Who's The Boss?

She gazed out the window. Cade’s big corner office had a spectacular view of Lake Erie, which lay in the distance. The nppling waters almost seemed to blend into the cloudy gray skyline. “I don’t know how the people left in the PD’s office will ever get the job done now. Even at full staff, we were shorthanded and had too many cases. Our clients will have to bear the brunt of—”

“I’d better warn you that I’m not a bleeding heart who cries over the rights of all those unfortunate, misunderstood criminals. My sympathies lie with the victims of crimes who are usually forgotten while the legal eagles enjoy their competitive courtroom jousts.”

Kyhe stifled a groan. She’d heard that rhetoric before, too many times to count. She’d given up trying to defend herself against those who had no use for defense attorneys, especially ones paid for by state tax dollars. She stood silently, staring at the lake.

“Don’t I even rate a rebuttal?” Cade was unaccustomed to the silent treatment. He stared at her profile, his eyes lingering on the porcelain texture of her skin, the graceful curve of her neck. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her, he acknowledged resentfully, while she couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away from Lake Erie.

She appeared so aloof and unreachable, very much in control. He felt an inexplicable urge to shatter her poise. To get under her skin, the way she’d so effortlessly gotten under his.

“I’m waiting for your righteous ‘even-the-most-heinous-criminal-has the-right-to-a-lawyer-who’ll-try-to-get-him-off’ spiel.” His tone and stance were as challenging as an opposing counsel’s. “So what if a homicidal psychopath walks on a technicality? It’s all in a day’s work, and then you lawyers go off and have a drink together afterward.”

But he didn’t succeed in putting even a minor dent in Kylie’s composure.

“It’s not like your views toward defense lawyers are unique, you know,” she said dryly. “Even my parents and my brother hated that I wasn’t on the prosecution team. You haven’t said anything I haven’t already heard a few thousand times.”

“I think you just called me a repetitive, predictable bore. Ouch.”

Now what? For the first time in his memory, Cade wasn’t certain what to say or do next. He was floundering and unfocused, just like this meeting. An unheard of lapse in the professional history of Cade Austin. If only she weren’t so attractive, if only she were less verbally adept. If only...

Stalling for time, Cade pressed a button on the intercom. “Donna, bring Miss Brennan and me some coffee,” he ordered. Donna’s coffee was strong enough to power a space shuttle. Hopefully, a dose of it would jolt him out of this uncharacteristic mental morass.

A few moments later Donna entered, carrying a tray with a coffeepot, two cups and containers of cream and sugar. She placed the tray on the wide square table that stood between a charcoal gray leather sofa and two matching armchairs.

“Can I get you anything else?” Donna hovered, solicitous.

“This is fine.” Cade motioned her away, and Donna obediently headed for the door.

“Thank you very much, Donna,” Kylie said, smiling warmly. She did not approve of Cade’s cavalier manner toward his secretary and hoped that she sounded gracious enough to make up for it. He’d ordered Donna around and hadn’t even asked or thanked her properly for the favor she’d done for them!

Cade sat down on the sofa with his coffee. Across the office, Kylie stood stitfly beside his desk, making no move to join him.

He sighed. It was obvious she was displeased. Well, that was par for the course. Brennans were invariably ticked off about something. There was nothing too trivial to escape their wrath. Gene excepted, of course.

“I know you’re upset about something.” He’d decided long ago that the best way to deal with the ever-edgy clan was to be up-front with them. Kyhe was one of them; he better follow his usual procedure. “Are you offended by my opinion of the criminal justice system?”

“Hardly. You’re certainly entitled to your own opinion.”

“I agree. But if that isn’t it, what is? I’m not a mind reader so unless you tell me what’s wrong, we’re at a standstill.”

“I’ll be happy to tell you.” Kylie’s eyes flashed. “It bothers me the way you autocratically make assumptions and then imperiously act on them. For instance, you didn’t ask me if I wanted coffee, you simply demanded that Donna bring it. And when she did, you never even thanked her, you simply flicked her off like she was a—a gnat.”

“I did no such thing!” Cade jumped to his feet, indignant. The hot coffee spilled over the sides of the cup onto his fingers. He muttered a curse under his breath.

“Are you all right? Did you burn yourself?”

