Chicago School of Law jump off its hook from the impact of whatever Cassie had just thrown against the dividing wall. A thin ray of sunlight broke through the uncertain winter sky to illuminate its glass as it shattered into a million glittering shards.
It seemed significant, somehow.
Mallory opened her PalmPilot to her to-do list. 'Have diploma reframed,' she wrote with the slim plastic stylus.
Carter returned to the legal department library in a thoughtful mood. He was very glad Mallory was going with him to New York. Good old Mallory. With her on the job, he wouldn't have to spend half his time in sexual fencing: the way he'd have to with most women.
He was getting tired of it, starting to want something real, starting to think about settling down.
With Paige, maybe. Well, no, not Paige. Not for the long run. Even a long weekend was sort of a stretch.
He'd eliminated Diana last weekend.
Andrea, then. Uh-uh. He never quite connected with Andrea, never felt they were talking about the same thing.
What about Marcie? Marcie was smart and sexy, and had made no secret of the fact that she'd like their relationship to grow, blossom and produce an engagement ring set with a diamond of substantial size. He didn't know why, after he'd been with her, he sometimes felt a little-empty.
An unprecedented mood of dissatisfaction settled over him. He dated dozens of girls, and dozens more wished he'd ask them out or accept their thinly veiled invitations. One of them had to be just right.
In the meantime, he loved his work, and this was the craziest case he'd ever lucked into. Just thinking about it dispelled his bad mood. Its proper name was
They didn't think it was funny. He'd better make sure he didn't let on he thought it was funny. Mallory sure wouldn't think it was funny. He'd be able to count on her to keep his face straight.
He could count on her for everything, just as he had in law school. That time they'd studied all night-something in his head had gone
He'd been sorely tempted to end the night with Mallory in his bed, at least to hold that tall, slim woman in his arms and give her a kiss that said, 'Thanks, and let's get together sometime.' A kiss that would make her
Why hadn't he?
He'd gotten himself together was what had happened, had gotten the second highest grade on that exam. Mallory, of course, had gotten the highest.
Funny, he'd forgotten how pretty she was with her pale, blue-green eyes and that incredible silvery-blond hair.
He realized he was worrying his pen between his index and middle fingers, a nervous habit he'd been trying to break. His time was too valuable to waste it like this. He'd been thinking about the case, which was all he could afford to think about until he negotiated a settlement. Sensuous had recalled that entire lot of dye upon getting the first complaint, of course, and had sent lawyers out to negotiate generous settlements to the first fifteen or twenty of those hundred plus complainants. Unfortunately, a couple of the complainants had found an ambitious lawyer-or she had found them, which happened sometimes-who got all of them together and filed suit. They weren't going to settle for hair therapy, weekly manicures, new sinks, repainted walls and regrouted tile floors anymore. They were after everything Sensuous was worth.
And all because a bored assembly line man had decided it would be fun to add a permanent green dye to a batch of hair color in honor of St. Patrick's Day.
Carter's first priority was to keep the case from going to trial, which was one of the ironies of being a trial lawyer. He'd do his best to convince these pea-green plaintiffs that weekly manicures and new sinks were all the payback they needed.
He hoped Sensuous had hired him for his professional reputation, not his personal one. He hoped they didn't think he could seduce the plaintiffs and their lawyer-a woman-into settling.
'Mr. Compton?' He looked up to see one of the department's paralegals at the library door. 'I know you have permission to access the Green case files on our network, but I made you a CD as backup in case you're somewhere without a network connection.' The girl's hands trembled as she handed him the packaged disk.
'Thanks,' he said, standing up, giving her a smile. For a second he was afraid she was going to faint. Then what would he do? But she mustered up some poise, returned his smile, batted her lashes and swung her hips provocatively as she made her way out of the library. At the door she paused, struck a sexy pose, gave him some more eyelash action and said, 'I'm Lisa, and if there's anything else I can do to help, like if you need clerical or paralegal backup in New York…'
It was the story of his life. He couldn't help it. It wasn't anything he did deliberately. Some chemical in his body-well, testosterone was what it was-must have sprung a leak at birth and had been oozing out of him ever since, attracting women like beer attracted slugs.
If he intended to settle down, he had to plug that leak. He had to become irresistible to just one woman. And he had to stop attracting every unattached female who came into view. There was no better time than right now to give it a try. He wondered what he could say that would leave no doubt in Lisa's mind that he wouldn't be calling her for a wild weekend in New York. And while he wondered and Lisa waited, a bright idea popped into his mind.
'Thanks, Lisa,' he said. 'I'll pass that on to Mallory Trent. She's going to need plenty of support from the department.'
He was relieved to hear the smoky tone clear from Lisa's voice. 'Of course,' she said, releasing her body from the arched-back position that made her breasts and butt stick out at the same time. 'I'm happy to give Mallory any help she needs.'
When she slammed the library door, Carter felt he'd made some progress. He'd discovered, he ruminated as he made his way back to his own handsome office at Rendell and Renfro, that it paid to have a woman on his team who could run interference for him with other women.
While they were in New York, Mallory would make a great blocker.
Of course, he didn't want to be blocked completely. On his phone list were several women who lived in New York. This was his chance to go out with them, enjoy their company, treat them to a night on the town-and if he felt like it, a night in bed. Along the way, he'd determine if one of them might be someone he could settle down with forever. He'd make dates with a couple of them right now, tonight, before he forgot.
He reached his building, signed in and went up to his office. Too bad the plaintiffs didn't have Mallory's hair. Nobody with hair like Mallory's would want to dye it red.
2
Mallory didn't open her office door again until she'd heard her suitemates leave for the day. By that time she felt she'd successfully compartmentalized every facet of her life, including Carter, who'd gone into a read-only- don't-touch file. And there he would stay, at least until she had to face him in person at the airport in the morning. By morning, she'd be herself again. Under control.
Dressed for the cold winter night, she caught a cab on LaSalle, which slipped and slid as it carried her through the velvety darkness. The streetlamps cast a golden glow on the snowflakes that misted the air and iced the streets. Christmas trees soared high within the lobbies of the commercial buildings she passed, and when she reached the more residential areas, glittered festively through the windows of brownstones and apartments.
'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,' the cab driver said.
Resisting an alarming urge to sing, 'everywhere you go,' back at him, Mallory said, 'We just had Thanksgiving.'
