she asked.
He glanced around the empty hallway leading back to a restricted corridor to the judge’s private chambers. “Depends on what you want to use it for.”
“Excuse me?”
He pointed to the back corner of the wall above the emergency exit and her head. “Security is watching.”
“I don’t care about that. I’m here because I’ve been trying to reach you.” She rubbed her palms on her knee-length skirt.
He tried not to stare at the legs peeking out of all that buttoned-up stuffiness. “And?”
“You haven’t called me back.”
Clearly the woman didn’t tune into not-so-subtle hints. “True.”
“Are you available now?”
If she asked him two days from now the answer definitely would be no. He planned to be free of all ties by then, specifically those related to his work at the DEA. No reason not to get an early start on that. “No.”
“In a few hours or tomorrow?”
“Still no.”
She crossed her arms over her middle. “If I didn’t know better I’d say you were ignoring me.”
He thought about lifting his fists toward the ceiling in victory. “We’re finally understanding each other.”
Chapter Two
Deana was two seconds away from strangling him. She had hoped Josh would be reasonable. At least give her a chance to explain. Instead, he hid behind a heaping pile of attitude.
If she hadn’t needed his help she would have shoveled a load or two right back on top of him. But that wasn’t her style. Not in public anyway. She had a persona, a role, and she would play it even while her insides burned.
Then there was the problem with their past run-ins. Thanks to her decisions more than two years ago, she had to take hesitating steps here. Hiring every expensive lawyer she could find to fight Josh Windsor and question his credibility had seemed like a good idea at the time. Now her actions proved to be a liability.
Back then she had made sure to know about every aspect of Josh’s life, down to his family history and bank account balance. With his rawness and “knows his way around a bedroom” style, she figured disgruntled men and women would line up to turn on him. That didn’t happen. Seemed Josh walked all over the line but rarely crossed it to the point where someone with standing in the community had any information that could help her.
Their adversarial relationship then and her island hopping to Kauai and back to find him now made the entire courthouse scene all the more frustrating. She had better things to do than hunt down an angry man and try to talk some sense into him.
“I need your help.” Getting those words out almost killed her.
“With?”
“Ryan.”
Josh started shaking his head before she got to the second syllable of her nephew’s name. “No way.”
Not an unexpected reaction but still not helpful. “Listen to me.”
“Your nephew is in jail, Ms. Armstrong.”
The conversation had seemed much easier when she practiced it in her bathroom mirror. “That’s true.”
“He’s not getting out.”
She closed her eyes on a wave of paralyzing sadness. The type that kept her locked in her house curled up on a couch some days. “I am well aware of Ryan’s current residence and the reason for it, thank you.”
“Then you also know I’m not a defense attorney.”
When Josh took a few steps back she thought he was signaling the end of their conversation and cutting out. Instead, he leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. Probably hoping to put as much space between them as possible in the six-foot-wide area.
The distance allowed her to take a quick look at her opponent. This was not the first time she indulged in a peek since meeting Josh years before. Wide shoulders and all, she hated him then. She needed him now. That made all the difference.
And whether he wanted to admit it or not, they could help each other. She read the papers, heard all about Josh’s legal issues. His latest actions on the job had angered the higher-ups at the DEA and landed him in the middle of a huge mess. For a guy who lived his life as if he had nothing to lose, he was about to lose something big.
Well, she had something to offer as an alternative. He needed to fill the hours. She needed a miracle. It was as perfect as their strange relationship would ever get.
“I don’t need more attorneys. Ryan has enough legal representation for four people right now.” And she had the outrageous legal bills at home on her desk to prove it. All that money and still a guilty verdict. Kind of killed the theory about how juries could be swayed with purchased experts. Certainly not how it worked in the Hawaii courts from her experience.
“You’re not asking me to chip in for Ryan’s expenses, are you?” he asked.
“Of course not.”
“’Cause you don’t strike me as a lady who needs a loan.” Josh’s eyes wandered with his comment.
She refused to fidget under his visual tour up and down her body because she knew his plan. He wanted to throw her off stride. Make her skittish. She could feel his eyes on her down to her shoes, and she wasn’t going to flinch.
“Money is not the issue,” she said in her iciest voice.
“I never could figure out why you were bothering to put all of this effort into saving a kid who is determined not to be saved.”
The sharp edge of the jab slid off her midsection. “I’m an aunt who cares about her nephew.”
“You know something?” Josh cocked his head to the side as the corner of his mouth tugged upward. “I just figured out what it is about you that doesn’t fit.”
“Pardon me?”
He pointed at her forehead. “The way you talk. It’s what throws off this whole picture.”
A wave of confused dizziness hit her. “I have no idea—”
“There’s emotion in your voice, well, sort of, but your body never moves.” He nodded his head as if warming to the subject. “Makes me wonder if there’s any feeling inside there anywhere. I’m betting no.”
The shaking moving through her turned to fury. Ten more seconds of his garbage and he’d be feeling her hand smack across his face. “You don’t need to worry about my body.”
His eyebrows rose. “If you say so.”
“I need your detective skills.”
The lazy grin vanished as his back snapped straight again. “No way.”
“What kind of response is that for a grown man?”
“The only one you’re going to get.”
“Could you at least try to be civil?”
“You killed that possibility a long time ago, lady.”
Okay, she deserved that. He refused to understand her position, but she couldn’t exactly blame him for the anger. “I’m not asking for me; I’m asking for Ryan.”
“You pay a whole team of professionals to poke around in other people’s private lives for you. Get some of them to do your work. You don’t need me.”
Lot of good all that money did so far. “I actually do.”
“Well, that’s a damn shame, since I already have a job.”
Time