“I’m fine!” His fingers felt as if they were on fire as he set the cup on the table, though he would’ve rather faced amputation than to admit pain to her! “As for your accusation, it’s ridiculous and unfair. I treat Donna and everyone else at the company with respect.”

“Of course, you’re denying your dictatorial behavior because it is so ingrained that you aren’t even aware of how you’re perceived.”

“Donna has worked for me for the past six years and I can assure you that she does not perceive me as brushing her off like a gnat!”

“Maybe not.” Kylie shrugged. “Because she’s grown accustomed to such treatment. Just as my cousin Bndget accepted your threat to dock her pay if she didn’t instantly obey your command. It’s obvious to me that your management style is of the ‘when you say jump, the employees must reply how high’ school.”

“My management style is what made this company the success it is today, Miss Brennan. BrenCo is thriving. We’re not only prosperous, we’re the biggest employer in this town. Your uncle certainly had no complaints when I refocused and expanded BrenCo from a small household waste disposal firm to a regional environmental cleanup leader in its field. This past year has been BrenCo’s most lucrative yet, and within the next five to ten years we’ll—”

He abruptly broke off. “Damn, I see where you’re headed. Typical attorney trick, create a smoke screen to obscure the facts. You’re complaining about Donna when what you’re really trying to do is to set up a—”

“Let me set the record straight. I was not using a smoke screen to obscure any facts, Mr. Austin. I was criticizing your management style and being quite forthright about it.”

“Don’t bother to equivocate. I read your agenda loud and clear, lady. You’re in cahoots with your uncles to sell BrenCo,” Cade said harshly. “You know that Gene’s will set up provisions for BrenCo’s management to remain the same until one year after his death. Now the time is up. And here you are.”

Kylie guessed that health workers learning the Ebola virus was in their midst looked a lot like Cade Austin did at this moment, faced with her presence. And he seemed to be waiting for her to say something.

“Here I am,” she agreed, noncommittally.

Her simple statement seemed to further infuriate him. “That this year happened to be the most productive one in the company’s history has only whetted your family’s urge to sell.” Cade glared at her accusingly. “They have delusions of striking it rich when in reality selling the company is akin to killing the goose who laid the golden eggs. Not that I expect the Brennans to grasp the implications of something as intricate as an allegory.”

“I’m a Brennan and I have no trouble understanding allegories,” Kylie countered.

Cade might know her relatives better than she, but they were her relatives and she was getting a little tired of listening to him take verbal swipes at them. “And I’m not in cahoots with anybody. I don’t have a hidden agenda. Are you one of those paranoid types who sees a conspiracy lurking behind every remark and every action? Your motto is Trust No One?”

“If I have a motto, it would be Trust No Brennan.” Cade glowered at her. “Gene excepted, of course.”

“Of course.” Kylie was exasperated. “Sounds like you and Uncle Gene had yourselves a merry old time, sitting around trashing the rest of the Brennans. You delighted in taking offense at perceived slights and misinterpreting everything that was said and done. Yes, I’m beginning to get a very clear picture of things now.”

“Oh, are you?”

She nodded. “Look at the way you misinterpreted this coffee incident. How you overreacted. I prefer tea, but you never bothered to ask, you ordered coffee for me and expected me to drink it. Naturally, I was annoyed by such high-handedness. Furthermore, I’m not used to being waited on. In the PD’s office, everybody served themselves. But did you give me a chance to explain anything? No! You instantly assumed that I’m a conniving, greedy witch looking for a reason to fire you and sell this company. Didn’t you?”

She advanced toward him in full cross-examination mode, her gaze piercing and intense. “Didn’t you?” The sound of her own voice startled her. She’d used this tone in challenging murder suspects. It occurred to her that perhaps she was also overreacting.

“You drink tea.” Cade stared at her. “You’re in a snit because I didn’t offer you a choice between coffee or tea?” His tone was as incredulous as his expression. “No doubt about it, you’ve taken the Brennan family irritability to new heights.”

“I’m not in a snit. I’m trying to make a point that you don’t seem to be getting. Whether it’s intentional or not, I’m not quite sure. Is it?”

“Is it what? Is what it?” Cade ran his hand through his hair, tousling it. His head was spinning. “This is crazy.” Or maybe he was headed that way.

He felt frazzled, completely befuddled. The Brennans had always driven Gene nuts. His late boss had long ago delegated dealing with them to Cade, who merely found them annoying, not insanity-inducing. But this Brennan...Kylie Brennan...

