Cathleen Galitz - Tall, Dark...And Framed?

Despite the circumstances that had brought her here, Susan was far from jaded. Somewhere deep inside of her still lived the same little girl who had vowed to make the world a better place through her own sheer determination to put the bad guys behind bars and represent those handsome fellows wearing white cowboy hats.

And yes, she had noticed a cream-colored Stetson dangling from the coatrack in the foyer on her way in.

Fortunately for her own conscience, Susan had become convinced over the course of the evening that, while Sebastian Wescott might well be a brutal businessman when circumstances warranted it, her attractive host was simply incapable of murder. Someone who named his dogs Pal and Buddy and was cowed by his housekeeper simply wasn’t capable of the heartlessness necessary to take a human life. Was he?

By the time Susan had exhausted her extensive list of questions, night had fallen. Putting a hand to the small of her back, she stretched her stiff muscles. How inviting that dip in the Jacuzzi sounded when Sebastian offered it, informing her that he had an abundance of swimsuits of all sizes if she happened to be the shy type. The thought of spending any time at all in a hot tub with this magnificent male specimen, whether naked or fully clothed, made her think it would be a whole lot easier to jump into a roaring fire than endure the hot flashes of passion that such images stirred in her.

Feigning a yawn, she said it was past her bedtime. She scheduled their next appointment into her time-planner before allowing him to escort her to her vehicle. Overhead the sky was a canopy of black velvet sprinkled with precious jewels.

“I’m afraid you missed your calling,” she said as Seb opened the car door for her.

He looked perplexed. “What do you mean?”

“The way you turned the tables on me tonight and had me answering more questions than you did makes me believe you would have made an excellent lawyer yourself,” she clarified.

Sebastian’s laugh was a wholesome sound, which echoed off the nearby sand hills and resonated in the chambers of Susan’s heart. It had a full-bodied quality that caused her pulse to thrum.

“Is it so hard for you to believe I just might be interested in you, Susan?” he asked, tilting up her chin so that she couldn’t avoid looking into his eyes. They were the same astonishing color as the stars above. Liquid and as feral as those of a timber wolf.

When she shivered beneath that predatory gaze, Seb asked if she was cold.

Feeling the warmth of his breath, Susan shook her head. Actually she was feeling oddly flushed. It was as if some secret part of her heart that had been frozen for a long time was beginning to thaw and sending the message to every nerve ending in her body. Tingling all over, she lowered her lashes in anticipation.

In anticipation of what? she wondered dazedly.

A kiss that would violate the sacred bond between a lawyer and client.

Reminding herself that she could scarce afford such a costly mistake, Susan maintained that she could not possibly be so stupid as to fall for another forceful man, cut from the same cloth as the man who had already left permanent scars on her heart. A man so sure of himself that he would rather rely on his own ability to problem-solve than depend on anyone else for help—hence his evasiveness about his whereabouts on the night in question.

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