by Exley Avis
Lovers In Law
By
Avis Exley
Published by Avis Exley at Smashwords
Copyright 2012 Avis Exley
Author Note
Avis Exley opened her first romance novel at the age of fourteen and has been reading and writing them ever since. A slave to research, she’s travelled the world in the company of international playboys, property magnates, ultra-successful businessmen, medieval knights and even a Viking prince. A typical day sees Avis lying on a silken cushion and sipping champagne whilst auditioning handsome, well-muscled men for a starring role in her next story.
Although brought up in the English countryside, Avis heard the streets of London were paved with gold and headed for the capital. It was love at first sight. She instantly fell for the city’s history, energy and iconic sights, and she’s so proud it’s been the focus of the world during the Jubilee and Olympic year. Now London and Britain’s lesser-known locations provide the inspirational backdrop for the first of Avis’s novels to be released in e-book form. Find Avis Exley’s extracts on Tumblr, Pinterest and Facebook to see if you can fall in Brit Love too.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Please help prevent copyright infringement
E-books are so easy for illegal sites to copy redistribute without any payment going to authors. This e-book is only available through Amazon, Lulu or sites linked to Smashwords and is not being offered for sale anywhere else. If you downloaded this from any other website, it’s an illegal copy and I’d be grateful to hear where you found it. [Don’t worry, I won’t make you pay me again for it!]
If you’ve enjoyed this book, please tell your friends about it, or lend them your e-book reader so they can read it for free, but please don’t share the electronic file. Pirate sites prosper at the expense of authors – so put the money where it deserves to go and there’ll be plenty more books for you to enjoy in the future.
Thanks so much for your help, Avis xx [email protected]
Copyright 2012 Avis Exley
All rights reserved. This e-book [or any portion thereof] may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Whilst I’d love the characters to be real, this is a work of fiction. Except for London’s iconic hotels and locations, all other names, characters, events, places and brands are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.
Advisory – 18+ content. This hot romance is intended for an adult audience only.
To make this story even more exciting, it has its own Tumblr and Pinterest pages, with pictures of the novel’s iconic locations and story extracts. Share the romance by finding out more about the book’s settings and visiting the places the characters live, work and fall in love.
Pinterest http://pinterest.com/avisexley/ Tumblr http://avisexley.tumblr.com/
Please friend me on Facebook too http://www.facebook.com/AvisExleyRomanceAuthor
Chapter One
Eavesdroppers rarely hear good things of themselves. Or so the saying goes.
Although, for me, it was actually a chance to hear something less than complimentary about someone else.
Half the office heard the argument raging between the two senior partners but they were so common, I ignored it. My ears only pricked up when my name was mentioned.
“You can’t send Allie up to London on this case.” Mr Ellis’s voice boomed down the corridor.
What case?
Intrigued, I edged closer to his open doorway. Half of me later wished I’d stayed at my desk and covered my ears.
“Why can’t she go?” Mr Brindley demanded, equally loudly. “She’s a damned good lawyer. She’s quick, intelligent, more than amply qualified…”
“…because it’d be like feeding her to the lions. You know that man’s reputation as well as I do.”
What man? What reputation?
My mobile slid out of my hand, hit the floor and the partners turned toward the noise. Both had the grace to look guilty when they saw me. Mr Ellis smiled but he was as reassuring as a crocodile.
“Come in, Allie. Sit down. We were just discussing the Zeus Hotel case.”
Discussing was hardly the word I’d have used but there are times when it’s better to stay quiet. Particularly around the senior partners.
Instead, I sat down and did my best not to look intimidated.
“You know the case?” Mr Brindley guessed and I nodded.
It would be hard not to. The law suit was massive and everyone had had a hand in it at one time or another.
“I thought Mike was working on it,” I said. He’d been the one putting in the long hours and stressing about it for the last month. “Why do you want me involved?”
“Because we don’t want any mistakes,” Mr Ellis said. “Your academic record is unsurpassed and you have the dedication it will take.”
I don’t mean to blow my own trumpet, but he was right on both counts. However, when a senior partner starts complimenting you, you know you’re in big trouble. I looked at Mr Brindley for clarification.
“Mike broke his leg at rugby training last night,” he said starkly. “We don’t have anyone else to fill in at such short notice.”
Honest, if not very reassuring.
But a big case like this would look great on my CV as well as giving me some leverage when it came to demanding a partnership. I asked what I needed to do.
“See Mike. He’s out of hospital. He’ll talk you through the papers.”
Great, I’ll go there as soon as I’ve bought my lion-taming outfit, I thought.
Mike took a full five minutes to answer the door of his flat. He hobbled in front of me back to the living room and dropped down gratefully onto the sofa.
