The Laws of Attraction

by Sherryl Woods

  Oh, well, no one died of acute humiliation. She simply wouldn’t make that mistake again. For all she knew, Josh wouldn’t even set foot on the grounds at Rose Cottage again, despite all those pretty words and promises.

  She was still beating herself up as she lingered over her second cup of coffee when someone knocked on the kitchen door, then walked right in. She glanced up, fully expecting it to be her sisters, only to find Josh there in another pair of faded shorts and another of those equally disreputable T-shirts. He looked incredible. Her resolve to forget about an affair sizzled and died.

  Without saying a word, he walked over to the table, leaned down and kissed her. The first touch of his lips on hers was a shock. She had a hunch he’d meant it to be nothing more than a casual, good-morning kind of kiss, but it set off enough heat to boil eggs. Her head was spinning, and she was pretty sure her eyes had to be crossed by the time he pulled away. If he’d been trying to prove that he’d meant what he said the night before, he’d accomplished that and then some.

  “I thought you might be over here beating yourself up about trying to seduce me last night,” he said as he casually turned to the coffeepot and poured himself the last cup. She’d drunk all the rest of the coffee herself.

  Indignation flared at his comment, even though he’d guessed exactly right. “So what? You decided to come over and toss me a consolation prize?”

  He laughed. “No, I came over to prove that you have nothing to worry about. A couple more kisses like that one and I won’t be able to resist you. My noble intentions will fly right out the window.”

  She frowned at him. “Was that my mistake last night—not grabbing you and kissing you right off the bat?”

  “You didn’t make any mistakes last night,” he assured her. “Aside from being a little premature.” He surveyed her. “Why aren’t you dressed for fishing?”

  “I didn’t know we were going fishing,” she said, her tone still peevish. He’d thrown her completely off-kilter yet again. It was getting to be an annoying habit. The men she liked were predictable. None of them would have turned down her offer of uncomplicated sex.

  And, she was forced to admit, none of them would have been back here this morning suggesting a fishing trip.

  “You have something else planned?” he asked.

  She shook her head.

  “Then let’s get a move on. Those fish won’t wait forever.”

  She grinned despite herself. “I thought the object was to relax, that actually catching a fish didn’t really matter.”

  “It doesn’t to me,” he said indifferently, then winked. “But you seem to need immediate gratification.”

  “Is that an insult?”

  He laughed. “Nope, just an observation. We’re going to work on that.”

  “What if I don’t want to change?” she asked curiously.

  “Then it will be more of a struggle than I’m expecting,” he said easily. “Go, put on a swimsuit under your clothes. Maybe I’ll let you race me to the dock later.”

  “Will you let me win?”

  “Not a chance.”

  Ashley laughed. “Now you’ve really made it interesting. I’ll be right back.”

  Upstairs, she pulled on her prim, one-piece bathing suit, then added a T-shirt, shorts and a pair of dingy sneakers she hadn’t worn since college. She grabbed her cap from the day before and a bottle of suntan lotion. She hesitated in the bedroom doorway as if she were forgetting something, then realized that going fishing didn’t require a tenth of the paraphernalia she took with her to work each day. It was actually a relief to go downstairs without a purse or briefcase weighing her down.

  She took the keys from a peg on the wall, then announced, “I’m ready.”

  Josh grinned. “Love the shoes. They make a statement.”

  She glanced pointedly at his faded and misshapen boat shoes. “It’s not as if you just stepped out of a designer shoe showroom.”

  “Hey, don’t you dare insult these old things. They’re just getting comfortable.”

  They’d barely stepped out the back door, still bantering, when Melanie and Maggie rounded the corner of the house. Ashley’s good humor vanished in a heartbeat. She muttered a curse, ruing the day she’d ever interfered in her sisters’ lives, since they now seemed to feel totally free to butt into hers.

  “We heard that,” Maggie scolded. “Is that any way to welcome your loving sisters who’ve come to check on you?”

