Legal Heat

Chapter Twelve


Katy froze when the courtroom door cracked open and a rush of cool air sailed down the aisle and up to the judge’s desk where she sat in guilty splendor.

“I see someone has delusions of grandeur after her impressive performance this afternoon,” Mark said from the back of the courtroom.

Katy sagged back in the huge, red leather judge’s chair. “Oh God. I thought you were security or one of the sheriffs.” She took a deep breath to try to slow her racing heart. “I heard a rumor that someone was caught sitting at a judge’s desk and the judge sent him to jail for contempt of court.”

“Then you’d better hope I don’t report you.” Mark walked down the aisle toward her. His Italian leather shoes thudded softly on the plush red carpet. He stopped at the counsel desk at the end of the aisle, loosened his tie and rolled up his sleeves. Was he looking for another fight?

For a long moment they simply stared at each other.

“I was drafting the order for you to sign, and when I realized I was alone, I thought I’d try it out.” She waved her hand over the judge’s desk and gave Mark a guilty smile.

“We’ve all been up there at some point, although most of us do it when we’re junior associates.” Mark’s eyes crinkled with amusement. “But unlike the rest of us, you’ve been caught.”

Katy’s lips quirked into a smile. “What do you think the judge will do with me?”

Mark approached the bench with slow, deliberate steps. “Well, for starters, he wants you out of his chair.”

Katy’s stomach flipped and tension curled around her, stealing her breath.

Mark held out his hand and when she took it, he pulled her out of her seat and took her place.

“I suppose you’ll need to question me to ensure I have a fair trial. Do you want me in the witness box?” Katy motioned toward the padded seat in the wooden box beside the judge’s desk.

Mark curled his hands around her hips and motioned to the desk in front of him with a nod of his chin. “I want you right here where I can see you.”

“I thought you said this wasn’t a good idea.”

“I changed my mind.”

She shook her head. “You can’t have it both ways. You’re going to get us both in trouble.”

He lifted her easily and seated her on the desk facing him. “I’ll prepare the papers to withdraw as counsel as soon as we leave.”

She bit her lip and gave him a pained look. “You said something similar last time and then you didn’t follow through. I can’t—”

“Shhh. Let me explain.” He traced lazy circles up her inner thighs, sending shivers of need straight to her core.

“The minute you walked into the courtroom, I knew I had made a mistake. I shouldn’t have second guessed myself. I want you, Katy. I want to get to know you. Now. Two years is too long to wait.” He nipped her earlobe and feathered kisses down her neck. “Tell me you’ll give me another chance.”

“I don’t think this is appropriate behavior for a courtroom,” she whispered, knowing that despite the risk, she wasn’t about to jump down and walk away. Unlike Steven, who had made it clear she wasn’t enough for him, Mark made her feel wanted. Desired. And in that moment she wanted nothing more than to let herself go. She had never known a rush like the heady sensations he coaxed from her body. And damned if she wasn’t going to seize this chance to do something to fill the ache in her soul.

“Definitely not.” His voice was thick with desire. “You’re wearing far too many clothes.”

Katy shrugged off her jacket. “What if someone comes in?”

“No one is coming in. I have a friend in security who owed me a favor. He’s got his eye on the door until his next shift. We have about forty-five minutes.”

“I hope he’s a good friend. You’re putting both our careers in his hands.”

He rested his hands on her knees. “I wouldn’t take a risk with you.”

Katy laughed softly. “What’s this if not a risk?”

“This is you opening for me, sugar.” He gently pressed her knees apart.

Lust, raw and ragged, tore through her body, burning away her inhibitions. She braced her hands behind her and parted her legs as far as her skirt would allow.

“That’s my girl,” he growled deep and low.

Katy sucked in her breath. She had never imagined such condescending words could be so fiercely arousing.

He traced his finger down her throat to the cleft between her breasts. “There are special rules in my courtroom,” he murmured. “First, there is to be no touching the judge. Your hands will stay on the desk at all times. Is that clear?”

Katy gave him a wicked grin. She sat up and pressed her hands against the cool, smooth cotton of his shirt, then slid them up and over his rock-hard pecs to encircle his neck. “So I can’t do this?”