The two of them were practically standing toe-to-toe. Her aggressive advance had fallen into the category of physical intimidation—which she’d accused him of using!—and brought them very close. Not that Cade was feeling the least bit intimidated. He was feeling...aroused.

Everytime he inhaled, the scent of her perfume filled his nostrils. It was a subtle, spicy, sexy aroma, just like her, and it further clouded his thoughts. The urge to touch her was so overpowering that he would’ve given in to it had he not beaten a purposeful retreat to the window. A tactical victory for her, but at this point he was too disconcerted to care.

“I can’t stress how strongly I disapprove of you treating Donna like a servant,” Kylie scolded his back, which he’d turned toward her. “It’s pure classism. I am also opposed to sexism, racism and ageism,” she felt compelled to add, just for the record.

“Well, so am I!” Cade exclaimed. She was the defense attorney, but she had him on the defensive for sure. “BrenCo is an equal opportunity employer. We’ve won citations for our fair hiring practices.”

“I’m very glad to hear that.” Kylie was genuinely relieved. “It would be awkward to have to report BrenCo to the EEOC, although I wouldn’t hesitate to do so if the situation warranted.”

Cade turned to gape at her. “How did we get from you preferring tea to the EEOC?”

“Actually, I’m not sure.” Kylie’s blue eyes were troubled. She’d always prided herself on her talent for presenting her points in a coherent and lucid form in the courtroom. “My clients would’ve been toast if I made the sort of irrational leaps I seem to be making today. You—confuse me,” she admitted, averting her gaze from him to Lake Erie on the horizon.

“Glad to hear it. The feeling happens to be mutual.” Cade began to pace the office, back and forth, on edge and ready for action.

Kylie remembered a National Geographic special on TV featuring a leopard pacing his territory in a remarkably similar prowl. Keeping in mind the unlucky mammal who’d wandered into the leopard’s line of vision, she took a few prudent steps out of Cade’s path, just to be on the safe side.

“You confound me in a way I never thought a Brennan could,” he growled. “Or anybody else, for that matter.” The admission did not please him.

They stared uneasily at each other for a few long moments.

“We’ve gotten off to a bad start.” Kylie was the first to speak.

“A perceptive observation,” muttered Cade. He grabbed his coffee and took a large gulp. And nearly choked. The brew was so ghastly it made airline coffee taste like a gourmet specialty brand.

Kylie was watching him. “I think I’ll definitely stick to tea,” she murmured.

Their eyes met. Kylie caught her lower lip between her teeth in a nervous gesture she rarely resorted to anymore. But Cade Austin made her nervous, and in a way that was exciting, not threatening. Which made him all the more dangerous.

She drew a sharp breath. “Do you think we could start over?”

“We can do whatever you want, Kylie.”

His sudden suggestive smile made her heart jump. She knew instinctively that he was quite aware of his own masculine appeal and wielded it when necessary. He’d decided to use it now, as an alternative maneuver.

Kylie realized just how susceptible she could be when he chose to disarm her with his charm. “I’m speaking professionally,” she said quickly. “As a public defender, I’m accustomed to seeking common ground in my clients’ best interests and in this case—”

“You’re not a public defender anymore, Kylie. Thanks to the terms of Gene’s will, you’re a businesswoman and an important figure in this community. I don’t know if you’re fully aware of how dependent Port McClain is on BrenCo or the economic impact the company has on this town.”

“You mean like in ‘if BrenCo sneezes, Port McClain catches a cold’?” She paraphrased the old General Motors maxim.

His smile widened, and this time it was reflected in his eyes. “Exactly like that.”

Kylie reminded herself to breathe. Maybe starting over on friendly terms wasn’t such a good idea, after all. It was easier to keep her composure and her imagination in check if she was feeling hostile toward him. When he smiled at her in that particular way, she could feel herself melting inside. She wanted to please him, to do whatever it took to keep him smiling... A dangerous notion, indeed.

Get a grip, Kylie, she ordered herself. She was not here to please Cade Austin, and she was on a lot safer ground when he was scowling at her.

“I know it’s my responsibility to learn everything about the company and its impact on the town. I was stunned when I heard that Uncle Gene had left controlling interest in BrenCo to me. No more than you were, probably,” she added with a wry grimace.

