“Don’t worry about Sam. She really doesn’t have designs on your prosecutor. She has designs on me,” Ken Mitchell said with a self-satisfied smirk.
Taking a sip, she watched Jericho move smoothly and effortlessly with the gregarious reporter. Who did the woman think she was kidding? If Samantha didn’t want Jericho for herself, Kate would eat her shoe. Ken Mitchell wasn’t blind or stupid, so that left arrogant.
“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” Kate said in an uncharacteristic outburst, wiping the smile off his face.
Discarding the champagne flute, she marched out onto the dance floor. She tapped Samantha on the shoulder and said, “I’m sure you won’t mind if I cut in,dear. I’m sure Ken is getting lonely.”
Samantha stepped back and Kate slid right into Jericho’s arms.
“Nothing I love to see more than a person put in her place,” he said, looking down into her face. “I always knew you had a backbone of steel, Kate.”
“My mother would call it a formidable will.”
“Your mother’s an astute woman.”
“Yes, she is.”
“Is she in law enforcement, too?”
“No. She cleans houses for people like you.”
“People like me?”
“Rich.”
“That sounded almost accusatory. How do you know that I’m one ofthosepeople?”
“I can tell from your expensive taste in Armani suits and Gucci shoes. No prosecutor can afford such items on his salary.”
“Your keen scientist’s eye. No wonder you’re so good at crime scene investigation.”
“So why did you choose prosecution over your daddy’s law firm?”
“You’re so sure of yourself?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
“It wasn’t my father’s law firm, but you’re close. An uncle.”
“Hmm. So why a prosecutor?”
“I want to put away bad guys where they can’t hurt anyone else. Get to the truth of the crime and see justice served.”
His answer surprised her. She had always thought of Jericho as a competitor with a killer body and a gorgeous face. Sure, she knew he was a proficient prosecutor, but to hear his motivation for his intensity in court rocked her.
“I thought you just liked to win.”
“I do like to win, but I want the truth, too.”
They fell silent and Kate rested her face against Jericho’s neck, taking in the scent of him. As he turned, she could see through the dancing couples that Ken and George were arguing. It looked like quite a heated battle. Ken’s face was flushed red, his eyes were narrowed and flashing. She watched as he snarled at his father, then stalked away.
There was something very tense between Ken and his father. Something that made him very angry.
When the music ended, Jericho maneuvered Kate through the French doors that opened onto a balcony. He turned and shut them against the light and the low hum of conversation from the ballroom.
“I think I’d like another dance,” Kate said, feeling suddenly boxed in by Jericho’s presence and the closed French doors.
She went past him, but she found herself stopped, pinned by his big body, the heat of his breath on the back of her neck. “Do you think I didn’t notice you in your red dress, Kate?”