I took the time to appreciate his tight, toned butt and the way his broad shoulders flexed under his T-shirt when he rested on his crutches. He wore shorts because of the plaster cast, and his heavily-muscled thighs with their rough covering of hair just cried out to be touched.
Had I met Mike in a bar, I’d have jumped him, no question. Great looking guy. Sexy eyes. A body that would keep a girl warm all night long.
But I have one golden rule. I don’t play that close to home.
Legal ethics puts the clients off limits and I don’t sleep with colleagues either. When I make it to the top, I want everyone to know I did it with my brain – not with any other part of my anatomy.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” Mike said, wincing in pain as he put his foot back up onto the coffee table. He dropped his crutches onto the floor and gave me one of his megawatt smiles.
“Bad news travels fast.” I said. “Or faster than you do anyway.”
Mike laughed. “I wouldn’t exactly call it bad news but I can’t pretend I’m not relieved to be off the case.”
I wasn’t expecting this. Mike was ferociously competitive and he’d normally be pulling out all the stops to get a piece of a big law suit like this. My lawyer’s intuition made me cautious.
“Why do you say that?”
“It’s a complex case. The stress is getting to me, that’s all.”
It wasn’t like level-headed Mike to crack under the pressure. This was more serious
than I’d thought.
“It’s about time someone told me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” I said, giving him my best cross-examination stare.
Mike gave me another of his heart-racing smiles and I wondered about maybe bending my own golden rule just once. After all, for an injured man, it could be deemed an act of mercy.
Mike shrugged.
“The Zeus Development Company built a multi-million pound leisure complex on Cyprus three years ago.” he began. “Last year, massive cracks appeared in the walls. We’re acting for British-owned Zeus who are suing the Greek builders for negligence.”
“I read that much in the file,” I said. He wasn’t getting away that easily. “I’m here to find out what the paperwork won’t tell me. It has to be something big to stress you out this much.”
He shook his head. “This is nothing to do with the case. It’s personal. You need to make up your own mind.”
The last piece of evidence clanged into place. “This about Radford Byrne,” I guessed. A lawyer to the core, I didn’t miss the way Mike avoided eye contact. I drove in for the kill. “Ellis was shouting about feeding me to the lions. I assume Radford Byrne is the beast he was talking about.”
Realising I wouldn’t leave until I’d heard the worst, Mike told me what I wanted to know. He didn’t bother to sugar-coat it either.
“Radford Byrne is the best barrister money can buy. Brilliant. Intelligent. Terrifying in court.”
“And terrifying outside of it too, by the sounds of it.”
“Add to that, self-opinionated, egotistical, overbearing and arrogant and you might be getting nearer to the truth.”
“You’re really selling him to me.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “He sounds like a sweetheart.”
“He didn’t get to the top of his profession by being nice.”
Mike took a painkiller and grimaced. I wasn’t sure whether it was because of his leg or because of some painful memory related to Radford Byrne.
“The problem is, Byrne’s always right,” he went on. “And he’s a genius at what he does. But he expects everyone else to be as sharp as he is.”
“I can be sharp,” I said.
“You’d better be. Or else.”
“Or else, what?” I wondered whether I really wanted to know.
“He’ll tear you apart. And don’t think he’ll go easy on you just because you’re a woman.”
Radford Byrne was sounding more like a lion by the minute. I gave my all for the office but drew a line at dismemberment.
“So you’ve worked with him before?” I guessed.
“Once. Just after I qualified.” The memory obviously still smarted because Mike flinched. “I misfiled a report on one of his cases. Byrne shouted so loudly, a court usher came into the robing room to check I was all right. I thought he was going to punch me.”
I laughed at the thought of brash, confident Mike reduced to a quivering mass. “I’ll learn by your mistakes.”
“You’d better.” He wasn’t joking. “Radford Byrne is the most difficult man in the world to work for and he’s a perfectionist. He’ll expect the same from you.”
“Anything else?” I have to admit, by now I was afraid to ask.
“Don’t take anything personally. He’s not treating you badly – he just doesn’t treat anyone else any better.”
Not exactly inspiring words to send me up to London two days later but I’m a big girl and can take care of myself. Most of the time, anyway.
I’d spent the past thirty-six hours familiarising myself with the file, going over every page until I could recite sections of it in my sleep. What I didn’t know about concrete could have been written on the back of a postage stamp. And as I have a photographic memory – always an advantage – I found it easy to recall the most obscure dates and facts. I’d even gone as far as reading Radford Byrne’s textbook on building disputes and, if pushed, I could probably quote him chapter and verse.
He wouldn’t find me making rookie mistakes or misfiling reports.
