Page 14 of First Date: Divorce (Wyoming Marriage Association #1)

“You really do think like him.” Definitely not a compliment.

“I told you, I became friends with folks at the courthouse. Heard all about it from more than a couple. See, Hilary never paid attention to people like that. Probably didn’t even know they were there, much less that they put two and two together.

“So, yeah, she had her hooks in him when he hired me. You think I would have let it happen otherwise? If I’d known her then, I’d have nudged that fight along even the first day. Getting the wedding called off would’ve saved him a lot of hell from that woman, but first day and all…

“She would have pushed him out of prosecuting eventually anyway. Government pay wouldn’t satisfy that one.

Not his own small practice either. She wheedled and whined until he went into corporate law.

I followed him over. Nice benefits,” she acknowledged.

“Boring as hell. And Hilary still not satisfied.”

Because of the timeline they’d developed for their charade courtship and marriage, Eric had declared his marriage to Hilary did not exist in the fictional world. A fine reason to not talk about it.

Clearly Pauline didn’t share that view. Had it been an accident she and Pauline hadn’t been alone until now? Or deliberate on Eric’s part.

“Oh?” She didn’t need to say more to prime Pauline’s pump.

“She was after him all the time. More, more, more. He thought she’d settle down, want a family, like he did.” The older woman snorted. “Children? Not that one. She wanted one hundred percent of the spotlight, one hundred percent of the time.

“When she eased up on the constant whining and wheedling, he thought she’d grown up.

I didn’t. One of the few times in my life I wish I wasn’t right all the time.

” She looked away from K.D. “If he weren’t such a good man, it wouldn’t have caught him the way it did.

It’s not like he doesn’t know the world — not after a few years prosecuting around Chicago.

But his family’s real good people, and he thought inside a marriage trust and honor and faith could be relied on.

That’s why this place breaking up marriages gets to him and—”

The front door opened. K.D. twisted in her chair to see Eric, his skin sheened with sweat and his chest rising and falling rapidly, stop in the entryway, hands on hips, head dropped down.

“You sprinted up the stairs again, didn’t you,” Pauline accused.

“It’s good for the—”

He stopped when he saw K.D.

She knew her pretend-silk robe covered her from throat to calves, and it wasn’t the least bit see-through. So, why did she feel half-naked?

“You okay?” he asked.

“She’s fine,” Pauline said. “She remembered something you should have — you hadn’t told her about your law career.

He started prosecuting in Chicago, then a solo practice, before corporate law.

Followed by moving here and what he calls general practitioner law.

As if GP were a thriving occupation these days for doctors, much less lawyers. ”

“Won’t know until I give it a fair chance.” Eric needed a couple extra breaths to say it.

“Cully Grainger would get you a position prosecuting at the drop of a hat,” Pauline said.

“It’s not a job Cully can hand out. Besides, Wyoming criminals scare me.”

“Right. Because they’re so much worse than the Chicago criminals you dealt with. The criminals out here deserve to get convicted as much as Chicago criminals.”

“Ordinary people here deserve help with their legal issues, too,” he said mildly.

“Wills, deeds, small-business stuff.” Pauline dismissed them all with a sniff.

“Exactly. That’s what I do now,” he said to K.D. “So that could be another bone of contention at Marriage-Save.”

“As a last resort.” His eyebrows rose in apparent surprise at her response.

At some level, he’d expected her to dismiss the kind of law he practiced now.

Because as a cop he expected her to favor prosecutors?

Or because as the same gender as Hilary he expected her to be mercenary?

“But we should go over your history in more detail after we’re both— After breakfast.”

“Yeah,” Pauline said. “You both better get upstairs, get showered, and get dressed.”

“The dictator has spoken,” Eric said to K.D. He gestured up the stairs. “After you.”

No reason to hesitate. She was perfectly decent. Perfectly.

Still, she was aware of him behind her on the stairs.

As she reached the second-floor hallway, she eased out a breath of relief. She’d swear it wasn’t audible. As she closed her bedroom door, though, she thought she heard Pauline’s laugh reach her from the office.

*

Damn Pauline.

As if he’d needed any prodding to think of K.D. standing naked under a shower.

His assistant wasn’t Napoleon. She was the Marquis de Sade.

And K.D. was…

He didn’t know.

He’d thought he had her figured out at the beginning of that meeting in Cully’s office.

But each day, each hour, he knew her better and had her less figured out.

There were issues with her mother, and she hadn’t had the easiest time growing up.

She had a wariness about her. Some was cop vigilance stuff he recognized from working with law enforcement. Some wasn’t.

The big question — was some because she was drawn to him and didn’t want to be?

Because of the circumstances? Or something more?