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someone who might end up leaving her, willingly or not?
    But then again, Dom was her father.
    Fighting her uncertainty, she tried to focus on the purple carpeting underfoot, but the size-12 boots next to her strappy black sandals were what she noticed. Her toes, recently painted a pale pink, peeked up at her and the contrast of her femininity and his unmistakable masculinity made her shiver.
    Fear gave her the resolve she needed. “No, I don’t want to have dinner with you,” she responded. “And I’d appreciate it if you would just leave me alone.”
    He stared at her while heat climbed her face. Cursing her fair skin and its tendency to blush at the slightest provocation, she clenched her long skirt to keep from fidgeting. A noise behind them made her jump and glance back. Judge Butler paused in his doorway, his features twisted into an expression of annoyance.
    “Shouldn’t we have gotten started by now?” he questioned, his words clipped.
    “Yes, your honor.” Thankful for the interruption despite Judge Butler’s annoyance, she rushed past Dominic and into the crowded courtroom. She signaled Brenda that the judge was coming in. In her periphery, she saw Dominic stride to the deputy standing guard next to the jury box and dismiss him.
    From the courtroom audience, Linda waggled her brows and rolled her eyes in a mock swoon. She was teasing her about Dominic again. Weakly, Mattie waved, sat, and adjusted her skirt, trying to act normal. She moved her stenograph closer to her, tucked back her hair and licked her lips. She adjusted her skirt again. Twice. Then, unable to help herself, she casually lifted her gaze to peek at Dominic.
    She gasped.
    He was staring at her, his blue eyes darkened with an unmistakable heat that seemed to touch every part of her at once. Instantaneously, she felt exposed. Raw. Vulnerable. Her breathing quickened and a shiver of something frightening—anticipation? Excitement?—ran through her.
    He lifted his eyebrows, as if he was asking her the question again. Will you have dinner with me?
    In self-defense, she straightened and narrowed her eyes. “No,” she mouthed, refusing to look away from his gaze.
    But then her mouth dropped open and she nearly fell off her chair.
    Because Dominic did something he hadn’t done in ten years. At least, not in her presence.
    He smiled. A huge smile that flashed strong white teeth and dimples, and transformed him into the hunky, handsome man she’d crushed on for weeks before she’d gathered the courage to approach him.
    And then he winked at her.

Chapter 7

    T he rest of the day was uneventful, with the arraignment calendar flowing into two preliminary hearings, afternoon jury selection, and finally a suppression hearing. Nonetheless, Mattie’s awareness of Dominic had grown ten-fold, until everything seemed to be about him and her and an invisible thread of sexual tension that tied them together. By the time the judge pronounced they were done for the day, Mattie’s fingers were trembling and she couldn’t get out of the courtroom fast enough.
    She hastily covered up her stenograph and grabbed her files.
    “Okay, you’ve got to fill me in. What the heck happened this morning?”
    Linda walked through the swinging half doors that divided the court staff from the audience. A quick glance confirmed that Dominic was still at his post, his face impassive but focused on the two of them.
    Clearing her throat, Mattie placed her free hand on Linda’s back and steered her toward the door. “I don’t know what you mean.”
    Linda, however, wouldn’t cooperate. She stopped in the aisle and threw a curious glance at Dominic. “Uh, in case you missed it, lovey, you’ve got an admirer and it looks like he’s not willing to be ignored anymore.”
    “Will you please lower your voice and stop looking at him?”
    Linda just grinned. “After that last witness was excused, I thought he was going to rip your clothes off right there and then. Should I