Chapter Two

After court, Tori walked the short distance down busy Chancery Lane to meet her two closest friends at a local pub. Even though it was summer, a chilly London fog shrouded her in solitude.

Why did the man keep flirting with her?

Her thoughts kept swirling around Ian King, no matter how much she tried to banish him. It seemed inconceivable that the gorgeous, young thirty-something really wanted anything to do with boring old her. He must take some perverse pleasure in pushing the buttons of the oh-so-conventional Ms. Justice Whittingstall, who never, ever let her hair down—both literally and figuratively.

She reached back to the nape of her neck to ensure her hair remained secure in her usual neat bun.

Glancing down, she checked how her attire had fared after the long day in court. She grimaced, but not because she looked messy—her dark Paddy Campbell suit was the finest quality, her thick black stockings free of snags, and her low pumps unscuffed. She wore the standard uniform of legal women in England.

But after all these years, she’d begun to resent some of the trappings of her profession, the symbols of success she’d worked so very hard to obtain. In court, her judge’s silk robe with red, high-court tabs made her formidable, but tonight she wanted to be both powerful…and pretty.

Her lips turned down. Even without the black shroud, she couldn’t imagine Ian King would find her conservative attire enticing—the pencil skirt was too long and the jacket too boxy, effectively concealing her curvy body.

In fact, nothing she did would interest a guy like him. She wore her cautious demeanor like armor, shielding her from too much masculine attention. It had been necessary as a young female barrister just starting out, her too-voluptuous figure a distraction in a world ruled by influential men, but after so many years it had become habit. No longer a mask, it had become all she was.

She flicked nonexistent lint off her shoulder and straightened her already-straight skirt. Anyway, Rupert loved how she looked—stylishly respectable and appropriate. She forced a smile and gave a confirming nod. It was her long-term companion’s opinion that mattered, not some young nobody who meant nothing to her.

She pulled open the glass door to the four-hundred-year-old Seven Stars Pub and glanced around to see who else was there tonight. Most of legal London frequented the tiny tavern, due to its close proximity to the Royal Courts and to the delicious creations of its most recent owner. Walking through the dark-wood-paneled interior, she nodded to a couple colleagues but didn’t stop. Her friends waited for her in the back corner.

Katherine Pemberton and Lady Diana Stanhope saw her and waved her over to their table, one of only twelve in the cozy, crowded pub. Nearing them, she forcibly banished the gloomy thoughts about her appearance and the titillating ones about the young barrister, determined to enjoy the evening.

“Happy birthday!” exclaimed Kate, smiling warmly and giving her a quick hug.

“Yes, congrats, Tori,” added Diana using the nickname only her closest friends were allowed. “Hope you don’t mind, but we went ahead and ordered champagne to celebrate.” She gestured to an ice bucket. “We can round out the evening with a pint of your favorite Adnams later.”

“I’m so happy to see you both,” Tori responded. She sat down and accepted a glass of bubbly. “It’s been too long.”

Almost immediately, Thomas Paine, the pub’s plump resident cat, who wore a white legal collar, rubbed against her leg, an honor bestowed only to regulars. Reaching down, she gave the feline a scratch on the head. And spied two small gift-wrapped boxes on the table.

A pleased smile on her face, she asked, “For me?”

“Who else, dahling?” said Diana. “We wanted to get you something special, so we went in on it together.”

“Is Rupert joining us?” Kate asked while Tori started to unwrap a gift.

Diana jumped in before she could answer. “No, I thought you knew. The old fuddy-duddy’s always busy on Tuesday and Thursday nights. So it’s up to us to provide all the birthday cheer.”

Tori sighed. Her friend’s disdain for Rupert had become a source of some disagreement between them. “Yes, he has standing squash games each week, but I think he would have skipped it for my birthday. However, in point of fact, he’s at Bridlington taking care of estate business this week, repairs to the wing that houses the hotel.”

Diana wrinkled her nose. “Rupert’s too old for you. I just don’t understand what you see in him.”

“He’s only fifty-six,” Tori retorted. “And we enjoy a friendly companionship. I’m not looking for an earth-shaking romance. I’m forty-three today, for heaven’s sake!”

“Exactly. You’re forty-three, not eighty-three. Get out there and have some fun and some awesome sex before it’s too late.”

An image of an irreverent, grinning barrister flashed through Tori’s mind. However, she said, “Rubbish. We do have fun. But he’s a baron, so obviously we have to keep up the proprieties. You know.”

Diana snorted, an aristocratic sound from a real-life member of the peerage. A titled lady by birth, she’d never cared a whit that she came from a higher social and financial stratum. Even when they’d all shared a place at Oxford, Tori on private scholarships and her flatmates underwritten by their wealthy families, it had never seemed to matter—they were then and remained today the best of friends.

“He just seems to think rather highly of himself. It’s as if he thinks he’s doing you a favor by being with you.”

Tori winced. “First off, he’s not like that. Rupert’s doing great work in the House of Lords to support low-income housing. He’s considerate, and he respects me. Our relationship is stable, which means a lot to me at this point in my life.”

“Stable!” Diana grimaced. “You deserve some excitement. All I’m saying is, you should date someone who makes you swoon. Someone who makes you burn in the bedroom. Not fizzle.”

Again, sexy Ian King popped into Tori’s mind, but this time in a large bed, and she lay there with him, naked, tangled, and panting.

She gasped and tried to cover it by speaking too loudly. “I know you enjoy having lots of lovers and wild sex, Diana, but that’s not me.” But was she trying to convince her friends or herself? “Now, if you please, I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

She pulled off the lids of her neglected presents. “These are smashing!” She gazed down at a pair of stunning ruby earrings and a matching bracelet. “You spent way too much! But thank you.”

“Nonsense,” said Diana.

Tori smiled at her two longtime mates. Their friendship had sustained each of them through many years of hard work, sometimes heartbreak, and two divorces among them.

“Do you like how they look?” she asked, holding up the rubies to her ears.

Maybe next time she met Rupert at the door, she’d be wearing them…and nothing else. That should stir things up!