Free Close to Her Heart by C. J. Carmichael Page B

the lab with Jenna seemed to be secure. But she couldn’t help feeling the senior researcher was disappointed in her decision to have this baby. Jenna was one of those intense, focused people who lived for their work and couldn’t understand why other people didn’t share the same passion and drive. Once Dani had thought she was that sort of person, too.
    But finding out she was pregnant had changed her priorities. She was as surprised as anyone else by how much she wanted this baby. From the moment she’d seen the results of her pregnancy test—at home in the bathroom, worried about her late period—her values and priorities had undergone a massive restructuring.
    And there was no going back to the woman she had once been.
    *
    It took about three weeks for Lizbeth Greenway to convince her husband to come in to see Eliot. Nick finally agreed on the condition that he meet with Eliot alone. On the Wednesday he was due to come in, for the last appointment of the day at five o’clock, Eliot took his assistant Paige aside and explained what he needed.
    “I want this guy feeling comfortable and unthreatened. So set us up in the Sequoia Room, okay?” The Sequoia Room was more like a large living room area than a conference room. They generally used it for relaxed partner meetings and celebrations. Only rarely for the clients.
    “Have a selection of beer there, as well as soft drinks. Maybe even a bowl of potato chips. It’s the end of the day, he may feel like unwinding, which is good. Might help me figure out what’s going on in his head.”
    “You’re trying to fix the marriage again, aren’t you?” Paige was in a lemon-colored dress today, paired with red shoes and a necklace made from what looked like giant, flattened red rocks. Outrageous and sweet all at the same time.
    “The wife is pregnant,” he shrugged. “I want them to be sure they’re taking the right step here.”
    Paige looked up from her notebook, clearly fighting a smile. “You want to know why I love working for you?”
    “Glad to hear that you do.”
    “Absolutely. For one thing, you never hit on me.”
    He felt appalled. “You’re, like, ten years younger than I am.”
    “So sweet that you think that way. I’ve had passes from bosses thirty years older than I am.”
    In all honesty, he wasn’t surprised. He heard things.
    “But mostly I love the way you care about people. It’s kind of rare in this world.”
    Again he had to shrug. “I never set out to be a divorce attorney.” It had just sort of happened. He’d been given a few cases to handle and they’d gone well, so recommendations had been made, and soon the clients were coming at him like raindrops in a Seattle winter. “Divorce is such a brutal step. I figure if I can keep a few couples out of the fighting ring, that’s a good thing.”
    Paige smiled. “And that’s why I love working for you. Leave everything to me. I’ll make sure the Sequoia Room is perfect for your meeting.”
    And it was. At five o’clock when he invited Nick Greenway into the generously proportioned, but still cozy room, he found cushions plumped on the sofa and loveseats. A bowl of potato chips on one side table, some peanuts on another. In the fridge, he found the required beverages, and then some.
    “Care for a drink?” he asked his client, rattling off some choices.
    Nick looked surprised. In a good way. “I’d love a Pike.”
    Eliot opened two, then carried them to the window where Nick was standing, looking out at the view. The other man stood at about five nine. He wasn’t heavy but you could tell from his body shape that he spent a lot of time at a desk. With his even features, thin brown hair and wire-framed glasses, he’d never stand out in a crowd in either a positive or negative way.
    But Nick hadn’t needed good looks to get ahead in the world.
    He’d used his brain. And teamwork. And the combination had netted him a multi-million dollar company.
    Eliot wondered which Nick