Robards, Karen (36 page)

“Tony,” she said in a small voice. He still sat at the table drinking coffee. As a protection officer, she had discovered, he didn’t sleep: he was on duty, and thus stayed awake all night, to watch over them. Consequently, he had been bleary-eyed at the breakfast table that morning.

He glanced up. One look at her must have told him something was up, because he got immediately to his feet. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt over jeans, with

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white athletic socks but no shoes on his feet. He needed a shave, and his black hair was tousled.

Even bleary-eyed, unshaven, and tousled, he was sexy.

“What?” he said, padding toward her. Penick was behind her now, frowning, looking mystified.

Grace stepped back out onto the walkway and waited for Tony to join her.

“Look,” she said, pointing.

He looked, and his face tightened.

“At least he couldn’t get in,” Grace said. She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling suddenly very cold despite the sunny brightness of the morning and her new bone-colored wool suit. All the uneasiness she’d managed to suppress since arriving home the previous evening sprang to renewed life. 1 Tony said in a “Go on to work. I’ll take care of it, “

clipped voice. He glanced at her then, and smiled. That smile was almost as intimate as a kiss. If it hadn’t been for Penick standing behind her, he would have kissed her, she knew. But he didn’t, and she felt the loss. “We’ll get him, don’t worry. In the meantime, you and Jessica are safe.”

“I know.” She smiled back at him, rather wanly. But as she followed Penick out to the car she felt dread, cold and suffocating, settle over her like a cloud.

The memory of the circled horoscope was heavy as a lead ball in her chest.

January 21st. She could not get the date, with all its implications, out of her mind.

Should she tell Tony? Or not?

The question troubled her so much that she had

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difficulty concentrating in court. It was Tuesday, and she had the usual run of cases: divorces, custody disputes, incidents of domestic violence, child abuse, juvenile delinquents. By eleven o’clock she was as tired as if she had worked a full day-and Colin Wilkerson was standing in front of her arguing on behalf of a mother trying to deny joint custody or even any visitation by her husband. He was not the biological father of the child in question, although he had married the mother when the child was six months old and raised it as his own. Now, after nine years of marriage and stepfatherhood, the mother wanted a divorce, and, further, wanted to deny her soon-to-be-ex-husband all future contact with the child.

“Legal precedent is clear,” Colin said, citing cases. “Mr. Harvey has no right to even see Lisa, much less sue for joint custody of her. The fact is, he is neither the child’s biological nor adoptive father, and thus has no standing in this case.”

Having already listened to Mr. Harvey’s side of the story and to the report of a court-appointed psychologist who had exarmined the child, Grace looked at Colin, who appeared coolly confident of the merit of his client’s legal position.

“The child’s name is Lisa Harvey, is it not?”

“She has gone by that name, yes. But Mrs. Harvey is planning to remarry, and at that time the child’s name will be altered to that of her new stepfather.”

Grace looked at Mrs. Harvey. A big-boned blonde of perhaps thirty, she was attractive in a bosomy, bighaired kind of way.

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“So what Mrs. Harvey is basically proposing is that her child be raised by a succession of fathers?”

Colin looked taken aback. Mrs. Harvey’s eyes widened.

“The child has been raised as Lisa Harvey from infancy, is that right, Mrs. Harvey?” Grace asked. “Yes,” Mrs. Harvey said in a soft voice.

“She considers Mr. Harvey her father, is that right?” Grace continued.

“Well, yes, but Mrs. Harvey began.

“The fact is he is not,” Colin quickly interceded. Grace had heard enough. “In this case, I think that raising a child as its father from infancy to age nine gives Mr. Harvey certain rights. I rule that he is to be awarded joint custody of the child known as Lisa Harvey. Schedules are to be worked out between the opposing parties and presented to this court for approval.” She banged the gavel down on her desk. “Case dismissed.

“Wh-what?” Mrs. Harvey’s mouth dropped open. Eyes and mouth formed almost perfect O’s. “Colin, you told me that he had no chance!”

