that rebel in you, Ash, to find me something new that I can take to court.” She shook her head. “There’s going to be a lot of publicity on this case. I won’t mention what the mayor had to say about that.”
The meeting she’d attended with the mayor, who’d stressed that Andrew Reed and the Procters were powerful in the city’s political scene and had supported him, could cause them no end of grief. And he didn’t want that headache.
Ash picked up the file folder. There was a question in his eyes and some fleeting emotion that caused her heart to beat faster.
“I’ll review this and get back to you.”
“I’m going to want to refile this case as quickly as I can.”
His brow arched, then he nodded and walked out of the room.
Kelly collapsed against her desk and took a deep breath. She felt as if she’d just finished running a marathon, physically and emotionally wrung out.
She didn’t want to work with Ash. It was bad enough she had to revisit this nightmare. Remembering this case, and what had been going on in her life was painful. Add to that all the political fallout, then Ash being assigned. The captain knew exactly what he’d done by giving this case to Ash.
Ash’s husky voice had sent goose bumps rushing over her skin. When they were married, he’d whisper the things he wanted to do to her, and she’d melt into a puddle at his feet.
But that couldn’t happen again. They were only working with each other. Period. End of story. Nothing more.
Too bad her body didn’t believe that.
Ash marched down the hall of the main police facility, his temper building with each step.
He’d been blown away this morning when his captain announced he’d been assigned to work with Kelly. Then coming face-to-face with her had knocked him for a loop. She was still a gorgeous woman, blond hair, deep blue eyes, and a figure that had stopped more than one attorney at the courthouse.
He pushed open the door of Matthew Hawkins’s office and barreled inside. Ash’s ex-partner now worked as a lawyer for Houston PD. “What the hell were you thinking, Hawk?”
Hawk looked up from his desk and sat back in his chair. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, Ash. It’s kinda the nature of my job. You want to narrow it down?”
“Kelly.”
Ash threw himself in the chair in front of the desk. “You know how I feel about—” He gritted his teeth, not wanting to think about his ex-wife and the tide of emotions their meeting had jerked out of him. Dammit. He didn’t want to work with her.
Hawk put down his pen and studied Ash. “You’re lucky if that’s all the fallout from this past week.” Hawk shook his head. “Wrecking two cars within six days, then you finish up by punching out the suspect’s sister.”
Ash glared at his friend. The first wreck had been his fault, running the light as he chased the suspect who got away. The second wreck, the suspect had rammed him. “The woman was trying to stab me in the neck with a nail file as her brother ran away.”
“Well, you created a media nightmare, and Jenkins was ready to send you to Pasadena on an exchange program, when Kelly called him. When Jenkins talked the situation over with me, asked me what I thought, what was I to say?” Hawk shrugged. “Your butt was in a sling.”
Ash ran his fingers through his hair. “How’d you like to work with your ex?”
“My ex-wife already tried to run that scam on me, remember? And I nailed her on it.”
Ash remembered the incident. It was after Hawk had married his current wife, who turned out to be an heiress. “Yeah, Brandy didn’t take to kindly to your second marriage.”
Hawk shook his head. “She wanted money. But Kelly is nothing like her.”
Years ago, when they were still partners, Hawk and Ash had gone through their divorces within months of each other. They drowned their sorrows together and commiserated with each other on the disadvantages of marriage.
Recently Hawk had remarried and now had a child. He was happy with his life for the first time in years.
“It was Ralph Lee’s case,” Ash grumbled, wanting Hawk to know how truly miserable this situation was. “His screwup.”
“I know.”
“So just throw me into the biggest, darkest pit you can find.”
“I’ll admit Ralph can be an SOB to cross—”
Ash’s brow arched.
“But you can go toe-to-toe with him, Ash,” Hawk finished.
Ash shook his head. “I don’t know if I can do this, Hawk. It was weird standing there, looking at Kelly. I haven’t had a face-to-face meeting with her since we divided the property.” He ran his hands through his hair. He didn’t want to admit the feelings that had ripped through him earlier. Feelings that he never thought he’d experience again. And certainly not in response to Kelly.
Ash glared at Hawk. “I don’t know whether to punch a hole in the wall or the supreme court jurists for letting Steve Carlson loose.”
“My legal advice is that you do neither.”
He shook his head. “So not only do I have to work with my ex, I have to dance around Ralph Lee’s ego. The man’s worse than an old dog with a bone. What a mess.”
“You got it.”
“You know, since you’ve discovered love, Hawk, you’ve become a real pain in the butt.”
“Ash, if you need any help, let me know.”
“What I need is another A.D.A. and someone else to do this case,” Ash grumbled as he left Hawk’s office.
“Unfortunately, you’re it.”
Didn’t he know.
“So, that was your famous ex-husband?” Teresa Myers asked as she placed a letter on Kelly’s desk, then lingered longer than necessary.
If Teresa only knew what Ash and she’d been through—but she didn’t, and Kelly had no intention of sharing. Of course, after this afternoon, Kelly could understand Teresa’s awed tone. Meeting Ash under the best of circumstances was intimidating. Meeting him when he was fit to be tied wasn’t a pleasant experience.
“That was him.”
“Is he always so—uh—dynamic?”
Kelly shook her head. She’d bet that dynamic wasn’t Teresa’s first choice of words to describe Ash. “Pretty much.”
“Really?” Her eyes widened.
“Ash is good and doesn’t take shortcuts.” The words tumbled out of Kelly’s mouth before she thought. “If he brings me evidence, I can count on it.
