing the now-very-shy 24-year old a glass, she smiles broadly, saying ‘relax’, although doing so only with her eyes. Shannon takes a sip from her glass and looks with intense scrutiny at the people around her, trying to see if she recognizes anyone.

There are a few of Kade’s business associates, some of them here with their wives, some of them not. But mos

tly the faces are unrecognizable. Shannon makes a mental note to read the social pages of the newspapers with a little more attention, just so that she can place these people who she is not being introduced to. Instead, it seems that Ella Hannon is parading her among them, like a new recruit to their exclusive little club. Shannon didn’t sign up for this; not at all.

“Are you still feeling a little attached to your keys?” Kade asks when he finds them again, handing them both a fresh glass of bubbles.

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