A plump, dark-haired man in a too-small suit, Mr. Harvey slumped in his chair, disbelief quickly replaced by a huge grin. His attorney patted him on the shoulder.

“Margaret, it’s all right,” Colin said swiftly to his client, and looked daggers at Grace. “Your Honor, may I approach the bench?”

No, is what Grace wanted to say. She really wasn’t in the mood for Colin Wilkerson. But, as usual, he didn’t

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wait for tier permission. He seemed to feel that their one-time relationship gave him a special dispensation of formality where she was concerned.

“All right, this is too much,” he said in a furious undertone when he stood before her. “You are taking personal vindictiveness to an extreme. Under the law, that man had no case, and you know it. You found against my client strictly to get back at me.”

Grace looked at him and mentally counted to ten. The courtroom was emptying behind him, and new people were coming in. just one more case, and she would call the lunch break.

Thank goodness.

“Colin, believe me, you overrate your importance in my life,” Grace said coldly.

“It is obvious to anyone what you are doing. You are punishing me every time I stand before this court for some offense I’m not even aware of committing. But let me tell you, your ruling in this case will not stand! It is absolutely without legal precedent!”

“You are welcome to appeal.”

His face turned red, and his fingers curled and uncurled at his sides.

“I warn you, Grace: I’m not going to put up with this. You are hurting my practice by denying every case I bring into your court. I’m telling you now, whatever it takes to get you off the bench, I am prepared to do. Do you hear me? Whatever it takes!”

Before Grace could open her mouth to say contempt Of courtg a hand fell on Colin’s shoulder. Clean-shaven now, dressed in his leather bomber jacket over a flannel

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shirt and jeans, Tony stood behind him, his eyes narrow and his jaw hard. Penick, courtroom ready in a sport jacket and tie, came out of his seat at the side of the courtroom at this sign of trouble and headed toward the bench. So too did Walter Dowd.

“That sounds like a threat, Counselor,” Tony said. “Who the hell are you?” Colin turned to glare at the other man, his face so red now that Grace halfexpected to see steam start pouring from his ears. Only the size and style of his opponent kept him from letting fly with his fists, Grace surmised. Although Colin was tall, it was obvious at a glance that he was no match for Tony’s hard, muscular frame.

“Cop,” Tony said succinctly. “And you’re threatening an officer of the court.”

“What’s the problem?” Penick asked, ranging himself alongside Tony. Walter shifted to one side, so that he stood nearest to Grace.

“I’ve seen you before,” Colin said to Tony, his eyes narrowing. Then he glanced at Grace, his mouth curling into a sneer. “He your new boyfriend?”

Tony stiffened. Penick, clearly sensing the imminent escalation of the conflict, shifted his weight, appearing to balance on the balls of his feet as he glanced from one would-be combatant to the other. Walter’s hand settled on his gun. Grace looked at the four men in front of her bench and sighed.

“Colin, do me a favor: Go away. If you want to try to have me removed from the bench legally, fine. If you threaten me again, or in fact, say one more word, I’m going to find you in contempt of court and have you locked up. Don’t make me do it.”

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Colin glared at her, his hands opening and closing at his sides, his face bright crimson now. His furious gaze transferred to Tony and then to Penick, who was standingjust behind Tony, and finally to Walter, whose hand still rested on the gun holstered at his side. Then his lips thinned, and without another word he turned on his heel and took himself off.

Tony looked after him thoughtfully, then glanced at Grace.

“Who is that guy?”

“His name is Colin Wilkerson. He’s an attorney,” Grace answered.

Tony moved closer to the bench so that they could

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talk without being overheard by anyone except, perhaps, Penick and Walter, who still stood nearby. “I’ve seen him here before. In fact, weren’t you having a disagreement with him then, too?”

“Probably. Colin thinks my rulings against him are personal. At one time, we … went out.”

“I see.” Tony’s gaze met hers, and there was something—a hint of disgruntlement, maybe?-in the depths of his eyes that had not been there before. It was obvious to Grace that he did not like the thought that she had once dated Colin Wilkerson.

