Wrangling with the Laywer (20 page)

Don didn’t have time to respond before Gabe arrived to help himself to coffee. Gabe shook his friend’s hand, clearly over whatever strange mood had prompted his stormy glance on entering the room. He nodded at
Harper with a cautious smile. “You two look cosy.”

Don was oblivious. “We’ve been swapping recipes.”

Gabe only allowed a glimmer of humour at the remark. He turned away quickly, looking out at the busy room. “How’s it been so far? Everyone behaving themselves?”

“I haven’t seen
Jamie around,” Harper cut in, genuinely curious.

“
Jamie Mulligan?” Gabe met her gaze with a frown. “He’ll be thrilled you remember him. He’s going to be handling some of the litigation with me and the other partners involved; we’ve got other, more lowly associates doing this kind of background work.”

“Sounds like a promotion.” She felt inordinately pleased, both for
Jamie and for Gabe for coming through for him.

“That’s what he thinks, too. I’m not sure if he’ll feel the same way when he’s been doing eighteen-hour days for months at a stretch.”

“He’s just like you; he’ll eat it up and ask for more.”

The words came out of her mouth before she could stop them. They were innocuous enough; Don didn’t even flinch, helping himself to another coffee. On the surface it was just a couple of professional acquaintances making glib remarks about each other. It would have been exactly that if she hadn’t immediately recoiled from the admiration evident in her tone and shot him a pensive glance to see if he’d detected it. He met it with even confidence. He’d noticed, of course. His eyes on her were too lingering for him not to have read something significant to her self-conscious reaction.

Standing, she checked her watch blindly.

“Natalie
Van der Sar’s doing the rounds for her children’s charity auction thing again,” Don spoke up, oblivious to the undercurrent as he turned back with his coffee. “You are going this year, Gabe?”

Gabe shrugged. “I’m going to leave that one up to woman in my life to decide. It’s her birthday the same day so she might not want me to go.”

Karen was still on the scene, Harper concluded morosely. She hadn’t heard a thing about their wedding; she should have asked Natalie this morning, she realised with a mental forehead slap. It hadn’t happened yet, she was sure of that. It would have been plastered all over the Post if Gabe Stahl had finally been taken off the market.

“I’m thinking about volunteering as one of the gigolos for purchase.”

Gabe laughed. “You’ll be the first chump to volunteer in the history of the cause,” he drilled. “Of course, one can’t refuse when asked. But one generally does everything one can to avoid being asked.”

“You did it.”

“I...” Gabe considered this with a distant smile. He looked at Harper for a second, alerting her to some unreadable message in his eyes. “Natalie pounced on me during a weak moment. I let myself get distracted, but I got something out of it eventually.”

“So I heard, buddy. Who bought you again?”

“Jemima Fischer,” Gabe supplied coolly. “And I’m not talking about that. You’re not supposed to sleep with them, you know. That’s bordering on prostitution.”

“Ha!”
Harper gave Don a satisfied grin.

“I got a fifty right now says Jemima Fischer probably bought you with that mind.”

Harper turned back to Gabe, unable to hide her shock. He was merely amused.

“So, what? You’re going to call her up, ask her what her intentions were?”

“I know her old roommate from back then: Ashley Drake.” Don was warming to his challenge now. “I’m pretty sure she’d know if Jemima had a thing for you or not.”

Now that she thought about,
Harper decided Don’s fifty was probably safe. She turned on her heel, looking disinterestedly over the breakfast items on the buffet table, trying to distract herself from their testosterone-fuelled banter. At least, Don’s banter was testosterone-fuelled. Gabe seemed to be batting of the accusations like he’d wave a fruit fly from his face. She stared up at his reflection behind her in the glass. Looking at him objectively, from the lean, straight physique under his tailored suit to the assured way he held himself, she had a sudden realisation that she’d probably spend a lot more than fifty bucks for another night with him. Now that she’d sampled the goods, so to speak.

She looked back down again, half-amused and half-shocked that she’d just entertained that thought in the middle of this conference room with him standing right behind her.

“...got a lot to learn about women if you think Natalie will date you after you’ve slept with some woman who buys you through her charity auction,” Gabe was saying when she turned back.

“
Harper.” Don turned to her with amusing gravity. “Would you still date Gabe knowing he’d shad consensual sex with a woman who happened to have purchased his time through an auction, all in the name of charity?”

“I didn’t sleep with Jemima Fischer,” Gabe protested.

“I wouldn’t date Gabe because he’s about to get married,” she responded at the same time. “The question’s invalid.” She turned away, uncomfortable. It was only after a few seconds of complete silence that she turned back again. Where were the jeers?

Gabe and Don were both staring at her. Don looked at Gabe before coming to his feet. “I think I’ll stretch my legs a little before this shindig gets started again.” He strolled off towards the table, slapping a suited man on the shoulder in greeting a few metres from them.

Harper turned back to Gabe. His eyes were narrow on her.

“Did I say something
wrong?” She felt her pulse in her ears, as if underwater.

He placed his cup down and slipped his hands into his pockets, brining himself up to his full height in front of her. “I thought everyone knew.” He frowned. “
Karen and I aren’t together anymore. We called off the engagement a few months ago.”

Chapter Eleven

“You... just said her birthday was on the same day as the...” Harper felt as if the floor was moving under her feet. “I’m sorry. I hadn’t heard.”

“These things happen.”

She grappled her mind for something suitable to say. Coming up blank, she stared into his handsome, available face and felt a stab of determined longing so overwhelming that she actually had to lean against the table again for support.

