THE DEFENDER

by Adrienne Giordano

  “Where’s Russ?”

  A loud sucking noise came from the opposite corner of the garage and she spun backward. What’s that? Russ stood in the doorway kicking at the weather stripping—terrorized by weather stripping?—on the bottom of the door leading to the house. She slapped her hand over her chest.

  “Scared the hell out of me, Russell!”

  He snapped his head up and jiggled keys at her. “I went in the back door. We’re all set in here.”

  Penny marched up the three wooden steps and swung by Russ into a mudroom the size of a small office. “How far out is Elizabeth?”

  “Twenty minutes.”

  Russ waved her through the second door into the sunny yellow kitchen and its cozy breakfast nook. Cute, but the real deal was straight ahead, where hand-carved walnut floors led to an open living room and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the lake. Penny wandered the room, running her fingers over stuffed pillows and shelves holding clay pitchers and bowls. She imagined snuggling up on the huge sofa. And if a sexy FBI agent wanted to join her, that wouldn’t be a problem.

  Gummy bears. Think about the gummy bears.

  She glanced back at said agent. “This place looks like a Pottery Barn catalog. You feds know how to treat a witness.”

  “We seized it last year. Stockbroker turned Ponzi schemer.”

  She’d hit that one right. Russ flipped a switch on the wall and sent the drapes sliding closed. No. The man was killing her fantasy of the two of them curled up, watching the afternoon sun skitter across the lake.

  “Can we leave those open? The view is amazing.”

  “If we can see out, people can see in. They shouldn’t have been open in the first place.”

  Point there. So much for fantasies. Penny sighed.

  “Now my life is complete,” Russ said.

  “How’s that?”

  “You being...wistful.”

  “Wistful?”

  Please.

  But he stared right at her, those dark eyes devouring hers. So-oh-oh sexy.

  “I liked it. The softer side of Penny Hennings. Another facet to a fascinating package.”

  As if she believed that. “You think I’m fascinating? The FBI agent who hates defense attorneys.”

  He propped a hip on the arm of the sofa and crossed his arms. Casual, but guarded. “I don’t hate defense attorneys.”

  “You said—”

  “I hate that defense attorneys get criminals off. I don’t hate you. In truth, I rather enjoy you.”

  Hello, fantasy. If he kept this up, she’d have those curtains open in the next ninety seconds. There they’d be, the most unlikely pair the justice system ever saw, sprawled across that sofa, doing things she hadn’t done in a very—very—long time.

  “Russell—”

  The hum of a motor—garage door going up—sounded and Russ turned. Don’t kill this moment. Except Brent appeared, his hulking body filling the kitchen doorway.

  “Elizabeth Brooks and her son are here. Kid’s going nuts over the lake.” He glanced at Penny. “Kids are tough. Always wandering. I’m going to check the upstairs again before they come in.”

  Brent disappeared upstairs and Russ waved Penny to the couch. “Have a seat. Want something?”

  Oh, she wanted something. For a brief second, the room went silent, not a breath to be heard while Russ stared at her and she stared back, the two of them charging the current streaming in the room. Her stomach clenched. Maybe other things clenched, too. At this point, Brent and the entourage that had just pulled up were about to get booted for ten minutes.

  Whew. Hot in here.

  “Penny?”

  “Caffeine. Anything with caffeine. And some white gummy bears. I love gummy bears.”

  Not that her system needed any more activity, but she still mourned the latte she never got at Erin’s.

  “Gummy bears will have to wait. I’ll see what else we’ve got.”

  Russ came back with two cans of cola—one diet, one regular. Smart man to not assume she’d want the diet.

  She took the diet. It wasn’t a double-shot latte, but it would do. Another marshal—this one not as big—came through the mudroom, followed by Elizabeth and her son, Sam. The boy’s eyes were big and round and dark like his father’s had been—at least from the pictures Penny had seen. In those eyes there was sadness no twelve-year old should know.

