by Gina Wilkins
His cousin merely glanced at him. He hadn’t minced words about Natalie’s friend, and he wouldn’t about this, either, his expression implied.
“There’s a guy I went out with for a short time, though it wasn’t really all that serious,” she admitted reluctantly. “We dated for about three months. His name is Thad Wolff, but I doubt that he had anything to do with this. He hasn’t been with the firm all that long and he’s definitely looking to move up. He dumped me like a toxic chemical as soon as there was the faintest hint that I was in trouble.”
“No one else?”
“No. I haven’t really had time to date much in the past couple of years. All I’ve focused on was my job.”
And now that was gone, she thought glumly. Leaving her with…what? A ruined reputation, no friends, dwindling savings, and a foolish heart that was about to be battered again when her reckless vacation flirtation with Casey ended, as it soon would.
“Is there anything else you can think of to tell me?” Andrew asked, studying her a bit too closely.
“That’s all.”
“Would you mind giving me your cell number in case I come up with any more questions?”
She recited the number to him and watched him jot it down in his precise, neat handwriting. “What will you do now?”
Folding the notebook, he slipped it into the pocket of the blue cotton shirt he wore with his jeans. “I’m going to Nashville.”
“Oh. If the senior partners find out I have a private investigator looking into this—much less two…”
He flicked her a look that made her fall silent. “They won’t find out until you’re ready for them to,” he said. “I’ll talk to Beecham first, find out if there’s anything he hasn’t told you. You’ll probably be getting a call from him, asking if you really sent me. He’ll probably try to nag you into calling me off and letting him keep billing you.”
“I’ll call Beecham.”
“No. Wait until he calls you. I don’t want him to have advance notice that I’m coming—just in case he decides to go to one of the suspects on your list and offer any evidence he has uncovered, for a nice price.”
“You don’t trust anyone, do you?”
Andrew shrugged. “I trust my family. Outside of that…only a select few.”
“I see.”
“Give me a few days and you’ll be able to go back to your firm with a few threats of your own.”
She wished she could be as certain about that as he seemed to be. She looked at Aaron. “Are you going to Nashville with him?”
Aaron shook his head. “I’m going back to Dallas to reassure my family that Casey hasn’t gone off the deep end and that he’ll be back as soon as he’s finished helping Kyle and Molly here, probably next week.”
It sounded like a rehearsed speech, one that Casey had likely drilled into him.
“Even though I would like to spend a little more time in this area,” Aaron added a bit wistfully. “I love hiking and kayaking and mountain biking.”
“You can come back and do all of that some other time,” Casey assured him firmly. “You know Molly and Kyle always welcome visits from family.”
Aaron sighed and nodded, conceding that he was being sent away.
The twins stayed long enough to admire the renovations outside the cabin, and to play a little ball with Buddy, who loved the attention. By the time they said their goodbyes, he was treating them like old friends.As for Natalie, she couldn’t say she had entirely forgiven them for invading her privacy before they’d even met her, but she could certainly appreciate their efforts on her behalf now. If Andrew really was able to clear her name, she supposed it would all be worth it.
“I’m sure Andrew will be able to help you,” Aaron told her as he took his leave.
“Thank you. I hope so.”
“He will,” Aaron said assuredly. “And maybe I’ll have the pleasure of seeing you again sometime.”
“Maybe,” she murmured, though she found it doubtful.
“I’ll be in touch,” Andrew told her, patting the pocket where he’d stashed his notebook.
She nodded. “If you find anything…”
“I’ll call you,” he promised.
The twins said their goodbyes to Casey, and she could see the strongly fraternal affection among the three, despite Casey’s leftover annoyance at his cousins’ behavior. He’d get over it soon enough, especially if Andrew came through with the answer to Natalie’s problems.
Casey wouldn’t let her come between him and his family, she mused, watching the twins stride away. She couldn’t imagine he would allow anyone to do that, much less someone who was only temporarily in his life.
Casey slipped his arms around her waist from behind. “So,” he murmured into her ear, “about this Thad jerk.”
She couldn’t help smiling, as he had undoubtedly intended. “What about him?”
“Was he better-looking than me?”
She turned in his arms, resting her hands on his chest. “No way.”
“We’ll forget about him then.”
“I already have,” she assured him with a smile.
He kissed her lightly, then raised his head. “Do you want me to leave, too?”
She didn’t even hesitate. “No.”
“Want to go for a walk?”
“Yes, I’d like that.”
Taking her hand, he led her toward the creek that ran alongside the back of the property, into the patchy woods that surrounded the cabin. It was a cloudy day, and chilly, but her jacket, sweater and jeans kept her reasonably warm. Casey’s proximity raised her body temperature another couple of degrees as he walked so close that their shoulders brushed.
Buddy accompanied them, occasionally dashing off to sniff the ground or scratch in the leaves. She wondered if he was revisiting places he’d been while he’d lived out here alone in the woods. She couldn’t get over how much healthier and more carefree he looked since the first time she had seen him.
“I am so sorry about what you’ve been through,” Casey said after a while, his tone grave. “This whole thing must have felt like a nightmare to you.”