“The contents of Gene’s will turned out to be a surprise to a lot of people.”

“The understatement of the year, no doubt. Well, I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but owning any part of a toxic waste plant wasn’t exactly my idea of a dream come true.”

“BrenCo isn’t simply a toxic waste plant, Kylie. We take environmental waste from all over the state—and other states, too—and properly dispose of it in a way that is not only safe but beneficial to the environment.” Cade’s hazel eyes gleamed. “I expect all your liberal cohorts in the Public Defender’s office would deny such technology even exists. That crowd believes no waste is the only safe waste, a ridiculous, hopeless point of view. Even the fires of our cave ancestors released waste products into the air.”

“I know. I—haven’t mentioned my inheritance to anyone,” she confessed, a little sheepishly.

“Afraid of being dubbed the Princess of Toxic Waste by all your green friends?”

Kylie tilted her head and gazed at him from under her lashes, the feminine signals elemental and unconscious. “Why do you assume that my cohorts and friends are all wild-eyed liberals?”

“It’s a natural assumption. If there is such a thing as a conservative public defender, I’d bet my shares in BrenCo that he has a multiple personality disorder with each alter unaware .of what the others are doing. You can imagine the mayhem that will ensue when the conflicting personalities finally collide in the poor sap’s conscious mind.”

Kylie laughed. “You surprise me,” she admitted. “I wouldn’t have thought you were capable of appreciating the absurd.”

“I wouldn’t have lasted eight minutes, let alone eight years, in this town filled with Brennans if I didn’t have a healthy appreciation of the absurd.”

“Brennans. You talk about them as if they’re a separate species.”

“Now you’re catching on. Brennans fall somewhere between vampires and parasites, though precise classification has yet to be established.”

He was kidding, displaying an even greater, healthier appreciation of the absurd. Wasn’t he? “Gene excepted, of course,” she interjected his usual disclaimer.

“Gene excepted, of course. And according to Gene, your dad would have to be excepted, too. Gene admired your father, he was very proud of him. He often boasted about his brother Wayne, the navy captain who commanded a battleship and lived all over the world. He was a fan of your big brother, too. Gene always referred to him as ‘my-favorite-nephew-Devlin-the-doctor.’”

“Devlin is finishing his orthopedic surgical residency at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor,” Kylie lapsed naturally into her role of proud sister and daughter. “Dad is retired now. He and Mom are living in Florida and still aren’t sure how they’ll adjust to staying in the same place for more than a few years.”

“If they’re like my folks, who are retired army, they’ll end up buying an RV and trolling the interstates on endless trips. Occasionally, they swing by Port McClain to see me.”

“In March, no doubt. After all, it’s the perfect time to visit here. The lake-effect wind and all that snow are big draws.”

“Touché.” Cade raised his brows again in that particular way of his.

Kylie raised her eyebrows right back. “Maybe Bridget’s antiski lodge will be packing in crowds on their next visit.”

“You’re really on a roll here, aren’t you?” Cade’s voice was deceptively mild as he studied her.

She was flirting with him. Or was she? Given their volatile interaction since she’d set foot in his office, there was always the chance she was expressing her antipathy to him. What a blunder it would be to mistake aversion for flirtation!

But Cade was a risk-taker by nature. He took one now and moved closer to her. Close enough to cup her chin in one hand and tilt her head a little.

Kylie felt the world careen. He was going to kiss her; she could read the hot sensual intent in his eyes. And she was going to let him. She wanted him to kiss her, she wanted it very much.

The realization stunned her. This kind of behavior was completely unlike her. She’d never been driven by sexual urges. She was too cerebral, governed by her head, not her body’s impulses.

Yet here she was, melting against Cade Austin as he pulled her into his arms. Closing her eyes as his mouth lowered to hers. Parting her lips for the breathlessly anticipated impact of his...

Two

“Cade, I’m sorry to interrupt but Bobbie Brennan is on the phone,” Donna’s voice, loud and clear, sounded over the intercom.

Startled, Kylie and Cade jumped away from each other as if they’d been blasted apart by a bomb.

Kylie’s heartbeat thundered in her ears. She’d come so close to kissing Cade Austin that she had felt the warmth of his breath on her face. She’d been in his arms, his body pressing into hers, the formidable length of him, hard and strong, revealing the force of his own desire. The intimate recall made her shake. Heat scorched her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Cade sink into his desk chair. She walked unsteadily to the window and touched her forehead to the cool glass.

