Page 11 of A Legal Affair

“Not once.”

Admiration flickered in her eyes. “Was that an intentional choice? Not defending dirty cops?”

Caleb gave her a brusque nod. “It was.”

That seemed to please her. Smiling, she sat back in her chair and resumed doodling in her notebook.

Caleb tilted his head to one side, studying her. He’d always been good at reading people. Some would say it was his superpower. But with Daniela Moreau…

His silent scrutiny made her visibly self-conscious. She dropped her pen, lowered her eyes to his inked hand and stared for a long moment before glancing around the room, as if searching for a visual distraction. Finding none, she looked back at him. When she saw that his gaze was still fixed on her, she frowned.

“Is…is something wrong?”

He shook his head slowly. “I’m just trying to figure you out.”

“Oh?” She swallowed something in her throat, then tried to joke. “There’s not much to figure out. I’m just an overstressed law student who?—”

“No,” he interrupted softly. “You’re notjustanything, Miss Moreau. There’s much more to you than meets the eye, and right now, frankly, I don’t know if that’s good or bad for me.”

She stared at him, barely breathing.

Thunder rumbled overhead, punctuating the audible hum of silence between them.

Caleb leaned slowly forward, watching a pulse beat wildly in her pretty little throat. He let his gaze linger there, just long enough to make her squirm, before his eyes deliberately traveled back up to her face. Her noticeably flushed face.

“Do I make you nervous, Miss Moreau?” he murmured.

“Oh God. Do you even have to ask?” She let out a shaky laugh and gave him an almost chiding look. “I think you’re fully aware of the effect you have on people, Professor Thorne.”

“Including you?”

“Especially me.”

They stared at each other in the warm glow of light from the brass table lamp. The room seemed to inhale with them.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Caleb leaned back slowly in his chair, trying to snap the strangely potent connection between them.

Daniela’s hand trembled slightly as she tucked a curl behind her ear and hitched her chin toward the neglected pile of books spread before him on the table. “So, um, what brings you to the library this rainy morning?”

“Research.”

“You have homework, too?” she teased.

Caleb smiled a little. “Sort of. I’m writing a book on criminal procedure, specifically as it pertains to race and racism in American law. But I won’t bore you with the details.”

“Doesn’t sound boring at all.” The sincerity in Daniela’s soft voice made him want to share everything about the project with her, as if she were his trusty editor in New York.

Or a woman in whom he found it wholly natural to confide.

Scary thinking, Thorne. You’re charting dangerous territory here. Better come back before you lose your way.

“Maybe another time,” he said, dismissing her invitation to expound on the book. “You need to work on your case brief, and I need to get some research done.”

Daniela, to her credit, took the hint. “Yeah, I need to get on one of those computers over there to access some databases,” she mumbled, unfolding her long legs and rising from the table. As she stuffed her notebook inside her backpack, the same damp curl glided across her smooth brown cheek to catch in the corner of her mouth. She swept it away with a finger and tucked the errant curl behind her ear.