To All a Good Night Page 20

  “You’ll see. After a few more years in this business you’ll become less invested in the idea of getting emotionally attached to the criminals and more convinced that rehabilitation is not a reality for most of them.”

  She treated him to her best exaggerated eye roll. “If you hate them all so much, why aren’t you a prosecutor?”

  “I was one at the beginning of my career and didn’t hate the criminals then.” He passed the pen from one hand to the other. “For the record, I don’t hate them now either.”

  “You changed sides to make more money.” And from the courthouse gossip and the high-end office space, she knew Spence made a lot of money.

  “You’re against people earning a living?”

  As a D.C. employee, she made enough to eat and pay rent. She did not begrudge anyone who wanted more financial security than she enjoyed.

  “I wasn’t making a judgment.”

  “You didn’t ask, but so that you know, I’m a criminal defense attorney because I have a belief in the system and the idea that everyone, even the morons and the most evil, deserves a fair trial and competent representation. Being a prosecutor did not serve that purpose. Not for me, so I changed sides.” He grinned. “Making more money is just a bonus.”

  His honor ran deep. She hoped his stealing skills were just as strong.

  “So, when do you think you’ll have a plan to get the video back?” she asked for what felt like the fiftieth time. Would it kill the guy to give her an answer?

  “So, we’re done dissecting my motives?”

  No, but she would do that in private. “Yeah.”

  “Good.” That smile grew even wider. “And, I don’t know when I’ll have a plan.”

  The man was not understanding the extent of her predicament. “I need the tape. Now. Yesterday, in fact.”

  “You’ve made that clear. What I need is ten seconds to come up with a plan.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “I thought so.”

  “I’ll start counting.” She could be reasonable. She glanced at her watch to start his countdown.

  “Don’t time me.” He chuckled. “First, I’ll require a few more minutes to figure out what I want in return for this dangerous caper.”

  She dropped her hand to her lap. “I thought you were doing this to feel better about yourself.”

  “You thought wrong.”

  “You should consider it.”

  “I feel fine about my charitable works, but thanks.”

  She straightened her spine. “What do you want in return?”

  He took his time leaning back in his chair and folding his hands behind his head. “Once I figure that out, I’ll let you know.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “That as good a deal as you’re going to get.”

  4

  T he next afternoon Spence sipped on flat club soda from a plastic cup as he watched a bathroom door. He had done a lot of strange things in the courthouse lobby. Even for him, staring at the ladies’ room for minutes at a time registered as odd.

  “Something wrong?” his assistant asked as she walked up behind him.

  “Everything.”

  “You’re missing the party.” Sue delivered her comment in a loud enough voice to carry over the taped Christmas carols blaring on the courthouse loudspeaker.

  Between the rumble of the crowd and squealing strains of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” bouncing off the marble floors and walls, Spence wondered if his hearing would ever return to normal.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Are you listening to me?”

  “Of course.” But mostly he was watching the door.

  Nat had walked into the bathroom more than ten minutes ago. Spence expected a speedy exit. Instead, Nat had set up house in there.

  “You do know this is a party, right?” Sue asked.

  “That explains the people, the food, and the insipid chatter.”

  The party amounted to a professional “mandatory good time” he did not want to attend. He appreciated the courthouse staff and their hard work. That did not mean he was in the mood for a few hours of standing around in his suit pretending to have fun after a long day of hearings and conferences.

  “Ho, ho, ho to you, boss.”

  Spence snapped out of his trance and glanced at Sue. The red Santa hat dwarfed her head and fell down to the top of her dark glasses. At fifty, five-two and about two hundred pounds, Sue did not need the strange getup to attract more attention. Her scratchy two-pack-a-day voice didn’t exactly inspire holiday cheer either.

  “That’s a good look for you,” he said.

  “It’s festive.”

  “If you say so.”

  Sue traded a fresh drink for his flat one.

  “Thanks,” he mumbled as he watched a married judge engage in a bit too much touching of his unmarried clerk.

  “You should mingle. This is the official courthouse holiday party, after all.”

  “Your point?”

  “I know you’re upset about Charlie—”

  “This isn’t about Charlie.” Spence hated that everything in his life revolved around Charlie lately. Even his relationship with Natalie depended on a Charlie issue this week.

  So far as Spence could tell, Charlie ruined everything he touched. He was a good attorney, possibly even a great one. It was the way he treated people that left Spence cold.

  “Then why are you standing alone in the corner when all of those young available women are waiting around for you to give them a little hello?” Sue asked.

  Spence saw a group of courtroom clerks hovering close behind Sue as they giggled and stared. Being available and successful made him a bit of a single-woman target. While flattering, that sort of short-term hookup just was not going to happen. He preferred being known in the courthouse for his legal talent rather than his bedroom skills.

  “I think that tall brunette has mistletoe,” Sue said.

  “Save me,” he whispered, and meant it.

  “Why should I?”

  “How are you going to feed those three cats of yours without a paycheck?”

  “Please.” Sue snorted. “I’ve been working for you for years.”