He pulled her hands away. “No.”

“And I can’t do this?” She circled his narrow waist and pulled him between her legs, pressing her breasts against his taut chest.

Mark disengaged her hands. “Definitely not.”

Her gaze drifted down below his belt and she stroked a finger along the erection clearly outlined beneath the thin wool of his trousers. “What about this?”

Mark gently slapped her hand away. “Don’t even think about it.”

“It’s all I’m thinking about,” she murmured.

“The second rule is, you follow my directions, no questions asked.” He lowered his mouth to the heated skin revealed as he slowly unbuttoned her shirt.

“I’m not very good at following directions.” Katy ran a finger along the square line of his jaw, enjoying the feel of his scratchy stubble over her skin.

“Ah ah.” Mark pulled away from her touch. “You, Ms. Sinclair, are now in contempt of court.” He trailed his hand down her thigh, flipping open her suspender clips one by one before sliding her stocking down her leg in a silken caress. He repeated the process with her other stocking and then stood back and studied his work. Katy tried not to smile under his intense scrutiny. Trixie had been right after all.

Mark held her chin between his thumb and index finger and tilted her head back. “Smiling is also not acceptable in my courtroom. We’d better remedy the situation immediately.”

Before she had time to even take a breath, he meshed their lips together. His tongue stroked hers and she melted with the passion of his kiss. Her lips parted to taste him, her hands slid around his chest to pull him closer, and her back arched, pressing her aching breasts against the cool, soothing cotton of his shirt.





Katy was on fire.

Mark slid his arms around her, pulling her close. Too close. Even through his clothing, he could feel the heat between her thighs and his shaft pulsed with need.

He deepened the kiss, drowning in the sweet sensation of her honeyed mouth. He wanted her with a desperate ache that reached into his heart. He wanted to possess her fully. Body and soul.

He reached for his blue silk tie and slowly, deliberately, undid the Windsor knot and tugged. The tie slid from his neck with a soft hiss. He wound the ends in his hands leaving a two-foot length between them and then he pulled it taut with a loud snap.

Katy jumped.

“The penalty for contempt is a fine or imprisonment. Choose.”

A thrill shot through his body when she offered her delicate wrists with only the barest hesitation. “I choose imprisonment,” she whispered.

Mark bound her wrists together and eased her back until she lay across the smooth, hard surface of the judge’s desk. “Hands over your head. Feet on the edge of the desk.” She lifted her arms, kicked off her shoes and placed her heels on the smooth oak surface without a word.

“Well done.”

Mark settled himself in the judge’s chair, barely able to believe he was about to live out his ultimate fantasy. He traced circles up the insides of her silky soft thighs, and tugged at the edges of her lace panties. “These have to go.”

She trembled as he slowly slid her panties over her hips.

“Relax, sugar.” He pressed her legs gently apart. “You’re going to be here for a very long time.”





Katy closed her eyes when Mark pressed a soft kiss to her belly button. His cool lips slid over her heated skin sending tiny shivers down her spine. He continued his gentle assault, moving down her body to feather kisses over her belly and then along the sensitive skin of her inner thighs, but never touching the one place she wanted him to go. His hair brushed lightly over her sex and she moaned at the sweet torment.

“So soft,” he murmured. Katy moaned and struggled to free her hands, desperate to thread her fingers through his hair and guide him to her throbbing center.

“Mark. Untie me. I want to touch you.”

“I’ve waited so long to taste you, sugar. Let me enjoy the pleasure.” He gave her only those few words of warning before he slid his tongue up through her folds and around her swollen nub.

Katy gasped and jerked her hips at the delicious sensation. Her eyes slitted closed and she arched up, determined to take all she could get before reality came knocking.

“Don’t move,” he warned. The relentless stroke of his warm tongue sent fiery flames licking over her skin. He seemed to know exactly how far he could go to keep her on edge. Exquisite torture.

“Mark. Please.”

He slid a finger through her wetness and circled her entrance until she quivered. When she thought she couldn’t take any more, he slipped two fingers inside her stretching and filling her until violent trembles shook her body.

