Her Favourite Holiday Gift

“Delaney’s fueled by a fight,” Jack said. “Your Zen attitude? That’s her kryptonite. She never knew what to pull out of her arsenal when you went the chill route.”

Eric hadn’t held on to those particular memories, but come to think of it, true enough. Calmness had always doused the fire of Colleen’s argumentative nature. It was as if she didn’t know how to handle someone who wouldn’t rise to her bait, which worked out great for him. He had no desire for the constant clashing. Lucky for him, he’d had years of practicing law his way—balanced, level, calm. Years of being away from the woman who got under his skin, in more ways than one, and challenged that. Years to forget.

“I suppose it’s worth a try.”

“Definitely. In fact, go all out and blindside her.”

“Meaning?”

“Rekindle the old friendship.”

Danger zone. He’d handle her with calmness this time, just as Jack suggested, though he wasn’t so sure about befriending her. The rest, though, it could work.

Hopefully.

If not, he’d do his best to ignore her, suffer through the case, then move on with his life once he’d cleared Axelrod and Taka-Hanson, which he had no doubt he could. He hiked his chin toward Jack. “Thanks. Good stuff. I’ll take it under advisement.”

Jack smiled, smacking his palm on the door a couple times. “If it doesn’t work, you know I’m always available for that beer.”

Chapter Two

Eric cut a quick path out of the courthouse building. The hearing had gone well enough, which was to say, he hadn’t had to speak directly to Colleen. At this point, that constituted a victory.

The moment he’d seen her, his resolve collapsed, telling him without a doubt that he wasn’t over her. She’d matured from a hot law student into a fiercely sexy woman. And, despite what she might think, her conservative, man-tailored blue suit and precisioncut, swingy black hair couldn’t quite hide her assets.

The broken-glass personality, though? Still as sharp.

When she’d made a motion to bar Robby Axelrod from working on the Taka Hotel project, Eric felt the fury radiate from her like snapped electrical wires. When the judge had denied her request, those wires sparked and exploded in his direction. No chance of putting the calm, friendly approach into play today. Clearly she needed time to cool off. Delaney the Debate Diva was not at all happy about that first loss, the first of many in this case if Eric’s research panned out. He had no desire to face her wrath today.

He’d almost made a safe escape when he heard:

“Nelson! Hang on. I need to talk to you.”

The click-clack of her determined, angry footsteps approaching brought him to a reluctant stop. He swore under his breath, then remembered Jack’s words of wisdom and turned to face her. Calm, cool, confident. Cordial. At least on the outside. He wished Jack had given her the same advice.

She stormed up, chin raised for a fight.

“Colleen,” he said in a mild tone, trying not to notice her smooth, touchable skin. Trying desperately not to inhale her signature powdery scent. “Good to see you after all these years. How have you been?”

“Are you out of your mind?” she asked, her blue eyes molten.

Deep breath in, slow release. Apparently being susceptible to nostalgia wasn’t one of her faults. “Nice greeting.”

She flicked away his attempts at semipolite conversation as if his words were a mosquito swarm. So much for Jack’s plan. “Make your clients take Axelrod off the new hotel project until this case is settled. I mean it.”

Oh, she meant it. Good to know. “I’m not talking to you about this here, Colleen. Not when you’re tossing off demands without so much as a hello.”

He turned and casually walked away.

After a stunned moment, she followed.

“How can you defend those corporate monsters, Eric? That’s not your style.”

“You know nothing about my style. We haven’t spoken in almost a decade.”

“Do you have any idea how many lives are potentially at stake thanks to their shoddy construction?”

“Yep.” A beat passed. “Exactly…none.”

“None?”

Her hand closed around his forearm, a tiny viselike grip of self-righteousness. Resisting the urge to yank away, ignoring the tingles a simple touch sent through his body, he stilled. Stared down at her hand on his arm in relaxed silence until she got the hint and pulled back.

As he looked into her zealous, heart-shaped face, a pang of compassion struck him for how clueless she seemed to be. She had a pit-bull grip on a fight she would lose, and she didn’t seem to have a clue about her client or the big picture. Hard to believe she’d let her lack of research into the case show through her porcupine quills of ire, but as far as he knew, she’d only recently been assigned to it. Maybe she hadn’t had adequate time to delve in. Still. No excuse. She needed to do her research and find out what she was dealing with.

Harsh, Nelson.

Eric’s overactive conscience kicked in, his emotional pull toward this woman. He didn’t want to embarrass her; he simply wanted to exonerate his clients. Sharing what he’d dug up about a possible connection between her client and his client’s key rival before she humiliated herself in front of the entire Chicago legal community felt like the right move. He wasn’t violating privilege; Jack Hanson didn’t even know Drake Thatcher might be involved yet. Contrary to the reputation of most attorneys, he wasn’t about putting on the best show in the courtroom. He was about truth and balance and justice.

Fairness.

That meant bringing Colleen up to speed, like it or not. He sighed. “Listen. Join me for lunch. We can discuss this like reasonable professionals.”

She blinked in surprise. “You…you’re asking me to lunch? Are you crazy?”

He tapped the face of his watch. “Strangely, no. Lunch is what people do around this time of day. It’s one of the three widely recognized meals.”

“But—”

“Colleen,” he said, weary of knocking heads already, “I’ve been in court all morning. I’ve got a full slate of work this afternoon. I’m hungry. Is that so hard for you to understand?”

She crossed her arms over her torso. “No. What’s hard to understand is why you’d invite me.”

“Why wouldn’t I? Years ago, we used to be friends.” He imbued the last word with a meaning only she’d understand.

Her face pinkened. “Years ago, like you said. Those days are long over.”

So she wanted to play it that way. “Look, as much as you hate the fact, I do know you. Either I invite you, or I miss lunch altogether because you’ll keep me standing here in the hallway arguing ridiculous points of law. I’d like to avoid that if at all possible.” He held up his free hand. “Nothing more than that.”

She studied him, seeming to search for an ulterior motive. Typical Colleen. After a moment, she tossed her sleek black hair and tried for casual. She didn’t quite pull it off. “Fine. Where do you want to go?”

“Let’s just hit The Chambers. It’s close and easy.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

“We can ride togefh—”

“I said I’ll meet you there.”