Wrangling with the Laywer (16 page)

She wandered inside the room silently. Pacing towards the bed, she stood and looked at the view for a few breathless seconds. When he saw her reach for the zipper on her skirt, his whole body went with rigid with anticipation. He couldn’t breathe. The sound of the metal teeth releasing the clasp was achingly slow. The fabric brushed sensuously against her skin as she lowered it. His eyes dropped to her behind, taking in the perfect silk-clad mound. The skirt dropped to the floor, revealing lace-topped stocking on her slender legs. He inhaled involuntarily, feeling dizzy as the blood rushed from his head.

Her hands moved out of sight, fiddling with the buttons on the front of her blouse. Within seconds this was discarded slowly, the light fabric fluttering to the floor as her long, slender back was revealed. The white lacy underwear was the only thing remaining as he turned round to face him.

He wanted to meet her eyes, but his gaze was fixed to the absolute perfection of her curved, slender body. This was the body of a woman in her thirties who’d carried a child, and who supported her family and had never wavered, independent and strong, against what she believed in. The achingly sexual femininity in it stroked his libido beyond anything he’d seen before. It was like a work of art.

He met her gaze. She was smiling, but hesitant. He was lost. He took a step forward, meeting her smile with one of his own. His hand reached up and slid along her jaw and the slender nape of her neck. She exhaled, swaying towards him before she pulled back suddenly. He felt a kick of arousal in his stomach at the unexpected movement. Her smile became lazily intoxicating; she knelt on the bed, holding herself upright as she waited for him to follow. He did so, kneeling in front of her and sliding his arm around her naked waist. He felt her move into him as their lips touched. Her leg slid against his side, lifting to ease around his hip and draw him closer.

His hands immediately dropped to her behind. He cradled it and then pulled her up sharply against his arousal. She gasped. He deepened the kiss, unable to get close enough to satisfy. He wanted to be inside of her now. He felt her pulling at his vest and he hurriedly released the buttons, pulling at his shirt at the same time and slipping them off his heated skin. He could feel her hands fumbling with the fastener on his pants. Her fingers grazed the skin dangerously close to his erection. He inhaled sharply, clasping her shoulders for control.

“Slowly,” he breathed.

She took pity on him, pacing her movements. He felt her mouth curl in a smile under his lips. Cradling her head, he kissed her lingeringly, meanderingly while she gently loosened his pants and slid them down. He kicked off his shoes, discarding his remaining underwear while she lay back on the bed, ready for him. He loomed over her, tingling with anticipation as she shifted slowly and suggestively underneath, a red band of arousal staining her cheekbones. Kissing her gently, tasting her soft warmth, he slowly descended his naked body on her, hard and wanting. Her legs slid securely around him, causing him to groan involuntarily. He moved against her, dimly aware that he wasn’t going to last much longer.

“I want you inside of me,” she breathed, arching herself against him.

He reached for her panties, fully intending to
fulfill her wishes.

Chapter Nine

Harper shifted in her seat, stretching one of her legs out in front of her under the table. She saw the judge look across at her with a desultory glance; she gave him the woman a tight smile, feeling partially responsible for everyone’s boredom. The jury members had the drugged look of toddlers who were battling exhaustion. Some of them were literally nodding off, while others were fidgeting with their hair or their pens or bits of fluff from their clothing. She cast a glance over at the window. The blue skies and fluffy spring clouds peered through at her hopefully; she felt a childish spurt of longing at being stuck indoors listening to her lawyers drone on.

Megan met her for lunch. “You look like you’ve just gone ten rounds.”

“I’m not even tired,” Harper told her, tiredly. “This case is just being dragged out now. Davidson’s side’s making us review every contract of work they’ve signed in the last twenty years.”

“Sound riveting.” Passing her a sandwich, Megan checked on the pram and then sat down next to her on the steps. “You’re just bored because things are finally going well. You’ve only got one case in court. You’ve finally handed over all of your
management duties to Kate at the studio. Finn’s doing well in first grade.” She took a moment to consider all of this. “Now you just need to get laid.”

