Page 15 of Forbidden Sins
“But I have to warn you, one of the other partners has put forward Ian Smith for the position.”
Gabe frowned and leaned forward. “Is that right?” Ian was an asshole, a suck-up, a bootlicker, with a face that just begged to be punched. Gabe was damned if Ian Smith was going to deter any of his plans.
“I don’t think you have to worry about him, though,” Charles assured him. “It’s basically your position.”
Gabe had woken up that morningknowingthat he would be the newest partner, the goal he’d worked for his entire career. He was a better lawyer, and was more well liked, than Ian, but he would prefer if the promotion was a sure thing. He didn’t know what sorts of sneaky tricks and manipulation Ian had up his sleeve.
Charles moved on as if he hadn’t just dropped a bomb on Gabe. “But the reason I wanted to meet with you this morning was to tell you about my daughter, who has just joined the firm.”
That made Gabe start. He’d known Charles his entire life. How had the fact he had a daughter been hidden from him? “I didn’t realize you had a daughter.”
Charles looked sheepish. “She’s illegitimate. The result of an irresponsible affair with an actress years ago. I wasn’t involved with her upbringing, but I should have been.” He shook his head. “The child was a mess. Always getting into trouble. I didn’t approve of her lifestyle, while her mother applauded it—whatever kept her name in the headlines. And when my daughter ended up in some trouble, I helped her out and offered her a way to turn her life around. But I was careful to keep her under wraps.”
Men like Charles Burnham were experts at portraying a clean, conservative image, while covering up the scandals and indiscretions of their buddies. Gabe figured he was much the same. He, himself, had several secrets he wouldn’t want to get out.
Big secrets.
“Is that right?” he asked.
“I bailed her out, literally. But we made a deal—she had to clean up her act, and I would put her through law school and offer her a job.”
“Great motivation to turn her life around,” Gabe said.
“I think you’d be a good fit for her. For the mentorship program.”
The Burnham & Associates mentorship program paired junior associates with those more senior, to show the new attorneys the way the firm worked. It had been a while since Gabe had been paired with anyone, and he wasn’t especially sold on the idea. “It sounds like you want me to babysit your daughter and make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble.”
Charles’s head tilted. “Huh. I never thought of that. But I suppose you might be right. At least meet her before you discount her. I was as surprised as anyone that she’d done a complete one-eighty turnaround. Despite her trouble, she’s just like you. She’s young, sharp and she just might impress you.”
Gabe was skeptical. In his years at the firm, he’d met every type of clerk and newly minted lawyer—the lazy ones, the super-ambitious ones, the ass-kissers, the spoiled ones—and he wondered which category Charles’s daughter would fall into. “Fine. I’ll meet her. But I’m not promising anything.”
“That’s as good as any response I was expecting from you.”
“I haven’t made my career being nice, Charles.”
“No, you made it by being a smart-ass,” he said with an indulgent, avuncular smile. He continued, “I believe Ellie will find herself on a similar career track as yours.”
Gabe’s head whipped upward at the mention of Ellie’s name.No, it can’t be.
“...If she performs as well as I believe she will, we expect her to make partner also. Maybe in the future you’ll both be running Burnham & Associates—maybe it’ll even be renamed Foster & Carrington, by then,” he finished with a chuckle.
Carrington?His worst fears confirmed, Gabe blinked and finished his scotch in one swallow. An image of Ellie flashed again in his mind. Carrington. The lawyer, who was new in town. Just out of law school. The memory of her flushed his cheeks, the image of her full breasts, luscious curves making his breath catch. He shook his head. It couldn’t have been Ellie. Not his Ellie. That would be too much of a coincidence. And Gabe didn’t believe in coincidence.
Charles continued speaking, and Gabe tried to follow, but again part of his mind kept drifting back to Ellie.
He looked up and saw that Charles had his expectant eyes on him.Shit. “I’m sorry?” he asked, trying to recover, prove he was paying attention. His world had just imploded. He’d put a wedding band on the finger of his mentor’s daughter.
“I was just telling you some more about Ellie.”
“It’s nice that you’re reconnecting,” Gabe said, not sure what he could add. Needing to straighten his legs, he stood. He could feel the scotch warm his blood, bypass his twisty stomach and go straight to his head. He felt just a little wobbly as he made his way across Charles’s office and looked out the window to the desert and the mountains in the distance. He turned his head, and saw the woman on the other side of the glass wall of Charles’s office. The fair brunette, who stood next to Rosa’s desk, smiling broadly, was the woman who’d completely rocked him. The woman he barely remembered marrying. The woman he’d fucked on his kitchen table. It was his Ellie.
“And there she is!” Charles announced, turning and seeing her, as well.
Gabe’s breath halted in his throat. He didn’t need to look far to find his new bride. He’d drunkenly married his boss’s daughter. He turned back to the window, unable to face the situation in front of him. He took deep, careful breaths in an attempt to steady himself. It didn’t work. In only five seconds, his life had gone from just merely complicated to catastrophic. There was no way he’d find his way out of this. He was 100 percent royally fucked—personally, but even more professionally. There was no way Charles would make him partner, or even keep him at the firm, knowing what he’d done with the man’s estranged daughter.
Gabe felt the walls close in on him as Ellie stood before him, locked in an embrace with Charles Burnham. When she turned away from her father, she finally looked up and saw him. He caught the brief falter of her smile, and her eyes widened momentarily, but then returned to normal, covering her apparent surprise, before her lips turned upward in a gracious smile.
She was beautiful, sexy and, even though he had intimate knowledge that she was anything but, she looked absolutely demure in her conservative black suit. He could still see the lush curves she attempted to conceal in the heavy material. She couldn’t fool him. She took several steps toward him and extended her hand. He shook it. He had to restrain himself from pulling her to him and kissing her to make up for the time they’d lost when she’d left him on Saturday, but instead, he released her hand. “Mr. Foster. Nice to meet you,” she said, not letting on that they’d met before.