by Karen Anders
Expelling a slow breath, Kate raised a shaking hand and lifted the ornate knocker and let it fall.
Minutes later the hall light snapped on, flashing through the three panes of glass at the top of the heavy oak door, illuminating the porch in bright light. The dead bolt above the doorknob disengaged with an abrupt snick, then the door swung open.
Kate found herself facing a half-naked, lethal Jericho in tight gray shorts and a white sleeveless T-shirt. A fine sheen misted his body, his hair wet and slicked back off his face.
He certainly was…big, she thought inanely, feeling suffocated by his closeness. He was taller than her, but she had no idea that the impeccably tailored suit had covered this.
His shoulders were so broad they blocked her view of the room. His arms bulged with muscles, as did his chest, which the damp T-shirt clung to revealingly. The power was echoed in the long ropes of muscles in his legs and calves. She fidgeted in spite of herself. Something about all his masculinity intimidated her. Until she looked into his eyes and saw that intensity trained on her. He was going to change her. She knew that, but how and when made her edgy and nervous. It was a change she craved yet feared. She knew who she was, but had always dreamed about who she could be if only…
“Kate? Is something wrong?”
“Yes.”
He moved out of the way so that she could step into the foyer. The rug beneath her feet was Oriental and cost a fortune. There was a small occasional table made out of a rich mahogany wood with a mirror over it in the foyer. She caught a glimpse of herself in its polished surface. She looked tired, bone-tired. Her hair was a mess.
She grabbed at her hair, trying to smooth it into place.
“What’s wrong, Kate?” His eyes followed her fingers as they worked through her hair.
“I asked Stephen Castle to represent Danny.”
His eyes flew to her face. “You what?”
“He’s doing it pro bono but the bottom line is I still asked him. He’s doing it as a favor to me.”
Jericho closed his eyes and ran his hands through his damp hair. “Come in,” he said brusquely. “We can talk in the living room.”
Fatigue weighted her as she followed him down the long carpeted hallway past the dining room with its hardwood floor, another more luxurious Oriental rug and thick dark furnishings.
When they stepped into the spacious living room, she took the measure of the beautiful room from the couch and chairs upholstered in a cream-and-red fabric, the tapestry pillows that matched the rug spread out over the polished wooden floor to the breathtaking carved fireplace.
He nodded toward the couch. “Have a seat.”
“Are you going to stand?”
“Considering I’m all sweaty from working out, yes.”
“Then I will too. I want to remain standing when you fire me.”
7
“I HAVE NO INTENTION of firing you,” he said, bracing his shoulder against the burnished wood mantel over the fireplace. His gaze went to the books in the nearby built-in shelves.
Taking a deep breath, she settled onto an armchair that sat at an angle to the sofa. “You don’t?”
Jericho raised one dark eyebrow, his eyes as emphatic as his voice. “No. No way, not over this.”
“How can you be sure that I won’t hold something back in court?”
He pushed away from the mantel and took a few steps toward her. “Kate that would never happen. Never,” he emphasized.
The tension deflated out of her like a hot air balloon losing altitude. She had no idea that her job had meant so much to her or that Jericho’s opinion mattered just as much. “Are you saying that you trust me to do the right thing?”
“Without question.”
She couldn’t seem to form words at his unequivocal answer. Her parents had revered her. Anything she’d done had awed them. Faculty had praised her. Co-workers held her in great esteem. But the knowledge that Jericho trusted her so implicitly had sudden emotion clogging her throat. It was a defining moment in her life to know that this man found her not only worthy, but considered her beyond reproach.
His eyes softened and the look tugged at her heart. It would take so little effort on his part to make her fall in love with him. Maybe she was already halfway there.
“I think your loyalty is misplaced in this instance, but I admire it tremendously, Kate. Danny’s lucky to have such a friend as you.”
She finally found her voice. “So, you have no problem with me being on this case.”
He took a few more steps and walked over to a bar. Picking up a pitcher of ice water, he poured a glass. Walking over to her, he offered her the water.
She took the glass out of his hand, electricity snapping against her fingers as they brushed his skin.
He went back to the bar and poured another glass. He downed it in three quick swallows and poured another. “If it was up to me, I’d say yes, continue, but the D.A. wants to move forward. He thinks you’d be wasting your time chasing ghosts. He believes that there was no one else in that apartment. He wants me to go with the evidence that I have that Danny killed her. I argued with him, but it did no good.”
“Obviously you didn’t argue hard enough.”
“I think you want to find evidence that someone else was in the apartment, but I think you’ll come up empty. You’ll have to accept the fact that Danny killed her.”
Sparring with him was something that she knew how to do. Using her mind was second nature to her. It only became hard when she was asked to give more than she could emotionally. Feelings were so unpredictable and had no rhyme or reason. “I don’t think so. I’ll prove it to you, Jericho, and to the D.A.”
He took another long swallow of the water. “You’ll have to do it on your own time and make sure the D.A. doesn’t find out.”
“You’d cover for me?”
“Kate, you’ve been a criminalist for a long time. I believe in turning over every stone to make sure nothing else crawls out. I don’t like to be surprised in court. Roth will have us both by the short hairs if he finds out, so be careful and discreet.”
