Kitabı oku: «Rules Of Engagement», sayfa 2
2
JILL’S WORDS registered and hung between them, dimming the brightness of his angel’s halo. Fool’s gold, he thought. And he was an even bigger fool for allowing himself to feel desperate enough that he was seriously considering her outrageous proposal. “You’re kidding, right?”
She bit her bottom lip and shook her head slowly. “It’s really a very long and boring story,” she said, leaning over to pull a yellow pad from her briefcase. She slipped the cap off an expensive pen. “Let’s start with the charges against your employee. What’s his name?”
“Eddie Burton,” he said, then shook his head. “But I haven’t agreed yet.”
Delicately arched golden brows shot up and her big blue eyes rounded in surprise. “But I thought you needed an attorney?”
“At the cost of selling my soul to get one?” he countered dryly. He didn’t have a choice. Of course he’d do whatever she asked, even if it meant he did have to sell his soul to keep the MasCon contracts. When the guys had come into the shop earlier that evening, he’d promised them he’d look out for Eddie so long as they showed up for work the next morning.
Confidence and amusement mingled within the depths of her gaze. Only the quick, rhythmic drumming of her long slender fingers against the legal pad betrayed her nervousness. He found her slight case of anxiety endearing.
“I’m not asking for your soul, Mr. Pr—Morgan. You’re not really going to be my fiancé, just provide a convincing facsimile. Your time in exchange for competent legal representation. Seems like a fair trade to me.”
He wasn’t so sure. Time away from the company could cost him a lot more than shelling out a few bucks for a lawyer. Not that spending a few days with her would be a hardship. Quite the opposite, considering his immediate physical reaction when he’d found her on his doorstep.
Therein lay his problem. He was attracted to her, damn attracted when he couldn’t afford the distraction, no matter how much awareness rumbled through him whenever she flashed those baby blues his way.
He propped his feet on the edge of the old coffee table and leaned back into the love seat, crossing his arms over his chest. “Let’s assume I agree to do this. What exactly are you expecting?”
She set the pad and pen on the table, wrapped her arms around her middle and leaned forward. “We need to be a real couple, one convincing enough that my family doesn’t become suspicious.”
The ramifications of that statement slammed into him. His imagination tripped through a few dozen ways he’d like to be coupled with her. “Mind telling me why?” he asked, attempting to focus on the conversation and not what she’d look like with her hair down and those delicate hands moving over his body.
Her gaze shifted toward the fireplace, then back again. When she looked up at him, her eyes filled with a despair that nearly had him coming off his seat to offer her comfort.
Not a good sign, he thought with a frown. The last thing he needed to do was get involved with a woman, no matter how enticing. Between running the company, the problems on the MasCon job, and taking care of his kid brother and sister, his cup runneth over.
A light blush stained her cheeks. “So they won’t know I’ve been lying to them for the last seven months,” she said quietly.
“Isn’t that just a little unethical, even for a lawyer?”
She gave him a wry grin. “I take it you haven’t heard that lawyers are notorious for twisting the truth,” she said with a quirk of her pink mouth. “Let’s just say I’m trying to avoid a complication at home. Your presence will go a long way in helping me achieve that goal.”
His frown deepened. “Complication how?”
She blew out a stream of breath that ruffled her wispy honey-gold bangs. “I’m not a bad person,” she said, a note of defiance in her tone. “I never meant to lie to my family. It was just easier to let them believe there was someone important in my life. I’m a preacher’s daughter, which probably means I’ll have to spend eternity somewhere hot and sweaty for lying to them. I’m also the first and only Cassidy to ever leave the family fold for the ‘wickedness of greener pastures,’ as my father says. Another one of my many sins, I’m sure.
“I’m nothing like my sisters,” she added, making him wonder if this was another black mark against her. Her words painted a picture of a stern, fire-and-brimstone preacher, more condemning than forgiving.
“That’s not so unusual in families,” he offered. His sister and brother were more like their intellectual father, while Morgan preferred to work with his hands. He wasn’t sure how it had happened, considering the three of them were raised by the same absentee mother. As much as he’d resented his mother’s choice of a career over her children when he was growing up, at least he’d inherited her work ethic.
