A Christmas Rendezvous

by Karen Booth

  “Everything okay?” she asked.

  He smiled thinly. “Basically, yes. Just a crazy afternoon.”

  “Crazy good or crazy bad?”

  He blew out a breath. “The stray cat I told you about? I thought it was a male, but it’s a female. And she’s pregnant.”

  Isabel pressed her lips together tightly to stifle a laugh. For the guy who seemed to be bothered by responsibility, this was pretty funny. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to buy you a drink as soon as we’re seated for dinner. That’s what.”

  Isabel signaled the hostess with a nod and they were led into the restaurant, just as beautiful as she’d remembered it, with its signature emerald-green circular booths for two, soft lighting and glamorous clientele. Jeremy waited for Isabel to sit before he slid into the other side of the booth. It was a sexy and intimate setting, perfect if there had been the possibility of any romance between them at all. But the article she’d read a few hours ago had put that idea to rest. Instead, she hoped to lean on the privacy of their table to start cutting their deal. They each ordered a drink from their server—a gin and tonic for Isabel and a Manhattan for Jeremy.

  “I haven’t been here in years,” Jeremy said, flipping through the menu. Isabel already knew what she was going to order: her favorite pasta. “It’s pretty much a date-night spot.”

  Isabel hadn’t considered the possibility that Jeremy might have memories of this place with his ex-wife. Or other women. Her mind then made the next leap—did he think she was trying to make a romantic overture? She deeply hoped that was not the case. She didn’t want to embarrass herself. “I love the food, though. It’s exceptional.”

  “Indeed.”

  Their drinks were quickly delivered and they placed their dinner orders. “I suppose a toast is in order,” Jeremy said once the server had left. “To making a deal.”

  Isabel was happy to hear that Jeremy didn’t have romance on the brain. It might make it easier for her to set aside the thoughts that kept creeping into her consciousness—sharing a drink brought back too many memories of their blazing-hot first kiss. “Yes.” She took a sip and placed her glass back on the table. “So, the authentication of the promissory note. Do you have an expert we can call on? I’d like to speak to them, of course, and have a detailed outline of their process, their experience in the field, and have them sign an agreement of impartiality.”

  “I have one person we work with, but I can assure you that they’ll do a great job and they’ll get it done quickly.”

  “We wouldn’t want to mess with Mr. Summers and his thirty-day timeline.”

  “We’re already nearly a week in. The clock started the day we sent the first letter. And you can’t blame the guy. The loan is long overdue.”

  “And my clients had no idea the loan ever existed. You can’t pay off what you don’t know about.”

  “They don’t seem eager to repay it now.”

  Isabel stirred her drink. “It’s not a simple matter to pull that kind of cash together at one time. Especially not with so little time.”

  Jeremy shrugged it off. “I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but it’s not my problem.”

  Isabel did not like the way this was going. She saw too little room for negotiation. This case might be even tougher than she’d thought. “I would never say you sound like a jerk. But you do sound like the lawyer of a jerk.”

  * * *

  Despite being referred to as the lawyer of a jerk, being out with Isabel was far more enjoyable than the many work-related obligations Jeremy endured on any given week. “If that’s what I am, at least it pays the bills.”

  “Good to know you have your priorities,” she said, then took a long sip of her drink.

  Jeremy had to hide his amusement as the waiter delivered their meals. Isabel was a far cry from the usual blowhard attorney. He genuinely enjoyed her company. She was more than simply beautiful and smart. The world seemed different around her, the air charged with mystery and excitement. Jeremy had learned a lot about her after she’d left his office that afternoon. While working in Washington, DC, she’d gathered a passel of high-powered clients—senators, billionaires and cabinet officials. Not a single controversy or scandal seemed to stick to any of them, even when lawsuits were filed and whistles were blown. Accusations and rumors all vanished into thin air, and Jeremy was smart enough to know that didn’t happen on its own. Did Isabel’s beautiful exterior and graceful facade make it easier for her to sweep things under the rug or keep secrets? If so, it made her even more dangerous than he’d thought that morning. “So, I have to ask, why didn’t you call me as soon as you realized that I was the opposing counsel? That part of this whole thing seems especially sneaky.”

  Isabel dabbed at the corners of her stunning mouth with a napkin. He had an improper desire to kiss her until her lipstick was gone. Despite being on opposite sides of the negotiating table, that sexual energy between them wasn’t going anywhere. “Honestly?”

  “Please. I don’t do well with anything less.” Jeremy found himself cutting his steak a little more aggressively than was warranted. Even the manipulation of words bothered him, which made being a lawyer difficult. So much of the job was about the careful parsing of language.

  “It was my brother Sam’s idea. He thought it would give us an advantage if you didn’t know who exactly you would be facing. I apologize if you felt ambushed, but it was just a tactic.”

  That morning in his office had likely only been Jeremy’s first taste of the sorts of things to which Isabel might resort. “It made me look like an ass in front of my client. I certainly don’t appreciate that.”

