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associate take off this long without repercussions.”

      Casey scowled in response to the reminder of those “family connections.” It was true that his paternal aunt Michelle D’Alessandro was one of the firm’s wealthiest and most prestigious clients. And that his maternal grandfather was a nationally known and admired prosecutor in Chicago, who’d roomed with the senior partner in Casey’s Dallas firm years ago back in their college days and had maintained that friendship ever since. And that Casey’s father was a partner in the largest and most respected private investigation and security company in Dallas and his mother the CEO of an acclaimed accounting firm. All of which might have gotten him hired in the first place, but he’d worked damned hard to justify that decision. He’d earned every dollar of his generous paychecks.

      At least, he’d thought so until he’d lost the first truly high-profile case he’d been assigned. Not only had it been a defeat, it had been a particularly painful, public and humiliating one. His friends and family had rallied around him, assuring him that every attorney suffered losses, but there had been more than a few in the Dallas legal community who had taken great pleasure in seeing “the wonderboy,” as they had dubbed him, taken down a few pegs.

      A week after that loss, he had suffered a second career blow. Only that time, at the hands of an arrogant young man Casey had successfully defended in a previous charge, an innocent person had died. And Casey still wondered if he was at least partially to blame for that tragedy.

      “I just needed some time off,” he insisted to his cousin. “I haven’t had a break in—well, ever. Working every summer during high school and college, straight into law school, and from there directly into the job at the firm. I always meant to take a vacation, but the time never seemed to be right.”

      “And you think it’s right now?” Aaron asked skeptically. “After—well, you know?”

      “After I lost the Parmenter case, you mean? Yeah. I think I need this vacation now more than I’ve ever needed it before.”

      There was a long pause, and then Aaron spoke again, an uncharacteristic note of caution in his voice. “Um, I suppose you’ve heard that Tamara and Fred have been getting a lot of face time around town lately?”

      “Yeah, I heard they’ve been seen together at every highbrow event in Dallas for the past few weeks. And that they have an uncanny talent for being in exactly the right place every time a flashbulb goes off so their picture makes the society pages the next day.”

      “Carly said she and Richard attended a charity thing this past weekend and Tamara was there flashing a doorknob-sized diamond ring. No official engagement has been announced, but…well, Carly said Tamara was looking very much like a canary-eating cat.”

      “That I can believe.”

      “So, uh, if they are engaged—how do you feel about that?”

      “Honestly, I don’t care. If Tamara wants to marry Fred, more power to her. I hope they’ll have a great life with a couple of McMansions, two perfect kids, and a permanent spot on the social registry. That’s what she always dreamed of.”

      “And she thought she was going to get there with you.”

      “I guess. Until she decided that Fred will get her there faster, already being a partner in a rival firm and all.”

      She had made that decision, at least openly, right after Casey’s big courtroom loss. Apparently, she’d been debating it for some time before that. And she had explored her options by seeing Fred behind Casey’s back, a juicy tidbit that had been discussed in the break rooms and around the water coolers for several weeks before Tamara had bothered to bring him into the loop. She had done so with a blunt announcement that their long-standing, though unofficial, engagement was at an end.

      It took a great deal of effort, sacrifice and ruthless calculation to make it to the very peak of the social heap, she had informed him entirely without irony. She had at first thought he was willing to invest himself fully in that mission, but lately she’d been having doubts. She had no such reservations about Fred, who cared every bit as much about status and image as she did.

      “You really should come home,” Aaron urged again, breaking into Casey’s grim memories. “Be seen around town with a couple of hot women. Andy and I just happen to know a few to introduce you to. Show Tamara, and everyone else, that you’re not sitting around pining for her. Get back to work, win a couple of big cases, prove you’ve still got the stuff, which we all know you do. Have some fun, raise some hell on the weekends. Just like the old days, you know?”

      Casey knew what “old days” his cousin referred to. In their teens, he and the twins had been known in the family as “the terrible trio” because of the lengths they had gone to in pursuit of a good time. Practical jokes, daredevil escapades, impulsive road trips. Weekends had been their time to raise some hell. And they had excelled at that as much as they had in their separate educational pursuits.

      “I’ll be home soon,” he said, unwilling to commit any more than that. “Besides, Molly and Kyle really do need my assistance for a little while longer. Their regular maintenance guy won’t be back for several more weeks. Kyle and Mack stay busy all the time trying to keep up and it helps that I can do some of the easier stuff. Gives Kyle a little more time to spend with Molly and the kids.”

      He knew that was one argument Aaron would have a hard time contesting. All the cousins had a soft spot for Molly. Not to mention that family always came first for the entire Walker clan, so giving a father more time with his wife, toddler daughter and infant son would be something they’d all consider worth the effort.

      Sure enough, Aaron didn’t seem to know quite what to say, except “Well, try not to destroy anything there, okay? You’re a lawyer, not a carpenter. And don’t stay too long. Frankly, I seem to be more worried about your career than you are.”

      “Says the guy who is thinking of making a big job change.”

      “That’s because I don’t like what I’m doing now. That isn’t true for you.”

      “Yeah. Um. Right.”

      They disconnected a few minutes later on a pleasant enough note, though Aaron’s warnings about Casey’s possible career jeopardy had left Casey feeling tense and irritable. To distract himself, he settled more comfortably in his chair and focused on the beauty of the wooded hillsides around him. And then he realized that an even more appealing picture had taken shape in his mind—Natalie Lofton, standing wet and startled in front of him, her thin, almost-transparent shirt revealing just enough to make his pulse race.

      He was a bit surprised by the clarity of the mental image. His life was in enough turmoil right now, he told himself. He didn’t need an inconvenient attraction to a woman who seemed to be in as much of a quandary as he was.

      Or maybe that was exactly what he needed, he mused, tugging thoughtfully at his lower lip. Hadn’t Aaron just said that he should start seeing other women, forget about Tamara, put his troubles out of his mind? Which meant he should be open to possibilities as he worked on the cabin in which Natalie was staying.

      He would be seeing her again, he thought with a buzz of anticipation. Soon.

      Chapter Two

      Casey Walker was in Natalie’s cabin again, this time in her bedroom.

      Sitting at the round oak table in the kitchen with her computer in front of her, Natalie could hear him banging around as he removed the wobbly old ceiling fan and prepared to install another. She hadn’t been able to resist expressing her concern about his ability to handle that task, but he’d scowled and assured her that he knew what he was doing. He and Kyle had installed a new fan in one of the other cabins only the day before, he’d informed her.

      When he finished replacing the fan, he was going to hang the new mirror in the bathroom. He planned to accomplish both those tasks before he left today.

      Listening to the unnerving noises coming from the back of the

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