“I’m the sixth of seven daughters, all married except Carly, who’s changing her marital status in three weeks.” She fidgeted with the hem of her skirt, drawing his gaze to her legs. Legs that had his hands itching, wanting to see if they were as silky smooth as they looked.
“I’m also the only one unattached, serious or otherwise. That alone is an even greater sin according to the residents of Homer,” she added, a rueful smile lurking around her mouth when he looked at her again. “My family has been trying to convince me to return to the fold and exchange my career for a husband and my briefcase for a diaper bag. That’s not who I am.”
Maybe if you took a little more interest—
That’s not who I am.
He shut down the memory before it had a chance to fully surface. He had more immediate concerns than dwelling on a past he couldn’t change.
“You haven’t thought of telling them what you just told me?” he suggested.
“I’ve tried. I thought I was making progress until my sister Alison married a year ago. The pressure really started then, but since Carly’s gotten engaged, it’s been unbelievable. My father is determined to see each of his daughters married to a ‘respectable pillar of the community,”’ she said, her last words spoken in a mock baritone.
Jill as a rebellious teen, anxious to spread her wings and experience life on her own terms, wasn’t difficult to imagine. She had a quick, witty sense of humor, something her fire-and-brimstone father no doubt resented and attempted to oppress.
“What about your mother?” he asked, sensing there was a softer influence somewhere in her past. When he’d been in her office that afternoon venting his frustration on his friend, he’d seen a compassion in her gaze that was unfeigned.
“My mother wouldn’t dare offer an opinion contrary to Dad,” she said, a hint of distaste in her voice. “She’s so…1950s.”
“You need to tell them how you feel.”
Her expression lined with worry, and she smoothed her hands over her skirt again. “It’s not that easy. When I went home for Ali’s wedding, all I heard about was how my sisters were all living good, respectable lives. I, on the other hand, am probably seen as one step away from damnation for my wicked, independent ways.”
He’d been having some pretty wicked thoughts himself, from the moment he’d first caught a glimpse of her. Against his will, she’d drifted in and out of his thoughts for the better part of the afternoon. Now that she was seated across from him, the wickedness had escalated to erotic proportions. His angel had propositioned him and he was powerless to resist, thanks to his latest battle with the alligators nipping at his heels. By asking him to pretend to be in love with her, she’d innocently created a dangerous situation. As far as he was concerned, shifting the pretense of lust into passionate reality held enormous appeal, something he wasn’t altogether certain the independent lady lawyer would appreciate.
“Don’t get me wrong,” she continued, drawing his attention back to their conversation. “I love my family, but I don’t think I can stand to go through another family gathering with the town parading their single men in front of me like it was a cattle auction. And I don’t need to hear how I should settle down and have a passel of kids, or—”
“That still doesn’t explain why you told them you were engaged.”
“I didn’t tell them I was engaged,” she said, her brows pulling together in a frown. She let out another sigh, this one filled with frustration. “My parents are very traditional, so when Carly and Dean got engaged, my folks hosted an engagement party. I couldn’t send my regrets without disappointing my baby sister, but when my own grandmother attempted to fix me up with the grandson of one of her oldest friends, that was enough.”
He hid a smile at the outrage tingeing her voice. She obviously perceived the fix-up as a betrayal by her grandmother. “So then you told them you were engaged.”
“No. I told Luther that I wasn’t interested. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so I fudged the truth and told him I was already involved, but I meant with my career.”
“The demanding mistress,” he said, unable to keep the hardness out of his voice.
“One thing led to another,” she continued, unaware of his bitterness, “and I couldn’t say anything without hurting Luther and possibly damaging a fifty-year friendship between our grandmothers. And then my family assumed…” She let out another frustration-filled puff of breath and leaned back against the cushions. “Suffice it to say, this has turned into a nightmare of epic proportions.”
“Tell them the truth,” he said. Wasn’t the truth always the best path? At least that’s what he’d taught Raina and Will.
She dropped her head against the back of the sofa and briefly closed her eyes. “God, I wish I could.”
Two things struck him, hard. Jill Cassidy wasn’t a liar condemned to purgatory for all eternity, as she believed. He could tell by the simple fact that she had no trouble opening up to him, a virtual stranger. The other was more difficult to face.
