My girl. I guessed the firm didn’t have a fraternization policy with its employees!
As I started my day, I couldn’t keep from randomly smiling as I remembered the sweet things Holt had whispered to me over the weekend as he made love to me and brought me to such heights of pleasure that I never imagined existed. The memories alone made my panties grow damp and my pulse flutter.
“You look awfully happy for a Monday morning,” Misty’s sarcastic voice said behind me as I stood at the copying machine. “Meet a new book boyfriend or something?” she snorted.
“Or something,” I replied sweetly without turning around.
“Well, I had a wonderful weekend,” she continued. “Holt took me out to dinner on Saturday, and then he brought me home and then, well, let’s just say we pretty much only fed off of each other the rest of the weekend. Holt is just divine.”
“Oh, I’m quite sure he is,” I returned, smiling even bigger. Oh, if you only knew, you lying tart, I laughed to myself. I decided not to play along. I’d give her enough rope to hang herself, knowing eventually her lies would catch up with her.
“I mean, I didn’t want you to read too much into the lunch you had with him last week, you know? He’s so nice like that, to be extra nice to some like—“
I whirled to face her, crossing my arms. I raised my eyebrow and dared her to finish her sentence. “Someone like what, Misty?”
She must not have missed the hostile tone in my voice because typical of a bully, she backed down when confronted. “Well, um, I was just going to say I’m sure he felt sorry for how lonely you seem.”
“Madelyn,” Mrs. Holmes’s voice sounded from the door. “Mr. McCloskey would like to see you in his office right away.”
I looked up startled and a little unnerved by the seriousness of her voice. She was usually very cheerful around me, saving this particular tone for when she wasn’t pleased with something, or someone. “Of course. I’ll go right now.”
“Oh dear,” Misty gloated. “I hope you’re not in trouble or anything.” She sashayed across the room to sit at the table.
“Maybe you could get some work done,” I called over my shoulder. “Your ass is looking kind of flat from sitting on it, you know. I’ve heard Mr. Andrews likes a woman with a few curves.”
Oh, if looks could kill, I’d be six feet under.
I’d managed to project an image of calm, but inside I was a mess of nerves. In the weeks that I’d worked here, Mr. M had called a few times to check on me, but I’d never been called into the office of any of the partners. What if word had gotten back to him about Holt kissing me? Maybe the powers that be didn’t approve of employees dating. I didn’t want to get Holt in trouble, but I couldn’t afford to lose this job either.
By the time I’d ridden the elevator two floors up and walked down the hall, I was a mass of nerves. It only grew worse after the secretary directed me into Mr. M’s office and I saw Holt already there, standing with his back to the door and hands shoved in his pockets as he stared out the window.
“Madelyn,” Mr. M exclaimed. “Come in, come in.”
Holt turned around at my name and smiled at me, but his eyes remained troubled.
“Is there something wrong?” I asked, wringing my hands.
“Come sit down, my dear.” Mr. M guided me to a leather chair in front of my desk. I perched on the edge of the chair. I glanced at Holt as I did, but his expression didn’t give any clues. “Holt was just catching me up.”
I wondered exactly what Holt caught him up on. My eyes shot to Holt, who left the window to lean against the back of Mr. M’s huge oak desk. He crossed his ankles but left his hands in his pockets. The man in front of me didn’t resemble the one who’d kissed me goodbye just an hour or so ago. He held himself rigidly, and his body almost hummed with tension.
“Holt has a few questions we need you to answer, okay?” Mr. M nodded encouragingly at me, but it did nothing to make me feel better.
Even in the informality of Mr. M’s office, I felt like I was on a witness stand.
I risked another glance at Holt. His mouth was pulled tight, but his eyes softened when he looked at me. He straightened up and walked behind Mr. M’s desk while he asked, “Can you tell me a little bit more about the application process you went through for the scholarship offered by the company Paul Regis represented?”
It seemed like an odd question to me, but innocent enough. “Mostly, I just had to fill out personal information, list my classes and grades, and have the guidance counselor sign it to verify my GPA. Oh, and I had to write a short paragraph about what I wanted to major in and why.”
“What kind of personal information?”
“I don’t remember, Holt. It was several years ago. I think it was just the basic information, such as name, address, phone, social security number, family contacts, you know the usual. Oh, and I think I had to show him a bank statement proving we didn’t have anything in the way of savings.”
He picked up a pencil and played with it, tapping the eraser end on the desk as if thinking. “Can you remember if you signed any other papers, maybe authorizing him the freedom to check into your credit or any other financial information?”
“Credit? Us?” I snorted. “You must be kidding.” But at his serious look, I tried again. “I sort of remember him saying he had to make sure I was truly deserving of the financing he had to offer,” I said. “Holt, why is this an issue? Did I do something wrong?”
His eyes darted to his boss before coming to rest on me. “Not knowingly, no.”
I shot to my feet. “What does that mean?”
He came back around and stood in front of me, seizing my hands. “It means you were taken advantage of from the very beginning, Maddy. There was never any scholarship sponsored by the lumber mills in your town.”
My heart fell to my feet. “That…that can’t be, can it?”