  And just seconds ago, Penny had been entertaining wicked thoughts about Russ. How awful could she be? She had clients to care for and she was acting like a high-school twit.

  She leaped off the couch, went to Elizabeth and, setting the lawyer persona aside for a second, hugged her. They’d given the woman a rushed explanation and thirty minutes to pack. She probably needed a friend as well as an attorney right now. “I’m sorry for the short notice.”

  “It’s okay. If it came from you, I knew it was necessary.”

  Penny backed away, spotted Brent on the stairs. He gave a thumbs-up. She set a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Hey, pal. My guess is there are a few bedrooms up those stairs. How about you and your mom go up and pick a room?”

  “Really?”

  “Yep. You’re going to have a little vacation here.”

  One in which you will barely be allowed outside. She wouldn’t say that, though. Certain things were better left unsaid.

  Penny turned to Brent. “They can go up, right?”

  “All clear. We’ll be outside. Everyone stays inside. Holler if you need anything.”

  Elizabeth and Sam made their way upstairs, their footsteps clunking on the wood and echoing through the ceiling.

  Russ flopped onto the sofa and stretched his arms across the back. “What do you need?”

  She needed a lot of things. Things she wanted him to give her. She cocked her head, then took the chair across from him. No chance she’d risk being on the same sofa. Not with the heat they’d conjured a few minutes ago. That kind of heat had no place in this house when there was a woman and her son who needed their lawyer to be focused. No, sirree.

  “You’re thinking,” he said. “I can see it. You do this thing with your eyebrows. They sort of come up and together. It’s your tell.”

  “Really? Huh.”

  “I saw it in court that day. Right before you fried my intestines.”

  “Russell, get over it already.”

  He smiled, all sweet-talking, good-looking boy, and her stomach hitched again. He did that to her. Made her feel things she shouldn’t feel about a man who only wanted to clear a case. Focus on your client.

  “I like reminding you,” he said. “It gets you stirred up and you’re fun when you’re stirred up.”

  Men. Pigs. Every one of them. “Heath will call me tomorrow. I have to tell him something. I’m not sure what that is. So, to answer your question, what I need is to come up with a plan.”

  “You want my opinion?”

  Here’s a first. Defense attorney Penny asking an FBI agent—any law-enforcement officer, for that matter—for his opinion. Most law-enforcement members would happily offer an opinion, but it might be more along the lines of Penny taking a trip to hell. She supposed she couldn’t blame them, but she knew how to do her job. A job that protected the constitutional rights of American citizens.

  Penny leaned her head against the chair cushion. “I’m thinking I should tell him I’ll do it. I’ll lie to him. Tell him I’ll need time to slowly warm Elizabeth up to the idea of not testifying so it looks legit. He can’t argue that. He knows she’s smart and will be suspicious if I’ve suddenly changed my mind about her testifying.”

  “When he calls tomorrow, tell him you’ll convince her not to testify. It’ll buy us time to question her. Meantime, we’re looking for Heath and his shooter from yesterday. We�
��ll talk to people, shake up his contacts. When we find him, we’ll lock him up.”

  Penny pushed her palms into her forehead. “This is insanity. I have to tell my family. We’re all in danger.”

  Russ rose from the sofa and edged around the coffee table, testing his weight on it before sitting down.

  A vision of the table collapsing under him flashed and she clucked her tongue. “I’d have loved to have seen you fall flat on your bum if that table collapsed.”

  He glanced at the table and wiggled on it before grinning at her. “It stinks that you’re a defense attorney.”

  Oh, that playful smile of his might undo her altogether.

  “I’ll help you with your family,” he said. “I’m close to getting this guy and now he’s admitted he set up that shooting yesterday. He’s desperate. Otherwise, he doesn’t make that call.” He touched her arm. “It may not seem like it, but you’ve got the power here. You can destroy this guy.”

  She barely knew Russell Voight and he’d managed to figure out what she needed. She didn’t need to be coddled or patronized or babied. What she needed was to be reminded of her strength. Most men would rush in and tell her what to do. Russ? He told her she had power.

