Falling for the Lawyer - By Anna Clifton Page 0,35

stop, pull back, and not demolish her fiancé in front of all those she loved most in the world, as she knew he could without even trying. JP snapped his mouth shut again, caught her hand firmly in his own and squeezed it hard. ‘Trust me’, he was saying back to her. For although he didn’t want to hurt her he would not back off. There was some excuse for Alex’s parents—they were elderly and from an earlier generation—but there was no excuse for Simon. He was a young man living in a modern country. He should know better.

“Simon, I invite you to open the paper any day of the week and read the winding up and bankruptcy notices,” JP began chattily. “Not even that. Just open up the business section and read about the latest corporate collapse. Men in their infinite wisdom have placed other men at the head of these operations and men have been presiding over financial disasters since business enterprise began.”

Simon opened his mouth to speak but JP would not be interrupted. His hand was unwittingly squeezing Alex’s tighter and tighter as he spoke. He was driven by a need to speak up not only for Alex but for his own mother too; for every woman denied the opportunities they deserved.

“In my experience women are much more likely to come in early and seek advice if their business is in trouble,” JP argued on. “Men are more inclined to sit back and hope it will all go away. Their pride gets in the way, you see. So they try to crash through.”

“Well, there’s no way I’d let a female lawyer loose on my business affairs—no matter how clever you say they are,” Simon tossed in bitterly, visibly overwhelmed by JP’s arguments.

JP’s hand still held Alex’s tightly but he sensed her squeeze one of his fingers as best she could in his iron grip. In the briefest of glances he told her with his eyes he would pull back and not finish Simon off.

“The most important thing is that the client is comfortable with his lawyer,” JP remarked without feeling. “If you’re more comfortable with a male lawyer then you should definitely stick with that. I still prefer a male GP for certain medical examinations, needless to say.”

At that Peter Farrer threw back his head and laughed out loud. “I like this fellow!” he announced to the table. “Even if he is a lawyer and charges eight hundred dollars an hour.”

Across the table Simon took a mouthful of his dinner looking triumphant. His expression said it all: he’d won the argument with the big firm lawyer.

JP could feel Alex relax a little at his side and a twinge of guilt made him hesitate for a split second over what he was about to do, but not for long. If he was going to put the cat amongst the pigeons over Alex’s future then now was the time to do it.

“Speaking of female lawyers,” JP began chirpily. “Alex here has one of the finest legal brains I’ve come across.” He was met with a stony silence that he ignored, continuing to eat as everyone stared at him.

“Alex?” Peter Farrer queried in disbelief as JP stopped chewing.

“Yes, Alex.”

“But she’s not a lawyer.” Mary Farrer’s expression was confused.

“Doesn’t matter. She has better natural instincts for the law than some of my qualified lawyers.”

“I don’t think we need to go into that now,” Alex protested, finally yanking her hand out of JP’s in fury.

“My Alex is a clever girl. She got good grades in her finals,” Peter Farrer announced proudly.

“I know. I’ve seen her final grades. They were outstanding.”

“What are you suggesting Mr McKenzie?” Peter Farrer pressed.

JP looked slowly around the table. Every set of eyes except Alex’s was fixed expectantly upon him.

“I’ve put Alex’s name forward to my partners as a student paralegal,” he explained, unperturbed by the hard looks he was receiving from Simon. “That means she’d be a law student employed by the firm and she’d receive a generous contribution from us towards her university fees.”

You could have cut the air with a knife. Alex was staring down at her plate in despair and JP suspected the night was fast becoming one of the worst of her life.

“Have you started this process, Alex?” Simon asked sharply.

“No, not yet,” Alex answered in a shaky voice. “I said I’d talk to you.”

Simon sat upright and threw his napkin down on the table in disgust. JP glanced at Alex to see