Tempting the Artist (24 page)

Rouse stepped forward, invading Luke’s
personal space. “Attorney Hayden, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you
how important our clients are to us. They pay us to provide them
with legal representation, which is what you’re going to do, even
if it’s just for today. You do whatever necessary to make our
client feel that we’re working on his behalf,” he said in a low,
controlled tone.

Luke’s blood pressure rose steadily.
It was at that moment he knew that would be his last day at
Atwater, Rouse & Stevenson. There was no way in hell he would
tolerate anyone treating him like some lackey, especially when he
knew he didn’t need the job or the money.

Maintaining eye contact with the older
man, Luke thought of so many things he could say to him, like kiss
my ass, or get your ignorant son to do his job. But Luke wouldn’t
stoop to that level. Instead, he would do what Rouse asked of him,
but in the end, Gary and his father would regret the day they put
him in this position.

Rouse took a step back and adjusted
his suit jacket. “Since I have to be in court, I’ll need you to
follow through on this meeting with the client and the Jenkins
family. At this point, I don’t want Mr. Jones to have wasted a trip
for something we couldn’t control.”

In other words, Rouse needed this
meeting to happen so that the firm could still bill the
client.

A short while later, Luke pulled out a
copy of the Complaint that Gary had filed with the court on Leroy
Jones’ behalf. All he could do was shake his head as he skimmed the
document and quickly went through the rest of the file astonished
Gary thought they had a case.

“
Attorney
Hayden?”

Luke glanced up. His assistant stood
in the doorway with a stout man he assumed was Leroy Jones. He had
given her instructions to bring Leroy to his office right
away.

Luke returned the documents to the
file and stood. He stepped around his desk. “Mr. Jones.” He shook
the older man’s hand. “I’m Luke Hayden.”

“
Nice to meet you,” Leroy
said enthusiastically.

“
Thanks, Robin. That’ll be
all.” Luke closed the door behind her and directed Leroy to one of
the upholstered chairs in front of his desk. “All right, let’s get
started. We have a good five minutes before we have to meet with
the Jenkins’ lawyer.”

“
Attorney Rouse, well
Attorney Gary Rouse, told me that you and he would be overseeing my
case. He said you’re one of the best lawyers here.”

“
Did he now?” Luke said
tightly, the simmering anger in his gut was turning into a slow
boil. “Unfortunately, Mr. Jones you have me at a disadvantage. I
just received your information and only had a minute to bring
myself up to speed, and so that you know, I won’t be overseeing
your case.”

“
But Attorney—”

“
I’m only filling in with
this meeting since it was too late for our firm to
cancel.”

Jones didn’t seem too pleased at the
turn of events, but Luke didn’t care. As far as he was concerned,
the lawsuit was a joke and Gary was dumber than Luke thought if he
believed this would go anywhere.

Luke asked Leroy a series of questions
about his construction business. Like how long he’d been in
business. How many jobs had he lost to the Jenkins family? Why did
he decide to go after the Jenkins family now?”

“
I think they have some of
these businesses in their pockets or something. There’s no way they
could keep beating me out of these jobs. They’re underbidding and
squeezing me out at every turn.” Leroy’s southern twang shined
through.

Luke leaned back in his seat and
steepled his fingers. “Mr. Jones, what made you think you had
enough of a case to go after Jenkins & Sons?”

“
I’d been thinking about it
for a while. A friend of mine knows Attorney Rouse. He told him
about my situation and Attorney Rouse called me.”

Now this got Luke’s attention. “So the
lawsuit was Attorney Rouse’s idea?”

Leroy hesitated. “Well, I guess, but
I’d been thinking about it anyway. He said I definitely had a
case.” Leroy grinned, rubbing his hands together. “I’ll finally be
able to get back some of my money those thievin’ Jenkins stole from
me.”

Luke stared at the older man who
appeared to be mixed-race. He clearly had been running his hands
through his brownish hair, the short strands sticking up and going
in different directions. And his eyes. Luke had never met anyone
with eyes that were such an unusual shade of blue with specks of
gray. He also noticed Leroy couldn’t hold his gaze for more than a
few seconds before diverting his eyes.

Closing the file, Luke asked, “Did
Attorney Rouse mention to you that the assault charges brought up
against you a couple of years ago when you attacked one of the
Jenkins’ would—”

“
Now wait a minute.”
Leroy’s smug grin quickly dropped from his face. “I didn’t attack
her. It … it was a misunderstanding.”

“
Is that what they’re
calling it these days?” Luke spat out, unable to hold the words
back. It took every bit of control he had not to say more. Before
Leroy could respond, Luke stood. “All right, we’d better get going.
I don’t think it’ll take long. This is just a preliminary meeting.
I’m sure Attorney Rouse will be in touch with you regarding next
steps. In the meantime, let’s meet with the Jenkins’ and let them
know what you want.”

Moments
later
, Luke and Leroy sat on one side of
the conference table waiting for the Jenkins’ to arrive. Luke
remembered that Christina and Peyton had argued about her attending
the meeting, and now he hoped Christina didn’t show.

The conference room door swung open,
and Luke stood as Ben Sr. walked in first. Steven Jenkins and
Peyton followed. Ben Sr. and Steven greeted him with a friendly
handshake, keeping the situation professional and not making it
known that they knew Luke. Peyton was a different story. Her eyes
narrowed, and her lips thinned with a cynical twist. She clearly
wasn’t pleased to see him. She took the seat on her grandfather’s
left, directly across from Luke.

