McIver's Mission (8 page)

"Nice office," she said, surveying the
spacious surroundings.

He managed to tear his gaze away from her legs before
she caught him staring. "I like it."

She glanced at him, and their eyes locked for a long
moment. Shaun would have sworn the air crackled with the awareness between
them. Then she looked away and the moment passed, or maybe he'd just imagined
it.

"I was heading back to my office after
court," she said, "and I thought I should stop by to return
this." She took his handkerchief out of her pocket, passed it across the
desk to him.

He'd forgotten that she had it. He tucked it into his
own pocket. "Aren't you going to be at
Carly's
birthday party tomorrow?"

Arden nodded. "Yes. I thought about waiting to
return it, but I wasn't sure if I'd have a chance to speak to you alone. Not
that I want to be alone with you. I mean—"

She broke off, drew in a deep breath. He fought
against the grin that tugged at his lips. Damn, but she was cute when she was
flustered.

"I only meant that I didn't want Nikki to know
that I had your handkerchief, because then she'd have a ton of questions. She
worries about me," Arden admitted reluctantly.

"It's natural to worry about those you
love." He tilted his head, studying her. "Why does that bother
you?"

She shrugged. "Because it's unnecessary."

One day, he promised himself, he would get to the
bottom of this stubborn independence of hers. He'd find out what had happened
to make her so unwilling to rely on others, so reluctant to accept help when it
was offered. For now it was enough that she was here.

"I saw you and Warren Blake having coffee at the
courthouse Monday." He wasn't sure what compelled him to blurt out the
statement. He hadn't realized that the sight of Arden with the assistant
district attorney had bothered him, but apparently it had, more than he wanted
to admit.

"And?" she prompted, sounding baffled.

He shrugged. "I thought you didn't date
lawyers."

"Is that a not-so-subtle way of asking about my
relationship with Warren?"

He didn't give a damn about being subtle, and he
didn't like the way the man's name had rolled off her tongue. "Do you have
a relationship with Blake?"

"Do you have a problem with the new ADA?"
she countered.

"He's arrogant and self-righteous and
unreasonable."

She raised an eyebrow. "Did he refuse to grant
bail to one of your clients?"

He had, but "That's not the point."

She smiled.

"He was hanging all over you."

"Not that it's any of your business," Arden
told him. "But we were having a professional discussion over coffee."

Her explanation failed to appease him. A professional
discussion. "Since when do you represent criminal defendant?"

"I do a lot of work with young offenders,"
she told him.

"Oh." He'd forgotten that. Still, he didn't
like the way Blake had been looking at her. Not that he could blame the man for
finding Arden attractive, but he sensed it was some thing more than that. He
had no grounds for his suspicions, though, so he kept them to himself.

"Any more questions?" Arden asked.

"Not right now."

"Good." She stood up. "I have to get back
to the office."

But Shaun was reluctant to let her go. "I haven't
forgotten about your bookshelves," he told her. "I just haven't had a
chance to get the wood."

"I'm not in a hurry."

"Oh. Okay. I'll call you, then, when I'm ready to
get started."

"Sure," she agreed. Then, "I'll see you
at Colin and Nikki's tomorrow?"

He nodded, already looking forward to it.

* * *

It
was amazing, Arden thought as she stepped out of the path of an oncoming child,
how vocal a group of six-year-olds could be. And it wasn't a particularly large
group, either. She tried to count the heads as they rushed past, but they
changed direction in midstream, circled around and disappeared up the stairs
again.

"How many kids are here?" she asked Nikki.

"Six," her cousin answered. "Including
Carly
."

"I never would have thought that six kids could
make so much noise."

Nikki shrugged. "You get used to it."

"How long is this party supposed to last?"

"Until three o'clock."

Arden glanced at her watch. It was a little past one.
The party had started at noon, with hot dogs and potato chips for lunch. Then
Carly
had opened her presents, and now the kids were
playing some kind of game that apparently required running around the house at
full speed and full volume. Arden concentrated on helping Nikki pick up the
scattered remnants of wrapping paper and ribbon, refusing to think about the
fact that Shaun had yet to make an appearance.

"How's your new associate working out?"
Nikki asked.

"Good. It took her a while to get her bearings,
but she's settling in well."

"So what's bothering you?"

"Nothing."

Nikki sent her a pointed look; Arden sighed.

"I'm not sure."

"Must be a man," Nikki said, smiling.

"No. Well, sort of."

"He's sort of a man?"

Arden laughed. He was
definitely
a man.
"He sort of bothers me."

"It's about time."

"What do you mean?"

"You always close yourself off from people, never
letting anyone get too close. If he bothers you, it means he's getting to
you."

Arden frowned. It frustrated her to realize that she
still carried the emotional scars from a man who'd been gone from her life for
so long, and that her inherent distrust was so apparent. "Do you think I'm
cold?"

"No," Nikki responded immediately.
"You're the warmest, most giving and caring person I know, but you don't
often let other people see it."

Arden stuffed a wad of wrapping paper into the bag in
Nikki's hand.

"Does he see it?" Nikki asked.

"He thinks he does."

Nikki grinned. "I like him already."

"You would," Arden muttered.

"Speaking of men," Nikki mused, as she
scooped a huge purple bow from the floor. "I wonder what happened to
Shaun. When I talked to him last week, he said he was going to be here."

