Legally Addicted - By Lena Dowling Page 0,20

would be torturing himself all weekend in addition to a week of suffering the distracting effects of Georgia’s presence at the office.

‘Nevertheless, sir, I think it would be best if I were on hand to help.’

‘Sorry, that’s a no-can-do, Jeffrey. The presence of a butler would undermine the casual impression I’m aiming for.’

Brad would have preferred to have Jeffrey on hand to assist. Cooking a few steaks and pouring the drinks didn’t seem like rocket science, but with the other partners’ wives there, it was going to be a reasonable sized group. While he doubted there would be much capable of intimidating Georgia, he guessed, based on her previous spiky reactions to the spoils of financial success, the presence of an overly proper and obsequious butler would probably do it.

‘What about a caterer come kitchen hand, in a t-shirt, sir?’

‘Ah, now you’re catching on, Jeffrey. In that case, you’d be most welcome. But you’ll have to drop this ‘sir’ business for the weekend.’

‘I’ll do my best, Bradley, or would you prefer Mr Spencer?’

‘Brad will be fine.’

‘But just for the weekend, Brad, sir.’

Brad sighed.

Baby steps.

He held up the glass of his favourite red to the light and swirled the ruby liquid, determined to savour it. At over five thousand dollars a case, this was one little beauty that would be firmly off the strategy weekend menu.

Chapter Six

Over the next week, things settled down to an easier routine in the office. Georgia surprised herself by how quickly she got used to working out in the open office again, and Brad surprised her by often dropping past her desk to ask her professional opinion on various legal issues. His visits made it clear to everyone that he regarded her as an equal and she was to be treated with the same deference as the other partners.

She still reacted physically whenever he was close, but it was only a matter of time, she decided, before the weak knees, swirling stomach and hot flushes subsided. Seeing Brad with someone else at the strategy weekend would help with that. It would be hard but she would only have to face the awkwardness of that once and then it would be over. It also helped that the Walsh matter was giving her the run-around and therefore plenty to think about that didn’t involve Brad.

With Brad unable to help her, she had almost done enough research into Douglas Walsh’s affairs to qualify for a private investigator’s badge. When searches of property and company registers turned up nothing, she had resorted to web searches and trawling social media sites, but the man was either a complete technophobe or seriously publicity shy. If she didn’t find something soon, she was going to have to consider the possibility that she might have to hire a PI for real.

‘Urggh.’

‘Black file?’

Georgia almost fell out of her chair as a hand rested on her shoulder. She knew that touch, irrevocably impressed into her memory. A frisson of something pleasantly electric shot across her shoulder blade and straight down her spine.

‘Anything I can help with?’

‘Not with this one I’m afraid, Brad. I’m still stuck on the Walsh file, trying to track Douglas’s assets.’

She swivelled around in her seat, forcing Brad to remove his hand. She looked up to find his face twisted in a genuinely apologetic expression. He leaned back against a large filing cabinet, crossing one arm over the other, prevented from crossing both by a rolled up magazine he held in his other hand.

‘I really wish there was some way I could help without compromising solicitor-client privilege, but I know you’ll crack it in the end. Douglas can be a prick. I had to act on his instructions, but I always thought Ruby deserved something.’

Brad’s admission shifted something inside her, as the information that he cared what happened to Ruby sank in.

‘I’m sorry you lost your client, by the way.’

She steeled herself for some form of rebuke or remonstration for her interference, but it never came. Instead, Brad raised his free palm in the air.

‘C’est la vie. It was a blow to the bottom line, unfortunately. But we’ll bounce back.’

She nodded. It was good to confirm that there really were no hard feelings over the Walsh matter. She hadn’t been brave enough to raise it before, but she was beginning to realise that Brad really was a fairly sanguine character. It took quite a lot to wind him up.

Outside the bedroom.

Georgia, cut it out.

She dragged her attention back to the present. The sooner