The taxi dropped me a few minutes before nine near Temple, home to many of London’s barristers, and the kind of place where you expect to find Charles Dickens around every corner. Radford Byrne’s chambers stood in the corner of a large, cobbled courtyard where a board outside listed counsel in order of seniority. As a queen’s counsel, or silk, one of Britain’s higher tear of barristers, Radford was predictably near to the top. As Mike had said, he probably hadn’t risen that far up the list through being nice.
Undaunted, I smoothed down my skirt and fastened my jacket. Although I can get by just fine on brains alone, I often give them a helping hand by dressing to impress. Usually I’d go for businesslike designer suits and low-heeled shoes but I got the feeling that I’d need to go the extra mile on this case.
No matter how hard-bitten and cynical a man pretends to be, a tight-fitting skirt, scooped neckline and high stilettos always swings legal opinion in my favour.
And in my experience, no man expects a beautiful woman to be intelligent as well.
So win-win.
The clerks’ office was buzzing at that time in the morning with barristers rushing off to court. Before I could tell anyone I’d arrived I bumped into a junior barrister I’d met on a case the year before. He’d tried his luck back then. Invited me to dinner and made it very obvious he was interested. He had the looks and was used to sweet-talking a jury so he’d thought I’d be a pushover.
Only he hadn’t known my golden rule about never playing that close to home.
For old times’ sake, he gave it another go.
“There’s a new club opening in the West End this Friday. I have VIP tickets if you’re interested.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I have plans.”
“Another time then?”
“Thanks but no thanks.” He couldn’t quite get his head around the refusal so I added, “I’m seeing someone.”
“Serious?”
“Engaged,” I lied and smiled at his disappointment.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, but before I could answer, a commanding voice reverberated down the corridor. My companion blanched.
“Where the hell is that damned woman?” the man demanded, drawing nearer. “She was due fifteen minutes ago. Someone call the solicitors and find out why she’s not turned up.”
Guessing I was the damned woman, I rounded on the voice just as its owner strode into sight, ready to give him the sharp edge of my tongue.
But the words died in my throat and I took a step backwards
When Mike had told me about Radford Byrne, he’d left out the most important detail.
The man was quite simply gorgeous.
Not the ordinary, drop dead, kind of gorgeous.
I’m talking the melt your bones with his big, blue eyes gorgeous. The brooding, mean and moody, beast between the sheets type of a guy. And with the kind of body that makes you just want to lie down and say,
Yes please. Fuck me right now. Any way you like.
Chapter Two
My voice caught in my throat.
When my clerk had told me Brindley & Ellis were sending a replacement solicitor, he’d left out the most important detail.
This woman was quite simply gorgeous.
Not the ordinary, strutting down the catwalk kind of gorgeous.
I’m talking the drive you insane with lust kind of gorgeous. The hot, hungry-mouthed tigress between the sheets type of woman. And with the kind of body that makes you want to pin her to the bed, rip off her clothes and say,
I want to fuck you right now. Any way you like.
She rounded on me, her startling, green eyes flashing furiously with righteous indignation. My cock hardened at the thought of that kind of aggression in my bed.
“For your information, I’ve been here fifteen minutes,” she said, “talking to John.”
John quaked when I looked at him, although it hurt to tear my eyes away from this wom
an. John obviously had the hots for her too and I wondered whether there was any history between them. I hoped not. I didn’t make a habit of following in lesser men’s shoes.
“Perhaps you should have made yourself known to my clerk instead of gossiping with junior counsel,” I said.
“And perhaps you should have checked before shouting the odds about that damned woman.”
Her full lips pursed, glistening with deep red lipstick; the kind that leaves kiss-marks across your chest and you never want to wash them off.
“Well you’re here now.” I didn’t offer an apology because I quite liked the way anger sat with her. “And you don’t look anything like Mike.”
The permafrost melted slightly and she half smiled. “That’s a relief,” she said. “He’s six foot two, muscular and very hairy.”
Whereas this woman was tall, curvaceous and classy with long brunette hair and even longer legs. My favourite brand of sexy.
And intelligent too, which was never a disadvantage.
“I hear Mike’s had an accident,” I said, thinking that, whatever had happened, it had been a happy accident for me.
“He’s broken his leg,” she confirmed. “He’s not so fast on his feet right now.”
“Neither are you by the looks of it.”
I nodded toward her black patent-leather shoes with the high, high heels that accentuated her long, long legs.
In my fantasy, she kept the stilettos on while I fucked her.
“I’m not here because of how fast I can run,” she said. Again the anger flashed. I’d wounded her pride and she didn’t like it. “You need help putting this case together and I’m the best my office has.”
She held out her hand to shake mine. Her nails were long and polished red. They’d look so sexy clenched around my cock.