He wanted her. He couldn’t explain it, but he didn’t need to rationalize, analyze or otherwise examine his attraction to her. He’d never been one to dissect his feelings, and he wasn’t about to start now. If he wanted something, he went after it, and more often than not, he got exactly what he wanted. The thought of being cast in the role as her fiancé, with all those unconscious touches, secret smiles and the unspoken dialogue between lovers connecting on their own level, held a lot of appeal.
She turned her head slightly to the side and looked at him with those big, clear sapphire eyes he wanted to see filled with heat and need. “I hate lying to my family. Don’t get me wrong, I do love them, and the last thing I’d ever want is to hurt them, but to be honest…it’s been a relief going home recently without having to worry about the bachelor parade.”
He shifted on the love seat and leaned forward. “Have you eaten?”
She glanced at her watch. “I had a pasta salad over eight hours ago. Since we still need to go over Eddie’s case, I could do the food thing.”
“I don’t have anything fancy,” he said, rising. “Leftover stew okay with you?”
She stood and smiled. “Lead the way. My stomach’s been demanding attention for the past twenty minutes.”
He waited while she bent to retrieve her pad and pen. The sight of her very feminine posterior pressing provocatively against her navy linen skirt had his heart ricocheting around in his chest. He looked away before he started drooling like a starving mutt.
“Morgan?”
He dragged his gaze back to her face. Still bent over the table, her delicate hand resting on the legal pad, she looked up at him, her bottom lip trapped between her teeth.
He frowned. “Yeah?”
“Would you mind terribly if I took off my shoes?” she asked, straightening. “It’s been a long day.”
He shrugged. “Sure, go ahead,” he said, figuring her odd request was probably one of those midwestern nuances about a lady in the presence of a gentleman—something his casual, Southern California upbringing couldn’t hope to understand.
His smile was strained at best as she slipped off a pair of stylish navy pumps and sighed, curling her toes into the carpet. Her toenails were painted, and he was a sucker for painted toenails. He looked closer and nearly groaned.
Red.
A startling, deep, sensual red.
He was an even bigger sucker for anything red on a woman. Red like fire, representative of the sensual heat women generated when fired up just right.
He blew out a slow stream of breath that did nothing to quell the image of Jill lying before him in a red satin teddy awaiting his pleasure. “This way,” he said, then headed into the kitchen, hoping to rein in his runaway erotic fantasies along the way.
She followed and perched on the thin cushion of a bar stool with her legal pad in front of her. “Okay, tell me about Eddie. I’m assuming he’s still in custody.”
He pulled a large pot from the cabinet. “In a minute,” he said, crossing the kitchen to the refrigerator to retrieve the leftover beef stew. No matter how selfish, the last thing he wanted to discuss right now was Eddie’s legal problems. He wanted to know more about Jill. Considering the headaches and the frustration Eddie’s twenty-first birthday party had cost the company, and him, another few minutes of conversation that would no doubt reveal more about his blackmailing, resourceful angel wouldn’t cause a bit more damage.
He dumped the stew into the pot, then set the burner to low. “There’s still something I don’t understand,” he said, crossing back to the refrigerator. He pulled out two sodas, lifting them for her inspection.
She shook her head and tapped her half-full glass of water. “What’s that?”
Unspoken dialogue between lovers…
He shook the thought from his mind and concentrated on their verbal communication. “Couldn’t you fabricate some reason as to why your fiancé can’t make it?”
She started tapping her fingers on the pad again. “Since this entire mess started, I’ve been home twice, both times with a convenient excuse as to why my intended had to stay behind.”
“So what’s one more excuse?” he asked, pulling out the bar stool across from her.
“Because the good reverend made it crystal-clear he expected to ‘meet my young man.’ An auspicious occasion such as Carly’s wedding is no doubt the perfect time to inspect and interrogate his future son-in-law.”
Morgan knew he was playing with fire by agreeing to her terms, but he really didn’t have much choice. He’d promised his men he’d take care of the problem, and he wouldn’t disappoint them. “All right,” he said, a reluctant grin tugging his lips when hope filled her gaze. “Eddie’s being arraigned in the morning. I guess you’ve got yourself a fiancé.”
Her smile was perilous to his central nervous system, and brighter than California sunshine.
