Page 54 of Legal Seduction
Would he throw her out after today? Would Simon?
“Speaking of which,” he murmured as the elevator dinged. He walked off to find out who’d arrived after hours.
Other coworkers replaced him, offering hugs and well-wishes—some sincere, some obviously not. She smiled over how most workplaces were similar to high school. How there were cliques and outcasts in both.
She had never cared to be in the cliques, so she’d been an outcast. But she hadn’t minded. She’d used the free time to design. And it had paid off.
“Congratulations,” a deep voice murmured.
And she turned to face one of Simon’s partners. It was clear from the coldness in Ronan Hall’s dark eyes that he wasn’t any more sincere in his well-wishes as some of her catty coworkers had been.
“Thank you,” she murmured back.
“You’ve accomplished what no one else ever has,” he told her.
Her head began to pound with confusion. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” she admitted. “Plenty of other designers have established their own lines.”
She knew Simon was close to his partners, close enough that he would have shared what he’d learned about her with them. Her face warmed, but it wasn’t with embarrassment over designing lingerie. As Simon had pointed out, she should be proud of her accomplishment. No. She was embarrassed over what else he’d probably told them about her, about having sex with her. Had he told them how wild, how wanton, he made her with his kisses—with his touch?
They were grown men. Not boys bragging in the locker room. But then she reminded herself that like so many other places, Street Legal was like high school. Of course he might have bragged about banging her.
“I’m not congratulating you about that, and I think you know it,” Ronan said as his voice dropped to a low, gruff whisper.
She sucked in a breath of surprise. Even if Simon had talked about their sex life, it was crass of his friend to bring it up.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “Or why.”
She glanced down at the glass in his hand. It was empty. Maybe he was drunk. That might explain why he was making no sense.
“Simon,” he said. “He’s the ultimate con, you know.” But he said it like he didn’t expect her to know.
“He told me about his past,” she said. “About his father.”
“Wow!” Ronan exclaimed. “You really are good, lady.”
She didn’t miss his ironic emphasis onlady. Obviously, he didn’t consider her to be one at all.
“You’ve conned the ultimate con,” he continued.
And she laughed. “That’s ridiculous.”
She’d had enough of his drunken rambling. Even if he wasn’t drunk, Ronan was her least favorite of the four partners. He took too much pleasure in his work as a divorce lawyer. And he was so determined to win the best settlement for his client, that he didn’t care what means he used or how mean he got or who got hurt. Recently he’d hurt someone she’d come to care about so badly that he’d nearly destroyed her.
She started away from him, but he grasped her arm—not painfully, just hard enough that she wasn’t going to go anywhere.
“Somehow you managed to convince Simon that you’re not the office mole,” Ronan said. “But I know he’s wrong. And I’m going to prove it.”
Wishing she’d worn her glasses, she squinted and stared up at him, trying to see if there was amusement in his eyes. He had to be kidding. “Office mole?”
“Someone’s been selling secrets from our case files,” Ronan said. “But you know that. And you’ve taken it a step further when you and Muriel Sanz fabricated evidence to report me to the bar.”
She gasped. She’d missed a few calls from Muriel but hadn’t had the time to return them—with how busy she’d been with Simon. What had Muriel done? Not that Ronan didn’t have it coming. He’d done far worse to her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said as she tugged at her arm.
“Ask Simon,” Ronan said. “Ask him why he seduced you. It was to find the evidence that you’re the mole.”
She’d wondered why he’d suddenly found her attractive after two years of ignoring her. Was this the reason? He’d suspected her of something. Then she remembered all those times he—and his partners—had acted suspicious of her. Her stomach churned, and she felt sick.