“Okay, that’s fine. I don’t mind using my free time to prove that Danny’s innocent. But I think you should be prepared to postpone the trial.”
“Why is that?”
“I think a competency hearing is in order. Danny has about a seventh grade understanding. He couldn’t possibly understand court proceedings.”
Jericho finished his water off and set the glass down on the edge of the mantel. “The D.A. has already gotten the judge to waive a competency hearing. He’ll be arraigned tomorrow as scheduled and the trial will go forward.”
“You agree with the D.A.?” Kate snapped.
“Not entirely, but I don’t see any merit in dragging Danny to a competency hearing. He knows right from wrong. That much I gathered when I talked to him.”
She stared at him long and hard, her chest heaving with temper, her jaw set so rigid her teeth hurt. She knew that his hands weren’t tied. He could order a competency hearing if he wanted to, but he was Roth’s fair-haired boy, running for D.A. with his blessing. She nodded. “I see. Now that Roth has endorsed you, you don’t want to step on his toes. I’m sorry I disturbed your workout. I’m sure you’ll want to get back to it.”
“Wait just a damn minute. My decision has nothing to do with my political aspirations.”
“Oh, convince me.”
“I think Danny’s lying because he’s scared. He knows the difference between right and wrong, Kate. A competency hearing would cost the taxpayers. It’s part of my job to make sure that their money is well spent. I don’t think it would be in this case.”
“Danny’s not lying.”
“How do you refute the candlestick evidence?”
“Okay, he’s lying about that. I’ll concede that, but he says he didn’t kill Mrs. LePlante.”
“How do you know that?”
“I asked him.”
“Do you thin
k he would tell you the truth?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know, Kate. He knows how you feel about him. He knows you have a place of power, one that could help him. I don’t think he’s as handicapped as he lets on.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He asked me pretty pointed questions abut the trial. I think he can participate in his own defense.”
“He’s got a good defense attorney now. In fact, I think that Stephen Castle is one of the few who has defeated you in the past.”
“He’s good, but this time he doesn’t have much with which to defend his client. The forensic evidence is overwhelming.”
“It is. I’ll give you that. I should go, and let you finish your workout before it gets too late.”
“There’s still something I want to discuss with you.” He stepped forward. “Are you still mad at me about last night, Katie?”
“No. I wasn’t mad at you last night, just feeling cornered.”
“Is that what I do to you? Make you feel cornered. Not very flattering.”
“I guess not. But I don’t want to be pushed into something I’m not ready for.”
“We’ve been playing games now for a while. I’d say it was time for action. If I remember correctly, you threw down the gauntlet.”
“And so did you.”
“I told you what my reasons were for not pursuing something with you. You didn’t tell me yours.”
“What? For not pursuing you? How could I do that when every time I came into your presence, you didn’t even flutter an eyelash? I figured you weren’t interested.”
“That’s lame, Kate. You are like a pit bull in the lab. I’ve never seen a more organized woman, so what was it about me that you were afraid to find out?”
“I wasn’t afraid.”
“Was it that I wouldn’t be interested or that I would?”
“Just because you have no doubts about my loyalty and my intelligence doesn’t mean you know me.”
“I think I do know you. You value the intellectual world over the physical. You like to classify and categorize. It helps you continue to view life as a mental challenge. But life isn’t a spectator sport. It needs to be experienced, Kate. It needs to be embraced.”
“I embrace life. I do everything I can to fulfill my dreams.”
“Do you? From what I can see, you’re rigid, repressed and a perfectionist.”
Stung, she faced him. Her chin lifted a notch. She would never let on how much that hurt. “Well, thank you very much for your assessment of my boring personality. I’m thankful that I have you to point out my flaws.”
She walked past him. The scent of his body reached out and tugged at her, but she ignored it. She ignored the tingling in her nerve endings, ignored the fact that Jericho seemed to be able to reach right down into her psyche and pinpoint her personality as if he was some kind of shrink. She should know better than to try to pull one over on him.
She could do it to other men, but Jericho saw right through her as if she were transparent.
She would have to admit that they had some kind of bond. All the years she’d worked for him had he been watching her, studying her to get an idea of what kind of woman she was. It seemed that he was as intrigued by her mind as he was by her body.
Her arousal hit her like a ton of bricks. The thought that he wanted to explore not only her body but also her mind made her shake inside.
It shook the foundations of her belief of him as a lone wolf prosecutor who cared nothing at all about people. He only wanted to win. But had she been blinded by her own stereotypes of rich men? Men of power who used it to further their own gains?
“Everyone has flaws, Katie. That’s what makes them unique. I can be a self-righteous, relentless and merciless bastard when I’m in the courtroom. No one. No one is going to escape justice if I have anything to say about it. I’m fanatical about it.”
“What do you want from me?”
“I just want to know the woman who put on that red dress and came strutting into the courtroom. I see a side of you that you don’t. I know there’s heat in you, passion. Wake up, Kate. Let me see you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do. You don’t want to admit it to me or to yourself. But I want her, that woman you keep repressed. Oh yes, I want her.”