She reached across the Formica countertop and settled her hand over his forearm. A current of electricity sparked and sizzled between them. “Thank you, Morgan,” she said quietly, a light frown creasing her brow.
Did she feel it, too? he wondered as her fingers slowly slid from his arm. Had she been experiencing that same sensual pull that had been plaguing him since he’d first set eyes on her?
“Yes, well.” She looked away and gently cleared her throat. The moment passed, but the truth remained. There was a definite sexual attraction at work. Whether or not they explored the possibilities was another matter altogether. Regardless of how much he wanted the angel with the heavenly body and red polished toenails, one simple fact remained: any carnal liaison they might take pleasure in would be temporary. Jill Cassidy was a career woman, and he’d made the firm resolution years ago to never have a serious, lasting relationship with corporate ladder types.
“About Eddie,” she said, her tone and persona shifting from personal to more efficient and businesslike. “It’s my understanding he’s been charged with three misdemeanors. Drunk in public, disorderly conduct, and destruction of private property. Nick also mentioned the property damage is a couple of thousand dollars. Do you know if Eddie has the means to pay the property damage tomorrow?”
Morgan stood to check the stew, providing her with the sketchy details of the impromptu birthday celebration gone awry. “I’ve already paid the damages,” he said, snagging a wooden spoon from the drawer. “This is his first offense. He’s a good kid and my best foreman. I’d hate to see one night of poor judgment haunt him for the rest of his life.”
She dropped her pen on the pad. “That was extremely generous of you,” she said, a gentle smile curving her lips. “Since you’ve already paid it, there’s a good chance I can get the two remaining charges reduced to municipal ordinance violations and a small fine, if not dropped completely. I really need to talk to Eddie, though, since he’s my client. Would you mind arranging a meeting for me?”
Morgan returned to the bar and sat. “Tonight? Out of the question.”
She crossed her arms and leaned against the back of the bar stool. “Why?”
“He told me he was going to his folks’ place for the night, and I don’t have their number. I’m meeting him at the courthouse tomorrow morning.”
She shrugged, then moved again, shifting in her seat so she could prop her feet on the stool next to her. “Well, unless you have more details for me, I guess that’s about it for business until tomorrow morning.”
Why that simple statement ignited his imagination, he couldn’t be sure, but he moved away from the bar and served up two bowls of stew to gain some distance. After setting one in front of her, he sat, wondering why he didn’t feel a greater sense of relief. He’d solved one of his problems by keeping the promise to his men that he’d make sure Eddie had a good lawyer. The men would arrive on the job site at six o’clock sharp, as he’d promised Dan Castle. Yet, instead of the relief he’d expected, another more dangerous emotion continued to jockey for his attention.
Lust for the lady lawyer with the red toenails.
And he was a sucker for a lady in red.
3
JILL HURRIED toward the courthouse, her steps faltering when she spotted Morgan waiting for her. Her heart did a little flip in her chest, followed by a series of distinct thumps. The man was simply way too sexy, and to top it off, he was a great cook. She knew her way around the kitchen, but working long hours and living alone didn’t provide her with many opportunities to enrich her meager talent. Takeout and instant was about all she had the time or energy for these days.
And there was just something incredibly seductive about a man cooking for a woman.
“Good morning,” she called to him, surprised that her voice worked. Something about this guy short-circuited her senses, common and otherwise, and she was at a loss to figure out why.
“Good morning,” he said in that voice she easily imagined whispering seductive words against her ear. Like good morning after a great night!
She came to a stop in front of him and looked up, struggling to ignore the temptation of those sexy words her imagination conjured. His eyes were filled with concern for his employee, touching her heart and making her melt just a tiny bit. Her boss was right. Morgan was the quintessential nice guy. If she was seriously in the market for happily-ever-after, Morgan Price would no doubt be at the top of her list as a prime candidate.
“Good news,” she told him, flashing him a grin she couldn’t have stopped even if her life was in jeopardy. He just did that to her. “Since you already paid for the damages Eddie caused, the bar owner has dropped the charges, so the only th…” She looked around, then back at Morgan. “Where is Eddie?”
“Inside,” Morgan said, taking her elbow and steering her in the direction of the glass doors. “Waiting and scared.”
