Legally Addicted - By Lena Dowling Page 0,19

most of his commercial affairs as well.’

He only had himself to blame. He had been fresh out of law school when he had drafted Douglas’ prenup and he had dropped the ball. He should never have relied on his client to ensure that the execution of the document was handled properly. He should have followed up and checked his copy of the final document before it was filed away. As a small but successful player in the mining and gemstone industries, Douglas’s commercial affairs were not insubstantial, and it would be quite a blow to Brad’s fee earning contribution until he found a client or clients of similar net worth to replace him. Not that the lost income would make much of an impact on him; compared to the income he derived from his majority shareholding of Spencer Corp it was pretty much pocket money, but it would be an unpleasant surprise for Dayton and Llewellyn.

He had to hand it to her, though; Georgia was an excellent lawyer. He was the one who had gone too far telling Ruby she had no case, and Georgia had put things right. Another lawyer might have kept what she had seen to herself. It was in Georgia’s best interests for the firm to do well, and Ruby’s business was nothing compared to her husband’s.

It wasn’t the first time he had been impressed by Georgia’s work. In the few days since joining the firm there had been plenty of opportunity to see her in action, and she was good at her job; technically competent, and good with clients. She also had a solid list of active files. Taking the Spencer family contacts out of the equation, he wasn’t sure he could have amassed such an impressive client base at the same stage of his career.

It was a shame all he could think about was putting the partnership at risk by enticing Georgia back into his bed.

‘Well, I’m sorry to have to add to your worries, sir, but I took a message from the company secretary this afternoon. He said there had been no improvement at the Spencer Resort in Samoa and you may need to go out there.’

Brad dragged his attention away from the endlessly fascinating Ms Murray and picked up his glass again, taking a decent swig.

‘Damn, I was hoping I could put off dealing with that until things had quietened down at the firm.’

While he always enjoyed a trip out to Samoa, flying over to Upolu, the island on which the Spencer resort was situated, was time out of his schedule he couldn’t afford.

‘One thing I could help with, sir, would be the gala. I wouldn’t like to detract from your mother’s overseeing of the event, but I have had rather a lot of input into Evelyn’s contribution in the past.’

Tactful as ever.

In other words, Jeffrey organised the gala and his mother took the credit.

‘Would you, Jeffrey?’

‘Of course, sir, it would be my pleasure. While we’re speaking of entertaining, sir, about this strategy thing you emailed your instructions for. Are you sure you want me to buy all the salads and desserts in from a s-supermarket?’ Jeffrey stuttered, struggling to enunciate the word. ‘Wouldn’t you prefer me to order in from Castlereagh’s Foodhall?’ Jeffrey paused, clearly hoping for a contradiction in his initial instructions, but Brad was silent, determined not to be swayed. ‘So you’re also firm on there being no wine over fifty dollars a bottle and barbequing the meat yourself then, I take it?’

‘Yes, that about sums it up, Jeffrey.’

‘But why stop there, sir, why not go for paper plates, plastic cutlery, and wine that comes in cardboard box?’

Brad was taken aback by Jeffrey’s rare display of rebellion.

‘I think that would be going a bit too far to be believable, don’t you?’

‘Believable? So there is someone you are trying to convince, a philistine perhaps?’

Jeffrey had the nose of a bloodhound. He had always been able to sniff out Brad’s schemes, and seemingly nothing had changed.

‘You always could tell when I was up to no good, Jeffrey.’

‘And are you?’

Brad smirked.

‘Possibly, if I get extremely lucky.’

The idea of the strategy meeting had come to him immediately after he had told the white lie to get Caro off his back. The potential to create a situation where, if Georgia was of a mind to throw professional caution to the wind, he might get lucky again was a bonus. The only downside was that if she didn’t respond in the way he hoped, he