Barbara Silkstone - Wendy Darlin 01 - Wendy and the Lost Boys Read Online Free PDF Page A

his eyes as he pledged himself to her. Instead, I could swear he was doing a head count, looking for faces in the crowd.
    Jaxbee stood next to me. The little pilot was wearing a pale blue pants suit with a satin collar. Her blonde curls were pinned at the top of her head.
    “Do you think he loves her?” she whispered.
    “I hope so.”
    Every guest looked vaguely familiar. I’d seen each of their pictures at least once in Vanity Fair. Hunky waiters circulated with champagne and canapés. They wore black slacks and crisp, white shirts with the Hook logo on the right side point of their collars. Each server had his hair slicked back with gobs of pomade. The effect was very Gatsby.
    Jaxbee shook her head. “Some shindig. You could feed an entire village in Namibia for what this cost.”
    “Have you been to Namibia?”
    “Um… Peace Corps.”
    “You’ve been around for someone your age.”
    “I’m twenty-two.” She corrected her posture.
    “How did you land your job with Hook? He must have a lot of confidence in you to rely on someone so young.”
    A waiter passed a try of canapés. Holding my camera in my left hand, I grabbed a cracker with a fluffy cream topping.
    “Right place. Right time,” Jaxbee said. “Hook pays extremely well. I’m saving up to start my own medical airlift. My dream is to offer emergency flights to the poor in the Caribbean.”
    At that moment, Marni threw her bouquet – a photo op that sent me into typical Wendy-klutziness. Forgetting I had the frothy cracker in my right hand, I brought what I thought was my camera to my eye, smashing a large dollop of cream onto my eyebrow where it hung suspended before falling into my eye. The more I batted my lashes the worse it became.
    Jaxbee got the giggles. She caught the blob in her napkin right after it avalanched to my chin. We scrambled to a wrought iron bench, and laughed until we were both breathless.
    Marni and Hook strolled toward us. She was clinging to his arm and looking up at him.
    “I told Charlie you’ve agreed to take care of him if something ever happens to me.”
    I fought to control the anger surging through me, but I felt my face redden. “I did no such thing.” The joy was sucked out of the day. I walked into the house, then into the library and settled into a porter’s chair near the fireplace. After a few minutes, I fell asleep.
    I woke around midnight. Hans told me the Hooks left on their extended honeymoon. There was a note from Marni on the bed in the princess room.
     
    Wendy,
    I asked one favor. You denied me. Don’t call me. I’ll call you.
                                                                                           Marni Hook
     
    That was okay with me. I was so disgusted with her self-absorbed, gold-digging ways. Her mother was such a good woman, the mother who wasn’t even invited to the wedding. The more I thought about that, the less I cared if I ever talked to Marni again. But I still felt a twinge of guilt about introducing her to Hook.

Chapter Six
    I grabbed my ringing cell from the corner of my desk. It was Marni. Five months had gone by without a word. I had no desire to talk to her, but I couldn’t stay mad when I heard the hysteria in her voice. “Hook says we have to leave right away. There’s something very wrong. I don’t know what, but I wanted you to know. I’ll have to call you. You won’t be able to reach me. He crushed my cell phone… under his heel.”
    “Marni, what is it? Is he hurting you?”
    “No. We’re taking off in the Predator right now. He wouldn’t even let me pack a bag. Something bad is coming down.” The line went dead.
    The television was on mute. I spotted Hook’s picture flashing across the screen. The news crawl read, Charles Hook eludes arrest – Offices of Hook International in Manhattan and Miami raided earlier today by the FBI and SEC.
    Irrationally, I ignored