Falling for the Lawyer - By Anna Clifton Page 0,5

don’t like men looking at you like that.”

“It’s not about the men. If I wear this then I’ll feel like I’m … I don’t know … trying to show off.”

Only then did JP understand what the girl in front of him was saying. She was ill at ease with the idea that the world might stand up and take notice of her because she simply didn’t want to be noticed.

Incredible!

For so long he’d surrounded himself with women like Caroline and Andrea who revelled in the world’s spotlight, he’d completely forgotten there were women who hated it with an equal passion.

“Alex,” he began eventually, trying not to sound patronising to this girl who fate had decided to throw in his path that morning. “You are what you are. Don’t hide it under drab and shapeless clothing. You should dress up every single day and walk tall.”

Alex gazed up at him, her dark chocolate eyes wide and thoughtful. She was processing his suggestion carefully before she shook her head in decided rejection of his proposition. “If I am what I am then why should I try and pretend I’m something I’m not?”

Suddenly the frivolity vanished from JP’s mood. This girl was the real deal, the genuine article—no pretense or falsity whatsoever. And there he was pretending to be something he wasn’t by keeping his identity from her. What had seemed like a bit of fun, as he’d described it to Andrea, was no longer feeling quite so funny. For with every passing moment Alex Farrer was becoming less like a ghostly grey apparition on the side of the road and more like a warm and charming girl. Worse still, she was obviously feeling fragile about the day ahead of her and her future was in his hands.

She’d been quite right when she’d said her boss would have to sack her in the next few weeks. The new policy at Griffen Murphy Lawyers was clear: no more than one PA to a lawyer. And as the latest equity partner to join the firm he would have to lead by example—Justin and Adam would make sure of it.

“You know we could stay here and have this conversation all day but I don’t think it’s going to get us anywhere.” JP was now anxious to shut down the deception he’d begun as soon as possible.

“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful about what you’ve done for me this morning,” Alex explained as she swung around to face him. “You’ve been very kind.”

“Do you like the outfit?”

“Of course I like it. How could I not? It’s stunning.”

“It’s yours then. Keep the shoes too. Andrea said she could discount things; write them off as seconds, floor stock, whatever.”

“I’ll pay you back then,” Alex announced as she swallowed and nodded her head in determined confirmation. “It may take me a little while but you’ll get every cent. If you give me your address I can send you a cheque and …”

“My shout, Alex. I don’t want you to pay me back.” He knew her salary to the dollar and just how much it would hurt her bank account to do that.

She looked at him quizzically before whispering huskily, “You have no idea how grateful I am, JP, because you’ve no idea how important it is I don’t lose this job …”

But Alex stopped then and snapped her mouth shut—too late. For after all his years as a trial lawyer JP was adept at hearing what people were not telling him, and right then all his instincts were telling him Alex Farrer was not terrified of just losing her job, she was terrified of losing her job at Griffen Murphy Lawyers in particular.

“What’s so important about keeping your job at this law firm of yours?” He watched her expression carefully for any hint of what was going through her mind but the shutters began to close over her face.

“It’s nothing, just family stuff,” she said quickly, looking troubled and distant.

“We don’t have time to go into it anyway,” JP replied, silently resolving to get to the bottom of that comment some time soon. “It’s eight-forty. Shouldn’t you be at work?”

Alex looked at her wristwatch. “Oh hell! Yes! I have to go!”

“Then go,” he replied with a short laugh of relief that he was finally bringing his charade to an end.

“Just like that?”

“Aye,” he replied, surprised to hear himself lapse back into his Scottish vernacular. He didn’t normally use that word outside of Scotland except when he was highly distracted—but Alex