Harper
couldn’t help but laugh, holding her sandwich carefully aloft.

“I don’t suppose the fabulous Mr
Stahl’s been feeling generous with his one night stands lately.”

Harper
’s stomach clenched as the amusement faded. “As the name suggests, it was a one-time only offer.” Her tone was stiff.

“No other hot lawyers on the horizon?” Megan bit her sandwich, looking down at where a group of men in suits were congregating at the bottom of the busy court steps. “I still think you should give Don a chance. The guy’s just-”

“Do you think we give the Don thing a rest?”

“No. Absolutely not. They had an article about the case in the Post earlier this we
ek. I saw it in the doctor’s office.” Megan seemed to be oblivious to Harper’s building irritation. “We took a vote: ten out of ten mothers would actually cheat on their husbands for one night with this guy. Even with the post-baby weight.”

The irritation subsided again;
Harper laughed aloud. “You didn’t really vote on that.”

“We did.” Megan was matter-of-fact. “Jenny Frank was there. She’s nearly six months pregnant with her second and she still said she’d do it. And you know she’s just met this guy, Ted, keeps saying he’s the love of her life-”

“He’s my lawyer!”

“You slept with Gabe!”

Harper couldn’t be bothered explaining the nuances again. She bit into her sandwich. Part of her knew it was all just a convenient argument anyway. She’d have slept with Gabe come what may; that much was evident when she looked back at the depressing inevitability of it all. It was amazing what seven months and almost total separation could do for one’s perspective. In retrospect she supposed she should be have been glad that he had somehow, to everyone’s astonishment and congratulations, managed to settle the patent case within two weeks of their covert one-night stand. She often wondered if the feat had been down to his sheer talent for litigation, or borne of the fear that she might want to stick around in his life. She’d never seen a man run as fast as he did; it was also amazing what the threat of intimacy could do to one’s perspective.

“Are we going to take the pram for a walk?”
Harper looked down at the suits. Claustrophobia gripped her; she stood up and held on to the pram handle. “Come on. I could use a walk around the park.”

Megan groaned. “I’ve been on my feet since five this morning.”

“It’ll do you good.”

“Abigail’s fast asleep.”

Harper looked down at the swollen, flushed face of her niece lovingly. Broodiness kicked in; she wanted a girl. Now that Finn was becoming increasingly independent, she wanted another baby. She had more time on her hands than ever. She thought of Alice for a moment, wondering how the girl was getting on in first grade. She wondered if Christine had come back.

Megan sighed. “Fine. But only because you look like your brain’s running at a billion miles an hour.”

Harper smiled at her sister sweetly and then hugged her on a whim. “I’ll sit the kids this weekend, give you a break. I could use some girls in the house for a change.”

By the Friday afternoon, Harper sat in her study biting her lips furiously and staring at the complex project planner in front of her. She absolutely, without a doubt, had too much time on her hands. Sitting the kids had somehow turned into a small gathering of kids and moms from the local playgroup, and then before long it had become a fifty-strong, catered event including acquaintances from the local grade school. She looked at the list of attendees in front of her and realised she didn’t really know half of them. Around ten percent of them were complete strangers. Who were Karol Granger, and her daughter Casey? Was Casey actually in Jean’s grade at school at all? She flicked down the names worriedly: Hannah Adams and Kristine; Karen Jones and Alice; Fiona Mills and Evelyn. None of these kids seemed familiar at all.

The following afternoon, amidst the balloons and cakes and screaming children in her back garden,
Harper stood calmly with a glass of wine and listened with one ear to the conversation of the women around her. She hadn’t planned to drink but her nerves were fraying a little. Five year-old girls were loud, she was discovering. They were much, much louder than five year-old boys. Finn looked as stunned by the proceedings as she felt.

