Leigh Duncan - Rodeo Daughter

Karen gasped and started forward. Amanda restrained her.

“Not yet,” she whispered. If she were sitting in Mitch’s place, she’d have another argument up her sleeve. She watched the muscles in the lawyer’s neck bunch into thick cords. His jaw clenched so tightly she wondered how he’d manage to get any words out.

“Your Hon—” Mitch stopped and cleared his throat. In a hoarse voice, he stated, “Your Honor, four years ago, when Karen walked out on our marriage, she left with our building contractor. Now, Ron faces embezzlement charges. Because of her association with known criminals—”

“Objection, Your Honor.” Amanda was on her feet. “My client has no criminal record and there’s no evidence that she—”

“Sustained.” Dobson’s fingers waved her into her chair. Any hint of compromise faded from his voice as he turned to Mitch. “Mr. Goodwin, your ex-wife’s friends and associates are no more a matter before this court than yours are. You had to know before coming in here that the state of Florida has never completely refused visitation rights for a parent. I’m disinclined to buck that trend.”

Karen had claimed Mitch possessed a violent streak. She’d even hinted that both she and Hailey had suffered from it. That was the only part of her story Amanda had refused to believe. Despite the fact that she’d seen Mitch react in anger—once—she couldn’t accept that the boy she’d loved had grown abusive. She told herself prosecuting attorneys didn’t rise to the top of the heap by losing control. Still, she’d checked around. No one had ever seen so much as a single hair rise on the back of Mitch’s neck.

Judging from the waves of anger now rolling off the man, those who claimed Mitch Goodwin was incapable of losing his temper had been wrong. Railing against the family court system, he launched into an angry tirade. His strenuous objections echoed through the room.

Dobson lifted his gavel and rapped it sharply on the bench. A single tap was enough to stem Mitch’s torrent of harsh words. The tall lawyer’s expression grew shuttered, his eyes blank.

“I’m sorry, Your Honor,” he stated.

Dobson gave him a hard look. “You should be. If you ever raise your voice in my courtroom again…”

Mitch never lifted his eyes. “Yes, Your Honor. It won’t happen again, Your Honor.”

“Court is adjourned.” Dobson’s gavel struck again and, with a flurry of black robes, the judge hustled into his chambers. Practically before those watching had surged to their feet, the door slammed in his wake.

“Well.” Karen flounced back in her chair and pointed a finger at Mitch. “On TV, he’d go to jail for contempt.”

“Real court is different.” Amanda settled her hand over Karen’s forcing down her client’s outstretched arm. “We won more than we expected,” she soothed in her most lawyerly voice. “Why don’t you let me work out the details? That’s what you pay me for.”

Karen raked her manicured fingers through her hair. “Fine,” she agreed, although her angry glare said she was anything but pleased. “As long as you remember that he stole my daughter—and my life—from me. When we’re done, I don’t want him to ever see Hailey again. Have I made myself clear?”

This was a different side of the client who’d quietly slipped into her office two weeks earlier. Amanda reminded herself that emotions ran high in child custody cases. Karen wasn’t the first parent to want revenge. But proving Mitch unfit even to see his daughter? The man might be coldhearted—he’d definitely been in the wrong in preventing Karen from seeing Hailey. But the courtroom was no place to extract vengeance. Truth be told, his objections and the judge’s reaction to them were so vehement, Amanda almost felt sorry for Mitch.

She mustered a conciliatory expression, but by the time she swung around to face the man across the aisle, the door to the hallway was closing behind him.

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