Legal Heat

by Sarah Castille

  Her body went rigid and she sucked in a sharp breath. “Did you just…spank me?”

  “It was more of a love tap,” he chuckled. “I’ll take you to the back of the club one night and you’ll see what spanking is all about.”

  “I don’t think I—”

  “I think you do,” he murmured, cutting her off.

  He slipped his hand between her legs and dragged his fingers through her wet folds, spreading her moisture down along her inner thigh.

  “I think you really do,” he growled. “You’re so wet, sugar, it makes me want to do it again.”

  “Take me. Don’t play,” she begged.

  He cupped her hot sex and then plunged two fingers into her tight, wet sheath. Her body shook as he drew his fingers in and out, angling upward to rub against her most sensitive spot.

  Soon he would bury himself in her lush heat just as he had imagined doing in the wine cellar. His cock throbbed with readiness and he brushed the crown over the soft curve of her ass to cool the flame.

  Now that was a mistake.

  Clenching his teeth to maintain his control, he kept a steady rhythm with his fingers until her wetness dripped down her inner thighs and her body glistened with the effort of holding her position.

  “I want to turn around,” she moaned. “I want to touch you.”

  “Not yet, sugar.” Unable to resist, he withdrew his hand and slicked his cock between her thighs, reveling in her wetness, before he angled himself to slide over her swollen nub.

  “Oh, Mark.” The desperate, pleading note to her voice told him she was close. So close. He could bring her over the edge with one more stroke. And himself as well.

  He left her wet and trembling to retrieve a condom from his wallet. Katy looked back over her shoulder, her eyes hooded with desire.

  “Hurry.”

  He sheathed himself and gave her a wicked grin. “You know better than that. Now, you’ll have to wait.”

  He covered her with his body, licking his way down her neck and along her spine, savoring her sultry, salty taste. By the time he reached her cleft, her legs were shaking and her skin was slick with heat.

  Time for action. He pushed himself to his feet and pressed himself tight against her body.

  “I’m going to take you like this, sugar,” he rasped. “Bend forward. Palms lower on the wall.”

  She was whimpering, on the edge, but she did as he demanded.

  “That’s my girl,” he whispered. He gave her only a second to adjust to the position before he drove into her hot, wet channel with one hard thrust. The angle didn’t allow for deep penetration, but it gave him better access to her hidden center. When she sucked in a sharp breath, he knew he had hit his mark. He grabbed her ass and pounded into her, his hips falling into a natural rhythm.

  “Can’t hold on,” she gasped.

  Neither could he.

  “I want to hear you, sugar. Tell me what you want.”

  “Love me, Mark.” Her hoarse, throaty voice was music to his ears. Although it almost killed him to hold back, he slowed his tempo, wanting to give her the ultimate crescendo.

  He slid his hand over her hip and down until he found her clit, swollen and erect, begging for his touch. He smoothed her moisture up and around and then pinched gently. Just once. Her body jerked, and she threw her head back and let out a high-pitched whine as she went over the edge. Her sex clenched tight around him, drawing him in.

  Not enough. He wanted to bury himself deep inside her. Possess her fully. With an arm tight around her waist, he eased them down to the floor and positioned her on her hands and knees.

  “Don’t…stop,” she panted. “Need more.”

  He grabbed her hips and thrust fast and deep, his fingers digging into her soft flesh. Heart hammering violently, he picked up the pace. Her pants gave way to a low, long wail and she climaxed again. With one last jerk of his hips, the pressure in his spine exploded in blistering shards and he came in wave after heated wave of pleasure.

  As he collapsed beside her, something stirred in his chest. Katy was his. Not just tonight, but forever.

  A loud bang wrenched Katy out of a deep sleep. Mark was wrapped around her, his warm, hard body cradling her own.

  “Shh. Just a car door. It’s still early,” he murmured into her hair.

  Early. Not late. He had been here all night. She must have drifted off in the middle of their conversation. She had told him things she had never shared with anyone. Baring herself to him, body and soul, had given her a sense a freedom. Or maybe it was the night of wild sex and the multiple orgasms that had left her so deliciously exhausted.

