C.J. Carmichael - Matthew's Children

“In a firm this size, we can’t keep avoiding one another.”

“Really?” Jane said. “I thought we were getting damn good at it.”

Matthew laughed. Then sobered quickly. “Not that I ever wanted to avoid you. I hate that you were stuck in the middle of this.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“There are some who would disagree.”

“I can’t believe she actually spied on you.” Jane covered her mouth. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. But it’s just so wrong. You’re the most honest person I know.”

“I appreciate that. But I’m not sure it’s true. In fact, I know it isn’t.”

“Really? Who have you ever lied to?”

“The most important person.”

“Your wife?”

He shook his head. Despite her accusations to the contrary, he’d never deliberately told Gillian anything but the truth. His deceptions had gone much deeper than that.

“Myself.”

Hard to imagine a more glamorous life than being an accountant, isn’t it? Still, CJ Carmichaelgave up the thrills of income tax forms and double entry bookkeeping when she sold her first book in 1998. She has now written more than twenty-five novels and strongly suggests you look elsewhere for financial planning advice.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

This book is for my youngest daughter, Tessa,

who is leaving home to start university this year.

I could not love you more, or be more proud.

Thanks To:

My writing friend and lawyer Elizabeth Aspinall,

Constable Chris Terry

and criminal lawyer Simon Lord

for taking the time to talk to me about

their areas of expertise.

IF JANE PRENTICE HAD SEEN Matthew Gray in the elevator, she would have taken the stairs. But as she stepped on board, she was reading case notes and didn’t spot him until the doors were gliding shut behind her.

“Hi, Jane.”

That voice. It still had the power to remind her she was a woman first. Lawyer second. She stuffed her papers into a side compartment of her briefcase, then looked at him. And away.

“Matt.”

An awkward pause followed. At least they weren’t alone. Two men in business suits flanked her, neither man familiar. When the elevator stopped at the twenty-eighth floor, only she and Matt stepped off.

“Going to the partners meeting?” Matt asked, as they headed in the same direction.

She nodded. Crap. Obviously, so was he. What was going on? Over the past year they’d become adept at avoiding each other. She’d requested an office on the opposite side of the building from his. By tacit agreement they’d begun attending alternate partners meetings. And she and Matt both avoided places they used to go together, like Sully’s Tavern and the deli downstairs.

Everyone at Brandstrom and Norton was in on it; even the managing partners no longer assigned them to the same cases.

A year ago the rumor had been everywhere. Matthew’s marriage is in trouble. And Jane’s the other woman…

“Russell dropped by my office this morning,” Matthew explained. “He made it pretty clear my presence was mandatory today.”

“I wonder why.”

“Some new case he wants me to work on.”

Jane sneaked a sideways glance at him. The year had taken its toll, adding some lines and a few gray hairs, but he was still handsome in that intellectual, Robert Downey, Jr, way of his.

“I was sorry to hear about you and Gillian.”

“Were you?”

She hadn’t expected him to challenge her, and wasn’t sure how to respond. A part of her was sorry, naturally. Matthew didn’t deserve what had happened. He was a good man, honorable in the old-fashioned sense of the word.

Yes, he’d spent too much time at work. Yes, he’d neglected his adolescent son and much younger daughter.

He wasn’t perfect.

But who was?

They rounded a corner, and the open door to the conference room was now in sight. Matt’s voice became coolly professional. “By the way, congratulations on the Laskin case.”

She could feel her cheeks grow hot. They may have avoided each other the past year, but he’d kept tabs on her. “I was lucky with the judge.”

“You’re too modest. The story in the Hartford Courant was pretty complimentary.”

The admiration in his voice was contained, yet unmistakable. She tried to meet his gaze again without losing her composure. But she couldn’t.

So she made her way into the room, where she headed for a vacant seat next to another of the junior partners at the firm. “Hi, Susan. How was your weekend?”

While Susan chatted about her three kids and husband, Jane organized her papers and located a pen.

“…and then Jeremy tells me it’s his turn to bring the morning snack for circle time! I had to leave Jack to handle breakfast and drive to the market to buy enough fresh fruit for twenty-five children. And when I get in the car, what happens? Jack’s run me low on gas again!”

Jane murmured a sympathetic comment, feeling anything but sorry for Susan’s predicament. Did her colleague have any idea how lucky she was? She and Jack had been married ten years and had three healthy children.

Finally, Jane found her pen amid the clutter at the bottom of her briefcase. She inhaled deeply and checked around the table. All the familiar faces calmed her. This was her family, and now that her father had moved to Texas, it was the only family in Hartford she had.

She’d been working at Brandstrom and Norton since she’d graduated from law school twelve years ago. Eve Brandstrom had hired her, and had become her mentor and close advisor.

Eve made a powerful ally. Some claimed she was too hard, too driven. But Jane had never found her so. Now she caught Eve’s eye and smiled.

I hope I look that good when I’m in my fifties.

Eve returned her smile, but her eyebrows were knit. When her eyes shifted in Matthew’s direction, her frown deepened.

Had Eve noticed them walk in together? That she might be keeping an eye on the two of them was more than a little discomfiting.

Eve, along with two junior lawyers from the firm, had been present at the restaurant last January when Jane and Matt had met for their disastrous, final lunch together. Eve’s party had been sitting at a different table, but in plain view.

All three of them had seen everything. The whole sordid scenario.

Jane wanted to believe that one of the other lawyers—and not Eve—had subsequently spread the rumors about her and Matt. But she couldn’t be sure. She and Eve had never talked about that day. Jane had hoped that eventually it might be forgotten.

The expression on Eve’s face told her it hadn’t. ALL THE USUAL SUSPECTS were in place as Matthew entered the conference room. Sensing Jane would prefer it, he headed to the other end of the table from her, putting as much distance between them as possible. Unfortunately, when he sat down he realized he’d selected a seat with a perfect view of her. If he wasn’t careful, he’d end up staring at her throughout the meeting.