A Passionate Refuge: Corporate Affairs, #2

By Ashley Melbourne

Mackenzie is facing a huge financial hardship at her domestic shelter. In order to stay afloat, she decides to play the game with high powered investors. Yet when the sexy attorney Ross Bowman enters her world, Mackenzie is drawn into a delicious scandal in part two of the Corporate Affairs series. 

Length: Approximately 7,500 words (a novelette)

Content warning: Contains some graphic content of a sexual nature. Intended for adults only.

This is book three in a series. Books in this series include:

Not So Innocent – Corporate Affairs, Book 1
Hidden Secrets – Corporate Affairs, Book 3
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ashley Melbourne
• Release date: May 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781498956543

Book preview

A Passionate Refuge

Corporate Affairs Series. Book 2

Ashley Melbourne

Mahogany Publications

Copyright © 2013 Ashley Melbourne

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher

www.mahoganypublications.com

Mackenzie Smith was drained. She poured over the ledgers for Phoenix. House Domestic shelter and she could not glean a speck of magic from them. No ounce of hope, no positive outlook. The shelter's volunteer treasurer had just been arrested at her place of business for selling client info to a competitor. It seems not before pocketing the shelter cash she was supposed to be managing. The shelter was broke. The only thing to do was to make a massive public appeal.

Mackenzie pulled up the details of her personal account. Not nearly enough for an ad in the paper. Not that anyone read those anymore. She generated an email solicitation and sent it off to her list of donors which included the firm where the thief had been employed and then put a call in at the news desk at the local station. If she could get them interested in a story, that would be one way of getting the word out. She jotted down other fundraising ideas. Bake sale. Rummage sale. Then she got silly and put down masquerade ball. She envisioned wearing a gown, whilst in the best shape of her life, mingling with the rich and powerful towards a happy ending, just like on addictive TV.

Mackenzie printed up a flyer with the same content as her email, with a bullet point explanation of what happened, directing where donations could be made. With her luck, she would get ticketed for littering. She locked up the office and went out to post them. She and Lerna, the woman who served as something of a matron to the residents, attached the flyers anywhere they could, soliciting coffee shops for space on their counters. After pounding the pavement for the better part of the day, Mackenzie went home.

After a rocky night's sleep, Mackenzie went to the shelter office early to start again on her campaign to keep the doors opened. She got a voicemail from the station that if she could provide proof of a connection between the jailed treasurer and missing money they could go with the story, but they would have to have the proof before they could run the story.

She hadn't even checked her