  Then he touched her arm and the gentle press blazed inside her. She looked up at him, into those dark eyes that were at once so expressive and yet so distant and she wanted to jump him.

  Fast.

  Right in this Pottery Barn house with Elizabeth and Sam upstairs and two U.S. marshals outside.

  What the hell is wrong with me?

  “You okay?” he asked.

  No. Wow, she was in deep doo-doo here. She lowered her voice and leaned closer. “I’m totally thinking X-rated thoughts about you.”

  * * *

  OF ALL THE WOMEN Russ shouldn’t want, Penny Hennings charged him up like no one he’d ever experienced. She drove him out of his mind with the snarky comments and her general distrust of law enforcement. And he still wanted her. Seriously twisted. “How X-rated?” he whispered.

  “Russell!”

  “Is it triple X or just single?”

  Penny slapped her palm against her forehead. “I wasn’t thinking that detailed. It was a few seconds. That’s all. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

  “Hey, these things are good to know.”

  She shook her head. “But I shouldn’t be thinking that way. We’ve got a lot going on here and the distraction won’t do anyone any good.”

  “Can I fill you in on something?”

  “Sure.”

  “It’s probably a reaction to your string of incidents over two days. I’m the lucky guy here when it happened.”

  “Says the man who had an erection yesterday?”

  He closed his eyes. She had to bring that up.

  Finally, he opened his eyes, kept his gaze focused and steady. “Part of it was adrenaline, but part of it wasn’t. The part that wasn’t is the problem. I’m close to bringing this guy down and your client can make that happen.” He ran a finger down her cheek and over her jaw. Something he’d wanted to do every day since he’d first seen her from the witness box.

  “Russell—”

  “Shh. From the day you shredded me on the stand, I’ve thought about you. You’re beautiful and sexy and mouthy and—freak that I am—that’s a huge turn-on. Except the risk is too high.”

  But, yeah, he wanted to roll in sheets with her. Naked and sweating and exploring.

  His presence in her life revolved around Elizabeth Brooks and Colin Heath. Getting emotional about a case created no issues, but he wanted it to be the right emotions. The ones where he went to the wall to lock up the bad guy. Penny in his bed wouldn’t make that happen.

  Sam’s voice sounded from the upstairs hallway and Russ boosted off the table. “We shouldn’t talk about this now.”

  Penny glanced at the staircase, then tapped three fingers against her forehead. “You’re right. I’ll check on Elizabeth and Sam and we’ll get started.”

  It took twenty minutes for Russ to bring Elizabeth Brooks up to speed. It was all fairly simple. Penny would take the Colin Heath heat while Elizabeth and her son stayed in the safe house, under the protection of U.S. marshals. During that time, she would share with the FBI everything she knew about Heath’s pump-and-dump scheme.

  Penny, sitting next to Elizabeth on the sofa, touched her hand. “Are you okay with this? If not, we’ll figure something else out.”

  Uh, no. They wouldn’t.

  If Russ had to go to war with Penny, no matter how physically attracted to her he was, he’d do it and it would be bloody. He’d busted his tail getting his superiors to sign off on this operation, one that would cost the U.S. taxpayers a nice chunk of change, and he wasn’t about to let the lawyer blow his case for him.

  “There’s nothing else to figure out,” he said.

  Slowly, Penny angled her head toward him, her nostrils flaring only enough that, had he not studied her body language since the day he’d met her, he would have missed it. That look? The Killer Cupcake look.

  “I need a minute with my client,” Killer Cupcake said.

  Elizabeth shook her head. “That’s not necessary. I’ll do it. Whatever I need to do to get us out of this, I’ll do it.”

  “She gets immunity,” Penny said. “I don’t care how the FBI thinks they can implicate her. She gets a pass.”

  “My superiors have signed off on that. The paperwork is being drawn up.”

