Page 3 of A Legal Affair
Kenneth roared with laughter.
Noah scowled. “All I was trying to say is?—”
“You’re a very beautiful woman, Daniela,” Kenneth interjected dryly. “You’ve never had any trouble attracting members of the opposite sex—at least, not since you were a gawky preteen with pimples, a mouthful of braces and ashy knees.”
“Gee, thanks for the reminder,” Daniela grumbled, unable to clap back because Kenneth had always been good-looking and popular with the girls. So had Noah, for that matter.
“The point is,” Kenneth continued, “you should have no problem getting Caleb Thorne’s attention and lulling him into sharing confidences with you. It may take some time, though. From what I know about the guy, he doesn’t trust very easily. With a father like Crandall Thorne, who can blame him?”
“What if he doesn’t know anything about his father’s business dealings?” Daniela countered, her conscience pricked with guilt at the thought of deceiving an innocent man. “Or what if he has no plans to eventually run the law firm?”
Kenneth shook his head, dismissing both possibilities. “After graduating from law school, Caleb went to work for the old man. He was good in the courtroom—damn good. His style was different from his father’s, but just as effective. He was sharp, cunning and methodical, almost predatory. He kept prosecutors on their heels, many of whom were downright terrified of him.
“But after five years at the firm, he suddenly walked away. Seems he and the old man had a falling-out. Over what, God only knows. Maybe the kid developed principles and his father didn’t want to hear it. Anyway, Caleb wound up as a law professor at Northbridge University, and from what I’ve heard, he’s as much a natural in the classroom as in the courtroom. But I don’t doubtfor one second that he misses litigating and would go back to it in a heartbeat if the right opportunity presented itself. Especially since he and his father have recently reconciled. Sounds to me like it’s only a matter of time before Junior steps in to take over the family business.”
“So,” Daniela said with a deep, resigned sigh, “just how am I supposed to meet Caleb Thorne?”
“As one of his students.” At her dumbfounded look, Kenneth chuckled. “For three years you’ve been hounding us to give you a ‘real’ assignment—something other than running background checks on new corporate employees and chasing down unfaithful spouses. Well, you’ve gotten your wish. This fall, you’re going undercover as a first-year law student at Northbridge University. Hoyt Philbin just happens to serve on the Board of Regents, so he’ll have no problem pulling strings to get you admitted on such short notice. We’ll take care of obtaining fake transcripts and LSAT scores, and Philbin will take care of the rest.
“If all goes well, you’ll get him the information he needs to bring down Crandall Thorne. In the process, Mom will be set for life and Roarke Investigations will never again have to accept assignments we don’t want. I think our first order of business,” added Kenneth, basking in his role as senior partner and chief decision-maker, “should be to hire a full-time secretary and buy some nice furniture for the reception area.”
“Hallelujah,” Daniela muttered. “And while we’re at it, Big Spender, could we also get the air conditioning fixed? It’s hot as hell up in here.”
2
Two months later
“I’m late. I can’t believe I’m late.”
Daniela uttered the words to herself as she hurried across the impeccably manicured grounds of Northbridge University toward the Law Classroom Building located in the center of campus. It was the first day of classes, and she was late for her eight o’clock civil procedure course.
Despite weeks of planning and preparing for the undercover assignment, Daniela couldn’t have foreseen that her mother would come down with the flu the day before the fall semester began, and that she would spend the entire night nursing Pamela Roarke back to health. She couldn’t possibly have known that after dragging her tired body from bed and going through the motions of showering and getting dressed, she’d be faced with her next obstacle: finding her car keys. She’d searched for close to an hour before locating the keys where she’d left them last night—still buried in the front-door lock, where she’dforgotten them in her haste to investigate the source of the violent puking she’d heard when she came home.
When she finally left the house that morning, her mother had been sleeping soundly, and Kenneth’s wife, Janie, was on her way over to take the second shift. Not for the first time, Daniela thanked God for blessing her with a sister-in-law who was a stay-at-home mom.
Daniela slipped inside the air-conditioned coolness of the Law Classroom Building and strode down the tiled corridor in search of the right lecture hall.
Even before she rounded the corner and saw him, she heard The Voice. Deep, husky, with pure masculine tones that rippled along her nerve endings. Like sinuous curls of smoke from a sorcerer’s flame, it reached out to her, wrapping around her body and drawing her inexorably closer.
She stepped from the hallway and into the dark, piercing gaze of Caleb Thorne. Her pulse hammered at the base of her throat, and for one awkward moment she hovered in the doorway, completely frozen and speechless.
Firm, sculpted lips curved in a half-mocking, half-amused smirk. “So nice of you to join us, Miss?—?”
“Moreau,” she croaked, the alias wobbling off a tongue that seemed stuck to the roof of her mouth. Funny, she hadn’t counted on being totally blindsided by an attraction to her intended victim. “Sorry I’m late.”
“I’m sure your clients will appreciate knowing that every time you show up late to court,” Professor Thorne said dryly.
Daniela’s face burned with embarrassment as her classmates erupted in laughter. Bravely squaring her shoulders, she looked around quickly before sliding into a vacant chair on the fourth row.
An attractive young Asian woman seated next to her offered a sympathetic “Better you than me” look that only made Daniela feel worse about her ill-fated entrance.
So much for making a good first impression.
After taking a minute to compose herself and turn on her laptop, Daniela allowed her gaze to drift back toward Caleb Thorne.
To say that the man was sublime would be a huge freaking understatement. The hard, masculine line of his square jaw was accentuated by a close-trimmed beard. He had a strong blade of a nose, and his cheekbones could have been carved from granite. His short, thick black hair had a curl to it, and his skin was the warm brown of toasted walnut. He was tall, easily six foot three or four—a towering specimen of male dominance as he prowled back and forth in front of the lecture hall with relaxed, powerful strides Daniela wouldn’t soon forget.
He wore a short-sleeved black shirt that stretched deliciously across massive shoulders, and blue jeans that rode low on lean hips and cupped a beefy round ass. An intricate tattoo across his hand ramped up his hotness to obscene levels.