He led her toward a wooden bench where a young man dressed in neatly pressed jeans, plaid shirt and solid blue tie waited, his foot tapping nervously on the tile floor. As they approached, he stood, his pale blue gaze darting from her to Morgan and back again.
The first thing Jill noticed was the worry lining his features. The second was that Eddie Burton looked as if he’d be more comfortable in a lab dissecting frogs than getting roaring drunk and tearing up a neighborhood tavern. A shock of carrot-red hair was cut in a cropped style. His eyebrows were pulled together in a frown, wrinkling his heavily freckled forehead.
Morgan introduced them, and Jill shook Eddie’s hand, smiling in hopes of setting him at ease. “It’s not all that bad,” she told both men. “The bar owner has dropped the charges, but there’s still the D&D charge to deal with.”
“Am I going to jail again?” Eddie asked, the fear in his eyes and his voice all too real. She thought of Nick’s advice to let the public defender’s office handle the case. Considering the workload of the jaded public counsel, the chances of Eddie doing time, even if it was only a day or two, could have been very real. There was no way she was going to allow this frightened young man to spend another minute in custody.
“No. You won’t go to jail,” she told him firmly, setting her briefcase on the bench. “The judge may order you to serve a probationary period or perhaps just some community service, but that’s if we actually do go to trial.”
“What happens today?” Morgan asked.
“Today is only the arraignment,” she said, then turned her attention back to Eddie. “The judge will ask you how you plead, and I want you to say not guilty. He’ll assign a trial date, and that’s all there is for today.”
Eddie wouldn’t look at her. He stared down at the tips of his highly polished boots, instead. “But I did it,” he murmured so softly she had a difficult time hearing him.
“That’s okay,” Jill explained, “but I don’t want you telling that to anyone other than me, okay?”
When Eddie nodded, she continued. “The reason you plead not guilty is to give me time to establish a defense and to try to get the district attorney to drop or lessen the charges against you.”
“Defense?” Morgan asked, his tone incredulous. “You think it’ll go that far?”
“It’s possible,” she said, shifting her gaze to him. He raked a hand through his black-as-midnight hair, which looked as if he’d been finger-combing it for hours. “I won’t know for certain until Eddie and I get a chance to talk about what happened that night.”
She settled her hand on Morgan’s forearm and tried to ignore the sparks of electricity shooting up her arm and spreading throughout her body with lightning speed. “Your paying the bar owner made a difference. It’s just a matter of me convincing the prosecution to drop the rest of the charges,” she said, concentrating on the case and not the way her breasts tingled and rasped against the satin cups of her bra.
“Can you really do that?” Eddie asked, the hopeful note in his voice drawing her attention.
“I’ll know more later,” she reassured him, letting her hand slip from Morgan’s arm. “You and I will need to talk first. Is there somewhere we can meet?”
“My office,” Morgan said. “Later this afternoon.”
Jill shook her head. “I can’t. I have—”
“Excuse us a minute, Eddie.” Morgan took her arm and steered her a few feet away.
“Am I or am I not paying for legal representation for my employee?”
Jill frowned at the authoritative tone of his voice. “In a manner of speaking, yes, you are. But that doesn’t mean you can—”
“I’d prefer it if you met with him at my office.” Determination replaced his earlier concern, which didn’t surprise her. From what she’d seen of his personality thus far, determination was one of his more mild qualities. Sexual magnetism ranked at the top.
“But I don’t see—”
“I need him on the job, Jill. Today. He’ll be back at the shop by four-thirty. Meet with him then, and hopefully you’ll have this mess wrapped up in a few days.”
“It might not be that easy.” She had more pre-trial motions Nick was expecting, and he’d made it perfectly clear that she could handle this case for Morgan only if it didn’t interfere with her own caseload.
“You said—”
“I know what I said,” she told him, lowering her voice slightly, “but Eddie’s scared to death and I’m trying to set him at ease.” She glanced in her client’s direction. He’d returned to the bench and was again nervously tapping his boot on the tile. “It all depends on who’s been assigned from the D.A.’s office. If we get a seasoned A.D.A., I can probably have the case dismissed. But, if we get a recent grad anxious for some trial experience…”
Morgan’s frown deepened. Dammit. He’d hoped one morning of his time away from work was all that’d be necessary, but if Jill was right, that could change. “Over something so ridiculous,” he complained. And costly, he added silently.
