She found herself held hostage by the intense look that he was giving her, his eyes still locked with hers. Everyone else in the room seemed to vanish as the man stepped toward her, his engaging smile drawing her in like a spider might lure dinner into its web.
He extended his hand. “Good morning. I’m Matthew Stallion. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said, the deep bass in his tone reverberating warmly.
Katrina took a deep breath, air catching in her chest as his hand grazed hers, his firm grip holding tightly to her fingers. She tilted her head in greeting, words failing her. The other attorney came to her rescue without even realizing it.
“Counselor, this is Judge Katrina Broomes. Judge Broomes serves the Two Hundred Thirty-Second District Criminal Court. And this young man is Judge Broomes’s son, Collin.”
Matthew was still holding tight to Katrina’s hand. Her son tossed him an uneasy smile, his hands still pushed deep into his pockets. With some reluctance, Matthew released Katrina’s hand and extended his handshake to her child.
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting the young man who jacked my car,” Matthew said, humor in his gaze. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
Collin’s uneasy smile folded into a deep frown as he returned Matthew’s handshake with much reluctance. “I’m very sorry,” he managed to mutter softly.
Matthew nodded his head slowly, his gaze shifting from Collin to his mother and back again. He crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the desktop. “Where did you learn to pop a door lock and hot-wire a car?”
Collin’s eyes flitted to his mother’s questioning expression, then back to the man who was studying him intently. “My friend Paul’s older brother.”
Matthew nodded again. “We need to work on getting you better friends,” he said with a soft chuckle.
The boy suddenly looked scared.
Concern registered in Matthew’s expression as a consoling smile filled his face. He tossed an arm around the boy’s shoulder, patting him on his back. “I promise, you won’t suffer much,” Matthew said teasingly, winking his eye. His smile widened. “Why don’t we all take a seat and see how we might fix this mess?” he said.
Following his lead, Katrina took a seat at the far end of the table. Matthew, quite the gentleman, pulled out her chair for her. She sat back, falling into silence as she stared from her son to Matthew and to the people around the table, trying to make sense of her child’s actions. Her gaze kept returning to Matthew Stallion as he engaged her son in conversation, asking question after question about his life and his goals. Every so often Matthew would look in her direction, tossing her an easy smile before returning his focus to the matter at hand.
Katrina heaved a deep sigh, then inhaled deeply, holding tight to the warm air to calm her nerves. It was a good thing she was there only to observe, she suddenly mused. Katrina was unnerved by her reaction to the beautiful man who’d taken full control of the meeting. Unnerved because not since her late husband had any man had her quivering so unabashedly.
Chapter 3
Matthew engaged the voice-activation system in his car to dial his office. Traffic was backed up from Avery Avenue to Zang Boulevard. He strummed his fingers anxiously against the steering wheel of his new car as he waited for the cellular service to connect the call.
Mediation had lasted well over two hours. After their initial interaction, Collin Broomes hadn’t been much interested in talking, falling into a sullen silence for the balance of the session. His attorney and the mediator had both been diligent about hashing out a game plan for the young man’s future. But Matthew had been the only one to actually ask the boy his opinion, genuinely interested in what Collin might want for himself.
He’d hardly been surprised when Collin gave him little to nothing, his responses amounting to single-syllable answers. His mother had spoken only once during the entire discussion, reprimanding her son and advising him to check his tone when he became insolent. The boy had reeked of attitude, had a massive chip resting square on his shoulder. Her tone had been firm, the look she’d given her son stern. The boy had instantly stopped posturing, his teenage swagger cooling considerably. Clearly, his mother was a firm disciplinarian.
Each time she’d looked at Matthew, her gaze had lingered longer than necessary. Her look had softened considerably as she’d studied him with keen interest. Her eyes were beautiful, Matthew suddenly mused, remembering the glazed stare.
Matthew liked how Katrina Broomes had looked at him. He liked the energy that had pierced his own stare. Never had any woman looked at him like that before. Most women Matthew knew were always eyeing him like he was bait on a hook. But then, maybe that had much to do with him always trolling for his next catch of the moment.
On the other hand, Katrina had looked at him as if she actually saw something in him that he himself hadn’t yet discovered. And she’d looked at him as though she liked what that was. Her interest had been keen and had piqued his. Now he found himself hoping that he might get to know the woman better.
Toward that goal he’d been eager to volunteer to personally mentor young Collin. The boy’s eyebrows had risen in surprise but Matthew had been adamant. Consequently, starting in two weeks, the two would be meeting at the Briscoe Ranch Youth Center, where Matthew would put the child through his paces.
Matthew’s thoughts were interrupted by the phone line being answered on the other end, his secretary’s voice greeting him cheerfully.
“Matthew Stallion’s office. How may I help you?”
“Hello, Carol. Do I have any messages?”
“Hello, Mr. Stallion. Just one message, sir. Your brother John asked that you contact him before you take off on your vacation this afternoon. He said he’ll be in his office most of the day.”
