Читать книгу Rules Of Engagement - Jamie Denton - Страница 10

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.

She checked her watch. The other proceedings had taken much longer than she’d expected, and it was nearly noon. Driving the sixty miles back to the Wilshire District made little sense when she’d only have to turn around and come right back. Luckily, she’d brought work home the previous night, and she decided she could put the time away from the office to good use at a local law library by making some headway on those motions Nick was expecting.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where the law library is, would you?” she asked Morgan once Eddie left. “I have some work that I need to do.”

They walked down Ninth toward Main, where she’d parked her car. “I’m not sure, but it’s probably in San Bernardino,” he said, taking hold of her elbow when they stepped off the curb. “The area’s kinda rough, though. I’d feel more comfortable if you used my office.”

Those darned electric tingles skittered up her arm and shot down to her tummy. If she didn’t get a grip, by the time they returned from Homer she’d be nothing more than an incinerated mass.

“So what happens now?” he asked, after they crossed the street.

The length of his tanned fingers, still wrapped seductively around her elbow as he walked her toward her car, sent little shock waves of pleasure over her skin. “After I talk to Eddie,” she said, “I’ll need to contact the prosecutor and discuss the case. Eddie’s a good kid, and this should easily go away for him. He might have to do community service or maybe probation, but that’s about it.”

She stopped and set her purse on the hood of her car to look for her keys.

“This your car?” Morgan asked, a note of caution in his voice.

She found her keys and looked up at him and the frown tugging his brows. She glanced at her car, and her heart sank. “Oh no,” she said, walking to the rear passenger side to examine the flat tire.

“I’ve changed a flat or two in my time,” he said, coming to stand beside her.

Jill couldn’t believe her rotten luck. “Normally, I’d take you up on your very generous offer, but this is my spare.” She’d gotten a flat a week ago and hadn’t had the time to have the tire repaired or replaced. What was it her grandmother had said about putting off today, or some other cliché about the evils of procrastination?

Morgan crouched to examine the tire. “Here’s the culprit,” he said, pointing to a long, rusty nail sticking out of the rubber. “You picked up a nail.”

She pulled her cell phone from her purse and pressed the call button. The LCD panel remained blank. She pressed the button again. Still nothing. “It’s dead. I can’t believe this is happening.”

Morgan straightened. “I’ve got one in my truck. Come on. You can call from there, then we’ll grab a bite to eat across the street while we wait.”

“I don’t understand,” she said, pressing the button again and again while falling into step beside Morgan. “It was working fine this morning.”

“Welcome to the electronic age,” he said in good humor, pulling his keys from the pocket of his khaki trousers.

He opened the door for her and she set her briefcase on the floorboard. “It’s better than the alternative,” she said, gauging the height of the truck in comparison to her short, teal silk skirt. “I didn’t see a pay phone for the last two blocks.”

She frowned, wondering how she was going to climb inside the four-wheel drive. She turned and braced her hands on the seat, prepared to lift herself backward into the truck.

Morgan stepped forward and placed his hands on her hips. She sucked in a sharp breath. The feel of his large hands gripping her hips set off dozens of sensual images. She looked up into his eyes and her breath caught. The hint of desire swirling in the depth of his gaze sent her feminine senses into an uproar.

He moved closer, trapping her between the thick wall of his chest and the interior of his four-wheel drive. Heat surrounded her from head to toe, but not the kind caused by the warmth of the sun. This kind of heat had nothing to do with weather, and everything to do with sex.

As if she weighed no more than one of the sheets of drywall he probably tossed around on a daily basis, he gently lifted her into the truck. She couldn’t move. She sat with her feet dangling out the open door, unable to tear her gaze from his, shocked by the strength of her physical reaction and a conscious need to kiss him. One of those deep, tongue-tangling kisses that would have her heart pounding like the thunder of a summer storm.

“Thank you, Jill,” he said, a lopsided grin on the lips she couldn’t seem to stop fantasizing about. “For everything you’ve done today.”

What was he thanking her for? she wondered. She hadn’t even kissed him yet.

He stepped back to close the door. Realization dawned, bringing with it a wave of embarrassment. “Uh, no problem,” she said, shifting in the seat, hoping the heat infusing her body was from the warmth of the sun and not because she was turning a very unattractive shade of scarlet.

He closed the door and walked around the front of the truck to climb inside. She slipped her sunglasses from her purse, trying to decide which was the lesser of two evils: confessing the truth to her family that she was still painfully single, or spending time with a man who had her thinking sins of the flesh weren’t quite the sacrilege her father preached to his daughters.

MORGAN HEFTED the last sheet of drywall onto the bed of the delivery truck. He’d been hiding out in the small warehouse for the past couple of hours in the futile hope that some distance from Jill would draw his mind away from her sweet, sultry smile.

Not a chance.

He’d hoped the physical labor would distract him from the need clawing his gut whenever she flashed those baby blues his way.

Impossible.

“No way,” he grumbled, especially since he couldn’t stop wondering if she’d taste as sweet as he’d been imagining all afternoon.