Once everyone was seated,
Luke started the meeting. “I’m glad you all were able to meet with
us. Before we start, I want to inform you that I am
not
one of the lawyers on
this case. Mr. Jones’ lawyer had an emergency, and it was too late
to contact all of you to postpone the meeting.”

Christina’s grandfather and uncle’s
expression remained friendly, and the tension lines on Peyton’s
forehead disappeared. Luke pulled a settlement-negotiating document
from the file that Gary or someone on his team drew up with
information about what Leroy was requesting.

“
I’m not sure if you have
received a copy of this,” Luke said, sliding the document across
the table to Ben, “but just in case you haven’t.”

Ben glanced at the information as he
twirled an ink pen between his fingers. “We did get this
information. Thanks for checking.” He set the pen down. “Attorney
Hayden, since this isn’t your case, we’d prefer postponing until
Attorney Rouse is—”

The door burst open, and Christina
walked in.

“
I’m so sorry I’m late, but
…” She froze.

Damn.
Luke stood.

“
How could you?” she
snarled through gritted teeth, her eyes blazing. “I
can’t—”

“
Christina.” Her
grandfather’s warning tone caused her to clamp her mouth shut.
Instead of saying more, she pulled the door open, slamming it
against the wall, and stormed out of the room.

Peyton stood to go after
her.

“
Let me.” Luke had Leroy
follow him out of the conference room and Luke left him with Robin.
Right now, he didn’t care what the hell happened to Leroy or his
lawsuit. All he wanted to do was get to Christina.

He caught up with her just
as she passed his office and reached for her arm, but she snatched
it away. “Christina, give me a chance to explain. Let’s talk in my
office.” His words sounded calm, but fear gripped him like a noose
around his neck.
I can’t lose
her.

She stepped out of his reach but
walked into the office.

The moment the door closed, she
whirled on him. “I can’t believe you acted as if you didn’t know
Leroy! Then you lied to me. You pretended not to know about the
meeting. And not only are you in the meeting, but you’re
representing that asshole! How could you?”

“
If you’ll let me explain,
you’ll understand th—”

“
No! I’ll tell you what I
understand. My family welcomed you, loved on you and pretty much
adopted you, and this is how you thank them?”

“
Christina—”

“
My family would never
betray you the way you’re doing them. You have no idea how we have
worked our
asses
off to build an empire that could withstand the test of time
and be a legacy. Then some jerk comes along trying to sue for God
knows what and you’re helping him destroy us!”

“
CJ, you’re acting as if
I’m attacking you and your family personally. This is a business
situation that yo—”

“
No!” She pointed at him,
her eyes held so much anger, Luke knew she wouldn’t be able to hear
anything he had to say. “You made it personal when you went after
my family!”

“
Christina.” He reached for
her again but stopped when she backed away.

“
I’m done. We’re done!” She
stormed out of the office.

Rubbing his hands down his
face, he growled behind his palms.
This
day just keeps getting worse.

There was no sense in going
after her. There was nothing he could say that she would hear, but
there was something he could do.
Adrenaline
pumped through his veins as a plan that could get him disbarred
slowly came together in his mind.

He set Leroy’s file on his desk and
pulled out his cell phone.

“
What’s up, man? Didn’t I
just see you?” Michael asked by way of greeting.

Christina paced the length
of Peyton’s office like a caged animal. She so wanted to believe
Luke didn’t know about the meeting.
But I
know what I saw
. How could he go after her
family?

CJ, if you give me a
chance to explain.

His words volleyed around in her head.
She had been too angry and shocked to hear anything he had to say.
She couldn’t even remember how she arrived back at work.

The door to the office swung open, and
Peyton stopped midstride upon seeing Christina, but recovered
quickly.

“
You put on quite the
little show this morning.” Peyton set her large purse that doubled
as a laptop bag into the chair next to her desk. Shrugging out of
her short black suit jacket, she draped it over the back of the
same chair before she sat behind her desk. “I’m not even sure what
to say to you.”

“
I’m sorry,” Christina
said. “I should have listened to you about Luke and I should have
stayed at work instead of barging into the meeting. I thought I
could trust him, PJ. I can’t believe he would represent Leroy,
especially knowing how our family feels about the guy.”

Peyton’s brows drew together, and she
leaned forward in her seat. “What are you talking about? Luke isn’t
the lawyer on the case. Didn’t he tell you that when he went after
you?”

Dread washed over Christina
like a tsunami crashing onto the shore, wiping everything out in
its wake. She wasn’t sure whether to be happy at finding out that
Luke wasn’t representing Leroy or whether to cry.
Oh my God. What have I done?

Christina dropped down in the chair.
“What do you mean?” she croaked, almost afraid to receive the
answer to her question.

“
If you had stuck around or
given Luke a chance to explain, you would have known his boss asked
him to fill in for another lawyer, Gary somebody, at the last
minute. From what I understand, Luke had just arrived back in town.
He didn’t even know what the case was about, or who the parties
were until minutes before he walked into that meeting
room.”

A sick feeling swirled inside
Christina’s gut. How could she have thought the worst of him? She
claimed to love him. How could she not listen to him when he tried
to explain?

“
I just …” Christina
couldn’t get her words together. “When I saw him sitting at the
table, I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked. You guys must have
been surprised to see him too.”

“
You have no idea. My first
reaction was similar to yours, but Grampa gave me that look. You
know the one. The one that says sit down and be quiet.”

“
Yeah, I know the look.
I’ve received it plenty of times,” Christina said absently, still
playing the scene around in her mind. She groaned and put her head
in her hands. “That’s why Grampa hushed me. He was trying to tell
me that things weren’t as they seemed.”