His stoic expression broke. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I think you were set up from the very beginning, maybe for identity theft, possibly something more or different, I just can’t figure it out, yet,” he said, pain roughening his voice.
Shaking, I pulled away from Holt and staggered across the office. I wanted to be angry. I wanted to yell, and curse, and shout at another injustice. I wanted to lash out and demand answers, but the person who had them was dead – by my hands. Instead, I remained silent, unable to think of a good answer. All the hope I’d once placed on getting out of my circumstances, all the blame I placed on myself for screwing it up so badly, and it had never been mine in the first place? If that option had never been placed in my path, the domino effect that followed would have never happened.
I felt detached, as if I was a helium balloon that had lost most of the gas that kept it in the air, hovering just above the ground, and now someone had taken a pin and popped a hole, letting any hope of staying afloat vanish.
The room spun slightly, and I threw out a hand to grab onto something before I fell. Strong arms caught me instead, lifting and carrying me to a loveseat where they carefully lowered me. Gentle hands stroked my cheeks while a deep voice called to me.
My eyes fluttered open. I captured one of Holt’s hands and held it tight, begging him with my eyes for answers I knew he didn’t have, but I wanted anyway. Mr. M hovered anxiously in the background, bringing me a cup of cold water. After several sips, Holt helped me to sit up. Taking a few minutes to digest what Holt had told me, the shock began to wear off, but anger was quick to leap up and take its place. I dropped his hand and stood up. What did he know that I didn’t? The one thing I’d asked of him was not to keep secrets from me.
“I want to know everything that made you leap to that conclusion,” I demanded.
He glanced at his boss, who nodded. “John and I were both worried about how you were being targeted, especially so soon after your release. With John’s backing, I used some of my contacts to start looking into anyone who had something to do with Regis’s death, including Regis himse
lf, his wife, and Charly. You asked me not to keep secrets from you, Maddy, but at the same time, I didn’t want you to stop me, especially when it came to Charly. I know you feel responsible for her in some way.”
“Oh, I think I stopped feeling sorry for her a long time ago,” I muttered. “Sooo,” I stared hard at each of them, “does this mean you’ve found something on one of them?”
“Yes. Something didn’t sound right about Regis and the scholarship he offered to you. I’d never heard of anyone going directly to a school and seeking a recipient. And further, he made it much too personal when he sought you out at your house. Schools might be made aware of grant or scholarship monies, but it’s up to the individuals to apply for it. I’m not sure why your counselor didn’t pick up on it.”
I scowled. “We were the only high school in the area, and he was very convincing, trust me.”
“I also contacted the lumber company about the scholarship, and they said they’ve never offered one, not before or since the year you were a senior. We also snooped into the history of Regis’s finances. He seemed to maintain a fairly moderate account for several years, then there was a significant bump for a few months.”
“So what’s so strange about that? Maybe he got a pay raise.”
“On the surface, that would be a normal conclusion,” Holt confirmed. “Only his records show him maintaining the same title and position over that same time period, and my investigator was able to confirm in an interview with the company that he’d never been promoted or earned any bonuses.”
“So maybe he was working a second job or his wife earned some extra income.”
He laughed sharply. “Unlikely. Sharon Regis has never held a job in her miserable life until her husband died.”
“You mean until I took her and her children’s provider away from her,” I corrected sadly.
Mr. M intervened. “No, Madelyn. You protected your sister from an evil man who would have raped her or worse, and then you were wrongly accused and wrongly sentenced.”
“It doesn’t matter. In the end, I still took a man’s life.”
“And saved a woman’s, Madelyn!” Holt practically shouted and threw his hands in the air. “It isn’t pretty, but it isn’t a black and white scenario, either. You did what you had to.”
“How do you know that, Holt? What makes you so certain when you weren’t even there?”
“Because I know you, Madelyn Grace Stone. I’ve seen you here at work, and I hear what people say about you. I watched you with my family. I’ve listened, really listened, to what you told me about your family growing up, and I heard between the lines what you didn’t say. I know you are incapable of hurting anyone deliberately. You’d rather allow others to hurt you. You’re genuine and you’re not afraid to stand up for others you care about, whether it’s standing up to brawly barkeeps, cleaning up after an alcoholic father, or protecting a self-absorbed sister. Those are the actions of a woman who would never deliberately hurt another person.”
Seeing myself through his eyes made me pause. I had always assumed it was my role in life to take care of those around me since in a twisted sense I felt responsible for their circumstances. But he was right. I could have ignored them. So many times I could have chosen to walk away because on some level, I knew they’d never care one way or the other. Instead I chose to keep trying. “Is that your closing statement, Counselor?” I smiled.
“More like my opening argument,” he chuckled. “I sense there’s still one juror I have to convince, and since she’s kind of stubborn I have a feeling I have some more work to do. But know this, Madelyn Stone, this is not a case I’m going to lose.”
He’d closed the distance between us while he finished speaking. He stood so close I had to crane my neck to look up at him.
“I like it when you try to go all legalese on me,” he whispered, making such ordinary words sound so seductive. His head began to lower, but a sudden clearing of the throat jerked us apart.