“She’s a career woman,” he complained, then headed into the humidity of the warehouse for some rope. “That means look, but don’t touch.”

What had he been thinking? he mused, kicking aside a box filled with drywall screws. Inviting her to spend the afternoon at his office had to qualify as one of his less-than-brilliant ideas.

Her perfume had distracted him.

The soft rasp from the slide of her nylons as she shifted in the chair had ignited his imagination.

The sound of her fingertips gently tapping the keyboard of her laptop computer had him staring at her hands and thinking all sorts of illicit thoughts.

He’d been chased out of his own suddenly cramped office, self-condemned to the heat of the afternoon because avoiding Jill was preferable to the erotic fantasies that kept erupting every time he looked at her, heard her or caught a whiff of her heavenly scent.

The woman and her hundred-watt smile were more trouble than a by-the-book city inspector. The last thing he needed was trouble, especially the kind Jill Cassidy, Attorney-at-Law, represented. She was the last woman on earth he should want to get involved with, but damned if he didn’t find her just a little too fascinating and sensual.

He located a bundle of rope and headed back into the brutal sunshine. What was it about her that got to him? he wondered, slapping the rope over the drywall to secure the load to the truck bed. He hardly knew her, but he had a feeling he’d probably figure out how to consistently pick the winning lottery numbers before he had an answer to that question. All he had to do was gaze into those expressive eyes and he was a goner.

Chump that he’d become in the past twenty-four hours, he’d done a whole lot of gazing over lunch waiting for the tow truck to arrive.

The back door leading to the offices creaked. He didn’t have to look up to know it was Jill. Awareness crackled around him like a live wire as the heels of her black pumps clicked over the concrete floor and onto the blacktop of the alley.

“The tire shop just phoned to tell me my car’s ready,” she called out. “I was going to get a cab but your secretary said you weren’t busy.”

“I’ll be done in a minute,” he answered, making a shipper’s knot and tugging hard on the rope. He crouched to loop the rope around the tie-down and froze. The staunch reminder that career women were off-limits faded into the background at the sight of Jill’s shapely legs. Legs he wanted to touch, to slide his hands over, to feel wrapped around…

He muttered a muffled curse and tugged on the rope.

“Good grief, it’s hot,” she said. She moved and he watched with fascination as those legs slowly came around to his side of the delivery truck. “Is it always like this in the valley?”

She crouched beside him and peered beneath the flatbed. The delicate floral of her perfume wafted over him, and his hands stilled as he imagined the daring places she may have dabbed the intoxicating scent. The weather wasn’t the only thing heating up—his temperature was skyrocketing.

He turned to look at her. “Not always,” he said, deciding it was all her fault. If her eyes didn’t sparkle when she cast him one of those sultry smiles, then maybe the rush of need and a deep-in-his-bones desire to kiss her wouldn’t be so overwhelming.

He straightened and tossed the rope over the top of the truck to finish tying off the load. There was no way he would be able to spend five days alone with her without kissing her. They were supposed to be engaged. They would be expected to kiss, to touch, to—No, he wouldn’t go there.

Maybe he should just kiss her and get it out of the way now.

Yeah, that’s it, he thought, picking up the rope and making another knot in the line. Just kiss her, solve the mystery and then she’d be out of his system.

He hoped.

Tossing the rope over the truck again, he circled the back and stopped in front of her. She looked up and smiled, causing his heart to beat heavily in his chest. He stared at her, not sure what to say, and her honey-gold eyebrows puckered into a frown.

“Did you want something?” she asked, her voice filled with curiosity.

“I have to taste you,” he admitted, planting his hands on his hips.

The frown smoothed and her eyes darkened to midnight. He’d been afraid something like this would happen. The chemistry between them had been evident from the moment he first laid eyes on her. That churning-in-his-gut feeling was back—a loud and clear warning that his short-circuiting brain wouldn’t heed.

She wanted him to kiss her.

Her gaze slipped over him, slowly running down the length of his body. He felt her eyes like a physical caress, all too real and way too tempting.

“You make it sound like it’s a bad thing,” she said, a smile easing across her peach-tinted lips.

“It is,” he said, narrowing the space between them. “It’s real bad.”

“Bad can be very good, you know,” she said in a husky tone that had his already skyrocketing temperature spiking.

He settled his hand on her hip and rocked her slightly closer. “Just one taste,” he said, pressing his fingers against the gentle swell of her hip. He lowered his head until he felt her breath fan his lips.

Her lashes fluttered closed and she breathed in deeply.

And then a pickup truck pulled into the alley.

Morgan dropped his hand and stepped away from her. She looked up, her gaze filled with curiosity, and a hint of disappointment, as well.

“The guys are here,” he said, shoving a hand through his hair.

“Too bad,” she said, giving him one of those dazzling grins.

Too bad? How about too close?

Or not close enough?

He didn’t want to think about the answer, or the disappointment he’d glimpsed in her gaze.

And he especially didn’t want to think about the way she’d felt under his hand. All soft, all woman, and all his for the taking.