LITMIR.BIZ

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for a loop. She was still a gorgeous woman, blond hair, deep blue eyes, and a figure that had stopped more than one attorney at the courthouse.

      He pushed open the door of Matthew Hawkins’s office and barreled inside. Ash’s ex-partner now worked as a lawyer for Houston PD. “What the hell were you thinking, Hawk?”

      Hawk looked up from his desk and sat back in his chair. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, Ash. It’s kinda the nature of my job. You want to narrow it down?”

      “Kelly.”

      Ash threw himself in the chair in front of the desk. “You know how I feel about—” He gritted his teeth, not wanting to think about his ex-wife and the tide of emotions their meeting had jerked out of him. Dammit. He didn’t want to work with her.

      Hawk put down his pen and studied Ash. “You’re lucky if that’s all the fallout from this past week.” Hawk shook his head. “Wrecking two cars within six days, then you finish up by punching out the suspect’s sister.”

      Ash glared at his friend. The first wreck had been his fault, running the light as he chased the suspect who got away. The second wreck, the suspect had rammed him. “The woman was trying to stab me in the neck with a nail file as her brother ran away.”

      “Well, you created a media nightmare, and Jenkins was ready to send you to Pasadena on an exchange program, when Kelly called him. When Jenkins talked the situation over with me, asked me what I thought, what was I to say?” Hawk shrugged. “Your butt was in a sling.”

      Ash ran his fingers through his hair. “How’d you like to work with your ex?”

      “My ex-wife already tried to run that scam on me, remember? And I nailed her on it.”

      Ash remembered the incident. It was after Hawk had married his current wife, who turned out to be an heiress. “Yeah, Brandy didn’t take to kindly to your second marriage.”

      Hawk shook his head. “She wanted money. But Kelly is nothing like her.”

      Years ago, when they were still partners, Hawk and Ash had gone through their divorces within months of each other. They drowned their sorrows together and commiserated with each other on the disadvantages of marriage.

      Recently Hawk had remarried and now had a child. He was happy with his life for the first time in years.

      “It was Ralph Lee’s case,” Ash grumbled, wanting Hawk to know how truly miserable this situation was. “His screwup.”

      “I know.”

      “So just throw me into the biggest, darkest pit you can find.”

      “I’ll admit Ralph can be an SOB to cross—”

      Ash’s brow arched.

      “But you can go toe-to-toe with him, Ash,” Hawk finished.

      Ash shook his head. “I don’t know if I can do this, Hawk. It was weird standing there, looking at Kelly. I haven’t had a face-to-face meeting with her since we divided the property.” He ran his hands through his hair. He didn’t want to admit the feelings that had ripped through him earlier. Feelings that he never thought he’d experience again. And certainly not in response to Kelly.

      Ash glared at Hawk. “I don’t know whether to punch a hole in the wall or the supreme court jurists for letting Steve Carlson loose.”

      “My legal advice is that you do neither.”

      He shook his head. “So not only do I have to work with my ex, I have to dance around Ralph Lee’s ego. The man’s worse than an old dog with a bone. What a mess.”

      “You got it.”

      “You know, since you’ve discovered love, Hawk, you’ve become a real pain in the butt.”

      “Ash, if you need any help, let me know.”

      “What I need is another A.D.A. and someone else to do this case,” Ash grumbled as he left Hawk’s office.

      “Unfortunately, you’re it.”

      Didn’t he know.

      “So, that was your famous ex-husband?” Teresa Myers asked as she placed a letter on Kelly’s desk, then lingered longer than necessary.

      If Teresa only knew what Ash and she’d been through—but she didn’t, and Kelly had no intention of sharing. Of course, after this afternoon, Kelly could understand Teresa’s awed tone. Meeting Ash under the best of circumstances was intimidating. Meeting him when he was fit to be tied wasn’t a pleasant experience.

      “That was him.”

      “Is he always so—uh—dynamic?”

      Kelly shook her head. She’d bet that dynamic wasn’t Teresa’s first choice of words to describe Ash. “Pretty much.”

      “Really?” Her eyes widened.

      “Ash is good and doesn’t take shortcuts.” The words tumbled out of Kelly’s mouth before she thought. “If he brings me evidence, I can count on it. And that’s what’s important right now, not how I feel.”

      “So, what you’re telling me is you are going to be able to work with you ex and have no problems?”

      That was the question that had plagued Kelly since Ash had left. “Why shouldn’t I?” she answered.

      “Because the man’s a hunk.”

      Great, just want Kelly needed to hear. She clenched her jaw and forced a neutral tone. “Ash could strip naked in this office and it wouldn’t affect me, except that I would call another cop to cite him for indecent exposure.”

      Teresa’s expression said she didn’t believe a word of it. “If you say so.” She picked up the newspaper on the desk. The headline proclaimed Carlson’s release. “Isn’t this going to be a nightmare? My mom asked about double jeopardy.”

      “If Carlson had been found innocent, that would be the case. This order throws out the original verdict and part of the evidence, so we have to start all over again. I need to refile on this case. Would you bring me the paperwork?”

      “Sure.”

      Once alone, Kelly stood and walked to the window. Downtown workers poured from the buildings, hurrying home. Home to their families and loved ones. Kelly didn’t have to worry about anyone waiting on her. She was her own woman. No one to tell her what to do. No one to tell how her day had gone. And she liked it that way.

      When she reviewed the case days ago, after the court had ruled, she was distressed with the dangling ends left in the case. Also, although Carlson copped to the burglary, he vigorously denied murdering Catherine Reed. There was fiber evidence to prove he had been in the Reed house, but no blood evidence could be found to connect Carlson with the murder. And it had been a bloody scene.

      She shook her head. Working with Ash wasn’t going to be a problem, she assured herself, even though their approach to the law was as different as night and day. He thought outside the box. She wanted all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed. Her miscarriage had intensified those differences, driven a wedge between her and Ash that had finally resulted in their divorce. He hadn’t understood—Kelly stopped her thoughts from going further.

      Those were issues that weren’t involved in this case and she wouldn’t have to revisit them. They could work together on a professional level.

      Yeah, and since when did the assistant D.A. start lying to herself? asked a voice in her head.

      “Since the Carlson case got kicked into my lap,” she whispered.

      Ash walked slowly into the building that housed the criminal division of the D.A.’s office. He’d spent the night reviewing the Carlson case. Reed claimed that he and his wife had gone to a society dinner. Then afterward, he had dropped his wife off at their house and gone out for cappuccino at a trendy coffee

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