Page 60 of Legal Seduction
At just the mention of the model’s name, Ronan’s mouth twisted into a grimace of distaste. Hopefully, he wouldn’t run into the model on his way out of the building.
She held tightly to the door, prepared to swing it closed in their faces, as she added, “So we have nothing to talk about.”
But Stone pressed his palm against the door, holding it open. “Simon. We’re here about Simon.”
He didn’t have to push his way inside then. She hurriedly stepped back to allow them to enter her apartment.
“Simon!” she exclaimed as her pulse quickened with fear. “Is he all right? Has something happened to him?”
He dealt with trusts and wills and such, not the kind of clients or cases the rest of them handled. So she doubted a client had hurt him. But a jealous ex-lover might have. Or some random criminal. He could have been mugged. Or run over on the street.
Her heart pounded fast and fiercely with panic at the thought of all the horrible things that could have happened to him.
The three of them stared at her. So she prodded them, “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Ronan sighed. “Damn it.”
And more panic clutched her heart. If something had happened to him... “What?” she asked. “What is it?”
“Simon was right,” Ronan said, his voice gruff with disappointment. “You’re not the mole.”
“No, of course not,” she said. “While I didn’t often agree with how you tried your cases—in the media—I wouldn’t interfere. And I wouldn’t betray the practice.” But most especially, she wouldn’t have betrayed Simon. “Now, tell me what’s wrong with Simon!”
“You,” Ronan replied, but his voice was softer now, his dark eyes warmer. “You’re what’s wrong with him.”
Her head began to pound with confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“We didn’t at first, either,” Stone said.
“Speak for yourself,” Trevor remarked. “I got it.”
Ronan snorted. “Well, I sure as hell didn’t. None of us has ever seen him like this.”
“Is he hurt?” she asked as concern overwhelmed her. “Is he sick?”
“If I had to guess,” Stone began, “and I would have to because I’ve never felt that way myself, I would have to say that he’s heartbroken.”
“What?” They were not making any sense. “This is Simon you’re talking about? Simon Kramer?”
Ronan nodded as a grin curved up the corner of his mouth. “Yup.”
“You broke his heart when you left,” Trevor said.
Even as her own heart ached, she laughed. “That’s ridiculous. Did you guys come here just to make fun of me?”
“There’s nothing funny about it,” Ronan said. “He’s miserable. And we love him too much to let him continue like this.”
“Like what?” she asked.
She couldn’t imagine Simon Kramer being miserable. He thrived on adversity and had his entire life. There was nothing and nobody that would or could ever keep him down. Not his own father and not life on the streets.
“He’s not eating or sleeping,” Trevor said.
Stone added, “He looks like hell.”
She narrowed her eyes, skeptical again of their claims. It wasn’t possible for Simon Kramer to look like hell. “I doubt that.”
“It’s true,” Trevor agreed.
