Blackjack and Moonlight: A Contemporary Romance (5 page)

Elise stared at her cozy living room, only slightly tidier than her office. She loved her house, bought with her own money, decorated to her taste. She loved her solitude. Sure, hooking up with a guy for a few months satisfied her physically. For her, though, true happiness was this quiet house and the time alone to enjoy it.

Now, her home already felt invaded by Blackjack McIntyre, by his energy and intelligence, his schemes and intentions. And that was without his setting foot in the place. Adding her mother’s voice echoing around the room, wanting to know if Elise was seeing anyone, was too much to bear.

“This isn’t fair. I don’t apologize for not being interested in romance.”

“You like men,” Christine pointed out.

Elise eyed the cover of
Philadelphia Magazine
with distaste. “I like my relationships short and sexy. The men are just a means to an end.”

Christine laughed. “That’s what vibrators are for.”

“Maybe you think it’s thrilling to have a judge start drooling in desire, but it’s like being offered a buffet of all the foods I’m allergic to. He’s going to want to talk about
feelings
. I haven’t done that with a guy since high school and I’ve no desire to try it again.”

“You are the most unnatural female.”

Elise ignored her. “I have until July to make Blackjack go away.”

“What happens in July?” Christine asked.

“Partnership retreat.”

“Oh. I thought they didn’t announce the new partners until February.”

“Right. But it’s an open secret that they talk at the retreat. You know, in the locker rooms after nine holes of golf or a couple sets of tennis.” She deepened her voice. “‘Who do you think would be good?’ ‘I don’t know, the blonde in Bankruptcy’s easy on the eyes. What about you?’ ‘Well, we’d better cross out Elise Carroll’s name. She’s too
high profile
to be a Fergusson partner. So unseemly, dating a judge. Harrumph!’”

Christine laughed. “I’m pretty sure the last partner who actually said ‘Harrumph’ died twenty years ago.”

“You think death stops their influence? I swear they conduct a séance to see what Fergus Fergusson and Hamish Leith have to say about each year’s crop of senior associates.”

“C’mon. Surely it’s all about our billable hours?”

“That too. But even if your numbers are stratospheric, they can just make you a permanent associate and bypass partnership entirely.”

Christine took a swig of her beer. “I’m not sure I want to make partner anyway. Too many meetings with idiots like my boss.” Christine’s feelings about Edgar Stone, head of the Bankruptcy and Reorganization Department, were nearly incendiary.

“Yeah, I know, but it’s the only way to make real money.”

Christine goggled at her. “Have you looked at our pay stubs? We’re way overpaid.”

“Not after we pay our law school loans, we’re not.”

Christine inspected her beer bottle as though the ingredient list mattered.

Elise stared at her. “Tell me you have law school debts.”

Christine shrugged. “My parents paid my tuition.”

“Why didn’t I know this before now?”

“Because of that look on your face, that’s why. It’s like a dirty admission to come from one of those families that can lay out that kind of money.”

“Jack’s family didn’t.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s what Geoff told me. Jack played blackjack to make the money for law school.”

Christine pushed at Elise’s hip with one foot. “You are making that up.”

“Nope. That’s how he got the nickname.”

“Huh. I’m even more impressed with him.”

“You’re so easy.”

“Well, you have to admit, the total package is pretty damned fine.”

“And he smells good,” Elise said grumpily. When Christine’s face lit up, Elise slapped her forehead. “I should never have admitted that.”

“Oh, no, tell me more about how he smells. Remembered-to-use-deodorant good, or hot-guy-pheromones good?”

Elise scowled at her. “C’mon, Benedict Arnold, help me out. I don’t want a relationship with this guy, but I can’t piss off the partners. I need Blackjack to get tired of me and go away.”

“Okay, first thing—stop waiting for him to act. This is like litigation. It’s all about moves and countermoves, positioning and strategy,” Christine said. “You’re playing defense, that’s your problem. You need to take the offensive.”

Litigation strategy. Interesting. Elise downed a slug of her beer and considered her enemy tactically. “The trouble is, he’s one of
those
men—you know, good-looking, confident if not arrogant, and exuding a charisma that makes people go along with their plans. I dated guys like that back in college. They all over-promised and under-delivered.”

“So what did you do with them? Hell, how’d you get rid of Bart Mather?” Christine asked.

“Easy. I slept with him. They all leave after they’ve gotten what they think they want.” Elise paused. She’d learned how to dislodge guys in college and law school without hurting anyone’s feelings. Of course, the cunning and guile that worked in college wasn’t the way to deal with a sitting federal judge.

Christine ducked her head. A curtain of shining blonde hair shrouded her expression. “So sleep with Blackjack. I bet he’s good in bed.”

Elise nearly spit out her beer. “Are you nuts?”

“Not at all. Give him what he wants. No matter what they might say, all guys just want sex.” Christine peered at her with narrowed eyes, as if calculating how well this strategy would work.

She had a point. Plus, Blackjack did smell really good.

“I’ll think about it.” Strange how the memory of his just-out-of-the-shower scent was still vivid in her mind.

“Any messages?” Elise asked as she passed Kim’s desk after lunch on Friday.

“Nope. Nothing.” Kim’s husky voice held a whiff of a laugh. Humiliating to be that obvious, even to one’s assistant.

Eleven days after Blackjack’s announcement and one week since his last message, Elise had come to the curiously demoralizing conclusion that he’d actually given up his pursuit. No liqueur-laced-chocolate come-ons in her voice mail, no surprise visits, no gifts, not even flowers. Jeez, you’d think when a judge fell madly in love with you, you’d at least get some flowers. But no, all Elise got was heartburn from jumping every time she heard the phone.

