Read Online A Case for Love by Kaye Dacus - Free Book Online Page A

her direct phone number in case we get disconnected.”
    “Hold on a sec, and let me look it up. I’m just an intern and don’t have everyone’s numbers memorized. Oh, here it is. Three-six-nine-four. Hold on, and I’ll transfer you.”
    Well, her extension number was better than nothing. Not wanting to leave another message in less than twenty-four hours, he hung up and programmed Alaine’s extension into her information in his Blackberry. Now when he called, he could get to her straight from the automated answering system on the main line.
    He took some files he was finished with out to Samantha’s desk.
    The secretary looked up from her computer when he dropped the heavy folders into her in-box. “I suspected your chipper mood yesterday wouldn’t last all week.” She leaned over and looked at the files. “Ah. I see why. The case that just won’t go away.”
    “My own personal Jarndyce and Jarndyce.”
    Samantha frowned and thumbed through the folders. “I don’t see that one in here—and I haven’t run across that name. Is it new?”
    Forbes smiled for the first time today. “No. It’s a fictional case in my favorite book. It went on for many, many years and financially ruined at least three generations of the Jarndyce family.”
    Samantha returned to her computer. “Sounds boring.”
    “There’s a romance story in it, too.” He picked up the stack of unopened mail and flipped through it. He never saw it at this stage—and never this much of it.
    “Whatever. You’re supposed to be over at the courthouse in thirty minutes. The Pichon injunction.”
    “Right. Thanks. Oh, file—” He looked up from the mail to see Samantha holding the thick folder toward him.
    “Here you go, Mr. Bonneterre.”
    “Thanks, Ms. Impertinence.” He took the folder.
    “You’re welcome, Dudley Do-Right.”
    Forbes laughed, glad to have a secretary with a sense of humor who could give as good as she got. In his office, he jammed the file into his attaché case, shrugged into his jacket, and headed out for the parish courthouse.
    After going through the metal detector, he checked his courtroom assignment and went to the bank of elevators. One opened immediately and disgorged a bunch of people before he could step in. Some of the judges must be getting their earliest cases on the docket cleared quickly. He hoped his case didn’t get called early.
    The elevator doors were nearly closed when a hand jutted between them and they reopened. “Sorry. Didn’t want to miss this one—oh hey, Forbes.”
    The doors slid shut behind Russell LeBlanc, a high-school classmate who had turned his back on a fast-track position at a law firm to start a community legal aid office, where most of his cases were pro bono.
    “Hey, Russ. So, we’re squaring off again today.”
    “Yep.” The other lawyer grinned. “Don’t you ever get tired of defending all these businesses that are only out to protect their bottom lines?”
    “Not when the cases brought against them are trivial nonsense.”
    “We’ll see what Judge Duplessis has to say about that, won’t we?”
    “Yes, we will.” Forbes tried to keep a stern expression but had never been able to resist Russell’s constant good humor. “How’s Carrie?”
    “Home on bed rest.”
    “So she’s okay?”
    “Fine. We’ve gotten to twenty-eight weeks. We’re shooting for thirty-four. But with quads, you just never know.”
    The doors slid open on the fifth floor. Forbes motioned Russell to exit ahead of him. “Quadruplets. I still can’t get my head around it. You with four kids all in law school at the same time.”
    “Eh. You never know. One might go over to the dark side and decide to become a doctor or a teacher—or even worse, a social worker like their mom.” Russ cocked his head and laughed. “See you in court.”
    Forbes waved and headed the opposite direction. He filled his small water bottle at the drinking fountain, then looked for his client.
    Mr. Pichon paced