Swan's Grace (36 page)

"Did you do it?" she asked without thinking.

His look of bored indifference disappeared. "I thought lawyers didn't ask questions like that," he said with harsh animosity.

"This lawyer does."

He pushed away from the wall and walked toward her desk with a smooth panther's grace, as if all this time he had been holding back, containing the raw, furious power of his rage. "What do you think, Miss Kendall? Do you think I did it?"

She didn't back up, though she wanted to, and she didn't answer his question. Instead she asked, "Where were you the night of the murder?"

The air in the room seemed sparse as he stared at her. She felt the barely contained power of him, the heat of his body taking over the small space. It was all she could do to not look away.

"I was in my room at the club. In bed. Would you like to know what I was doing there?"

His voice was a deep, seductive brush of sound, and her breath hissed out of her.

"No, thank you," she managed. "But if indeed you were in… your room, how could anyone possibly think you did it?"

"They have an eyewitness."

Alice blinked. "An eyewitness?" she repeated, incredulous. "If someone saw you do it, you don't need a lawyer, Mr. Hawthorne, you need a miracle worker."

"That's why we came to you." Lucas drawled the last word with stinging contempt. "As Grayson said, you're smart, you're hungry." His smile returned, hard and dismissive. "And while you aren't at all what I expected, you are a woman."

"Lucas," Grayson snapped.

Her shoulders came back. "What is that supposed to mean?"

But Lucas wasn't put off. "What my dear brother has failed to mention is that he believes a woman lawyer will help my case."

"Most men would believe that a woman lawyer would do more harm than good."

Lucas shrugged, the gesture a lament. "I said as much myself. But Grayson feels that no woman would consider representing a guilty man. At least that's what he's counting on a jury believing."

She began to see where he was headed, and her stomach tightened with anger.

Grayson gave his brother a quelling look before he spoke. "The fact is, Miss Kendall, if you agree to represent Lucas, I don't believe he will ever be indicted by the grand jury, much less convicted. Yes, they have an eyewitness. But she is a woman of lesser virtue, and it will be her word against his."

"From what I hear, your brother is a
man
of lesser virtue." The words were out before Alice could stop them.

Grayson's countenance grew fierce. Lucas threw his head back and laughed.

"At least she's honest," he said. "Come on, big brother. We're wasting our time."

He headed for the door, looking pleased to be leaving.

"
Are
we wasting our time?" Grayson asked.

Alice couldn't seem to look away from Lucas. Minutes ticked by in silence as she thought about this man charged with murder, trying to understand what it was about him that drew her. He was arrogant, rude, and he had trouble written all over him. But something about him made her heart beat wildly and her knees feel weak.

It was foolish, idiotic, an insipidly female reaction. And she had always prided herself on the fact that she had never been insipid.

"I'm sorry," she said finally, still looking at Lucas instead of his brother. "But I can't take the case."

A flash of something—hurt, fear—darkened in Lucas Hawthorne's blue eyes, but was quickly covered by that wry indifference.

"Come on, let's go," he said.

Grayson pursed his lips and stared at her hard. "Just think about it, Miss Kendall," he said, his tone firm and exacting. "Lucas needs a lawyer who can counter the very reputation you mentioned." He glanced around her office with a knowing look. "And if my guess is correct, you need a client."

Then they were gone, the door closing with a rattle of glass in the wooden frame. Alice stared at the murky window, feeling shaken and angry. Though more than that, she felt a needling desire to take the case.

But to take on a man whose disreputable lifestyle could very easily have led him to commit such a crime? And even if he didn't, no court in the land would believe it.

No, she wasn't that foolish.

She pressed her hand against her heart. It raced inside her chest as Lucas Hawthorne's blue eyes flashed in her mind—the way he had looked at her, really looked for those few moments when he first entered the room, seeing her as no one else ever did.

What did he see, she wanted to ask.

Shaking her head, she scoffed at her thoughts. She wasn't going to ask Lucas Hawthorne anything, not about what he saw… or about what he had done. Her decision was made. She wouldn't see him again. Case closed. End of story.

If only it had ended there.