  “You’re not questioning my client until everything is signed.”

  Now I’m done. If she wanted to pull this defense-lawyer bull on him every time, they’d be here awhile. He stood, jerked his head toward the kitchen. “A minute, counselor. Please.”

  “Of course,” she chirped.

  Damned irritating woman. Even if he did goad her with that counselor comment. She stormed into the kitchen, hot on his heels in those stilt shoes, ready for war. Damn, he liked her.

  Once in the kitchen, he spun, waved her in and closed the ancient swinging door. One day he’d have a lake house like this. With a goofy swinging door.

  He folded his arms and stared down at her mutinous face, and her blue eyes sparked. He shouldn’t have been excited by it. Sickness. Had to be. Because every damned time he saw that look, he wanted to grab her, plant a lip-lock and see how long it took to cool her fire.

  Propping her hands on her skirt-clad hips, she huffed, “Well? What is it?”

  “We made a deal. You need to trust me.”

  “First, it’s not you I don’t trust. It’s the FBI. My job is to protect my client’s rights. Part of that means having an iron-clad deal before I allow the FBI access to her. What do you not understand about that?”

  Was he an idiot now? Some schmuck she could emasculate because she had Ivy League brains and the supermodel looks? Not happening, babe. “I know your job. I also know defense lawyers like to annihilate cases guys like me bust their humps on. I’m telling you, you won’t derail this.”

  Instead of the heat and temper he expected to find, her gaze was questioning. Unsure. “Why do you think I’d derail this? I want my client safe. I’m in danger. Getting Heath incarcerated will help all of us.”

  Damned good point.

  One that shut him up. Maybe he was too close to it. Too close to remembering that day when the bank foreclosed on his parents’ home because a guy like Heath ran a mortgage scam. Mix that emotional garbage in with his lust for the hot defense lawyer and he had a situation.

  He wrapped his fingers around his temples and squeezed in and out, letting the pressure build then release. “Look, we made a deal. In your office. Last night. You can waste time by not letting me question your client or we can get on with it. It’s up to you.”

  She hesitated. Studied the
cabinet behind his head, then brought her gaze back to him. Why that response—or lack of one—shocked him, he’d never know. But somewhere deep inside, in a place he didn’t like to acknowledge, a place where guys like him shoved all the waste they didn’t want to deal with, he absorbed the stab of hurt. “Unbelievable.”

  She grabbed his forearm. “I trust you. I do. But we both have to be careful here.”

  “Right,” he said. “We’ll wait.”

  “No. That’ll be a waste of everyone’s time. I have a compromise. Let me talk to my dad. If he’s in agreement with going forward, I’ll let you question Elizabeth.”

  She wouldn’t make him drive back to the city. A compromise indeed. “You’re okay with that? I won’t hear any moaning about it?”

  “My father is a much better attorney than I am. If he signs off, it’s good.”

  Russ pulled his phone from his pocket. He still had Penny’s, minus the battery. “You can’t use your phone. Here’s mine. I’ll give you privacy. Take your time.”

  She nodded. “Thank you. I think this works for both of us.”

  “I agree.”

  He turned to go, not sure how he felt about this compromising Penny. He’d just discovered another hidden facet. The one that saw a solution even if it didn’t sync with her original plan. He was hanging on here, clinging to the rail, scrambling for footing so he didn’t get sucked into the emotional hell that would be falling for Penny Hennings. The defense lawyer.

  “Hey, what you said about your dad being a better lawyer. I don’t believe that. He has more experience. Doesn’t make him better.”

  Something happened. Russ wasn’t sure what, but Penny flinched. Not just a little, either. “What?” he asked.

  “I...I...” She held up her finger. Hesitated. “After the beating I gave you on the witness stand, you should hate me. Instead, you tell me I’m just as good a lawyer as my father.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  Except, her eyes got a little...misty. Oh, hell no. “Penny?”

  He took one step—one—and she paddled her hands. “Don’t touch me. That’ll do me in.”