Page 8 of Take the Bait
“For now,” Zoey sang over her shoulder.
Shaking her head, Dani silently wished her friend good luck and Godspeed.
Surely, Zoey didn’t mean that stuff about cleavage and sexy lingerie. Except, the paralegal had always shot straight with her so far and had no reason to be anything other than totally honest with her.
Well, hell. She’d thought actual brains and talent had landed her this job, not tits and ass.
Silly me.
It felt as if someone had just buried a fist in her belly, leaving her hollow and deflated. Dammit. She’d worked so freaking hard to climb out of the bottom of the legal barrel, to be taken seriously, to prove she belonged in the upper echelons of the field of law?—
“Fancy seeing you here.”
She closed her eyes briefly in mortification. Painted on a bright smile. Turned around. “Counselor. So glad you could join us this evening.”
Cameron Townsend smiled ironically and retorted, “No, you’re not.”
“No. I’m not,” she agreed. “What brings you to Whitney, Marcos & Pinter?”
“Surveilling the enemy.”
“Liar.”
He jolted. “I beg your pardon?”
“Do people frequently let you get away with flippant crap like that?” she asked pleasantly.
He blinked once. Twice. “Yes. They do.”
“Because they’re blinded by your sun-bleached hair and brilliant smile?”
He flashed said brilliant smile at her and took a step closer to murmur, “Noticed my dazzling hotness, did you?”
She rolled her eyes and barely managed not to stick her finger down her throat. “Seriously. Why are you here?”
“Worried I’m here to tattle on you for being an idiot and turning down the best plea deal you’re likely to see out of my office for a long damned time? By the way, the D.A. is right tweaked that you turned me down.”
“If you want to discuss my client’s case, you can do so with me when we enter our innocent plea with the judge.”
If anything, he got taller as his spine went ramrod stiff. “Mark my words. This is not going to go well for you, Dani.”
“You may call me Ms. Wellford. And I’ll take my chances.” Fuming, she spun on her annoyingly sensible heel and stomped away from him. Jerk.
She went in search of alcohol that did not involve gin, vermouth, or olives, and eventually found a table in the corner with glasses of white wine…no doubt meant for the lovely trophy wives of WMP. Screw martinis and trying to be one of the boys. She snatched up a glass of wine and drained it.
Huh. She really was hearing a buzzing noise inside her skull. No wonder they called it getting buzzed. Egads. One month in the job and she was turning into an alcoholic. She backed away from the wine table and ducked behind some potted palms to slip back into the main crowd of the party.
And that was when she overheard the voices. A familiar, infuriating male one. And a raspier, older voice, also male.
“…were you guys thinking, assigning such a rank amateur to the Koronov case?”
“…thought you’d enjoy the view, Cam.”
“…is a looker. I’ll grant you that.”
…Wellford’s one of the throwaway new hires for the piddly cases we’re not allowed to say no to. She won’t last a year…no reason not to enjoy her assets if you’re so inclined…”
Aghast, Dani faded back into the palm fronds.
