Courting Justice

by Brenda Jackson

  “And that hurts.”

  His mother’s simple statement pretty much summed it up. Hell, yes, it hurt. And over the past couple of weeks he’d had time for that hurt to fester into one agonizing and painful ache. And the sad thing about it was that he knew there was no cure. How could he go about changing something as deep-rooted as misplaced convictions? She knew his family, knew they considered her to be one of their own. Yet, Peyton had this fear that they were like all the others—people with money—and were no more than a bunch of snobs.

  He met his mother’s gaze. “Yes, it hurts.”

  His mother didn’t say anything for a moment. “I’ve been married to a Di Meglio man long enough to know how quickly that hurt, when untreated, can become anger that can consume you, eat you up inside.”

  He chuckled coolly. “I hate to tell you this, Mom, but it’s already eating me up inside. I’m mad because, of all the women out there, I fell for one who doesn’t give a damn about my feelings. I told her I loved her, and she tells me that she doesn’t love me back.”

  “So what are you going to do?” his mother asked in her concerned voice.

  He raised a defiant Di Meglio chin. “Get over her.”

  “That probably won’t be easy.”

  He couldn’t agree more. “No. But not impossible.”

  His mother didn’t say anything for a moment. “There has to be a better way. Sam has told me about Peyton’s fears and what that guy did to her years ago. I remember the first time a guy I thought I loved broke my heart. It made things hard for your father, so I can understand how she feels, Angelo.”

  “Well, I can’t,” he said angrily. “I am not him.”

  “No, you’re not,” Kayla Di Meglio said softly. “I know the Eltons, and they can be snobs at times. And I think that one day Peyton is going to realize you aren’t anything like their son.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. And probably when and if she does, it will be too late.”

  His mother stood. “I hope not. I can’t imagine any other woman who would compliment you more. Don’t stay too much longer. You need your rest.”

  He watched his mother leave, closing the door behind her. He gathered his papers together, deciding he would take her advice and leave, too. It had been a long day.

  He stood to put on his jacket when his cell phone rang. He glanced down at it and saw it was Peyton calling again. He knew Alex had delivered the results to her so she was calling to apologize for thinking the worst of him. She had called twice already that day, but he hadn’t taken either call, since he wasn’t ready to talk to her. Honestly, there really wasn’t anything to say.

  What she didn’t understand was that she hadn’t just questioned his judgment, she’d questioned his character. And the latter hurt worse than anything, since love, trust and faith were a package deal. But he could plainly see in her eyes, he didn’t have any of the three. Until he could deal with that and move on with his life, he’d rather not have any contact with her at all.

  Chapter 27

  Peyton hung up the phone knowing Angelo was deliberately avoiding her…like she’d been doing to him the past couple of weeks. She couldn’t really get mad about it, just annoyed.

  She stood up from her desk and walked over to the window and glanced outside. It was night already and she was still at the office. She had read the report again and at the end had called herself all kinds of fool. Gallant would have had a lot to lose had they been found guilty of disposing of chemicals in the water supply. And even Ms. Lora hadn’t wanted her to lean too heavily on Gallant, because of all their good works in the community. But she had been so convinced it had merely been a snow job, and just another example of what she deplored in corporate America, where Goliath always beat the little guy, that she hadn’t taken a good hard look at the facts. And that had been her first mistake.

  No, in all honesty, her first mistake was not believing in Angelo enough to know he would never have taken a case without first making sure those he represented were worth it. He would never sell out. Yet she had all but accused him of doing so.

  She turned when she heard the knock on the door and was surprised when Mac stuck her head in. “What are you doing here? I thought you left hours ago,” Peyton said.

  Mac smiled. “I had. In fact, I didn’t even return after my appointment with Judge Crawford at three this afternoon. I went home and surprised Luke with dinner.”

  “Then why did you come back at this late hour? Did you forget something?”

  Mac shook her head as she entered the office. “No, I got a call from Sam after dinner. She had talked to Angelo and he told her everything, and I figured you’d still be here.”

  Peyton pulled away from the window. Yes, she was still here. “By everything you mean Alex’s report that pretty much proves I made a fool of myself by not taking what Angelo said at face value,” she said. “He has every right to be somewhere gloating, but I know he’s not. He’s probably too angry to do so.”

  “Angelo wouldn’t gloat anyway. Not about you and not about this. He loves you too much…although from what I hear you’re the last person he wants to talk to.”

  “I’m not surprised. I’ve tried calling him three times today and he’s not taking my calls.”

  “Just like you weren’t taking his?”

  A wry smile touched Peyton’s face at the harsh reminder. “Yes, like I wasn’t taking his.” A moment later she said, “I guess you can say I’m getting what I deserve.”

  Mac tilted her head a little. “Yes, I can say that, but I won’t. And just so you know, Sam talked to her mother an hour or so ago and Angelo is not in a good mood and your name is practically mud about now.”

  “I can understand him feeling that way.”

  “And you’re going to accept that?” Mac asked.