Matthew nodded into the receiver. “I’m actually changing my plans, Carol. If you’ll call and cancel my reservations, please.”
“But you were so looking forward to your vacation. Are you sure?” she asked, her tone concerned.
Matthew smiled to himself. “Positive. Something’s come up.”
There was a slight pause as his secretary waited, hopeful that Matthew might tell her what that something was. He didn’t.
“I’m going to take the rest of the day off, though, and I’ll be in the office tomorrow. If you’ll please transfer me to John’s office.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Stallion. Just one moment,” Carol said as she put the call on hold.
Seconds later, John Stallion’s baritone voice spilled out of the speakers.
“Yo, bro! How’s it hangin’?”
Matthew chuckled, the familiar greeting reminding him of when they were just boys themselves. “High and steady,” he responded, his head waving from side to side.
“Better than low and heavy,” John answered with a deep laugh. “So, when do you take off?”
“I’m not. I signed up to mentor the kid who jacked my car and I need to put some things in place to do that. I’ll postpone my trip until I can better arrange my schedule.”
John laughed. “A personal, one-on-one butt whupping. Poor kid. Guess he didn’t have a good lawyer.”
“He had one of the best. That’s why I’ll be mentoring him and not someone else.”
John nodded into the receiver. “You still need to take some time off. We all do. Fighting that hostile takeover drained our energy. The last few months have taken their toll on every one of us.”
“So, why don’t you and Marah sneak off to the islands for a few days? The beach house is available. Your wife would like that, and since I’m staying, you won’t have to worry about the office.”
“Not much, anyway.”
Matthew chuckled as he maneuvered his car through the throng of traffic that slowed his tr
ip. “Not at all. I’ll make sure no one burns the joint down before you return.”
“I wasn’t worried about no one. I was worried about you.”
“Well, I won’t burn it down, either. Nor will I give it away or send it into bankruptcy before the week is out. Next week, however, might be a different story, so you better take that time now and hurry on back.”
His brother laughed. “Marah and I are on the plane as soon as I can get her packed. Thank you. I owe you one.”
“Yes, you do,” Matthew answered. “Send me a postcard.”
“I’ll do better than that. I’ll bring you back some sand so you see what you missed.”
“I love you, too,” Matthew said with a wry grin plastered across his face. “Talk to you later!”
As he disconnected the call, Matthew guided his car toward the interstate leading to the ranch. He suddenly felt like riding his favorite black horse. It had been that kind of day.
* * *
“Why?”
Katrina took a deep breath, filling her lungs with warm air. Collin had just about pushed her last nerve and it was taking all her resolve not to explode. “Because I said so,” she answered, her tone firm, the stern look she gave her son emphasizing that it was in his best interest to end their conversation.
“It’s not fair!” the boy exclaimed instead, pouting profusely, as though he were five and not fifteen.
“Me spending my entire day in court over your nonsense wasn’t fair, either, Collin. I had something else I would have liked to do, too. But you took that option away from me. There are consequences for our actions. You stole a car. You wrecked that car. You could have been injured. You could have injured someone else. Punishment for that is going to last you some time.”
“But I’m being punished. The court is making me work for that man. It’s not fair for you to punish me, too!”
Katrina chuckled. “You’re lucky I don’t go get me a switch from that tree out there. Then I’d show you just how unfair life is. Now, you are not going to the mall with your friends. You’re not going today, and you won’t be going tomorrow or anytime next week, so don’t ask. In fact, if you don’t go to your room and give me a moment of peace, you may not see your friends or the inside of a mall for another six years. Then you can tell me how unfair your sweet, spoiled life is. Do you really want to try me?”
She stood with both hands clutching the lean line of her waist. Her neatly arched eyebrows were raised high, her expression challenging. Collin heaved a deep sigh, then turned an about-face, muttering under his breath as he headed back up the staircase toward his room.
“And leave your phone on the table,” Katrina called. “I told you no cell phone, no television, no nothing, and I meant it.”
The boy paused. The look he tossed his mother was harsh as he came back down and dropped his new Droid onto the hall table. Minutes later, loud music echoed from upstairs, the boy’s stereo turned up high. Calling his name, Katrina waited for a brief moment before silence filled the space.
She wasn’t naive, though. She knew her son had only plugged headphones into the sound system. She’d give him until she herself climbed the stairs to her bedroom before she ordered him to turn it off, reminding him that “no nothing” included his beloved stereo system.
Moving into the kitchen, Katrina peered into the refrigerator for something to drink. It was way too early for her to have a glass of wine, but she truly wanted a tall glass of chardonnay. She hadn’t eaten anything, though, and wine on an empty stomach would not serve her well. She should have stopped for lunch like she’d planned, but everything about the morning’s events had thrown her right off course.