  “I should let you go.” She pulled away with a sigh. “The kids will be up soon and I don’t think I’m ready to explain why you’re here.”

  He pulled her back down for a long, leisurely kiss before he finally answered. “I’m in court this morning and for the next two days. Good thing you’re not on the other side. I might suffer for lack of preparation.”

  “I’m going to be busy too. I’ve got witnesses to see and the document review to do on the Hi-Tech case.”

  Mark frowned. “You’re supposed to be off the case.”

  “Ted gave me a few days to wrap things up.” She tilted her head. “How did you know he pulled me off the case? You mentioned it yesterday too. I made a point of not telling you because you seemed to have a bad history with Ted.” The niggling feeling she had had outside McIntyre’s apartment came back with a vengeance.

  He hesitated and then shrugged. “Ted and I were on a very long, very bitter case together. He played it too close to the line and made a mockery of the justice system, not to mention the concept of professional courtesy. I reported him to the Law Society. So, yeah, a bad history. As for pulling you off the case, it’s what I would have done in his situation.”

  Katy wrapped the sheet around her and slid off the bed. Something wasn’t right. “You didn’t ask. You knew. How?”

  He drew in a ragged breath. “I spoke to him when you were in the hospital.”

  “Are you saying he told you what he’d decided before telling me?”

  “I asked him to take you off the case.”

  For a few moments, she forgot to breathe. “You. Asked. Him.” She spat out each word. “Ted does not have an altruistic bone in his body. He wouldn’t have agreed just because you asked. Especially if there was bad blood between you. There’s something more.”

  He held up his hands in a gesture of mock surrender. “We both just wanted you to be safe.”

  Katy balled her hands into fists. “Ted cares about profits, not safety. You said so yourself. What did you do?” She hurled the words at him, knowing in the end his answer wouldn’t matter. The guilt on his face had already broken her heart.

  Mark pushed himself off the bed and quickly dressed. Katy seethed, waiting for an answer. Finally he turned to her and said, “I agreed to withdraw my bid for a tender he was after if he agreed to pull you from the case.”

  Her entire body shook. “You had no right,” she shouted. “It’s my case. My career. My decision. You can’t even begin to understand what it means to me. I could have made partner. I could have become financially independent from Steven. You just bargained away my career like it was nothing.”

  She no longer cared if the children woke up. They wouldn’t be seeing him again. She had trusted him. Opening herself up to him last night had not been easy. His betrayal stung worse than anything Steven had ever done.

  Mark squared his shoulders. “There will be other cases. This isn’t the only path to partnership. You’re a brilliant lawyer and I have no doubt you’ll succeed in whatever you do. I also don’t think financial independence will rid you of Steven. You need to set limits for him and stick to them or he’ll continue to knock them down. I had no intention of destroying your career. You were in danger. All I wanted was to keep you safe.”

  “Get out.” Rage and anguish crawled under her skin. “Now.”

&nb
sp; He gazed at her for what seemed to be an eternity and then he turned and disappeared out the door.

  Chapter Twenty

  James leaned back in his uncomfortable, steel-framed chair and threaded his fingers together behind his head as he studied Martha Saunders. Not the type of woman he would have expected to associate with a low-life scumbag like Jimmy. Her blonde hair was short and neatly cut, and her black suit, although faded, was clean and pressed.

  Her eyes, bright behind her elegant, gold-rimmed glasses, darted around the interview room, but there was nothing to see. The stark white walls and glaring florescent light would serve only to remind her that this was no social encounter.

  James allowed himself a brief smile when she began to twist her watch around her wrist. Back and forth. Faster and faster. Betraying her anxiety.

  Time to begin.

  “How long were you and Jimmy together?”

  Martha pursed her lips and frowned. “We weren’t really together. We met in a bar one night. He was really nice. Charming. Hot. Usually guys like that don’t talk to girls like me. He said he was a middle manager for a paper company. I was really drunk and I went home with him. We got together a few times after that, mostly for sex.”