"He told me the same thing yesterday," Arden
said, not thinking about the implications of her statement until the words were
out of her mouth.

Nikki turned to look at her. "You saw Shaun
yesterday?"

"Um … yeah."
Hell
.

"I keep forgetting that you guys must run into
one another all the time at the courthouse."

Arden decided not to correct her cousin's
misapprehension. There was no reason to invite speculation, and the chime of
the doorbell forestalled any further discussion of the matter.

That will be Shaun, Arden thought.

"I'll get it," Colin said, coming through
the dining room from the kitchen. He stopped on his way to brush a soft kiss on
Nikki's lips. The tenderness of the gesture almost made Arden sigh.

She had expressed more than a few reservations when
Colin had come back into town, after a five-year absence, claiming to still
love Nikki. But he'd stuck, and if appearances were any indication, they were
very much in love. Nikki and Colin had been remarried for four months now, and
it warmed Arden's heart to see how happy they were together, and if she was a
little envious—well, it was just a little.

"Isn't the honeymoon period supposed to be over
by now?" she teased.

Colin ended the lingering kiss to respond to the door.
Nikki, bless her, actually blushed. "I wouldn't have thought it was
possible," she admitted. "But I love him more every day."

"They say that's the way it's supposed to
be."

"You don't have to sound so skeptical," her
cousin chided.

Arden shrugged. "I don't see a lot of cases of
love at its finest. But it's great to see you so happy."

"I want you to be happy, too."

"I'm not unhappy," Arden said.

"No," Nikki agreed. "But you're not
really happy, either."

Arden shrugged again but was saved from answering by
Colin's return, accompanied now by his brother.

Shaun's eyes met hers, held for a moment. "Hello,
Arden."

"Hi," she responded, lamenting the sudden
acceleration of her pulse. She'd always been aware of his innate maleness and
sensuality, but there was something different now. Since the night he'd kissed
her, she sensed a corresponding awareness from Shaun that had never existed
before.

Shaun crossed the room to kiss Nikki's cheek.
"Sorry I'm late," he apologized, setting a large, brightly wrapped
box on the table.

"You missed lunch," Nikki told him.

"Hot dogs, wasn't it?" The face he made
suggested that his tardiness might not have been accidental.

"There are a few left, if you want one," she
said.

"No. Thanks." Then, "I didn't miss
cake, though, did I?"

Nikki chuckled. "No, you didn't miss cake."

He grinned. "Then I'd say I'm right on
time."

She shook her head and handed the bag of garbage to
Colin.

"Where is the birthday girl?" Shaun asked.

"Upstairs trashing her new toys." It was
Arden who responded to his question, since Nikki and Colin had their heads
together again and were whispering intently as if they were alone in the room.
"Do you want me to get her?"

"No. I'll go up to see her in a minute." He
nodded his head in the direction of his brother and sister-in-law. "What's
up with them?"

"Love," Arden said, sounding disgusted.

Shaun laughed.

"If you guys are going to make snide comments,
we're not going to share the news," Colin said.

"What news?" Shaun asked.

Arden glanced from Nikki, who was practically bursting
with excitement, to Colin, whose expression matched.

"We're going to have another baby," Nikki said.

Arden swallowed around the tightness in her throat and
stepped over to hug her cousin. "Congratulations." Then she turned
and hugged Colin, too.

"Wow." Shaun sounded like he was in shock,
but he was smiling. He slapped his brother on the back and lifted Nikki off the
ground in a heartfelt embrace.

"When?" Arden asked.

"March," Nikki said.

"Have you told
Carly
?"

She nodded.

"Is she excited?"

This time it was Colin who nodded. "And adamant
that the baby's going to be a girl."

"This is such wonderful news," Arden said.
And it was. So she wasn't sure why her eyes stung, why she felt an emptiness
inside herself. She was happy for her cousin. Thrilled. Nikki and Colin
deserved all the happiness in the world; they'd certainly earned it.

It was the sound of hundreds of pounding feet—or six
pairs of six-year-old feet—on the stairs that banished her melancholy. Then
Carly
swooped into the room, followed by her entourage.

"Can we have cake now, Mommy?"

"Is everyone ready for cake?" Nikki asked.

"Yes," the children chorused in response.

"Then find your places at the table," Nikki
advised.

She carried the cake in from the kitchen, candles lit.
The children sang loudly and off-key, and
Carly
managed to extinguish all of the candles with a single breath and very little spit.

"I'll take this back to the kitchen to dish it
up," Arden said.

"I'll give you a hand," Shaun offered.

Arden sliced through the cake, sliding the pieces onto
paper plates decorated with Cosmic Cat,
Carly's
favorite cartoon character. She glanced at Shaun as she removed the lid from
the tub of chocolate ice cream. "I thought you were going to help."

"I really just wanted to talk to you," he
admitted.

"About?"

"I lied to you the other day," he told her.

Arden frowned as she dipped the scoop into the ice cream.
"When?"

"When I said I wanted us to be friends."

"You don't want to be friends?" It shouldn't
have bothered her. After all, it had been
his
suggestion in the first
place.

"I don't want to put a label on our relationship
that might limit the scope of it."

Arden busied herself scooping ice cream. She wasn't
sure what point he was trying to make, and he sure was taking his time getting
to it. "Sometimes you sound just like a lawyer."