  Isabel nodded. “Fair enough. I guess it wasn’t the kindest thing to do. Sam is just very protective of his fiancée, Mindy, and the entire Eden family for that matter. And since it’s just Sam and me in our family, I guess that I’m part of that scenario, too.”

  Jeremy understood family loyalty, but only to a point. If his grandfather were still alive, he’d still have undying devotion to the Sharp name. But his parents certainly didn’t inspire that sort of allegiance. They’d treated him horribly in the aftermath of his divorce, more preoccupied by the public embarrassment than the fact that their son had experienced a great personal betrayal. “Do you actually like working for the Eden family?”

  Isabel shot him a quizzical look. “That’s a loaded question.”

  “Why?”

  “The tone of your voice for starters. You sound as though the Eden family disgusts you.”

  Jeremy was letting his personal bias get in the way, but he couldn’t help it. The Eden family and his ex’s family seemed to be very much the same—wealthy beyond measure, treating the world as their personal playground. “It’s just the entitlement. It drives me crazy. The Eden sisters have been handed a vast fortune and now they’re quibbling over this debt. I assure you that Mr. Summers would not dredge up this matter if he didn’t desperately want it resolved. It’s a very personal thing for him. The affair between Victoria Eden and his father destroyed his family. I don’t think we can discount the personal component of the case.”

  Isabel set her fork down on her plate. “And surely you know it takes two people to tango. Mr. Summers seems to want to assign all blame to Victoria Eden. He wants to paint her as a home-wrecker, when the reality is that his own father was complicit as well if the affair happened as he says it did. For all we know, his father could have instigated the whole thing.”

  Jeremy felt his pulse pick up. His heart hammered. He did love it when Isabel delivered a smart jab, even if he was on the receiving end of it.

  “If the affair actually happened,” she continued. “We don’t know that for sure.”

  She bit down on her lip, her dark eyes scanning his face. Damn, her skin was beautiful in this soft light and all he could think was how badly he wanted to touch it.
To touch her. Every inch. He wasn’t the type of guy to rest too much of his self-worth on how things went in the bedroom, but he was certain that he had rocked Isabel’s world during their one evening together, and it was still aggravating him that it had ended on such an inelegant note.

  She shook her head and looked down at the table, her dark hair falling across her face. “I’m sorry. I just get worked up. I don’t like seeing a woman shouldering the blame for this. Men and women are equal and should be treated as such, good or bad.”

  “Don’t apologize for your anger. I’d much rather go up against someone with some passion behind what they do than deal with a robot.”

  Her eyebrows bounced and one corner of her mouth popped up into a smile. “I run way too hot to be a robot.”

  An abrupt tightening of the muscles in Jeremy’s hips made him shift in his seat. Isabel was going to make him crazy by the time this case was wrapped up. For once, Jeremy was glad for Mr. Summers’s ridiculous timeline. The sooner this case was done, the sooner he could decide if he wanted to pursue anything with her. It seemed like he had to at least try one more time, leave her with a smile on her face rather than having her push him out the door. “I know that. Firsthand.”

  “I hope that doesn’t make you uncomfortable. You know. That we slept together. I’m trying to look at it as an odd coincidence.”

  “So you definitely weren’t spying on me and Mr. Summers in the bar at the Bacharach?”

  Isabel’s eyes went wide. “Is that who your meeting was with that night?” She clamped her hand over her mouth, much like she had when he’d mentioned that his new roommate, the stray cat with no name, was going to have kittens.

  “It is. Summers loves the bar there.”

  Isabel reached out and clasped Jeremy’s forearm. “I swear I wasn’t spying. I would never do that. I was legitimately up in my room trying to get some sleep when the silly alarm went off. It had been a hell of a day trying to find an apartment and look for a new office space. It’s a lot to deal with at one time, especially when you’re starting on a case that could easily end up being all-consuming.”

  Jeremy couldn’t help but look at her hand on his arm, her slender fingers on the dark wool of his coat, and quietly wish he wasn’t wearing a suit. “I had to ask.” He cleared his throat, knowing he’d never truly believed that Isabel had been up to something nefarious that night, but it did make him wonder whether she was someone he could trust. “You know, I looked you up on the internet this afternoon. Judging by the work you were doing in DC, I’m up against quite a formidable foe.”

  “Please don’t judge me by that. As far as I’m concerned, that was a lifetime ago. I’m actually getting ready to go into a whole new area of practice. Adoption law.”

  Now Jeremy was even more fascinated. This was a full one-eighty. “There’s not exactly a lot of money in that, is there?”

  Isabel shrugged. “There isn’t. I’m not worried about that. I just want to have a body of work that I can be proud of.”

  “I take it that doesn’t include the things you did in DC?”

  She shook her head. “Definitely not. But I’m putting all of that behind me. For good.”

  So maybe he’d read Isabel all wrong. He could hardly fault a person for wanting to do some good with her career. “Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out.”

  “And speaking of getting things figured out, let’s say we get the note authenticated. At that point, we’ll need to set up a time for in-depth negotiations to hammer out the details. But I don’t have an office right now.”