“Your house is fantastic,” Karol was telling her.
Harper still couldn’t place the woman but the kids seemed to know her daughter. “I remember this before you bought it. It was so neglected. Ever since my husband’s been scanning the real estate ads for places nearby in case something similar come up.”

“It wasn’t a particularly easy job, I have to say. Knowing what I know now, I’m not sure I’d do it again,” she admitted with a laugh. “Or at least the timing would have been different. But I could say that for a lot of things in my life.”

“How is the court case going?”

The discussion didn’t go very deep. Snippets of different topics flew around for a few minutes before
Harper noticed a tall, stunning woman peep hesitantly around the side of the house. She led a small girl in front of her; Harper felt her expression go slack when she recognised Alice Stahl’s pretty features.

Excusing herself quickly, she made her way over to the newcomers.

“Oh, hi!” The woman was quick to smile. She had the kind of statuesque beauty of a Nordic. “I’m so sorry we’re late! I insisted on driving myself; I just couldn’t find the street. I hate those sat nav systems so much...” She laughed, showing a row of perfect, white teeth. “Are we too late?”

Harper
realised her hesitation was making the pair anxious. She gave herself a mental kick. “No, not at all. I’m so glad you could come.”

“This is Alice.”

Harper knelt down, smiling warmly. She felt a flicker of something hopeful, like a ribbon falling through her chest. “We’ve met, haven’t we? Do you remember me, Alice?”

“
Harper.” Alice leaned forward and hugged her.

Overwhelmed,
Harper felt the waters of emotion rising behind her eyes. She held on to the tiny body, unable to believe this was really the angry little girl she’d met only last year. “It’s good to see you again,” she managed, pulling back. “You want to go over and see Finn? He’ll get you a hot dog.”

As Alice ran off,
Harper straightened and held out her hand. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Harper Green.”

“
Karen,” the woman told her, her accent slight but pulling over the word with a distinctly Australian twang. “Jones.”

“Your Alice’s...?”

Karen’s eyebrows rose as she followed the open intonation. “Alice’s...?” She smiled blankly for a second before compression relaxed her features in amusement. “Oh, right! Alice’s stepmom.”

It was like rigor mortis setting in. Shock slowly froze each one of
Harper’s extremities before travelling further in. She found it difficult to push her expression into something pleasant.

“Well, soon-to-be,”
Karen informed her belatedly. “Her father, Gabriel, and I are engaged to be married.”

“Congratulations!” The word fell from
Harper’s mouth on a rush of pent-up air.

“Thanks.” Smiling modestly,
Karen took a deep breath. “It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind, you know? Anyway, so I’m trying to practice at being a mom for the first time ever!” She made an exasperated sound. “I’m so glad to be here. I don’t know any other mothers. All my friends are models, they don’t have kids.” She made the suggestion sound ludicrous.

“Right.”
Harper felt stunned amusement burst to the surface of her expression; she had to bite her lips to stop if from leaking out. She wondered if she was hysterical. Stepping back, she took the much taller woman’s arm, forcing herself to behave normally. “Come through and meet everyone. I’ll get you a drink.” She rolled her eyes. “You’ll need one, even if you’re driving. The noise starts to grate after a while.”

Karen
was a friendly, if slightly out of place, addition to the group. She was beautiful enough in an unintimidating way that people seemed to easily warm to her. Her careless awkwardness seemed to be part of her charm; she spent most of the afternoon looking lost or perturbed when Alice asked her for something. Harper guessed she was maybe twenty-three or twenty-four tops. She certainly seemed to be successful and intelligent enough despite this; she told Harper she’d been modelling since she was fifteen after being discovered on a beach in Sydney. She and Gabriel had met at a party five months ago and it had been love at first sight.

Don called her with apologies mid-afternoon to quickly go over an urgent topic for court on Monday. She took the call in her study with the door closed. After it was over, she sat down and inhaled deeply, enjoying the silence for a moment. Her heart beat steadily in her chest.