Mr. M, the boss of both of us, was staring at us with bemusement. “I was wondering if the latest water cooler talk was true,” he commented, looking purposefully at how close we were standing.
I started to step away, but Holt shot out his arm and pulled me against his side. “John, you may as well know that I have strong feelings for Madelyn. I’m going to do everything in my power to protect her and figure this out. I trust you don’t have a problem with that?”
I stared at him before breaking out in a huge smile. I reached one arm around his back and slid the other one up the front of his suit coat, resting my hand over his heart. He looked down and returned my smile.
Turning my attention back to the man who’d stepped in and helped get my life back in order, I waited for his response. Mr. M’s eyes darted back and forth between the two of us before a large grin broke out on his face.
“Oh, I more than approve. I couldn’t be more pleased that you’ve found each other. Forgive me, but I feel a bit like a proud father, or perhaps grandfather is more accurate,” he chuckled.
He knew how much those words meant to me. I slipped out from Holt’s arm and gave this man who’d given me more than my own family ever had a big squeeze.
“I’m not sure if that makes it easier or harder to tell you my new plan,” he said, returning my hug.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Holt suggested, and I agreed, that you should be his temporary new assistant.”
I had come up here expecting to lose my job, and I was being considered for a promotion of sorts? “But I don’t know anything about working in a law office!” I squeaked. “I’m not qualified!”
“Not in the traditional sense,” Holt acknowledged. “But it’s more administrative than anything. I need someone who can help keep me organized, take notes, put my files together…fetch my coffee,” he grinned.
“Humph. Seriously, though, isn’t that what Mrs. Talbot does for you?”
“She does some of it, but she also has other lawyers to keep up with in our cluster. And she can’t accompany me to court. You don’t need legal experience to do the job, Maddy. Sure, it helps, but this isn’t a paralegal job. It’s a lot of what you do already, except only for me. And since I have to be out of the office a lot in the upcoming weeks, I’d feel better having you with me.”
My hackles rose. “So, I’m only being offered this job because you want to keep an eye on me? I’m not a child! I don’t need a babysitter!”
It was hard enough the way I got my clerk job, but I had my pride; I wasn’t taking a job I wasn’t qualified for just to satisfy Holt’s need to protect me. This was taking it way too far.
“Maddy—“ Holt started. Mr. M slipped out the door, leaving Holt on his own. Smart man.
I stood there shaking my head.
“No, Holt. It’s just not right when there are other more qualified people looking for work.” I crossed my arms, ready to dig in my heels if he fought me on this. “I didn’t get out of prison just to be chained to someone else and not have any freedom to do what I want and make my own decisions.”
He looked horrified. “Is that how you see me? A chain? As someone who holds you back?”
The hurt in his voice was undeniable, and I knew once again I’d managed to misspeak.
“No!” I practically shouted and reached for him, but he took a step back. “No, Holt,” I continued gently. “You’ve done more for me than anybody I know to help me grow and set me free from the past. My grandmother always warned me not to let my mouth overload my tail, but I still seem to do it. I’m sorry. You mean more to me than anyone, more than I think you understand. And that scares me, too. Sometimes I feel like I’ve never had a chance to stand on my own two feet, and just when I thought I might be able to, you came along and swept me right off of them.”
This time, it was he who closed the gap between us. “I did?”
“Mmmhmm.” I grew breathless at both my confession and his closeness. I looked up at him. “I’m sorry I
made you feel otherwise.”
“Well, I can’t exactly stay mad, given all the times my tail has been crammed in my mouth or whatever the hell that saying was. You and your grannyisms.” He smiled. “Does this count as our first official fight as a couple? Cause that means make-up sex tonight.” He snaked his arms around my waist and pulled me close.
“I don’t know, are we officially a couple?” I teased.
“You better believe it, sweetheart. And if you need any further evidence, I’ll be happy to provide it.”
His head grew closer and his lips caught mine in a slow and sweet kiss that matched any romantic image I ever had in my head.
Long moments later he lifted his head, leaving me to gaze at him in a complete fog. “Now, about that job…”
Well, maybe there were some perks to working with him, I thought with a smile and pulled his head back down.
34
Maddy
It had taken some more convincing, but I’d finally agreed to work as Holt’s assistant temporarily, just until we figured out who was behind the fire. The clincher was when he showed me some video surveillance of a guy hanging around outside the office. It showed him following me through the lobby, turning around as soon as Holt stepped to my side.
I had never been in Holt’s office before. It turned out there was a small office space outside of his much larger one. It was simple, just a desk equipped with a computer and phone, and two wood file cabinets along the wall. The floor plan was laid out almost like an H, with Mrs. Talbot being the central crossbar, and she was truly the link that held everything together. Several lawyers and paralegals had offices along the hallways on either side of her. She answered the phone calls for each of the lawyers, advised their assistants of updates to the master calendar, kept track of court times and countless other details that helped assure the least amount of problems. She also filled in for absent assistants, which made her job harder and busier. Hence, the huge smile on her face when she learned I’d be Holt’s new assistant.
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