  “As if that’s why you’re here,” she retorted. “You’re here to spy.”

  “Which would hardly matter if you have nothing to hide,” Melanie commented, her gaze on Josh. “Been here long?” she asked him.

  “A few minutes,” Ashley responded emphatically.

  “Then this is like a second date or something,” Maggie said. “Fascinating.”

  “It’s not a date,” Ashley said automatically. “We’re going fishing.”

  “Oh, yes, fishing,” Maggie repeated, amusement threading through her voice. “I forgot that doesn’t count. If it did, that would actually make this the third date, since you went fishing yesterday, too, isn’t that right, Josh?”

  He regarded her with undisguised reluctance. “Don’t ask me. I’m staying out of this one. You ladies work it out. Me, I’m not much on labels. I’m a go-with-the-flow kind of guy.”

  Ashley frowned at him. “You are not. Otherwise—”

  He interrupted, grinning at her. “Do you really want to go there?”

  Ashley sighed and shut up.

  “Smart and handsome,” Melanie said with approval.

  “A dead man,” Ashley commented, scowling at him. “You were supposed to back me up. We’re not dating.”

  “Oh, I must have missed that memo.” He dutifully turned to her sisters. “We’re not dating.”

  “Then what are you doing?” Maggie inquired sweetly. “Besides kissing, that is?”

  “Kissing?” Ashley asked. “Where would you get an idea like that?”

  “The clues are everywhere,” Maggie said blithely. “Those telltale traces of lipstick on Josh’s face, for instance, and the fact that your lipstick is the exact same shade…What’s left of it, anyway.”

  Ashley felt her cheeks flaming. She turned to Josh. “Have I mentioned that my sisters are a couple of obnoxious meddlers?”

  “I think it’s sweet,” he said.

  “Sweet?” she echoed incredulously. “What’s sweet about them barging in here and making you uncomfortable?”

  “I’m not uncomfortable.”

  She stared at him. He did seem perfectly at ease. She was the only one about to jump out of her skin. “Oh, forget it. I’m going fishing. The rest of you can do whatever the hell you want to do.”

  “Sorry, ladies,” Josh said. “I think that’s my cue. Have a nice day.”

  They were in the boat before Ashley finally risked a look into his eyes. They were sparkling with amusement.

  “You thought that was funny, didn’t you?” she demanded irritably.

  “I don’t know about funny, but it wasn’t quite the big deal you want to turn it into.”

  “Just wait,” she muttered direly. “Just you wait.”

  She was going to take a certain amount of perverse pleasure in watching Josh squirm when her sisters decided he was exactly the right catch and set out to reel him in for her.

  Josh recalled Ashley’s warning when he was sitting in a booth at a café later that afternoon with a cappuccino and the Richmond paper and he spotted Maggie and Melanie about to descend on him. They looked as thrilled as if they’d just noticed an especially plump turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner.

  “Hello again,” Maggie said, sliding into the booth opposite him.

  Melanie slipped in beside him, so there would be no escape. “Where’s Ashley?”

  “I dropped her back at Rose Cottage about an hour ago.”

  “Catch any fish today?” Maggie asked.

  “Not a one,” he admitted,
recalling just how frustrating that had been to Ashley. She hadn’t quite gotten the knack of appreciating the process more than the outcome. She’d been very irritable when he’d left her at Rose Cottage.

  Melanie laughed. “Uh-oh, that must have driven Ashley up a wall. She probably took it as a personal affront.”

  “Pretty much,” he agreed. In fact, she’d made such a commotion, it was little wonder the fish had taken off. He hadn’t had the nerve to point out to her that fish tended to flee when humans made too much racket.

  Maggie’s gaze narrowed. “Did that make you run for cover?”

  “No, it made me run home to change into clean clothes so I could meet her here for coffee.”

  “Oh,” Maggie said, obviously deflated.

  “Do you honestly want to be here cross-examining me when she gets here?” he inquired.