After everything he’d done, how could she seriously still think of him this way?

He exhaled slowly. “She came by the apartment this morning, actually, to pick up the last of her things. I asked her about that invitation to your party... when Alice-”

“I remember.” Harper cleared her throat, her voice hoarse. She was glad they had already moved on to a new topic. “I asked around after that. None of the other mothers remembered inviting her. My caterer said she got the final list from me, so...” She shrugged. “I was pretty stressed at the time; maybe I just had an attack of amnesia.” She laughed humourlessly.

Gabe nodded but there was nothing convinced in his expression. Before they could get into it further, the associates called everyone back to the meeting.

Just as they were about to approach the table, Gabe touched her arm. She felt a jolt of awareness, turning to him sharply. “Have you got ten minutes after the meeting? I wanted to sit down with you to go over a few things.”

She nodded, feeling her stomach clench with anticipation.

Gabe picked up his pace towards the end of the meeting as they reviewed the final points on the agenda. His mind was moving at twice the speed of the reactions of most of the other attendees; it was all he could do not to cut them off impatiently while he waited for them to catch up with his reasoning. He’d planned to approach Harper at a different time... he wasn’t sure when, but he’d only abstractly considered what he was going to say to her. Her expression when he’d told her he’d broken off his engagement had stupidly galvanised him into acting spontaneously. Now he was going to have to face the music. He wasn’t looking forward to it, and yet he couldn’t wait to get it started.

The meeting adjourned with what seemed like painful sluggishness. Don hung around and chatted for a while; it was only when Gabe noticed Harper checking her watch that he finally excused himself and approached the door. He held it open for her wordlessly, not quite touching her back as she walked through. He knew he didn’t have that right any longer, even in a casual way.

Her hair fell rich and dark down her back as she made her way down the hallway slightly ahead of him. He caught a scent of exotic flowers, his brow creasing with effort as he tried not to breathe it in. Something in her height and proportions just felt so right next to him. Who was kidding...? There was nothing mysterious in it. He’d explored her body every which way, and he knew precisely how well she fitted him. He’d taken her up against the wall in his bathroom that fateful morning before he’d pushed her out of his life, and the memory came back to haunt him every time he showered.

“In here?”

He almost walked into her. Snapping out of his reverie, he stared into his office blankly for a moment before sense returned. “Yes. This is fine.”

She lifted her brows questioningly. Giving him just a marginally suspicious look, she entered the office and approached the chair at the other side of his desk.

He moved forward, closing the door. “Sit on the sofa, if you like.” He fought back his now inappropriately awakened libido. This had never been less the time and place.

She chose an armchair. Sitting neatly in the large piece of furniture she placed her leather laptop bag at the side of the chair and clasped her hands in her lap, watching him expectantly.

“Do you want more coffee?”

“Is this about the party invite?”

Her question was delivered at the same time as his. Taking a deep breath, he focused, forcing himself to control the situation better. “No,” he told her reasonably. “I wanted to talk you about the case indirectly. More directly about our involvement.”

Her eyes widened partially but they were a stormy blue in colour. He recalled that same storminess the day he’d successfully settled her patent case and coolly delivered the news to her that their professional relationship was at an end. He frowned against it, taking a seat in the armchair alongside her. Sitting back, he took a deep breath.

“I... wanted to apologise.” He felt a release of pressure in his chest now that the first words were out. “I didn’t behave well when we were working on the patent case against Davidson. I’m not going to offer any excuses. I’ve come to respect you very much, and I... regret the way I behaved towards you.”

Her expression couldn’t have been more surprised. She looked absolutely shell-shocked for a moment. He watched her eyes comb his features as if searching for clues to his motivation. Her gaze darted away after a moment and she seemed to assimilate them properly.

Inhaling, she glanced down at her clasped hands on her lap. “I appreciate the sentiment.” She exhaled the words carefully, her expression even when she looked up. He realised how stiff and lawyerly he must have sounded for her to respond so formally.  Only a slight tremor of emotion lit the very depths of her gaze. He saw hurt there among other things. “You don’t have to apologise-”

“I want to apologise.”

“What I mean is, I’m going to assist with the case either way. What happened between us isn’t going to cause any issues.”

He frowned, frustrated by her lack of understanding. “I’m not saying this because I’m worried about the case-”

“I haven’t told anyone, and I don’t plan to tell anyone either. I don’t have an axe to grind.” She seemed amused. “What happened, happened. We’re both adults-”

“Harper...” He bit her name off. “Just let me talk for a second.”

She adopted a patient expression which only indicated how uncomfortable and impatient she really was.

While her quick intelligence was one of the things he loved about her, it was infuriating when she didn’t slow down long enough to listen. He marshalled his thoughts again. “I’m telling you this because I want to you to realise how instrumental you were in this case. I did this because-” He stopped, unable to put into words exactly what felt.

He was one of the world’s top litigators and yet he was stumped for words. How did she do this to him?

“Because?”

He took her tightly-worded cue. “Because you reminded me what it means to do something just because it’s the right thing to do.” He frowned, feeling horribly exposed. “I watched you mortgaging your life to go up against this guy. It made me realise I could be doing a lot more. Living my life a lot better.” He paused. “Be a better person.”

He heard her intake of breath. He wasn’t sure if it was that or the words that had just kind of flowed from his mouth that struck the chord of alarm in his chest. A distant bell chimed, and he searched his mind for the clue to what this meant.
She made him want to be a better man?

Coming to his feet, he crossed to the window and looked out the view to clear his mind. Looking at her expressive face was too confusing.