  Jeremy sucked in a deep breath. He had serious concerns that as soon as the note was deemed authentic, Mr. Summers would further dig in his heels. But it was part of Jeremy’s job to at least move forward in good faith. “It’s not easy for me to get much done at the Sharp and Sharp office. Too many interruptions.” He cleared his throat, racking his brain for an idea. “Is meeting at Eden’s an option?”

  “They don’t have the room. I asked about a work space there, but the building is old and they’re bulging at the seams.” She placed her napkin across her plate and sat back.

  “I have a full office big enough for two people at my place in Brooklyn. In fact, I probably have too much space. I have meetings there all the time when I need quiet, or when a client wants more discretion than they’ll get walking into the front door of a law firm. Would you be comfortable with that idea?”

  “Hmm...” She squinted at him. “I don’t know. Is this some sort of come-on?”

  Jeremy could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. “Most women aren’t seduced by the idea of negotiations.”

  “Ah, but I’m not most women.”

  Jeremy swallowed hard, finding it difficult to get past the lump in his throat. “I noticed.”

  Isabel granted him a small smile. “Would that mean I’d get to meet your cat?”

  “She’s not my cat.”

  “She’s come up in conversation an awful lot for a cat that isn’t yours.”

  “I’m not a cat person at all. I just took pity on her because she was outside in the cold. Ironically, the only reason I hadn’t let her in before was because she was so fat. Now I know why.”

  “What are you going to do about the kittens?”

  Jeremy kneaded his forehead. His meeting with his neighborhood veterinarian was still fresh in his mind. “For now? I’m fostering her. We had such a late summer that I guess there’s a big surplus of cats and the shelters are full. The vet said the kittens should be ready for adoption by Valentine’s Day.” Jeremy could hardly believe the words out of his own mouth. Like he needed another complication in his life.

  “Well, I can’t wait to meet her. I love cats. We always had them when I was a kid. My mom was obsessed with them.”

  “You haven’t had one since?”

  Isabel’s face reflected something Jeremy hadn’t seen before—sadness. “No. Not one of my own.”

  “Well, good. Maybe you’re the answer to my prayers. I’m a bit out of my depth.” He glanced over at her, wondering why he was allowing himself to get further entwined with Isabel. He knew he shouldn’t be, especially not now. He should be creating distance. That was how you won. “With the cat. Not the case.”

  Six

  Isabel arranged to meet Mindy at her grandmother’s penthouse apartment on Central Park West on Sunday morning. It was only eleven days until Christmas and the clock was ticking on Mr. Summers’s timeline. The results of the promissory note authentication were due back tomorrow. Then Isabel would have to get back into it with Jeremy. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of the invitation to meet at his house, but she knew from experience that there was no substitute for sitting down at the negotiating table and hammering out details. So she would risk having to endure the temptation of Jeremy, being alone and sequestered with him, just so she could move forward with her life—finish up the Eden’s case and start the new year with a whole new direction.

  “Hey there.” Mindy answered the door, dressed in the sort of outfit Isabel had never seen her wear—jeans and a sweater. No designer dress or sky-high heels. It was nice to see her dressed down and relaxed. “Come on in.”

  “Thanks.” Isabel stepped into a bright and elegant foyer with white marble floors and a crystal-and-chrome fixture overhead. She took off her coat, glad she’d also gone for pants and a sweater. Even hot-running Isabel found it too cold outside for a dress.

  “Thank you for suggesting we do this. It was a really good idea. Sophie is convinced that this whole Summers case is bogus. But I’m not so sure, especially after your forensic accountants found the money yesterday. And discovered that it went into my grandmother’s personal account, not the business.”

  “It’s starting to make sense now, isn’t it? No wonder we couldn’t find any evidence of it in the Eden’s books. It never touched Eden’s. Or at lea
st not directly.” Isabel was struggling just like Mindy, wondering how this all went together. “But we still don’t know for certain that the money came from Summers and we also don’t know where it eventually went.”

  “Only that it existed.”

  “Right.”

  Mindy waved Isabel across the foyer. “Come on. Let me show you the place.”

  They progressed down a skinny hallway and then the apartment opened up, with an entire wall of windows overlooking Central Park. The vista ahead was frosted with snow, a lovely match for the mostly white furnishings.

  “My grandmother was all about punches of color.” Mindy picked up a magenta throw pillow from one of several plush sofas. Behind it was a sunny yellow cashmere throw. The walls were dotted with an eclectic mix of art, wildly varied stylistically, from impressionist to modern, featuring nearly every shade of the rainbow. It all looked to be original. The space as a whole spoke of a very chic woman with impossibly expensive taste. Of course Victoria Eden had lived in such a grand and unbelievable space.

  “I’ve seen that same thing at Eden’s, especially in her old office.”

  Mindy nodded. “Emma’s been afraid to change a thing. Too much tradition. The specter of my grandmother always looms large.”

  Tradition. Another reason Isabel could not let Eden’s fall apart on her watch.