  The two women exchanged a look. “Probably a bad idea,” Melanie admitted.

  “She’ll think we’re spying again,” Maggie agreed. “But we have our eyes on you, Madison. Don’t forget that.”

  Josh laughed. “Not for a minute,” he promised.

  Maggie gave him one last considering look. “You could be good for her.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Has she told you why she’s hiding out down here?”

  “No.”

  “Make her tell you,” she urged. “She needs to talk about it.”

  “Maybe what she needs is to put it behind her,” Josh suggested. “Sometimes you can talk a thing to death.”

  “Nice theory, but talking things to death is how Ashley handles a crisis,” Maggie informed him. “This time she’s clammed up. It’s not healthy.”

  “I don’t suppose you want to share a little information with me, maybe tell me what it is I’m supposed to get her to talk about,” he suggested.

  “Sorry,” Maggie said. “She’d kill us if we told.”

  “Does it have something to do with work?”

  They exchanged a look, then nodded.

  “Then we have a problem. She and I have agreed to avoid the subject of work at all costs. In fact we have a bet going about who can do the best job of steering clear of the topic.”

  “Great, that’s just great,” Maggie said in obvious disgust, oblivious to the suddenly frantic signals Melanie was trying to send her.

  “Actually it is great,” Ashley chimed in, startling Maggie. “Work is not a topic I care to get into with anyone right now, including the two of you. Go away.” She frowned at Josh. “Didn’t I warn you about them?”

  “Hey, I was sitting here minding my own business and they turned up. It’s not like I invited them to join us.”

  Maggie’s expression brightened. “What a good idea! We’d love to.”

  “It is not a good idea,” Ashley said emphatically. “Go away. If you don’t, I will.”

  “Okay, fine,” Maggie said as she and Melanie stood up. “We’ll leave you in Josh’s capable hands.” She turned to him. “Remember our advice. And forget about that stupid bet.”

  Ashley stood watching them until they were out the door. Then she sat down opposite him. “What advice did they give you?”

  “They think I need to ask you about what drove you down here,” he said. He searched her face, watching for a reaction. She managed to keep her expression totally neutral. “Do I?”

  “Absolutely not. I don’t want to talk about it,” she said fiercely.

  He sighed. “Which tells me it is exactly what we need to discuss.”

  She regarded him plaintively. “Why?”

  “Because it’s apparently the key to getting to know who you are.”

  “You know who I am.”

  “I know what you’ve allowed me to see. It’s all pretty superficial, Ashley.”

  She gave him a sour look. “Am I boring you?”

  “Hardly.”

  “Then think of it this way—there are layers and layers yet to be peeled away. One of these days I may let you get started on that, but not now, okay?”

  “You can’t solve problems if you hide from them,” he commented. Not that he was a sterling example of someone who paid attention to that particular advice. Wasn’t he as guilty of avoiding things at the moment as she was? He hadn’t given one moment’s thought to his future once he’d resolved things with Stephanie. He was letting it all percolate on the back burner in the hope that things would work themselves out eventually without any effort on his part.

  Ashley frowned at the unsolicited advice. “I can only learn one new trick at a time. I’m still having trouble with the relaxation thing. This other business would pretty much set me back by a month.”

  Josh laughed. “Okay, okay. We’ll stick to relaxing for now. And speaking of that, what would you like? I could use another cappuccino. I’ll go up to the counter and order.”

  “A cappuccino sounds good,” she said. “I’ll look at the paper till you get back.”

  It didn’t take Josh more than five minutes to order their coffee and take the drinks back to the table, but something had obviously happened while he was away. Every bit of color had washed out of Ashley’s face, and she was clutching a balled up chunk of newsprint in her fist.

  “Ashley?” he asked, scooting into the booth next to her. “What is it?”

  She shook her head, looking dazed.