“I can’t take it anymore,” she panted. “I need you. Now.”

Mark pulled away and chuckled. “Lawyers are so impatient. They never take the time to savor an experience. Always wanting it now.”

He smoothed his hands up her body, flicked open the front clasp of her bra and pushed it aside, cupping her breasts with warm hands as he freed them from their containment.

“You have beautiful breasts, sugar.” He bent down to suckle a tight nipple between his lips, then laved gently over the tip. Katy writhed on the cold, hard table, as her insides tightened. He turned his attention to the other breast, suckling and laving until every nerve was on fire and her body screamed for release.

“No more,” she gasped. “Let me go.”

He pulled away and frowned. “Are you presuming to tell the judge how to run his case?”

“What if someone comes in? It’s not like we have lots of time.”

Mark chuckled. “Trust me, sugar. We won’t be disturbed.” He laved her aching nipple again, and plunged his fingers inside her throbbing sex. Katy arched her back at the unexpected and intimate intrusion. Her hips bucked, following the rhythm of his fingers as they stroked her closer and closer to her peak. Rational thought, fear and anxiety gave way to the naughty thrill of being tied up on the judge’s desk and subject to Mark’s pleasure. She closed her eyes and let herself drown in the erotic sensation of his hands and mouth, touching, kissing and tasting every part of her body until she knew nothing but him.

Mark dropped back down into his chair and flicked his tongue over her * before he sucked it gently into his mouth. His breath, hot and heavy, fanned over her swollen center. “Tell me what you need, sugar,” he rasped.

Tell me what you need. Words she had longed to hear during her marriage. Not once had Steven ever made her feel this way, or brought her even close to her peak, now only a heartbeat away.

“I need you. I need…to…come.”

“Let go for me.” His lips surrounded her * and he nipped gently, pumping his fingers deeper inside her sex. Everything inside her shattered and she cried out as waves of pleasure crashed through her body, rolling outward to her fingers and toes.

Mark drew out her orgasm, stroking his fingers along her sensitive inner core until he brought her to the crest of another climax. She convulsed around him unable to believe she was physically capable of such intense pleasure. Finally, he withdrew his fingers and she trembled as her orgasm subsided. She barely registered the slide of silk when he released her hands.

Mark pulled Katy into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. She closed her eyes and let his warmth envelop her, breathing in his scent now mixed with her own. Sex and sandalwood and lilies. His erection pressed against her hip as he pulled her closer.

“What about you?” She ran her finger along his hardened length. “It seems you weren’t satisfied with the outcome of the case.”

Mark hissed in a breath and pulled her hand away. “You can’t imagine how I get off watching you, but we’ve run out of time.”

Katy leaned into his chest and squeezed her eyes shut. What would it be like to have someone like Mark to hold her at night, or when times were tough? “Are you sure?”

He laughed. “We’ve used up my favor and then some.”

“What happens now?” Katy mumbled into his shirt.

“I’ll speak to my partners and to Steele about transferring the case. The conflict will be resolved by the end of the day tomorrow. I promise you that.”

Katy stiffened. “It’s my problem too. Maybe I’ll talk to Ted—”

“I said I would deal with it.”

“I can’t let you do that,” she said, her voice wavering. “It’s not right.”

“You can and you will.”

She shivered at his sharp tone and buttoned up her shirt. She couldn’t let him carry the burden of their indiscretion. It simply wasn’t fair.

“Mark…”

“I want to see you tomorrow after I have everything settled.”

Katy shook her head. “I’m interviewing a witness in Vancouver in the morning and another in Burnaby in the afternoon. Then I’ll need to prepare the statements while the evidence is fresh in my mind.” She took a deep breath. “Maybe you should wait before you speak to them. Just in case either of us…”

Mark cupped her face between his palms. “I’ve made up my mind, sugar. There is no turning back.”





“Keegan.”

“Hunter.” Keegan pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket and offered one to James.

“Filthy habit.” James waved the pack away.

Keegan laughed as he lit up. “Filthy habit for a filthy boy.” He looked around for an ashtray, and then tapped his ash onto the ground.

