CHAPTER THREE
WHATTHEHELLhad he done? Kissing Hillary Bellows had been a huge mistake. But it was a mistake that Stone wanted to repeat over and over again.
Fingers snapped in front of his face. “What the hell’s wrong with you, Stone?” Ronan Hall grumbled at him. “You called this damn emergency meeting, and you haven’t said a word yet.”
He shook his head and murmured, “Sorry.”
“Allison McCann said you stood her up for your meeting yesterday afternoon, too,” Simon Kramer remarked from the head of the conference table in his office. He was the managing partner of Street Legal, just as the young con artist had been the managing partner when they’d all been living on the streets as teen runaways.
“I called her and canceled,” Stone said. At least he thought he had. He hadn’t talked to Allison directly but he’d left a message with her assistant.
He’d wanted to talk to Hillary before he issued any more press releases. If only all he had done was talk...
But being alone with her, and in such a small space, had tested his control in a way it had never been tested with her before. Hell, he didn’t think his control in general had ever been tested like that before. It was probably the first test he’d ever failed in his life.
“You look like hell,” Simon remarked.
“He’s got a tough trial,” Trevor Sinclair said in his defense. Trev handled the biggest cases in their firm—all the class-action stuff that made them millions. “He probably didn’t get any sleep.”
Stone hadn’t, and he wished that had been because of the trial. But that had all been because of the opposing counsel—his gorgeous, hot, passionate opposing counsel.
“I’ve never known Stone to lose much sleep over a trial,” Simon said, and his blue eyes narrowed as he studied Stone’s face.
He was careful to veil his expression, but Simon was good at reading people. As a con artist, he’d had to be in order to pick his marks. He hadn’t been a con artist for a long time, but he hadn’t lost any of his skills.
His skill was part of what had made Street Legal so successful. Their office encompassed the entire floor of a building in Midtown. It had hardwood floors, exposed brick and tall windows that looked out over the city.
Stone squinted at the sunshine streaming through the blinds of Simon’s windows. “It wasn’t the trial that cost me sleep,” he admitted.
But he didn’t own up to what had happened with Hillary Bellows. For one, his partners probably wouldn’t believe it. Hell, he wasn’t sure he believed it. Instead, he shared the news for which he’d called the early morning meeting. “That damn mole has struck again.”
His partners all cursed. Simon cursed the loudest; he was especially frustrated that he hadn’t caught the damn culprit yet. As managing partner, he’d assumed the responsibility for the leak and for stopping it.
“We need to put an end to this bullshit,” Simon said, his voice nearly hoarse with anger. “Now.”
Stone heartily agreed, and he regretted not getting involved in the search sooner. But he’d been preparing his case for trial. And...
Until now, he hadn’t been affected.
The mole had struck Trevor first with a leak of case files to opposing counsel. But Trevor had won the big class-action lawsuit despite it.
Stone wasn’t convinced he could handle the mole’s attack as well as Trevor had. Hell, he already hadn’t.
“What happened?” Ronan asked. He’d been the latest victim before Stone.
“Hillary Bellows received something from our office,” he explained. “Something she thought was in my case files. And it’s big.” He expelled a ragged breath. “It’s something that could destroy my entire defense if it’s true.” Because his entire defense was hinged on that alibi. Without it...
“You don’t know if it’s true?” Ronan asked. At least the stuff that had been leaked about him had been forged. And neither he nor any of his partners had had any doubts about that.
Unfortunately, Stone had begun to have a few doubts—not about Ronan, but about his case. Maybe it was because he knew Hillary was good—so good that she wouldn’t have brought up the evidence, even in her opening argument, if she hadn’t confirmed its validity first. She wouldn’t have been that careless and she certainly wouldn’t have been that trusting, especially of anything she’d thought he’d sent her.
She didn’t trust him at all. So why had she...?
Stone said, “I hope like hell that it isn’t true.”
And he wasn’t talking about just the evidence but about last night. What the hell had he been thinking to kiss the attorney prosecuting his client?
But that wasn’t the worst part of the night before. The worst part had been when she’d kissed him back.
