The Cutting Edge Read online

  He checked his watch. “That was certainly fast.” Then he looked critically at her pale, frozen face. “Don’t be so frightened. This is just a meeting.”

  She nodded slowly, and abruptly he realized that she hadn’t spoken a word since he’d entered the apartment. He frowned again. “Miss Conway, are you all right?”

  “Yes,” she said, forcing out the strained, stifled word. “I’m perfectly all right.”

  “Are you ill?”

  “No.” She walked past him. “Shall I drive my car, too, to save you a trip back here?”

  He winced at her harsh, barely audible voice. “No, we could be separated in the traffic. Have you taken anything for your throat?”

  Why was he so concerned about her throat? She didn’t bother to answer, and he followed her out of the apartment, locking the door behind him. He took her elbow, his fingers oddly gentle as he walked her to his car and opened the door for her.

  “The assistant district attorney is Owen McCary,” he told her during the drive. “I’m optimistic about this meeting. I think they’re going to offer to accept a plea-bargain. It’s entirely possible that a trial won’t be necessary, that you’ll be given a suspended sentence and placed on probation.”

  Was that supposed to thrill her? Tessa looked out the window, feeling cold and distant, a little disoriented. She completely missed the reluctantly worried way that Calvin Stine looked at her, the puzzlement in his eyes.

  The traffic was a snarled mess, just as he’d said, but they made it with about five minutes to spare. It took those five minutes to make their way to the district attorney’s office, where a pleasant young man took them to a small, private office. As soon as Calvin ushered her into the office with his hand on the small of her back, Tessa saw Brett’s dark, controlled face, and her mind mercifully went blank. She was unaware of being seated, or of the reassuring pat that Calvin gave her cold hand.

  The wonderful, protective blankness didn’t last long. Voices intruded on her consciousness as people were introduced, and she looked slowly around the office in an effort to orient herself, but she was very careful not to look at Brett. Evan Brady was there, of course, his nervous energy practically throwing off sparks. Owen McCary, the assistant district attorney, sat at his desk looking for all the world like the stereotypical California golden blond, except for the weary street wisdom in his eyes. There was another man, a tall, silver-haired man, and he was introduced as Benjamin Stiefel, an attorney for Carter-Marshall.

  She could feel the searing power of Brett’s eyes on her, feel him willing her to look at him, and she withdrew even deeper into herself. She locked herself away in her mind, sheltering herself in thoughts that took her away from the meeting. Let Calvin handle it. That was what she’d hired him for.

  * * *

  FROM THE MOMENT she’d walked into the room, he’d found breathing difficult, almost impossible. She was so pale, her face so still, and she looked even more fragile than he’d remembered. The wide, mobile, exotic bloom of her mouth was quiet. There was no lovely, enticing smile curling her lips now, though of course he hadn’t expected smiles, not yet, anyway. But he had expected her to use her formidable charm, the disarming, enchanting play of lashes over luminous eyes, and instead she sat like a delicate marble statue, never looking at him, even though he willed her to with fierce concentration. He wanted her eyes to meet his. He wanted to reassure her that everything was going to be all right.

  She’d hung up on him the night before, and though he’d wanted to shake her for it, he felt that he understood how she felt. She hadn’t known then that he was offering her her freedom.

  What was she thinking? Her face had always been so expressive, so alive, but now it was as if she wore a mask. Why wouldn’t she look at him? When she heard the offer, would she cry? He couldn’t stand the idea of her crying, even in relief. He’d take her out of here, to a place where they could be alone together; then he’d dry her tears, and begin the process of cementing their relationship.

  If only she’d look at him.

  * * *

  “MISS CONWAY. TESSA,” Calvin Stine said gently, drawing her attention to him. She regarded him somberly, waiting for him to tell her why he’d drawn her from the cocoon of her thoughts.

  He took her hand, enfolding it in both of his as if to warm her cold fingers. “Mr. Rutland has proposed, with the approval of the district attorney’s office, that the charges against you be dismissed if you agree to sign a statement of guilt, and to repay the money that is missing.” He spoke softly, so softly that only she could hear him. The others in the room must think they were conferring, rather than that he was explaining something she should have been listening to herself. But Calvin’s gray eyes gentled as they moved over her face. “Tessa, do you understand?”

  “Yes, I understand,” she whispered.

  There was a stunned, haunted expression in her eyes, and instinctively he moved in front of her, shielding her from the view of everyone else in the room. “I advise you to accept their offer,” he murmured urgently. “You’ve been through enough. I can’t tell you how risky a trial would be.”

  Her stifled voice was barely audible. “You don’t think I have a chance of acquittal?”

  “Only a slim one, I’m afraid. Their evidence is very strong. Don’t take the chance. You couldn’t survive in prison,” he said angrily.

  Why was he so angry? He didn’t believe in her innocence, hadn’t from the beginning. But in the view of the law, even the guilty were entitled to competent legal representation, and that was what he was offering now. He was attempting to give her the best advice he could.

  A little sigh escaped her as weariness pulled at her limbs. “I’d have to sign an admission of guilt? A confession?”

  “That’s what they want, yes.”

  She smiled now, a slow movement of her pale lips. “But I’m not guilty.”

  A desperate look came into his eyes. “Don’t even think it, Tessa. Take the chance they’re offering you and run with it.”

  “I’d have to run. I certainly couldn’t face myself in the mirror in the mornings. My self-respect, my good name, are all I have left, and I wouldn’t have those if I signed a confession that isn’t true. It would be an act of cowardice.” Her voice broke several times, and the sounds were harsh and strained, but she managed to say what she felt.

  “My God, this isn’t the time for nobility!”

  “Oh, I’m not noble at all. I’m desperate.” She turned her hand in his until she was holding him, trying to make him understand. “I won’t do it. I’m sorry, but I can’t admit to something I didn’t do.”

  He bit off the curses that rose to his lips. He was pale, too, and sweating. Behind him, the others were shifting restlessly, wondering about the extended conference, the pleading note they had detected in Calvin’s hushed voice. Tessa released Calvin’s hands and stood up, her eyes on Owen McCary. She didn’t dare look anywhere else.

  “I refuse to accept the offer,” she said, straining her voice to achieve the necessary volume. “I won’t admit to something I didn’t do.”

  Brett surged to his feet, uttering a violent oath. Tessa didn’t look at him, but she sensed that he moved toward her, and her heart stopped beating. Clinging tightly to Calvin’s arm, she walked past Brett as if he were invisible.

  The door closed behind them, and in the pool of silence that was left behind, Evan swore shakily. Brett turned to face him, his eyes burning with an emotion that couldn’t be named. A feeling of horror was clawing at his insides. “God in heaven, what have I done to her?” he choked. “She’s innocent. She didn’t do it!”

  Benjamin Stiefel sighed. “I never expected this.”

  That was an understatement, Brett thought savagely. Like a wild animal he turned on Owen McCary. “Drop the charges. Completely. Now.” He bit the words off like bullets.

  McCary was shaken, too, but he said, “Mr. Rutland, the evidence against her is very strong—”

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