James rolled his eyes. He didn’t smoke. Had never smoked and didn’t have any friends who smoked. Except Keegan. But he wasn’t really a friend.

Keegan looked around at the busy street and the busier courthouse behind them. “I like these covert meetings in broad daylight and full public view of the courthouse. Very cloak and dagger.” He blew smoke rings toward the crowded sidewalk. “So what can I do for you?”

“I want Jimmy Rider.”

Keegan took another drag. “Do I look like your fairy godmother? It doesn’t work that way in the real world, Cinderfella.”

Damn Keegan. Always playing games. He didn’t have time for games. The trail had gone cold and Keegan knew where to find his only lead. “It does if I decide you’ve interfered with a police investigation.”

Keegan turned his back to James and then looked over his shoulder. “Hey, Hunter. I’ve got an itch. Gimme a scratch.”

“F*ck you.”

Keegan turned back and tapped more ash onto the sidewalk. “That’s not the way to get your glass slipper. I didn’t come here to be abused. In fact, it’s a terrible inconvenience. I’m supposed to be having lunch with the mayor up in the Harbor Centre tower. You should go there sometime. Amazing view. Or maybe cops aren’t paid enough for fancy lunches.”

James sighed. “What do you want, Keegan?”

“What I always want. Throw me some crumbs and I’ll give you a pumpkin.”

After a quick look around to ensure they couldn’t be overhead, James capitulated. “Rider is connected to both Garcia and Wood. We have his prints on baggies found at each scene.”

Keegan finished his cigarette and dropped the butt on the ground. “Tell me something I don’t know. I gave you that lead.”

James shrugged. “We might be dealing with a new type of illness. Something like SARS. I don’t have anything conclusive from the pathologist yet, but the coroner is concerned. He’s put a team on it as well.”

Keegan pulled out another cigarette. “I can’t write that story. It will cause widespread public panic and heads will roll. Mine included.”

“I held up my end of the bargain and you’re walking a thin line. Someone must have tipped off Rider because he has mysteriously disappeared.”

“Are you suggesting I’m playing both sides?” Keegan raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. “Although you may be disappointed to hear it, I don’t have a death wish.”

“Where is he?”

Keegan blew a wisp of smoke. “All I’ve turned up is a dead end.”

“Dammit, Keegan. If I have to drag you kicking and screaming into the station to make you talk, I will.”

Keegan narrowed his eyes. “You won’t have to, my friend. I’ll be on television giving a press conference in which I tearfully name all my confidential sources.” He locked gazes with James. “Are we done with the posturing?”

James sighed. He and Keegan had played this game for years. Although he hated to admit it, Keegan had his ear to the ground and was as comfortable with the underworld as he was with the police. Their arrangement had brought many criminals to justice and raised Keegan’s profile as a star reporter. Everyone was happy.

“Could be a new street drug.”

Keegan’s eyes snapped to his. “Now you have my attention. That makes more sense if Rider was involved.”

James shrugged. “It’s all I have.”

Keegan leaned in close and lowered his voice. “I’ve heard he likes swimming.”

“More.”

“With the fishes.”

Damn. His key witness was dead.

Keegan glanced over James’s shoulder and smiled. “Look, there’s your brother.”

James turned to see Mark entering the courthouse. “He’s my friend, not my brother.”

“That’s not what I heard. Beat cop and single dad saves a bad-ass kid from the drugged out pimp dealer who killed his crack-head mother. Gets him off the streets. Raises him alongside his son as his own.”

“He wasn’t a bad ass kid,” James snapped. “He had principles. He went looking for the dealer to avenge his mother’s death, but he was only twelve years old. The dealer tried to force him to be a drug mule to pay off his mother’s debt. He refused. Dealer slit his throat and left him to die.”

Keegan continued to watch Mark until the courthouse door slammed behind him. “You might want to remind him of those principles. Sometimes they get lost when temptation comes calling. I met his little temptation last week. Big blue eyes, long, silky chestnut hair. I would have asked her out, but I don’t like swimming.”

“Leave them alone, Keegan.”

Keegan laughed. “I leave everyone alone unless there’s a story to be told. I love a good story.”