She reached for a pack of pepperoni and some slices of pepper jack cheese. Katrina mused that a light snack with that wine would constitute lunch and that couldn’t be so bad. She popped a loaf of crusty French bread into her oven just before uncorking the bottle and filling a crystal goblet with the elixir. Savoring that first sip, she took another deep breath of air, dropping down into a cushioned seat at her kitchen table.
If she were honest with herself, she would admit that dealing with her son hadn’t been her greatest challenge that morning. She was accustomed to dealing with kids who’d made mistakes, testing the limits of whatever authority ruled their daily lives. She’d always known there would be moments with her own child, although car theft had never crossed her mind. She hadn’t, however, imagined herself fighting the emotions that a certain man had incited.
Matthew Stallion. Katrina took a gulp of her drink, a large swig that was better reserved for shots of tequila, Jack Daniel’s or a hearty beer, not the delicate wine that filled her glass.
The man’s reputation had preceded him. In fact, because of her own investment interests, Katrina had been closely following the recent events surrounding the failed attempt at a hostile takeover of his family’s business. Social Services and the legal community had many good things to say about the advocacy programs the Stallions had in place to assist families in need, especially the mentoring programs for students. She’d been hopeful that she herself would be able to avail herself of their services for some of the cases she knew she would likely have to preside over in her new district.
Rising from her seat, she moved to the cherrywood cabinets and pulled open a bottom drawer. Reaching beneath a stack of papers, she lifted out a magazine hidden inside. The full-color image stared up at her, Matthew’s seductive smile gracing the cover.
Texan Magazine had named the thirty-five-year-old man Bachelor of the Year, and he was looking every bit the part in the engaging head shot they’d captured. She imagined that he had garnered much attention from the honor. Katrina figured that a man like Matthew Stallion probably had no need for any help in that department, though, musing that he was clearly not a man who lacked female attention.
Reaching for her glass, Katrina took another sip, then remembered the bread, which was just a heartbeat away from being burned toast. Pulling the loaf from the oven, she dropped it on the countertop. She suddenly didn’t have much of an appetite.
She sighed, blowing warm breath into the air. Katrina hadn’t given any man a second thought since forever. The fact that she was giving Matthew a second, third and fourth thought completely unnerved her. But the man had been engaging. She’d been impressed with how he’d handled her son, seeming genuinely interested in the boy’s well-being. Being someone that young men could look up to seemed foremost in Matthew Stallion’s mind.
That enigmatic smile of his had caused her heart to race, her stomach to do flips as if she was on a roller-coaster ride. As they’d parted, he’d shaken her hand again, clasping it between both his palms, and the current of electricity that had rushed up her spine had left her breathless.
Katrina shook the memory from her mind, draining the last of her wine from the glass. This is crazy, she thought to herself, reaching to refill her glass. She was not interested in any man and particularly not in that man. Stuffing a slice of cheese into her mouth, Katrina shook her head from side to side. Convincing herself that she wasn’t interested in Matthew Stallion was certainly proving to be the biggest challenge of her day.
Chapter 4
Matthew waited patiently on the stone steps of Greater Bethlehem Baptist Church. Sunday morning service would be starting at precisely eleven o’clock and he was excited that the Broomes family would be joining him.
Collin was scheduled to start his program that afternoon. When Matthew had called his mother to make the arrangements, he’d suggested they meet him for church first, then brunch, before journeying over to the ranch to give Collin the tour and explain what would be required of him over the next twelve months. Katrina Broomes had seemed reluctant at first, but with persistence Matthew had changed her mind.
Reflecting back on the conversation
, Matthew couldn’t help but note how reserved the good judge had been. Her cool demeanor had intrigued him.
“Church?”
Matthew had smiled into the receiver. “Yes, it’s first Sunday, communion Sunday, but Pastor Barnes will have us out early. He’s not one of those long-winded ministers.”
“I don’t know. I…”
“It will be good for Collin. I was raised in the church and it’s done wonders for me,” he’d said with a light chuckle.
There’d been a brief pause before she responded. “Collin’s been to church before,” she’d said with just a hint of attitude, as though he’d passed judgment on how she was raising her child. Then her tone had softened as she continued. “And it is good for him. I have to admit, though, that since we moved, I’ve been remiss in getting us up on Sunday mornings for service. I haven’t found a new church home that we’re both comfortable with yet.”
“Well, I promise you’ll both enjoy the experience. And afterward we can grab a bite to eat at Nicola’s. They have a wonderful menu. So please, say yes.”
Katrina paused, giving his offer some intense consideration. The man persisted.
“We could always eat somewhere else. Would you prefer French cuisine? I eat most anything, with the exception of fast food. I don’t do burgers from any place that asks whether or not you want to supersize your meal.”
Katrina laughed, her head waving easily from side to side. “What’s wrong with their burgers?”
“Nothing, I’m sure. But a real meal involves real food. I know a great steak house, if you want something more traditional.”
“Italian is fine. We’ll meet you at the church,” she finally responded.
Seduced by a Stallion Page 2
