“If Matt has to be on the case, then let him handle it on his own,” Jane insisted. “Or assign another lead lawyer.”
“No one else has the time right now. And since your Laskin case wrapped up last week, Jane, you’re the obvious choice. Besides, it is your turn.”
She bowed her head, acknowledging the logic of his argument.
“Matt. Jane. Let’s be reasonable adults here. We can’t let a bunch of ugly rumors—and I have no doubt they were just rumors—destroy two excellent careers. Everyone remembers how well you two used to work together. Your skills complement each other, and I have every faith in your ability to provide Wally Keller the best defense this firm can offer.”
With that, Russell rose from his chair. He slid a file to the center of the table. “This is all I have so far. Mr. Keller is scheduled for an initial consult at one o’clock tomorrow. I’ve taken the liberty of booking the small conference room for your meeting.”
He left the room, diplomatically closing the door behind him. Matthew fixed his gaze on the folder. As he watched, Jane reached for it and pulled it across the table.
Their eyes met.
“I suppose Russ has a point,” Matthew began tentatively. “In a firm this size we can’t avoid each other forever.”
“Really? I thought we were getting damn good at it.”
He laughed. Then quickly sobered. “Not that I ever wanted to avoid you. I hate that you were stuck in the middle of my personal disaster.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“There are some who would disagree.”
“I can’t believe Gillian actually spied on you.” Jane clapped her hand to 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.”
She gave him a doubtful glance. “Who have you ever lied to?”
Acknowledging the churning feelings inside himself, Matthew knew the answer. “The most important person.”
“Your wife?”
He shook his head. Despite Gillian’s accusations to the contrary, he’d never deliberately told her anything but the truth. His deceptions had gone much deeper.
“Myself.”
BEFORE SHE’D MET Matthew Gray, Jane had assumed that men like him didn’t exist anymore. Regardless of the progress women had made in the workforce over the past few decades, she still encountered sexism on a regular basis: biased judges, condescending prosecutors, and clients who thought only a man could handle the job. Jane had seen it all.
Matthew displayed none of those prejudices. From her first day at the firm, he’d treated her with the same respect he accorded all his colleagues.
His underlying gallantry had nothing to do with male dominance, but was simply a manifestation of his good manners and consideration.
It hadn’t taken long for him to become her favorite lawyer to work with at Brandstrom and Norton.
She’d always known he was married, and it had never occurred to her that that might cause any problems. Unlike some of her other married colleagues, he did not flirt with women, not even in so-called harmless ways.
Jane had felt perfectly safe putting in late hours with him, and had never expected that the real danger didn’t lie with him, but with her.
She still couldn’t pinpoint the moment she’d fallen in love with him. Maybe it was when she’d seen how tenderly he’d interviewed a scared young mother fighting for custody of her child. But it might just as easily have been as Jane watched him shred the testimony of a prosecutor’s star witness who’d traded away the freedom of Matthew’s client.
Now, as she tried to focus on the case notes in front of her, she wondered if it truly was possible for the two of them to work together again.
She cleared her throat. “So what do you know about this guy?”
Matthew seemed surprised, then amused. “That’s how you want to handle this? Straight to the business at hand?”
“Do we have another choice?”
“You could tell me what’s been going on in your life over the past twelve months.”
Through various internal channels he would have heard about the professional stuff. “You mean my personal life?”
“Well…yeah.”
Her cheeks turned hot. She was blushing. How ridiculous was that? His interest meant little. Matthew probably felt a measure of responsibility for her happiness. Not that he ought to, but he was that sort of man. Probably he wanted reassurance that her life hadn’t fallen apart the way his had.
And of course it hadn’t.
You needed to have a personal life in order for it to fall apart. And she didn’t. She hadn’t had a serious romantic relationship in years. The last one had ended so badly it had taken her over a year to recover. And then, just when she’d been ready to start dating again, she’d realized she was falling for Matthew, a married man.
Ever since, work had been her only safe outlet.
But she couldn’t tell him that.
She struggled to think of something to say. “I joined a health club last September.”
He laughed. “That’s your news?”
“Hey, it was a big step for me.”
“Do you ever go?”
“To use the sauna and the hot tub,” she confessed.
“I joined a health club, too.”
“The Executive Club downstairs?”
“Yes.”
“I thought I saw you there the other day.” She’d gone to unwind in the sauna after a grueling day in court. As she’d headed for the change rooms, she’d noticed Matthew running laps, his face so tense she’d ached for him.
“We’ll have to meet for a workout sometime.”
She nodded, assuming they wouldn’t. “How are your brothers?”
“Nick’s still busting his butt, hoping for that promotion to detective. And Gavin’s living the small-town dream in New Hampshire, with his new wife, Allison, and his daughter, Tory.”
Though she’d never met anyone in Matthew’s family, Matthew talked about them a lot. She had a soft spot for Gavin, who had lost his daughter Samantha, Tory’s twin, in a terrible accident about two years ago. “I heard that Gavin remarried. That’s good.”
“Yeah,
