Something that would only happen on Just Between Us.
The volunteer repeated his question, and Mitch finally dragged his gaze from Eve’s face. “No, I’m not,” he said. “I’m happy to say that I’m the new director of business development for the Ashmere Trust.” Beside him, Eve gasped, and he turned. He couldn’t get enough of looking at her. “In fact, we’re throwing a benefit next Saturday night at Mirabel, which you may or may not know is the plantation that Eve’s family owned up until the sixties.” He returned his gaze to the cameras. “I’d like to invite all of you to join us in support of a new program in Atlanta. It’s called Music on the Street.”
Eve made a choked noise, and covered her mouth as the tears spilled over. Happy tears, he knew that. Tears of celebration that sparkled on her cheeks like diamonds.
He grinned and took the hand of the woman who had made all his dreams come true, and together, they turned their faces toward the spotlights.
Epilogue
JENNA HAMILTON CLOSED her office door with a sense of satisfaction, shutting out the buzz of activity in the offices of Andersen Nadeau.
She’d just spent the last half hour with a hard-nosed fireplug called Nelson Berg, who had been handed off to her by Eve Best when he’d made a pest of himself at CATL-TV. He’d come here with ultimatums and too much testosterone, and had left with a contract and a greater respect for the negotiating power of a woman.
Jenna smiled. That man hadn’t met a hardnose until he’d met her.
Just Between Us would be staying in Atlanta, broadcast by CWB. Score one for the little guys.
Now that the show’s future was taken care of, she had to make another trip to the law library and continue digging for precedent on lottery cases. Despite her feeling of buoyancy about her success with the CWB negotiation, she had no illusions about the possibility of losing this case for Eve and her friends. Twice now, she’d picked up her phone to call the senior partner and admit that, while she was darned good at corporate law and contracts, she didn’t have the experience for this. To ask him to have her reassigned, and give the case to someone who actually knew what they were doing and could pull it off.
But she’d disconnected before she went through with it.
Both Nicole Reavis and Jane Kurtz had called her yesterday in a panic, saying they’d arrived home to find a letter from Lot’O’Bucks. In it, the state lottery board was reminding the women that they had only eight months from the time of the announcement of their win to collect their money. Already, nearly three months had been eaten away because of the lawsuit.
The clock ticked with relentless disregard for deadlines, and Jenna was no closer to reaching a solution than she had been during those first dreadful weeks when Liza had returned to announce she wanted her fair share.
There was one tiny bright spot in this gloom, however. The Lot’O’Bucks ultimatum gave her a perfect reason to call Kevin Wade.
She took the elevator down to the lobby, where there was an espresso bar, and fortified herself with a double-shot, no-whip latte. It wouldn’t last long, but at least it cleared her brain enough to communicate like a mature woman, instead of the breathless idiot she seemed to become when she talked with him. At least on the phone, she wouldn’t be distracted by those warm brown eyes and the hot focus she saw in them. Or that mouth that spoke Latin terms and precedents when it should be making pillow talk and kissing her.
Ow. Back in her office, Jenna stubbed her patent-leather toe on the leg of her rolling desk chair.
So much for not being distracted.
She took another hit of the latte, sat and dialed his number.
“Jenna,” he said with satisfaction as soon as he heard her voice. “I was just thinking about you.”
Part of her melted. The rational part said, “Oh? Did your client get a letter from Lot’O’Bucks, too?”
He chuckled. “As a matter of fact, she did. This steps up the pressure a bit, doesn’t it?”
“It does. But I’d prefer not to drag it out, in any case. Is your client more inclined now to come to a settlement agreement?”
“Are yours?”
“I asked you first.”
“Then I would have to say no. Remember that in Karpik v. Post, the judge awarded the claimant a percentage of the winnings.”
“That case isn’t relevant to ours. Even though they went in on the tickets together, they didn’t choose the numbers together. The complainant just bought a batch of tickets with the defendant’s money.”
Kevin chuckled. “Can’t put a single thing past you, can I?”
“I’ve memorized every case I’ve been able to find having anything to do with a lottery, ever,” she admitted. “Along with work on my other corporate clients, I’m getting a bit fried.”
“Me, too. Why don’t you take a break and meet me?”
Well, at least it was nice to know they were on the same wavelength. That she wasn’t just having a sweet fantasy, all by herself.
“Kevin, you know we can’t while we’re on opposing sides of this case.”
“You said that the other week and met me anyway. And didn’t we have a good time-until you got cold feet and ran off on me?”
Her whole body sighed at the thought. “Yes. But it can’t happen again. Look, I admit I’m very attracted to you. But I’m not willing to risk my success on this case by setting up a possible ethics problem. You understand.”
After a moment, he said, “I do. But that doesn’t make it any easier. I’ve been thinking about you ever since.”
“Likewise.”
“So what are we going to do about it? Are you going to send me on my merry way?”
“I’d rather not,” she said carefully. He probably had flocks of salivating women on speed dial. It wouldn’t take more than five minutes for a man like that to find someone to spend his time with. “But I don’t see any way past it.”
“I do.”
Gee, a virtual affair. Lovely.
She dropped her voice, even though the walls were thick in this old building. “I’m not having some kind of online e-mail sex thing. Absolutely not.”
His laugh startled her. “Hey, what do you take me for, a teenage geek? No, I simply meant that I’m willing to wait until after this case is over to see you on anything more than a professional basis.”
He was? His voice had become as soft as melted sugar. Man, was she ever in trouble.
“I feel as though I’d sat down to this wonderful feast,” he murmured, “and after I took one bite, someone took the plate away.”
Come on, there wasn’t a thing a girl could say to something like that. “You do?” she managed to reply.
“I’m willing to wait, so that I can enjoy that wonderful feast to the fullest when it’s the right time for me to do it,” he said. “What about you?”
With you to look forward to, five months is nothing.
No, no, she couldn’t say that. A girl had to have some pride.
“After all, what’s five months when there’s someone like you at the end of it?” he asked softly.
Oh, man. If he was reading her mind, she was done for. “I’ll make it worth your while when we get there,” she promised.
“I’ll hold you to that.” He chuckled, and added, “Meantime, see you in negotiations.”
And suddenly, the prospect of yet more negotiations took on a golden glow. True, she had a ton of work to do. More wakeful nights. More meetings with Eve and the other winners at the station. But at the end of it all lay the prospect of victory-for her, and for the people she represented.
She refused to consider any other outcome.
“You will,” she promised, a smile warming her voice. “And may the best lawyer win.”
