attractive, very bright, and her hazel eyes shone almost gold at lunch when she mentioned you...”
Ian grinned. “Yes, it’s my Maggie. You and Tom are being invited to the wedding. We’re getting married surrounded by those dahlias in my parent’s garden four weeks from now.
“She and my father have bullied me into repotting three thousand of the blood things so he can force them into full bloom for the wedding!
“Oh, Gloria, you can spread the word that I met her before she came to work here, so technically, I haven’t broken my rule very badly.”
Gloria laughed. “Ian, you are impossible. Now, what are we going to do about Amanda and the tabloids?”
“Let’s ask my fiancée…after all she’s a member of the press herself. She’ll know how to handle them.”
Ian picked up his telephone and called Maggie.
“Maggie mine, Gloria and I are sitting here in my office trying to sort out a problem...”
“You just called me Maggie mine. That means Gloria knows...”
“I’m happy Gloria knows, I was going to tell her today anyway, but she deduced it from what you said at lunch yesterday and what I said to Amanda this morning, and therein lies the problem...”
“Amanda has figured it out as well?”
“Not yet, but Gloria says Amanda is determined to figure it out so that she can sell the information to the tabloids.”
“Oh, dear.”
“How would like me to handle this?”
“We’ll just have to beat her to the trigger, Ian.”
“We could fly to Las Vegas and elope,” he laughed.
“Our families would never forgive us, especially your mother. I might be her only chance to put on a wedding. And my mother, she’s so excited to be coming home to England to see her daughter married.
“No, I was thinking of calling a reporter I used to work with at that women’s magazine. She’s with DailyDirt.com now.
“I could ask her to meet me for a drink after work, tell her I have a scoop for her. You could join us, she’ll get the story, then everybody will chase us for a couple of days, taking pictures of my wonderful engagement ring, but by the weekend a real celebrity will have committed some awful indiscretion and we’ll be yesterday’s news. I thought about it after you were asleep last night...Amanda just makes us have to do it today.”
“Call your report er friend at the DailyDirt.com, darling. That’s a very good idea. Online will spread much faster than print...”
Maggie went online and pulled up DailyDirt.com . She found the email contact to her old colleague, Fiona Fisher, and wrote a quick note, asking her to meet at the wine bar in the Four Seasons at six, promising her a scoop.
Less than a minute later, Fiona had emailed back, confirming the appointment and asking if she should bring a photographer.
Maggie replied with one word. “Yes”.
Gloria was anxious to help, so she loaded Amanda with so much work that the girl didn’t have time to think. She didn’t even get a proper tea break.
Maggie and Ian walked into the wine bar at ten minutes to six.
Maggie’s hair and makeup were perfect. Her caramel silk shirt looked great under her best black suit. The five carat diamond solitaire sparkled.
Fiona and her videotograper arrived at six on the dot. She looked at the bottle of Cristal in an ice bucket beside the table and the four champagne flutes, the tray of appetisers that Ian had ordered earlier that afternoon. She recognized Ian immediately. She smiled.
“Thanks for this scoop, Maggie. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Angstrom.”
“Ian, call me Ian, Fiona. Any friend of my fiancée is a friend of mine.”
“Is this on the record? Not that it matters if it isn’t, the DailyDirt.com doesn’t care about those niceties.”
“We wouldn’t have called you if we weren’t prepared for an interview and pictures to be online within minutes, Fiona.”
“Where did you two meet?”
“On a plane from Greece to London. We sat beside each other and she
Ian grinned. “Yes, it’s my Maggie. You and Tom are being invited to the wedding. We’re getting married surrounded by those dahlias in my parent’s garden four weeks from now.
“She and my father have bullied me into repotting three thousand of the blood things so he can force them into full bloom for the wedding!
“Oh, Gloria, you can spread the word that I met her before she came to work here, so technically, I haven’t broken my rule very badly.”
Gloria laughed. “Ian, you are impossible. Now, what are we going to do about Amanda and the tabloids?”
“Let’s ask my fiancée…after all she’s a member of the press herself. She’ll know how to handle them.”
Ian picked up his telephone and called Maggie.
“Maggie mine, Gloria and I are sitting here in my office trying to sort out a problem...”
“You just called me Maggie mine. That means Gloria knows...”
“I’m happy Gloria knows, I was going to tell her today anyway, but she deduced it from what you said at lunch yesterday and what I said to Amanda this morning, and therein lies the problem...”
“Amanda has figured it out as well?”
“Not yet, but Gloria says Amanda is determined to figure it out so that she can sell the information to the tabloids.”
“Oh, dear.”
“How would like me to handle this?”
“We’ll just have to beat her to the trigger, Ian.”
“We could fly to Las Vegas and elope,” he laughed.
“Our families would never forgive us, especially your mother. I might be her only chance to put on a wedding. And my mother, she’s so excited to be coming home to England to see her daughter married.
“No, I was thinking of calling a reporter I used to work with at that women’s magazine. She’s with DailyDirt.com now.
“I could ask her to meet me for a drink after work, tell her I have a scoop for her. You could join us, she’ll get the story, then everybody will chase us for a couple of days, taking pictures of my wonderful engagement ring, but by the weekend a real celebrity will have committed some awful indiscretion and we’ll be yesterday’s news. I thought about it after you were asleep last night...Amanda just makes us have to do it today.”
“Call your report er friend at the DailyDirt.com, darling. That’s a very good idea. Online will spread much faster than print...”
Maggie went online and pulled up DailyDirt.com . She found the email contact to her old colleague, Fiona Fisher, and wrote a quick note, asking her to meet at the wine bar in the Four Seasons at six, promising her a scoop.
Less than a minute later, Fiona had emailed back, confirming the appointment and asking if she should bring a photographer.
Maggie replied with one word. “Yes”.
Gloria was anxious to help, so she loaded Amanda with so much work that the girl didn’t have time to think. She didn’t even get a proper tea break.
Maggie and Ian walked into the wine bar at ten minutes to six.
Maggie’s hair and makeup were perfect. Her caramel silk shirt looked great under her best black suit. The five carat diamond solitaire sparkled.
Fiona and her videotograper arrived at six on the dot. She looked at the bottle of Cristal in an ice bucket beside the table and the four champagne flutes, the tray of appetisers that Ian had ordered earlier that afternoon. She recognized Ian immediately. She smiled.
“Thanks for this scoop, Maggie. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Angstrom.”
“Ian, call me Ian, Fiona. Any friend of my fiancée is a friend of mine.”
“Is this on the record? Not that it matters if it isn’t, the DailyDirt.com doesn’t care about those niceties.”
“We wouldn’t have called you if we weren’t prepared for an interview and pictures to be online within minutes, Fiona.”
“Where did you two meet?”
“On a plane from Greece to London. We sat beside each other and she
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