As the office was emptying out on Friday evening, the phone rang. “Ms. Carroll, please hold for Judge King,” a crisp voice said.

Why was a Third Circuit Court of Appeals judge calling her? Geoff hadn’t assigned her to an appeal, had he? A woman’s voice broke Elise’s concentration halfway through a mental list of their recent cases.

“Elise? This is Anita King.”

“Judge King. What can I do for you?”

“I’m calling about the Roundtable on Women in the Law next month. I’m on the planning committee, you know.”

“Yes, Judge,” Elise said. News to her. She’d RSVP’d her attendance, but surely all they needed from her was a generous donation.

“Well, we’re short a moderator for the panel on the role of gender in the courts. I was wondering if I could ask you to pinch-hit?”

Elise admired that question mark at the end, uttered as if she sincerely had a choice. “Of course.”

“Look, I hate to impose, but could you come over to the courthouse and collect the materials? That way there’s no risk I’ll forget to get them to you.”

“I’d be happy to, Judge,” Elise lied.

“Wonderful. I’ve told the US Marshals to expect you, dear.”

Judge King hung up and turned to face him. “Are you sure about this, Jack?”

Her smile didn’t mean anything. Anita King’s eyes always looked friendly. She could eviscerate him in oral argument with the same expression. Well into her seventies, she was in her prime as a jurist. Even in her own chambers, relaxed and ready for the weekend, she was sharp and professional.

“Frankly, I’m not sure about anything,” Jack said. “I’ve been wrong-footed from the moment I saw her. I can’t blame her for thinking this might be a sick joke at her expense.”

Judge King’s smile softened. “Oh, don’t worry. That part I understand. I knew the moment I met Harry that he was the one.”

“Really?” Her husband was the head of nuclear medicine at one of Philly’s hospitals. Hard to picture them young and just about to start dating.

“Oh, yes. Back in college. Harry was in the cafeteria, chatting with some blonde floozy. When I saw him I knew.”

“What did you do?”

“I waited until they were nearly done eating, then as I was carrying my tray over, I may have ‘accidentally on purpose’ tripped and spilled some water on her sweater. She dashed off to the ladies’ room and I stayed to apologize profusely to Harry. By the time whatsername came back, Harry and I were old pals and she was last week’s news.”

Jack considered this carefully. “The key thing is that Harry didn’t know what you were doing. I wouldn’t have announced my feelings for Elise if I’d had a choice.”

She shrugged. “Doesn’t your generation do everything differently these days? Like posting your relationship status on Facebook?”

“I refuse to be on Facebook. Bad enough I show up in
Philadelphia Magazine
and the gossip columns. Anyway, it’s been a long time since I’ve been in anything that could be called a relationship.”

She looked up at him blandly, waiting. Frankly, it was just as uncomfortable as standing at a lectern arguing before her. She’d mastered the disbelieving stare.

“Yes,” he stated firmly. “A long time. I’ve escorted women to various events, but that’s not dating. Those women knew going in that there wouldn’t be wedding bells.”

Her unnerving stare got, if anything, chillier. “You can dismiss them, but your
escorts
were some fairly high-profile women. Wasn’t there a news anchor? I think of you every time I see her face on that billboard above I-Ninety-Five. And a scientist at Penn, I believe. Lots of letters after her name. Are you really telling me you felt nothing for either of them?”

“What was there to feel, other than mutual respect? I dated those women
because
I knew they were focused on their careers. We had fun. That’s hardly the same as seeing someone with an eye toward marriage.” He lifted his hands, helpless to explain it. “I’ve never looked at a woman and experienced what I did last week in court.”

“When you saw Elise, you mean.”

He felt his face grow hot and tight. So much for keeping his cool. “Yes. She’s—” He got flustered. He could picture Elise as though he’d shaken her hand ten minutes ago and not ten days. He still didn’t know how to explain what had happened. “It was like my heart knew her already no matter what my brain tried to say. I felt something compelling.”

Her expression soured. “Well, it’s a lifetime appointment, so they can’t throw you off the bench. Still, couldn’t you have handled it differently? Did you have to proclaim it in open court?”

Her reproach stung. “I had to say something. Judicial ethics. I wanted to grant her motion, but if I had, I couldn’t have asked her out on a date the next day. You know how that would have looked—everyone would have blamed Elise for trying to seduce a judge. And if I’d waited until the litigation was over before I asked her out—well, you know how long cases can drag on.”

“Yes, I understand that you had to recuse yourself, but why give that reason? Why not just say you’d discovered you had stock in Keri-Age?”

“I’d put all my investments into index funds and blind trusts before I got confirmed. And anyway, I couldn’t lie. It might have been okay if Elise had been as dim as Bart Mather, but then she wouldn’t be Elise. She made me state for the record my reasons for recusal. What else could I have said?”

Judge King pursed her lips. “I don’t know. Surely something rather less dramatic than stating you were in love—are you in love with her?”

Jack shifted uneasily. He really didn’t want to talk about this. Oh, what the hell. Maybe it was like yanking off a bandage. “When she came into chambers, what I’d felt in the courtroom was a pale memory. She’s gorgeous, smart, and understandably wary of me—she kept edging toward the door.” He laughed. “She wanted to escape while I just wanted to kiss her. At that point, I’d no second thoughts about the ‘in love’ declaration.”