AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Good.’ The lawyer picked up the documents on his desk and levelled his gaze at Nate. ‘Now, Nathaniel, you need to do the same. And I’d suggest, to start, you apologise to Miss Tremaine for snooping into her private affairs.’
Nate frowned at his attorney, but Tess’s moment of satisfaction was short-lived when the elderly man tucked the documents under his arm and crossed to the door.
‘Hold it. Where are you going?’ Nate called after his attorney.
A rueful smile lifted Jensen’s lips as he placed his hand on the doorknob. ‘I’m going to lunch, son.’
‘But, you can’t.’ Nate spread his hands to encompass Tess, who got a much-needed boost from the note of concern in his voice. Good to know she wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to face this ‘civilised’ conversation without a chaperone. ‘I’m paying you to handle this.’
‘There’s no need for an attorney to be involved yet, Nathaniel,’ Jensen replied, the affection in his voice so palpable it easily compensated for the condescension. ‘I have every confidence you can handle it from here.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE regular ticks of a carriage clock on the mantelpiece only increased the tension as Tess stared at Nate Graystone’s back. He’d paced across the deep-pile carpet about three minutes ago like a caged tiger and had been glaring out of the window without uttering a word ever since.
After his sulk had gone on for another minute, Tess had got her own temper under enough control to break the deadlock. ‘Your lawyer’s quite a character. How long have you known him?’
He twisted round. ‘What?’ he snapped.
‘I was just wondering,’ she replied patiently. ‘He mentioned he had to bail you out of juvie. What did you do?’
The frosty stare became even frostier. ‘That was a long time ago.’
‘So long ago you can’t remember?’ she asked, deciding that needling him was more productive than staring at his back.
He crossed the room and sat in the chair across from her. ‘Exactly how is this relevant to our current situation?’ he asked sarcastically.
‘I’m curious,’ she said, although the truth was she was a little more than curious now—she’d never seen him on the defensive before. ‘I had a few run-ins with the school authorities myself as a teenager.’
He barked out a humourless laugh. ‘Why am I not surprised?’
Ignoring the blip of temper, she went on the offensive. ‘What’s the big secret, Nathaniel?’ she said, using his full name deliberately. ‘How about I tell you mine then you can tell me yours?’ Whatever he’d done it probably hadn’t been anything at all. ‘First there was the time I got caught smoking in—’
‘Driving a stolen vehicle, without a licence, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer,’ he interrupted, reeling his infractions off with about as much emotion as reciting a shopping list. ‘It was Christmas Eve and I decided to
celebrate in style.’
‘You did all that in one night?’ she said, shocked. She’d never met anyone who’d been more out of control than she had as a teenager.
He shrugged and looked away. ‘I was twelve. It didn’t happen again.’
‘I never...’ She hesitated, still not sure she could believe it. ‘You don’t look like the type.’
His sharp blue gaze levelled on her. ‘Good. That’s the idea.’
‘I bet your parents went ballistic,’ she said, feeling that odd sense of connection again, despite their differences. Her father would have murdered her if she’d ever got arrested.
‘Hardly,’ he said. ‘They were in Cancún.’
‘Cancún? At Christmas time? You’re kidding?’ she said, more shocked by that revelation than the news that he’d been driving a stolen vehicle at twelve. Although Christmases had been strained, difficult affairs in her teens, at least her father had always been there to celebrate them with her, even after she’d begun living with her aunt.
He sent her a bland look.
‘What were they doing in Cancún?’
He hitched a shoulder. ‘Getting drunk and high. It’s what they did best.’
‘But who was looking after you?’ she asked, genuinely sorry for him now. No wonder he’d gone so spectacularly off the rails.