“Bobbie says it’s an emergency and she must speak to you immediately,” Donna stated.

“An emergency?” Kylie snapped to attention. She turned around, her eyes widened with alarm.

“Don’t worry, it’s probably nothing serious. Everything is an emergency to Bobbie.” Cade heaved a groan. “The cornerstones of her personality are hysterics and vengeance, and one fuels the other.”

“I told Bobbie you were in an important conference and couldn’t be interrupted but needless to say, she refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer,” Donna continued. “She threatened to come down and break into your office with a hatchet if she had to. I decided we’d better not risk it.”

“We’ve learned the hard way that ignoring Bobbie is not the way to go,” Cade said tightly.

“Do you really think Aunt Bobbie would hatchet her way into your office?” Kylie was incredulous.

“There is already a long list of outrageous things Bobbie has done, when thwarted. Taking a hatchet to my office door would not be a stretch for her.”

“Get ready, Cade,” Donna warned. She sounded like a pilot announcing an emergency landing. “I’m putting her call through on speaker phone right now.”

“Cade!” Bobbie Brennan’s shriek filled the office.

Nails on a chalkboard sounded euphonious in comparison. Kylie. flinched.

“Brent is in jail!” Bobbie screamed. “They set bail at twenty-five thousand dollars! A fortune!”

“Remember that you pay a bail bondsman ten percent which is twenty-five hundred dollars, Bobbie,” Cade reminded her.

“I don’t have that kind of money for a bail bondsman. It may as well be twenty-five million! What are we going to do, Cade? Oh, this couldn’t have come at a worse time! I’m all out of patience with Brent, this time he’s gone too far!” Bobbie’s tone grew even more vitriolic. “It’s all Artie’s fault, damn him! He’s a terrible father, he’s the cause of all Brent’s problems.”

“Tell me why Brent is in jail, Bobbie. What are the charges against him?” Cade had to ask three times before she stopped yelling long enough to hear him

“I wrote down what the cop said, but I’m crying too hard to read my writing.” Bobbie sobbed noisily.

“Shall I call Artie and ask him?” Cade asked.

“No! That loser is the reason Brent is in jail.” Bobbie’s sobs instantly ceased. “Brent has been charged with second degree burglary. You see, Artie rented out the basement of his house to this nasty young couple—I told him not to do it!—and Brent put a video camera behind a two-way mirror with a hole in it so he could tape that couple in their bedroom.”

“Tape them without their consent?” interrupted Cade.

“So they say.” Bobbie gave a very audible sniff. “They claimed they noticed a light in the mirror and investigated it and found the hidden camera, then called the police.”

“Did Brent say why he was taping this couple?” Cade asked, grimacing.

“He—Brent—said he was going to turn the tape into a movie.” Bobbie’s voice grew lower. “You know, like one of those art films.”

“An art film,” Cade echoed flatly. “Just a minute, Bobbie.” He switched off the phone. “Well, this is a new one. Brent, with art film aspirations.”

“More than likely, he planned to sell the tapes to one of those places that pays for privately made porn videos,” Kylie murmured. “In Philadelphia, a copy could go for as high as five hundred dollars.”

“Does Bobbie have her facts straight? Granted, what Brent did is sleazy and illegal but is it really burglary?”

“It sure is.” Kylie nodded her assent. “We’ve tried similar cases. Second-degree burglary covers unauthorized filming of individuals.”

“That sleazy little jerk has outdone himself this time.” Cade’s expression was equal parts disgust and impatience. He switched Bobbie back on. “Have you called an attorney for Brent, Bobbie?”

“Of course not!” she howled. “I called you! We have to get Brent out of jail right away, Cade. You know what can happen to a good-looking boy like him in a place like that!”

“You’ve seen too many prison movies, Bobbie. Nothing is going to happen to Brent in the Port McClain lockup.” Cade’s tone was both firm and reassuring. “Besides, he’s spent time there before. Remember the last time he was arrested? We decided that sitting in that cell would be a good lesson for him. He spent a week there and it didn’t hurt him a bit. In fact, he’s stayed out of trouble until now, nearly two years later, and that’s a record for him.”