“Yes, pretty much. I kept telling Herb that I had nothing to do with the leaks, but he just wouldn’t listen.”
“Does anyone in your family know what happened?”
“I told my mother that I had a falling out with a senior partner and left the firm. That upset her, but not as much as the whole truth would have. I told Aunt Jewel pretty much the same story, for the same reason. It wasn’t a lie. It just wasn’t the whole truth.”
“You didn’t want them to worry.”
“No. My dad knows more of the details. He wanted to charge home and help me get a lawyer of my own and ‘sue the bastards into bankruptcy,’ as he put it, but I knew I’d have to have more evidence to back up my story if I was going to even try to fight the accusations. That’s why I hired Beecham, though it’s obvious I had no idea how to hire a private investigator. He convinced me that he knew what he was doing and that he would be very discreet, but I just don’t think he’s very good.”
“Andrew is.”
“That’s what you and Aaron keep telling me.”
“Trust us.”
She bent down to pick up an interesting pebble beside the creek. A very pale gray, it was shaped roughly like a heart with a small crack in the center. Though she found that symbolism a little too ironic, she slipped it in her jacket pocket, anyway.
“Will you go back to the firm?” Casey asked. “After you prove your innocence, I mean?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
He tossed a twig into the rushing water of the creek to watch it tumble down the rocks. Studying his expression, she asked, “Casey? Why is your family so worried about you?”
“You heard Aaron. They think I’m having a nervous breakdown.”
“Because you took a vacation?”
He released a long, low breath. “I’ve had some�
��setbacks lately. Nothing like what you’ve been through.”
“Those people who betrayed your trust?”
“Yeah.” He put his free hand to the back of his neck and squeezed the muscles there as if they’d suddenly tightened. “It started when I lost a big case.”
Raising an eyebrow, she murmured, “That happens to the best of us.”
“But this was a particularly bad loss. I missed something in my preparation for the trial. Something pretty damned important.”
“So you made a mistake. I hate to tell you, my friend, but it won’t be the last one you make.”
“It wasn’t just that.” Speaking in a low voice as they continued their stroll, he told her about the spoiled rich kid he’d gotten acquitted on a technicality for a vehicular manslaughter charge. The kid had promised everyone, including Casey, that he had learned his lesson and would never get behind the wheel of a car again after drinking.
Less than a year later, only weeks after Casey had lost the other big case, that self-absorbed and obscenely indulged teenager had driven drunk again and wrecked the third sports car his father had bought for him. A child in another car had been killed in the crash.
Her hand tightened spasmodically around his as she heard the pain in his voice. “Oh, Casey, surely you don’t blame yourself for that. You did your job, nothing more. If anyone is to blame besides the boy, it’s his parents.”
“I know. I don’t blame myself, exactly. I believe in what we do, and that we have to do our best for the people we represent no matter what our personal biases might be.”
He seemed to be presenting an argument he’d made many times to people who were derogatory toward attorneys. She’d made much the same speech herself a few times. “But—”
“But,” he said with a sigh, “sometimes I can’t help but focus on the downside of that practice. Especially when I know it was money and connections as much as my skill that were responsible for putting my client back behind the wheel. A kid from a different part of town would have been assigned an overworked and underpaid public defender and he’d have been put behind bars.”
“That’s part of the reality of the job, too,” Natalie murmured. “The best defense that money can buy.”
He grimaced and nodded. “It just really shook me when I heard what happened right after the loss that should have been a win.”
“So you took some time to rethink your career choice?”
“To rethink my options within the career, maybe,” he said with a slight shrug.
“Have you reached any conclusions?”
“Not really. I’ll probably just go back to what I was doing. I guess I just really needed a vacation.”
“Not so much of a vacation. You’ve been working pretty hard around here.”
He smiled. “I enjoyed working with my hands for a change. Made me feel…I don’t know, more grounded or something.”
“That makes sense. I enjoyed the days I spent helping you.” She didn’t know if that was due more to the work or to spending that time with Casey, but she suspected she knew the answer to that one.
“It wasn’t just work I needed to get away from for a while,” Casey said after a pause that suddenly seemed significant. “I was sort of engaged until a little over a month ago. The ending was harsh, and pretty tough on my ego, to be frank. She dumped me for a partner in a rival law firm. Now she’s wearing a big rock on her hand and making sure everyone in the greater Texas social scene knows about it.”
“You were…engaged?” Natalie repeated, feeling her stomach tighten.
“I said ‘sort of’ engaged,” he corrected. “You know that stage where you talk about getting married someday and everyone pretty much expects it but it’s not really official?”
She had never actually been in “that stage” herself, but she nodded. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head almost impatiently. “It’s not like that. Things hadn’t been that great between Tamara and me for quite a while. You know what it’s like when you work all the time. Whole days would go by when I wouldn’t even see her. The breakup was as much my fault as it was hers, it just caught me off guard. She could have handled it a little more discreetly, but I’m not sad that it’s over.”
“So, you lost a case, lost a ‘sort of’ fiancée and suffered a crisis of conscience all within a few months?”
“That about sums it up.”
“No wonder you needed a vacation.”
“Thank you.”