  “Trust me, I know.”

  “This is the longest dry spell I’ve ever seen for you.”

  A man deserved some privacy in that area. “I’m discriminating.”

  “You’re distracted.”

  The object of his distraction stepped up beside him. He did not have to look over to see her. He could smell her. That light floral scent he associated with Nat hit him before she moved into his line of sight.

  “Hello, Sue,” Nat said in a warm voice.

  Sue grabbed Nat in a bear hug. “You look prettier every single day.”

  “How can you tell when you’re squishing her like that?” he asked.

  Sue talked right over him. “Probably has something to do with getting rid of that no-good boyfriend of yours.”

  “Sue.” Spence said her name with enough warning to let her know not to travel down that path right now.

  “Thanks.” Nat leaned in close to Sue. “And you’re right.”

  Nat treated Sue to a huge smile. One so genuine and caring that Spence stopped staring at Nat’s slim navy skirt and the shapely legs beneath it to focus on her face.

  He remembered her as having sad eyes and a friendly personality. Well, friendly to everyone but him. But something had changed. A certain frailness still lingered on her face but all of a sudden he associated Nat with something more than a nice personality. Maybe it was a new haircut, or…

  “And you’re getting so thin. Too thin. Isn’t she, Spencer?” Sue elbowed him in the side.

  “Umpf.” He rubbed the injury. “What was that for?”

  “Make some conversation with the nice lady.”

  “Hard to do that when I can’t breathe.”

  “She’s losing too much weight. Tell her.” Sue did it for him. “Natalie, honey, the
re is such a thing as too skinny.”

  “I am far from that.”

  Spence let his gaze wander over Nat’s shape. He’d heard the whispers in the courthouse about Nat losing weight. The petty talk about why and how much Charlie must like the change.

  Seeing Nat now, the trim waist between all those curves, he noticed just how much weight she’d lost. This was not a matter of a few pounds. She’d lost a lot.

  “How much?” he asked the question on his mind.

  Apparently it was only on his because Nat’s eyebrows drew together in complete confusion. “What?”

  “Spencer Donovan.” Sue whacked him on the arm. “That is not the kind of question you ask a lady.”

  “Sue, do you mind if I steal Spence for a second?” Nat asked.

  “You can have him until his attitude gets better. Unbelievable.” Sue shoved him in Nat’s direction. Any harder and Nat would have been wearing his drink.

  “I don’t want him that long,” Nat said. “Just for a few seconds.”

  He ignored Nat’s comment and focused on Sue. “I hope you weren’t counting on a Christmas bonus this year.”

  “The office is rough enough without this one grumbling all the time.” Sue hitched her thumb in his general direction.

  “You’re fired.”

  “Oh, please. You’d be lost without me.” Sue grabbed the drink out of his hand.

  “Hey!”

  “I’ll be at the dessert table when you’re ready to take me back to the office. Apologize to Natalie first.”

  Sue turned and left. Spence thought he noticed a bit of a spring in the older woman’s usually heavy step. Made him wonder if someone had spiked the bright red punch.

  “Maybe I should take her to someone else’s office. Want her?”

  “She’s in rare form,” Nat said with the wide smile still in place.

  “Sue loves Christmas,” Spence said.

  “You don’t?”

  He did. Family, food, playing with his nieces. “It’s a day.”

  “Wrong.”

  “Did someone change the calendar and not tell me?”

  Nat chuckled. “It’s a feeling. One that’s much bigger than a date or a time or a few hours spent opening packages.”

  “Hours? How many gifts do you get?”

  “People like me.”

  “Says the woman who wants me to steal for the holidays.”

  “Speaking of that. Did you come up with a plan yet?”

  And people thought he lacked the holiday spirit. Nat had only one thing on her mind and it did not relate to the party or the three clerks watching her and whispering. “No.”

  “What is taking so long to get this done?” she asked through gritted teeth, all signs of a smile now gone.

  “We talked less than twenty-four hours ago.”

  “I need that tape back immediately.”

  “So that’s why you keep saying the word now.”

  She pinched him. “I’m serious.”

  “And I’m sick of getting smacked around by the women at this party.” He glanced around to make sure there was no one else waiting to take a turn.

  “As if that’s a new thing.”

  “Insulting my way with women is not going to make me go any faster.”

  “Oh, please.” She gave him one of her dramatic eye rolls. “I’ve heard all about you and your women.”

  According to Sue, he didn’t have any women. Interesting how two women could see the situation so differently. “Care to fill me in?”

  “Charlie told me all about your conquests. How pretty the women were. How smart and thin.” Nat waved a hand in the air in a dismissive gesture, but her serious tone suggested she was much more invested in the conversation than she wanted to be.

  “I see Charlie made being a jackass a full-time job,” Spence mumbled.

  “What does that mean?”

  “Why would Charlie think you’d care about my dates?”

  “He lived vicariously. He was stuck in a relationship with me. You were out leading this wild social life—”

  “Wild?”

  “—and he wasn’t.”