  James raised an eyebrow when her voice hitched. Clearly there was more to the relationship than she had let on.

  “You used to work for Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, isn’t that right?”

  Martha nodded.

  “Did you know how Jimmy made a living?”

  “Not when I first met him. I found out later…when things went wrong.” She held his gaze without flinching. “Do I need my lawyer?”

  James kept his face impassive. “I asked you here for an informal chat, but if you would feel more comfortable with a lawyer, feel free to call one.”

  “It’s just…I’m getting the feeling this isn’t only about Jimmy.” Her voice shook and she threaded her fingers together so hard her knuckles turned white.

  “True. I’m also interested in the case you started against Hi-Tech.”

  Martha shrugged. “The pleadings are public documents. I worked there as a lab tech. I discovered they weren’t acting ethically. I reported it to the regulators and then I was fired. So I started a lawsuit.”

  The overhead light flickered on and off. James frowned. He didn’t want anything to disturb the momentum of his questioning. Martha could shed some light on Jimmy and his two swollen bodies, but if he wasn’t careful, he would scare her away, or worse, send her running to a lawyer.

  “I read the pleadings,” he said. “Hi-Tech says they dismissed you because you went into the building after hours.”

  “I forgot my purse.”

  “I think you forgot something else.” James shifted his weight and leaned toward her. “Drug samples. Jimmy had to get his supply from somewhere.”

  Her eyes widened and she sucked in a breath. “My purse.”

  James reached into the box he had strategically placed on the table before the interview. “I have the security tape from the night in question.”

  Her eyes flicked to the tape and back to him. “My lawyer requested the tape from Hi-Tech and was told it had gone missing.”

  “I found it.” Did he see her tense the tiniest bit? She would be trying to decide if he was bluffing or if he had indeed found the original tape. Which he had. At Kowalski’s residence. Kowalski must have been trying to protect her. But did she know it had been partially destroyed?

  She swallowed and licked her lips. “Then you’ll see I’m telling the truth.”

  James smiled. She was sticking to her story, which meant she suspected he couldn’t view the tape. Damn good liar. But so was he. “You want me to play it for you?”

  She shook her head and worried her bottom lip. “No, that’s okay.”

  “You want to tell me about that night?” The effort of keeping his body relaxed and focused began to take its toll. Sweat trickled down his back. Over the years, he had interviewed dozens of criminals, from murderers to arsonists, petty thieves to irate husbands, and he had always been able to see past the masks and bravado to the hidden core of the man. But Martha was an enigma. Either she was totally guileless or the best damn liar he had ever met.

  “There’s nothing to tell. I forgot my purse. I signed in at security. I got it from my lab. I went home.”

  James nodded toward her trembling hands. “You afraid of something?”

  Martha drew in a ragged breath. “I’m afraid the people who killed Jimmy will be unhappy when they find out you’re nosing around. He told me if I ever talked to the police they would find me and kill me.”

  James folded his arms. “If you’re telling me you know who killed Jimmy, I could arrest you right now for obstructing justice, withholding evidence or maybe even conspiracy.” He paused, waiting for the threat to sink in, and then raised an eyebrow. “But maybe we can help each other.”

  Martha stilled and her eyes welled with tears. “I’m tired of trying to help people. I made a mistake with Jimmy. A big one. Then everything spiraled out of control. When I tried to fix it by reporting to the regulators, I lost my job. Now you want my help, but this time I’ll pay with my life.”

  “We can protect you.”

  “That’s it?” She lifted her eyes and peered through her glasses. “I need more than that. I want to walk out of here and know no one will ever come looking for me again, including you.”

  James shook his head. “I can’t do it. I need to know how you’re involved before I can decide whether or not to let you walk away. Maybe you killed Jimmy. Maybe you supplied him with illegal and possibly deadly pharmaceuticals. I can’t let a killer back on the streets.”

  She crumpled, sagging in her seat as she buried her face in her hands. “I’m the victim here,” she sobbed. “I’m the one who was blackmailed and threatened and…used.”

  “Talk to me. Let me help,” he cajoled.