Was he, perhaps, just a little jealous? Grace was surprised at how much she liked the idea that Tony Marino might be jealous of a man she had dated briefly months before.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Grace asked. “I thought I’d take you to lunch.” His gaze met hers again, and the anger at the backs of his eyes faded away.

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They were speaking quietly enough so that not even Penick and Walter could overhear. They could be seen, though, and both Penick and Walter, along with several others seated in the courtroom, were watching them curiously. Though she knew they were being observed, Grace couldn’t help it. She smiled at him. His expression softened in response, and he smiled back at her.

“I have one more case to hear before I can call lunch.”

“I’ll wait.”

Grace listened with some impatience to her final case of the morning, which was, thankfully, a simple divorce that only needed finalizing, and then called the lunch break. Tony and Penick had been sitting side by side on the far right side of the courtroom, and they approached her together as she stepped down from the bench. 11

“I’ll take over watchdog duties until after lunch, Tony said to Penick as Grace joined them. “Feel free to go grab a sandwich or something.” He glanced at his watch. “We’ll meet you back here at one o’clock.”

Penick looked doubtful. “I’m on duty … …

“I’m officially relieving you until after lunch.” Tony outranked Penick, but that didn’t make the other officer look any happier about the situation.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be perfectly safe with Detective Marino,” Grace said with a smile for the younger man. “Think so?” Tony said in her ear as Penick, still looking doubtful, took himself off.

“As safe as I want to be,” she amended, and grinned

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at him. He laughed. Grace stopped for an instant in her chambers to remove her robe, and then they hurried through the secretaries’ big office and headed down the back stairs toward the parking lot.

As much as she wanted to, they didn’t touch, not even to hold hands. As long as she was in the Franklin County Courthouse, she had her dignity as a judge to uphold, and Tony seemed as conscious of that as she as.

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Once his car, though, he kissed her, a quick hard kiss, then inserted his key into the ignition and started the engine. Conscious that it was broad daylight and they were in the parking lot of the courthouse with people all around, Grace refrained with some mental effort from wrapping her arms around his neck and returning the favor with interest.

But she wanted to, and her expression must have told him so, because his eyes heated as he looked at her.

“How hungry are you?” he asked, pulling out of the parking lot into the heavy traffic of downtown Columbus at midday.

“Not particularly.”

He grinned at her. “We could go to my house.” His house was less than five nu’nutes away, Grace knew. She had called the lunch break at 11:15. It was now 11:25. That gave them about an hour and a half before she had to be back on the bench.

“Okay.” Even as she said that one little word, her body began to quicken. The night before, when he’d started kissing her on the couch during the evening

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news, she’d been forced to tell him her rule, about no sex in the house with Jessica present. He had agreed that it was a good rule, and very important forJessica’s well-being, and then kissed her again and sent her to bed before, he said, he took back everything he had just said.

She hadn’t even been surprised that he’d been understanding. Besides being mouth-wateringly sexy, Tony Marino, she had learned, was a decent and honorable man.

When they reached his house, Mrs. Crutcher next door was on her porch watering the plants with an oldfashioned tin watering can.

“Hi, Tony!” she called, waving, as they stepped out of his black Honda, which he parked at the curb. “Hi, Mrs. Crutcher.” Tony waved back. Grace felt

her face pinken as the old woman, watering can in hand, studied her with open interest as she and Tony headed, without touching, for the house. It was silly, but she was sure that the woman knew precisely why they were there.

“Out all night again, Tony,” Mrs. Crutcher chided. “Working, always working,” he replied with a grin. “Nice work if you can get it,” she retorted, chuckling, and looked pointedly at Grace, who sn-ffled feebly in response. She was still watching them as Tony unlocked his door and pulled Grace inside the house.

“She’s better than any watchdog I’ve ever seen,” Grace said with fervent relief as the closing door blocked the woman’s prying eyes.

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“Isn’t she? She’s my own personal security system.” He grinned at her as he locked the door, then pulled her into his arms. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she has my house bugged.”

On that pleasant thought, he kissed her.