  Spence hated the way she described their parallel lives. Her preoccupation with weight loss did not sit well with him either. “How much weight did you lose?”

  The question made her eyes pop. “Why?”

  “Just wondering.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  For some reason, he thought it did. “Twenty pounds?”

  “Forty-five.”

  “That’s the equivalent to the weight of a kid. Are you sick?”

  “I’m impatient.”

  “I hadn’t noticed that about you.”

  “Spence, really.” She shifted in front of him, blocking his view of the rest of the party, and dropping her voice low enough for only the two of them to hear. “When are you going to get the tape? I need to know.”

  “I haven’t even figured out how I’m going to get the tape.”

  And that was the truth. Walking into his estranged partner’s house and taking a look around was not a feasible solution. Breaking in was not going to happen either. Spence knew he had to find another way, and one that would not tip Charlie off. While Charlie did not treat Nat well, he did not want anyone else near her either. That meant Spence had a whole wall of furious male to get through in order to retrieve the tape.

  “We need to come up with something smart and workable,” she said.

  “Maybe food will help. There are these blobs of something being passed around on trays. Sue said they were crab. I don’t think—”

  Nat’s jaw dropped. “What are you talking about now?”

  “Getting something to eat.”

  “Forget the party.”

  “That’s kind of hard when about twenty people are watching us talk.” A slight exaggeration, but it got the intended result.

  Nat spun around to look at the rest of the crowd. Some stared. A few hid their curiosity well. Others, not so much. Most had the grace to look away when Nat returned the stares.

  Spence did not bother to get angry with being in the spotlight. He understood the interest. The D.C. legal community was a small one. Seeing him talk with his estranged partner’s former girlfriend supplied the right amount of intrigue to get everyone wondering and talking—the two things he hated when they were directed at him.

  “Man, people are nosy,” Nat muttered under her breath.

  “They’re probably hoping Charlie will show up and cause a scene. Nothing says happy holidays like a fist fight.”

  “Is Charlie coming tonight?” She looked horrified at the idea.

  Spence felt the same way but did not let the concern show. “How should I know?”

  “We’ll talk fast and get out of here.”

  He was all for the leaving part of her plan. “If you think that will help.”

  “I got it.” The panic left her eyes. “Here’s what we’ll do.”

  He still held out for finding some food. “This sounds bad.”

  “We need to meet in private.”

  Worse than bad. “Right. That should cut down on the speculation and gossip.”

  “What are you doing after the party?”

  Since she’d missed his last attempt at sarcasm, he tried again. “Moving out of the country.”

  “I’ll come to your house.”

  Where the hell had that come from?

  “Nat.”

  “We’ll figure out what you need to do and when.”

  “Natalie.”

  “And finalize everything.”

  Wait a second. “What if I have plans?”

  She gave him a blank stare as if that possibility had never occurred to her, which was true but insulting. “Do you?”

  He should lie. Say he did and get out of this situation. Put off the tape discussion for a while longer. Stay the hell away from her and any situation that put them alone together. “Well, no.”

  “Then it�
�s set. I’ll be over around seven.”

  5

  T wo hours later Nat stood outside Spence’s front door, wondering what made her throw down the ultimatum and insist on coming to his house. The whole time she dated Charlie she never made it into Spence’s place. The men worked together but did not socialize, so having an excuse to see how the famous bachelor criminal defense attorney lived did not materialize. Nor was she interested in seeing inside Spence’s private life until right then.

  Now that the opportunity arose, she was curious. And she could not be more shocked. The three-story townhouse near Capitol Hill was not what she’d expected. A condo bachelor pad, yes. A brick-front family home, no.

  Before she could knock, the front door flew open. She could not figure out which was more disconcerting—the cozy home or seeing Spence wearing blue jeans and a slouchy navy blue sweater. She always assumed his casual attire consisted of a novelty tie. That he wore suits to bed or something.

  “Why do you look like that?” he asked.

  Not the most flattering question ever, but she had heard worse things said about her. “You don’t like the black pants?”

  His gaze moved over her body, slowing the lower he went and causing her skin to flush in return. The unexpected warmth hit her out of nowhere and refused to leave.

  She snapped her fingers in front of his face to get the attention away from her body. “Hello?”

  “I meant the sour expression on your face.”

  “Oh.” Now there was a flattering comment. Sour?

  “Come in so we can get this over with.”

  “What a lovely welcome.”

  The next snide comment died in her throat. Seeing the gleaming dark hardwood floors, beige couches arranged around the fireplace and a huge decorated tree stole her ability to talk. Spence lived in the house she dreamed of owning. Simple lines, open floor plan, comfortable furniture, and a touch of homey warmth.

  “Do you have a girlfriend?”

  He ran into one of the sofas on the way to the kitchen. “What?”

  “This place.”

  He rubbed his upper thigh. “What’s wrong with it?”

  “Nothing.”

  He slipped behind the counter and grabbed two wine-glasses from a cabinet to his left. “Have you been out walking in the cold again?”