Something inside her snapped. His seductive tone, his hard, accessible body and the way he goaded her made her want to shock him, to give him something to remember. Show him that she wasn’t afraid of her own sexuality.
“You want to see her, Jericho?” she asked as she turned toward him. The material of her skirt brushed against her thighs, sending sensuous tremors all over her body.
A small, rational corner of her brain told her she was taunting a tiger, but she didn’t listen. Something inside her was pushing her to recklessness. She didn’t understand it, wasn’t sure she wanted to understand it, but she couldn’t seem to stop.
She set her keys on the small table by the door to the hallway and leaned her back into the wall. And the woman she wanted to be was finally set free from her restraints.
She sent the palms of her hands over the silky material covering her hips and down her thighs until she reached the hem of the skirt.
His eyes trailed fire down her body as he followed her hands.
She lifted the hem, rotating her hips against the wall, pulling the material up until she could reach her sex with her hand. Pushing the skimpy bit of thong aside, she slid her fingers into the wet, welcome heat of her body.
“Do you want to know what I fantasize about, Jericho?”
His nostrils flared. “Tell me, Katie. I’m dying to know,” he said with an edge to his voice. His eyes watched her hand, every pleasurable nuance on her face as if he could absorb every sensation she felt.
He had eyes that were like a deep, tempting whirlpool, captivating enough to suck her across the threshold into another dimension, a dark, dangerous dimension.
His thoughts were there in his eyes, exposed, jagged and distinct. His excitement so heavy and thrilling, it left her skin tingling.
“I think about how it would be with you.” She slid up her shirt, until her lacy bra was exposed. She cupped her breasts until her cleavage showed. Then she released the clasp of her bra by slowly unsnapping the front and peeling the material away from her breasts.
As he stared at her, his eyes darkened; his gaze on her flesh burned her skin.
Her voice came out hushed and breathless. “I imagine you behind me, your hands sliding over my belly, then cradling my breasts in your hard, hot hands, caressing their softness. I imagine your lips against my throat, your breath warm against my skin, the rasp of your stubble as you kiss my neck and shoulder. I want you to use your tongue and lick the tangy sweetness between my breasts.”
Jericho made a growl of appreciative pleasure low in his throat. He made no move toward her, as if he knew she needed to do this, craved it as much as she did. Her awakening.
“I can almost feel the heat and sucking wetness of your mouth as you kiss and lick me, your tongue swirling and tasting. Your hot mouth fastens over my nipple, making me gasp, hardening the tips and making them throb with the rhythm of my heart. I wonder how you’ll take me, finally when we join. Calm and dreamy, or hard and fast. I wonder what kinds of things you could do with that beautiful, clever mouth.”
Her hand slid between her thighs, her words getting bolder the more she aroused herself. “I see you sink to your knees in supplication, kissing my stomach, pressing your face to my soft curls. Your hot breath causes my hips to surge forward in need, wanting the press of your mouth against that delicious ache between my legs.”
She touched herself, following the path that Jericho’s hands would travel if they were on her body. His hands clasped into fists as if he fought his own overwhelming desire. “You would use those big hands to part my slick folds,” she gasped, moaning, “while you tease my sti
ff, engorged clitoris with your tongue.”
The words coming out of her mouth shocked her as much as she was shocking Jericho. They were urgent and hungry and explicitly detailed. Her mind was racing now and she strove to keep up with each graphic thought.
The hot need in his eyes was almost unbearably intense. The sense of his resolve weakening made her need pulse in her body, heavy and delicious.
She was overcome by the restless ache between her thighs. With fierce, moaning impatience, she pressed back against the wall, eagerly sliding her sensitized skin against the silky skirt.
Her legs fell open and her fingers slid eagerly into the dampness between her legs. A flurry of sensual images swirled in a tumult behind her eyes. The image of him pushing her legs apart, pressing his face against her sex, his hot mouth closing over her clitoris, sucking with slow, gentle skill, sent sensations twisting through her as she imagined the thrust of his tongue deep into the burning, shuddering heart of her.
She imagined him lifting her against the hard wall, felt the heat, the press of his hard, powerful body. Then glorious contact as he thrust into her with one frenzied stroke, and then staggering pleasure as he pumped his muscled hips against her. She would wrap her arms around him for balance, as an anchor, clutching him tight as he thrust deeper and harder, his powerful arms supporting her, his eyes gazing into hers, seeing her soul revealed, luminescent, fully his.
That pushed her over the top. She arched against the wall with a sharp cry and came. Her body shaking with a continuous shuddering surge of carnal gratification, more forceful than any orgasm she had ever experienced.
She slid against the wall as bright sparks of fire ignited and extinguished, leaving her utterly satisfied, and satiated.
When she opened her eyes, Jericho was no longer on his feet. He was kneeling on the floor, panting; sweat trickled down his temples, over his dark stubble, down his elegant throat.
She’d brought him to his knees. It drove her crazy, tearing down her image of herself, releasing something deeper and fiercer, something heightened and exalted and savagely feminine.
