Then, as if he had done just that, Jenny went on to give him the date, time and location of the affair. The Portland Hilton had graciously donated one of their larger ballrooms for the evening in exchange for the publicity the fund-raiser was guaranteed to generate in the local newspapers. She’d already made a point to release the story to the Herald and the Tribune, making sure there would be follow-ups on the night of the event. Sleep these days came at a high premium.
She watched Eric jot down the information and held her breath as he went through his PalmPilot and made sure he had no conflicting engagement. To her relief and minor disbelief, he didn’t.
So far, so good.
“I’ll need you there at least half an hour before the auction starts,” she told him as he closed his Palm-Pilot and tucked it away into the breast pocket of his Armani jacket.
“Will you, now?”
Jenny knew the teasing words were uttered just in fun, but she felt them slide down her spine like the warm, caressing fingers of a lover. Or what she imagined the warm, caressing fingers of a lover would feel like, never having had the firsthand experience herself.
It took effort not to shiver as the sensation danced through her.
From some unknown source, she discovered an iota of saliva and husbanded it before swallowing to relieve a throat that was suddenly so parched, it made the Mojave Desert look like a rain forest.
“I mean we need you there earlier so we can go over the order you’ll all be in and what you want me to say when I introduce you to the bidders.”
“I have to write my own intro?” He hadn’t thought of that. Listing his accomplishments wasn’t something he was accustomed to.
Jenny thought of last year. A great many of the men who were auctioned off had very clear ideas about what she should say about them before the bidding began. “A lot of the bachelors like doing that.”
Eric shrugged carelessly. “Why don’t you take care of that?” he suggested. In his estimation, she looked a little stunned. “Say anything you want to say.”
How about “I love you”?
Jenny blinked with a jolt, as startled by the unbidden thought as she knew he would have been had she said it out loud.
Eric interpreted her reaction to be to his words, not some thought that had suddenly occurred to her. “What, no good?”
She tried to suck in a breath as covertly as possible. “No, that’ll be fine. I think I know enough about you to make an intelligent presentation.” Striving to look anywhere but at his face, she glanced down at her wrist. And saw her watch. The numbers registered and she groaned. “Oh, God.”
“What’s wrong?”
She looked up at him, fighting a growing panic. She was going to be late. This was just par for today. “It’s two o’clock.”
“And just what time did your fairy godmother tell you to be back?” he teased. He didn’t exactly know why, but everything about Jenny made him think of Cinderella. “Do your clothes start disappearing now, changing into tatters?”
With her thoughts scattering in two directions at once, his words made no sense to her. She absolutely hated being late. She pictured poor Miguel and his family waiting for her in the long courthouse hallway, thinking that she had deserted them. “What?” She began rummaging through her purse for her cell phone, praying that the battery hadn’t been struck dead by some fluke of nature. “No. I mean, I’m due in court at three.”
Taking her wrist, he turned it slightly so he could read the face on her watch, as well. “That still gives you an hour.”
She could feel her skin throbbing where his thumb and forefinger had touched it. “Yes, but I need to call a cab and if there’s traffic—”
He placed his hand over hers to curtail the stream of words he saw coming. Unable to quite read it, Eric found himself curious about the look that leaped into her eyes.
“Why don’t I drive you to court?”
The casual offer had air rushing out of her lungs like helium from a punctured balloon. “What?”
Was it his imagination, or did she look flustered? “Why don’t I drive you to court?” he repeated, then grinned. “That would solve your problem, wouldn’t it?”
All but for the lobotomy his smile was threatening to perform on her brain. She ran the tip of her dry tongue along her drier lips.
“Don’t you have to get back to the office?” she asked hoarsely.
It had been a full, if unproductive morning. “All of today’s crises have been safely averted,” he informed her. “And if a new one crops up, Peter’ll handle it.” He thought of his older brother, shoulder to the wheel, nose to the grindstone. His father couldn’t have asked for a better son to run the company if he had had him made to order. “Peter always handles it.”
Was that a note of sibling rivalry she detected? No, if that were the case, then Eric would have been anxious to get back into the arena. It was more as if he was acknowledging the lines that had been drawn.
“Peter’s very conscientious.” It wasn’t really a guess. Jordan had told her as much.
“That he is,” Eric agreed. “To a fault.” He remembered the way Jenny had come into his office, armed with rhetoric he hadn’t allowed her to unleash. “He’s the one you may have to talk into doing this auction.”
She finished her coffee and crumpled her cup. It was a nervous habit. “Jordan’s done handling that for me.”
He nodded, taking in the information. “Wise choice. Jordan can talk the sun into not setting.” His eyes shifted to her face. Had he just unintentionally insulted her? “No offense to you intended.”
She didn’t follow him. “Offense?”
“I didn’t mean you couldn’t persuade Peter if you wanted to. I’m sure you can be very persuasive if you want to be.”
There it was again, that thousand-watt smile. Even when it was turned down a notch, it completely undid her.
Talk, damn it, Jenny, talk. Answer the man.
She couldn’t just continue to sit here and blush like some single-celled idiot, she told herself. She said the only thing she truthfully could. “I win more cases than I lose.”
It took him a second to remember she was a lawyer. “You mean in court.”
Was he trying to tell her that it didn’t work that way in the world beyond the hallowed halls of justice? “Yes, but—”
He wasn’t completely sure why, but he suddenly had a yen to see her in action for himself. “Would you mind if I came with you?”
“Where?” And then she realized what he was saying. Her eyes widened in surprise and unease. “You mean into court?”
He laughed at her