  Martha shook her head. “If I talk to you, I’ll be the next one to die.”

  Katy walked up the steps of the tidy two-story house in Aldergove. The white siding looked new and the lawn had been well kept. Flower boxes decorated the open porch and the two wicker chairs looked inviting after the stuffy car ride.

  Her head throbbed from the hour-long trip. She knew she shouldn’t be driving yet, but she had only one more day and she didn’t want to let Martha down. More than that, she needed to get out of town and away from anything that reminded her of Mark. Every time she thought about him, her heart seized up. How could he accuse her of not trusting him when he had gone behind her back and done the one thing that would hurt her most? His excuse about keeping her safe wasn’t enough. She didn’t need anyone to keep her safe. She’d been doing just fine on her own.

  Well…except for being shot outside the courthouse and then almost shot at McIntyre’s apartment. Her stomach clenched. She had called the hospital this morning to check up on McIntyre only to find out he had died during surgery. With the possibility of two murderers on the loose, she would never have considered visiting Patricia Cunningham if she hadn’t had the police protection team watching her twenty-four seven.

  She glanced over her shoulder and spotted the police car parked across the street. One of the policemen waved. Katy returned the greeting and then rang the bell.

  A short, solidly built woman in her mid-fifties answered the door.

  “Patricia Cunningham?”

  The woman nodded.

  “I’m Katherine Sinclair. We spoke about the Hi-Tech case over the phone. I know you don’t want to talk to me, but if you could just spare five minutes to hear me out, I would be very grateful.”

  Patricia studied her closely. “You’re the lawyer all over the news. The one who was shot outside the Vancouver courthouse. I recognize you now. How are you, dear?” Her wariness turned to sympathy.

  “Good. Just tired.” Katy eyed the couch. “You wouldn’t mind if I sat down for a moment, would you?” She hated to use Patricia’s sympa
thy to gain her trust, but at this stage she would try anything.

  Patricia ushered her into the small living room and Katy settled herself on a worn leather couch. Patricia shooed her cat off the faded wingback chair and sat uneasily on the cushion.

  “I didn’t sign it,” she blurted out. “I didn’t sign the agreement that Hi-Tech’s lawyer brought over. You said if I hadn’t signed anything I could talk to you.” She paused and her voice wavered. “I’m sick of secrets. Sick of Hi-Tech. I want someone to know what happened.”

  Hope swelled inside her. “You can talk to me.”

  Patricia clenched and unclenched her fists, clearly struggling over her decision to talk. The cat stretched out on the worn, stained gold carpet and then curled up at Patricia’s feet.

  By way of distraction, Katy picked up a picture of a balding, heavyset man with a red nose and twinkling blue eyes.

  “Is this Robert?” She kept her tone light, hoping to ease Patricia’s fears.

  Patricia’s eyes teared. “Yes, that’s him, although he doesn’t look like that now, not since the accident.”

  “I understand his team spilled some kind of chemical.”

  “That’s the story Robert was told to say,” Patricia said in a hushed whisper. “They weren’t supposed to tell anyone what really happened or Hi-Tech would take back the settlement payment. But Robert told me. We’ve been together since we were sixteen. We don’t keep secrets from each other.”

  Katy sat still, barely breathing. For a moment she wished Mark was here. She wanted him to hear what Patricia had to say. Not just about keeping secrets, but so he would know she hadn’t been chasing ghosts. She wanted him to understand that bribing Ted to pull her off the case had been the wrong thing to do. She pushed Mark from her mind and turned her focus back to Patricia. “Tell me what happened.”

  “Robert is…was a custodian. He worked for Cleenaway, a contracting company. His team went out to Hi-Tech on a six-month contract. But one night I got a call to come and pick him up. When I got there, his head was swollen and parts of his body as well. He was very ill. They have some kind of medical facility and he was hooked up to all sorts of machines. I wanted to take him to the hospital, but they said they couldn’t move him because of the possibility of contamination. They said there had been a spill in the lab he was cleaning and he had an allergic reaction to the chemicals.”