  Peyton threw up her hands. “And just what am I supposed to do about it? I can’t force him to take my calls.”

  A sneaky smile touched Mac’s lips. “Why waste your time calling when you can hop on a plane and get a direct flight to New York? Unless, however, you’re afraid to face him and admit how wrong you were, how sorry you are and that you love him more than life itself. And that he’s worthy of all the groveling you need to do.”

  Peyton frowned. “Groveling?”

  “Of the most serious kind… . It’s reserved for men who’re most deserving and only in dire situations.”

  Peyton nibbled nervously on her bottom lip. “I think that this is one of those dire situations and he is most deserving.”

  “I agree. And I suggest you go home and map out your strategy. And remember he’s part Italian. He’s not going to make it easy for you.”

  She’d figured as much. “I’m going to be persistent,” she warned her best friend.

  “I understand. A woman’s got to do what a woman’s got to do. And with a man like Angelo, you might even have to go the extra mile or two.”

  Undaunted by the possibility, Peyton began clearing off her desk. “I have a court hearing at nine in the morning, and after that I’m outta here.”

  Mac nodded. “I understand.”

  Peyton glanced up. “What about Sam?”

  Mac grinned. “She understands as well. Remember, she’s married to Blade, and she didn’t make things easy for him either.”

  Mac crossed the room and gave Peyton a hug. “We just want you to be happy, and we believe Angelo is the man to do that. You just need to get that chip off your shoulder and believe that you’re worthy of any man, no matter who his family is and no matter how much money he has in his bank account. The only thing that matters is that he loves you and you love him.”

  Peyton wiped the tears from her eyes. For the second time in nearly ten years, she was crying over a man. But she knew that DeAngelo Di Meglio was worthy of e
very tear she shed.

  “I might be taking some more time off, too. Possibly another two weeks.”

  Mac smiled. “Your calendar is still clear. Take as much time as you need. FDR is working out quite nicely around here,” Mac said of the attorney who’d joined the firm last year when Sam had married and moved to Houston. “We’ll be able to handle things. We just want you to be happy. So go make up with your man.”

  Her man. Peyton grabbed her purse off her desk, liking the sound of that. “And I will, if I can get Angelo to forgive me.”

  “And you will try to make that happen, right?”

  Peyton nodded as they both headed toward her office door to leave. “Yes, with all my might.”

  Chapter 28

  Angelo glanced up at the knock on his office door. “Come in.”

  It was Mike from security downstairs. “A package was delivered to you, sir,” the younger man said, setting a box on Angelo’s desk.

  “Thanks.”

  “I see you’re working late again tonight, Mr. Di Meglio.”

  “Yes, Mike. I’ll be here for a couple of hours longer.”

  “All right. If you need anything just buzz.”

  “I will.”

  The man left, and Angelo stared at the box and then opened it. Inside there was a smaller box, prettily wrapped in white paper with a red bow on top. He noticed there was no card attached. He started to push it aside, but curiosity got the best of him so he opened it. Some of his clients sent him thank-you gifts on occasion, and he wondered who had sent this one.

  He pushed back the tissue paper to reveal a wooden shim. He frowned, wondering why anyone would send him a gift like that. He put the top back on the box and pushed it aside. He stared at it for a minute, but was still clueless.

  He wondered when and how the package had arrived, since there weren’t any postmarks on the box. Glancing at his watch, he saw it was close to eight o’clock. Most everyone had left for the day. His parents had a dinner date and had left a short while ago. They had invited him to join them, but he had declined their invitation, deciding in his present mood he wouldn’t be good company. He was thinking about making plans to join Lee Madaris in Dubai. Lee had returned there a few days ago with Mitch Ferrell to finalize the plans for the hotel.

  Deciding it was time for him to call it a day, he was pushing the papers on his desk aside when there was another knock at his door. Thinking it was Mike again, he said, “Come in.”

  He glanced up and his breath caught at the same time as his entire body stiffened. Peyton stood there, in the doorway, her face as beautiful as he remembered from the last time he’d seen her, although she’d been pretty damn angry then.

  “Hello, Angelo.”

  He slowly stood to his feet. “Peyton? What are you doing here? How did you get past security?”

  She entered the office, closing the door behind her. “I’m here to see you. I called earlier and talked to your mother. She gave me clearance with security.”

  Angelo nodded. His mother hadn’t mentioned anything to him. He decided to sit back down. “Okay, you see me. What is this about?”

  She strolled closer to his desk, and he watched her as his heart ticked up a beat. She was wearing a pair of dark brown slacks and a pretty mint-green blouse. The outfit looked totally feminine on her.

  She came to a stop and then perched her curvaceous bottom on the edge of his desk, almost knocking the breath out of him when she did so. She pushed a few wayward locks of hair back from her face. “I would think my gift would have explained it all,” she said, pointing to the box in the middle of his desk.

  He arched a brow. “You sent this?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why? Why would you send me a piece of wood?”

  She chuckled, and it was so soft it set off a sensuous quiver within him. “It’s not really a piece of wood, although I can understand you thinking so. It’s that chip I’ve been carrying on my shoulder for years now. I thought it was time I finally got rid of it.”