Turning to lean against a crooked tree trunk, she studied his face as he threw a stick for Buddy. “Casey?”
“Mmm? Come on, Buddy, bring it back. Give it back to me. Fetch.”
Buddy didn’t seem to be getting the message. He picked up the stick and ran the other way with it.
Natalie smiled, but continued her line of thought. “Why were you so secretive about what you do? I mean, I didn’t want to explain why I’d been fired because…well, you understand. But you still have a position with your firm. You don’t have anything to hide.”
He straightened, turning to look at her with a wry smile. “At first it was because I was tired of explaining myself. Tired of answering questions about why I’d taken time off from a prestigious position to do maintenance work here. It was nice just to be a handyman with no expectations to live up to, you know?”
“That makes sense.”
“And there was the fact that you never really asked me what I do,” he added. “You didn’t ask any questions about me at all. I wasn’t sure you were interested.”
“I didn’t want to ask questions because I was afraid it would encourage you to do the same,” she confessed.
“Yeah, I figured that out.” He reached out to touch her cheek. “Your face is pink. Are you getting cold?”
“Maybe a little.”
“Ready to go back to the cabin?”
“I suppose so.”
He took her hand and whistled for Buddy, who was barking at a squirrel. “C’mon, Buddy. Let’s go home.”
Home. She thought about the word as they fell in step. The cabin wasn’t home, she reminded herself. Not for any of the three of them. No matter how cozy it had become for them.
Chapter Thirteen
T hey worked on the grounds together for most of the afternoon, raking leaves, picking up sticks, pruning the evergreen bushes around the cabin, piling mulch around the other plants to protect them from the rapidly coming winter. In some ways, she and Casey were even more comfortable together now that their secrets were out in the open. Yet in other ways, there was a growing tension between them, and she knew what was causing that, too.
Every time their eyes met, her skin flushed and her pulse raced. Each time they touched, whether accidentally or on purpose, she felt electricity zing through her body, sparking heat deep inside her. Each stolen kiss lasted longer than the one before, and every embrace was greedier. Hungrier.Though it was a cool day, they were both overheated by the time they’d finished their work and afternoon faded into early darkness. Sending Casey to the small front bath to wash up, Natalie took a quick shower and changed into a clean sweater and jeans. When she rejoined him in the living room, she noted that his hair was wet and his skin scrubbed clean, though of course he wore the same slightly grubby clothes he’d had on before. They had a simple dinner of sandwiches and canned soup, lingering over the meal as if they were dining on fine cuisine.
Afterward, Natalie wandered to the glass door to look outside at the beautiful evening. It was too dark now to appreciate the view, but there was enough moonlight to frost with magic what she could see. Stars twinkled in the endless rural sky, undimmed by the bright city lights she was accustomed to seeing back home. She sighed lightly.
Casey’s arms slipped around her from behind, and she leaned back into him. “It’s a nice night, hmm?” he murmured in her ear, his breath warm against her skin.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, crossing her hands over his at her waist.
“You know what would feel really good right now?”
There were so many possible responses to that question. “Um—what?”
“That new hot tub. Maybe a glass of wine to sip while we enjoy the bubbles.”
She could almost feel her knees weaken with the images he invoked, and she was grateful that he was supporting her. “That does sound nice.”
“I’m sure Kyle would want us to make sure it’s working correctly,” he said, keeping his tone serious though there was a smile in his voice—as well as a question.
She turned her head to look at him, silently giving him her answer, though she played along. “I’m not sure why you think it would take both of us to test it.”
He shook his head, tsking his tongue in disapproval. “Don’t you know you’re never supposed to go into the water alone? You could drown.”
“I think that rule applies to swimming, not soaking.”
He ran a hand up her arm, even as he bent his head to press a kiss against the back of her neck. “Really? ’Cause I think I heard it applies to hot tubs, as well.”
Her eyelids grew heavy as he nibbled and licked the sensitive skin at her nape. Pressed snugly against Casey’s full length, she felt the evidence of how badly he wanted her, how difficult it must be for him to keep his tone teasing.
Turning in his arms, she pressed lightly against him and walked the fingers of her right hand up his chest. “But I didn’t pack a bathing suit. And I know you don’t have one with you.”
She was rewarded for her own teasing by a dark flush of color on his cheeks, a glint of passion in his eyes. “I suppose we’ll just have to—” he paused to clear his husky voice “—improvise.”
Running her fingertips along his jawline, she murmured, “I’ll get some towels.”
She saw him swallow before he nodded. “I’ll pour the wine.”
Standing in the bedroom, she pushed a hand through her hair as she drew a deep breath to steady herself. Yet her hands still trembled a bit as she stripped off her clothes and wrapped herself in her favorite, red silk kimono.
The living room was empty when she returned with two big, fluffy towels. Stepping outside, she found Casey already in the tub. He looked relaxed and comfortable as he lounged in the molded seat, his neck supported by a cushioned headrest. He’d turned off the bright deck lights, so that the only illumination came from the soft blue LED lights within the tub itself. Only partially concealed by the swirling, foaming bubbles, his body was a lean, tan outline beneath the water.