  Josh tried to pry the paper from her hand, but she refused to release it. He racked his brain trying to recall anything that had been in the paper that might have had this obviously devastating effect on her, but nothing came to him. Besides, she had no ties to Richmond that he knew of.

  “Talk to me, sweetheart. Something’s obviously upset you.”

  “I can’t,” she whispered, her voice choked. “Let me out of here. I think I’m going to be sick.”

  She ran from the café with Josh hard on her heels. He caught her at the corner. She was bending over, holding her stomach, gasping for breath. He rubbed her back, murmuring soothing nonsense, until she finally shuddered and turned to him, burying her face against his shoulder. He’d never before in his life seen anyone with such a stricken look in their eyes. It made him want to kill whoever was responsible for putting it there.

  “Tell me, please,” he pleaded. “I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on.”

  “Can we take a break from the bet?” she asked.

  Josh almost laughed that she would think of their bet at a time like this. “Okay, we’re on a time-out,” he assured her. “Now tell me.”

  She lifted her gaze to his, her expression drained. Finally she seemed to reach some sort of conclusion because she held out her hand and let him take the piece of newspaper.

  Josh smoothed it out as best he could with one hand, while still keeping one arm firmly around her waist. He had a feeling she needed the contact far more than he needed to get immediate answers.

  The first side of the page was nothing but part of an ad for a Richmond department store. When he turned it over, he saw that it was from a column of national news briefs. The dateline was Boston.

  Freed Killer Strikes Again, the headline stated. He glanced at Ashley’s face. There was guilt and shame in her expression as if she were somehow responsible.

  “What do you know about this?” he asked quietly.

  “I know that man,” she said after what seemed like an eternity. “I represented him at his last trial for murder. I just got him off a week ago. My firm’s still representing him.”

  Oh, dear God in heaven, Josh thought, his heart aching for her. That was what had brought her to Rose Cottage, the knowledge that she had helped to free a murderer. And now the man had almost killed again. Only quick police intervention had stopped him. It would devastate any lawyer, but especially one who took such evident pride in her courtroom skills. She’d obviously been duped by the man into believing in his innocence. She wouldn’t be the first lawyer to be fooled, or the last, but she obviously held herself to exceedingly high standards.

&
nbsp; “It’s not your fault,” he said firmly.

  “Of course it is. That disgusting creature wouldn’t have been back on the streets if it hadn’t been for me. Maybe I didn’t know he was guilty when I defended him, but I should have seen it. He would have been in jail now if I hadn’t been so aggressive in that courtroom.”

  “Was the prosecution’s case airtight?”

  “No,” she admitted. “The forensics evidence was sloppy as hell.”

  “Did you do anything unethical?”

  “No.”

  “Did you follow the law?”

  “To the letter.”

  “Then it wasn’t your fault,” he repeated. “Remember, our legal system is based on the principle that it’s preferable for ten guilty people to go free than for one innocent person to be convicted. The jury is instructed not to convict if there is reasonable doubt, and it’s up to the prosecutor to remove that doubt from the jurors’ minds.”

  “Justice wasn’t served,” she insisted. “Not even close. I have a reputation for picking my cases very carefully. I blew this one.”

  Josh couldn’t argue with that. He knew all too well how cases could sometimes be won or lost not on the evidence, but based on the comparative skills of the lawyers involved. It was one of the reasons he was questioning his own commitment to the law. Maybe now was the time to tell Ashley that, to commiserate with her in a way that told her he really did understand. Somehow, though, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. This was about her feelings, and he didn’t want to divert the conversation away from that for even a moment.

  “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I know how this case must eat at you. My saying it’s not your fault doesn’t really help. You have to get there on your own.”

  “I don’t know if I ever will.” She eyed the article he was holding as if it were a serpent. “Especially now. I’ll never be able to practice in Boston again.”

  “Of course you will,” he said. “If that’s what you want to do. Good people, honest people, innocent people, get accused of crimes, and they’re going to want an attorney who fights with passion and conviction on their side. Those are the ones you’ll help.”