“I’ve seen worse.” She stepped around him and walked back to where Eddie waited. Morgan watched her go, enjoying the gentle sway of her hips beneath the fabric of the short teal skirt that enhanced the length of her legs. She wore a pair of black pumps that hid her brightly colored nails, and he found himself wishing she’d worn those strappy kind of shoes that showed off the delicate structure of a woman’s foot.
She said something to Eddie, checked her watch, then looked over her shoulder at him and motioned toward the open courtroom door.
He followed them into the crowded, wood-paneled courtroom and took the vacant seat directly behind her and Eddie. Her hair was swept up in that complicated style again, giving him no hint as to the length of all that silky honey trapped within the confines of a clawlike gadget. The urge to reach over and unclip her hair and let it fall around her shoulders nearly overwhelmed him.
He leaned forward and breathed in her scent, a beguiling floral mix that awakened his libido. “Is that the A.D.A?” he asked in a hushed whisper.
She glanced in the direction he indicated and nodded before turning slightly in her chair to look at him. Those big blue eyes captured his, and for reasons that defied common sense, a flicker of heat shot south.
This woman was trouble.
“Technically,” she said in a hushed businesslike tone, “but she’s probably a relatively new lawyer. They use them as arraignment clerks, and it’s not likely she’ll be the attorney ultimately assigned to the case. These type of proceedings are pretty rote, so there’s not much risk of a screwup at this stage.”
Oh yeah, he thought. Big trouble, since he couldn’t seem to drag his gaze away from her peach-tinted lips. Major trouble, he amended, since he’d spent the night tossing and turning in his king-size bed thinking about her.
He tried to push those thoughts aside and make a mental list of things he needed to cover today, but his traitorous conscience refused to heed his wishes. He tried to pay attention to the various proceedings ahead of theirs, but the beguiling scent of her subtle perfume wafted toward him, making his synapses misfire like an old Chevy in need of a tune-up.
Ninety minutes later, the clerk called Eddie’s name. Jill rose and stepped across the bar, holding the low swinging door for Eddie to follow.
“Jill Cassidy, your honor, counsel for defendant, Edward Burton,” she said briskly, setting her briefcase on the table.
Morgan leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees, paying close attention to the proceedings, and Jill. The sweetness he’d witnessed thus far evaporated, and she was all business. Real cool, too, he noted as she requested in a firm, professional manner that the charges against Eddie for property damage be officially dismissed.
In a matter of minutes it was over, just as she’d predicted. With a little legal double-talk she managed to hold the trial over for three months, waive a jury and get the court to refund half of the bail money.
Morgan was impressed.
And disappointed.
For as much as Jill Cassidy interested him as a woman, continually setting off a series of sparks inside him whenever he thought about her, she was as off-limits as a woman could be, as far as he was concerned. He had nothing against professional women. He supported equal pay for equal jobs and a woman’s right to choose, but when it came to lasting relationships, a woman with a briefcase could be nothing more to him than a brief affair. Too bad he wasn’t the type to embark upon a casual fling, because he didn’t doubt for a nanosecond they could really have a great time together.
No, he decided. Despite his attraction to her, it really was best that he keep his distance, emotionally and otherwise. Once he’d repaid his debt to her for taking on Eddie’s case, that would be the end of his association with Jill. He owed her for helping him out of a jam that could have cost his budding company thousands of dollars. There could be nothing else between them.
He stood as Jill and Eddie walked toward him, a twinge of regret shifting through him. He liked her, a lot. When he was a kid he’d learned that career women and family had about as much in common as fire and water. Further confirmation followed him into adulthood, and it was a good thing. Otherwise, a woman like Jill, with her hundred-watt smile, her intellectual wit and enough sex appeal to tempt a Benedictine monk, could really get under his skin and wrap herself around his heart.
Yeah, he thought, falling into step behind her as she inclined her head toward the door, a woman like Jill definitely had heartbreaker written all over her.
The problem was, he had a bad feeling she was about to become his favorite reading material.
JILL STEPPED OUT into the warm June sunshine, promising to meet Eddie later that afternoon to go over the details of his case, then waited while Morgan issued him a set of instructions for a job.
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