  He swallowed. “Have you?”

  “I think so, but there’re a few little splinters I need to take care of…with your help.”

  He released a frustrated sigh. A part of him refused to get caught up in whatever game she was playing. He wanted no part of it. He loved her. Had told her so, yet she didn’t want his love, so why should he care about any chips she was dealing with? “Not sure I want to help you, Peyton.”

  He saw a flash of something in her gaze and his heart caught. She was beginning to feel out of her element, and he could tell. Hell, what had she expected? He was a man with feelings, strong feelings. Feelings that ran deep and she hadn’t considered any of that, which let him know after all this time she really didn’t know him.

  She tilted her head back and licked those lips he enjoyed so much, with that tongue he longed to taste again. Fighting back the urge, he shifted in his seat.

  “I really wish you would reconsider,” she said.

  “Any reason why I should?” he asked coldly. Even he could hear the frosty bitterness in his tone.

  She eased off his desk, and he tried not to notice how the fabric of her slacks stretched across what he knew were a gorgeous pair of thighs. “Yes, I can give you plenty of reasons,” she said, drawing his attention to her face. “But I prefer dealing with the most important ones first, since I recently got to discover a few things about myself. Although I never admitted it, I was carrying around a lot of baggage.”

  “Were you?” he asked, watching her as she nervously began pacing in front of his desk. She stood still a second to answer his question.

  “Yes. It was a lot more than I thought, too. I’ve worked my way through a lot of it, and I’m proud of myself for doing so. I feel better, more confident and more secure.”

  “Are you?”

  “Yes.”

  If he sounded aloof, detached, unemotional and unsympathetic it couldn’t be helped. He had put his heart on the line with her, something he hadn’t done with any other woman. And instead of believing in him she had thought the worst.

  She stopped pacing again and stood still and met his gaze. “Another thing I’ve figured out, Angelo, is that I love you.”

  Shock slammed into him, and he drew in a deep breath. Those were words he hadn’t expected her to say. They almost did a jumpstart to his heart, but he refused to be moved by them. How could a woman who claimed she didn’t love you all of a sudden say that she did?

  “Really?” he heard himself ask. “And just when did you realize that you loved me, Peyton? I can clearly remember you telling me just a few weeks ago that you didn’t.”

  She began pacing again, not looking over at him. Instead, she was studying the floor as if she was trying to get her thoughts together, a tactic he often used in the courtroom just before he presented a final argument.

  She stopped in the center of the room in front of his desk and held his gaze again, and he felt a stirring of desire that he forced back, but it was hard when she was so damn desirable. “I could say I fell in love with you the night I turned thirty and you gave me the perfect orgasm at the perfect time. But you’d only think I was getting love confused with great sex.”

  Yes, he probably would, he thought.

  “Or I could say it was when you took me to that lagoon, and I remember how special I felt being there with you. But then again you’d only question my feelings.”

  She was right again.

  “Or I could say it was during the times we shared at Dunwoody, but I won’t bother because you’d only make excuses. But I will say that time I got to spend with you at the resort made me see what a great guy you were, how much fun you were to be with—in and out of bed. That was a great start.”

  “Was it?”

  “Yes. And it continue
d when you showed up in Oklahoma. I had fun that weekend.”

  So had he. Probably more than she would ever know. Definitely more than he would ever tell her now.

  “But it was when I returned to Chicago and had a chance to visit places that meant a lot to me, places and people in my past, who helped shape me into the person that I am, that I began wishing you were there, sharing it with me. And I began missing you like crazy. Then I knew what those funny little flutters were that I would feel at times when I would look at you when you weren’t aware I was looking. Those times when I would catch you watching me, those times when you were inside of me and I wished you would never have to leave. I knew then and planned to tell you that Thursday night we were to spend together at the hotel.”

  Something within him stirred again, and he tried fighting it to stay calm, but he couldn’t. He wanted to hear more. He needed her to explain more. “Then we faced off in the courtroom, and you suddenly thought this guy you supposedly loved was the scum of the earth?” he said in a sneering tone. “A guy who would forget about his values, his beliefs, basically his self-respect, not to mention discount the lives of good people—just to do what? Best you in court? Suck up to a new client? Just because I’m an asshole?”

  She shook her head. “None of those things,” Peyton pleaded. “It wasn’t about you, Angelo. It was about me and my insecurities. It was about that baggage I was referring to earlier. It was about me. I know that now, and whether you believe it or not, I was realizing those flaws even before Alex showed up. He merely solved the puzzle.”

  He leaned forward in his seat, his gaze pinned directly on her face. “So just what do you want from me, Peyton?” he asked, hearing the edge in his voice.

  “Your love.”

  His love? He’d given it to her, lock, stock and barrel. He’d planned to get to know her, court her. But courting her was like courting justice. At least her form of justice. She had been the judge and jury deciding his integrity and honesty. He hadn’t stood a chance. It hadn’t been justice, but injustice.