Chapter One #3
Jack jotted down notes as he listened to the mediation session.
While he was all for saving money for his clients where possible, he loved the battle of the courtroom.
The preparation, the challenge of fighting for his client, the theatre of court, the protocols and formality he worked to his advantage.
Sometimes mediation worked and there was no need to take things any further, but he had a feeling his client Hugo Winters would not stop until he had taken Edwina to court.
It always intrigued him how two people who had vowed to love each other until death do us part ended up in court a few years later, tearing each other down until there was practically nothing left to divvy up. Had they been in love or lust? Was their love real or a fantasy?
Jack had never been in love so could not speak from experience but recently his younger brother Jago had reunited with his fiancée, Mollie, after she had jilted him two years prior.
Jack was happy for Jago and approved of his choice of life partner, but he didn’t want it for himself.
He was having too much fun being a playboy with the freedom to do what he liked with whomever he liked.
Jack flicked his gaze to where Sylvie Rathbone was sitting, also taking notes, a small frown of concentration on her forehead.
A strand of her hair had worked its way loose and she absently brushed it back, tucking it behind the dainty shell of her ear.
She was wearing pearl stud earrings as creamy white as her skin.
A pearl pendant on a fine gold chain hung from her gazelle-like neck, resting against the dove-grey silk of her blouse where her small but perfect breasts pushed against the fabric.
She was wearing a pencil skirt and matching jacket, giving her a schoolmarm look that was potently attractive.
She had a touch-me-not air that drew him like a magnet to metal. He was so used to women giving him brazen come-on signals that it was amusing to be in the company of someone who appeared immune to him. But Jack wasn’t one to rely solely on appearances.
Sylvie looked up from her notes as if she sensed his gaze on her.
Her eyes widened a fraction and then her chin came up, her full mouth tightening and lightning flashing in her gaze.
She arched her eyebrows in an imperious manner and a tingle ran down Jack’s spine.
He wasn’t fooled by her ice-maiden facade.
There was too much fire in her gaze for her to be frozen to the core.
He would enjoy striking a spark with her and seeing how hot it would get between them.
‘Are there any further questions?’ the mediator began to draw the session to a close.
‘Yes,’ Sylvie said, clicking the ball-point pen in her hand three times.
Click. Click. Click. Jack wasn’t sure if it was a nervous thing or a way of getting everyone’s attention.
Whatever, it worked. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, especially when she spoke.
‘My client suspects her husband has assets hidden offshore that are not showing up in the settlement arrangement. I’d like to engage the services of an independent forensic accountant to make sure my client gets a fair share of the assets she has helped her husband to accrue over the fifteen years of their marriage. ’
Jack rocked his own pen from side to side between his thumb and index finger, his gaze going to his client.
Hugo Winters, who was giving a good impression of a man who had been falsely accused of a heinous crime.
He opened and closed his mouth in shock, his hands gripping the arms of the chair he was sitting in, his expression darkening in outrage.
‘I’ve given my solicitor every relevant document I possess,’ Hugo said, glancing at Jack for verification.
Jack remained expressionless. He didn’t particularly like Hugo Winters, but he was paid to act for him, to protect him from exploitation and to get the best deal for him.
And he wasn’t fooled by Edwina’s ‘poor me’ victim role either.
Call him cynical but he had a feeling there was more to this case than even Sylvie Rathbone suspected.
Jack had only just been asked to act for Hugo Winters, so he hadn’t had enough time to do a thorough rundown of everything Hugo and Edwina owned together or separately.
Going into a battle underprepared was not Jack’s way of doing things.
He didn’t win by being caught off guard.
He didn’t win by being taken for a fool.
He won because he was good at reading people and getting all the facts on the table before he made up his mind.
‘Do you have any objections to Ms Rathbone’s suggestion?’ the mediator asked Jack.
‘Not at all,’ Jack said, glancing at Sylvie with a confident smile.
She didn’t return his smile but glared at him as if he had just crawled out of a primeval swamp with his knuckles dragging along the ground.
A spark burned in Jack’s groin, lighting a fire that spread throughout his body with hot flickering flames of lust. He set himself a challenge to melt the icy Sylvie Rathbone until she was molten lava in his arms.