The Bachelor. Marie Ferrarella

Jordan can talk the sun into not setting.” His eyes shifted to her face. Had he just unintentionally insulted her? “No offense to you intended.”

      She didn’t follow him. “Offense?”

      “I didn’t mean you couldn’t persuade Peter if you wanted to. I’m sure you can be very persuasive if you want to be.”

      There it was again, that thousand-watt smile. Even when it was turned down a notch, it completely undid her.

      Talk, damn it, Jenny, talk. Answer the man.

      She couldn’t just continue to sit here and blush like some single-celled idiot, she told herself. She said the only thing she truthfully could. “I win more cases than I lose.”

      It took him a second to remember she was a lawyer. “You mean in court.”

      Was he trying to tell her that it didn’t work that way in the world beyond the hallowed halls of justice? “Yes, but—”

      He wasn’t completely sure why, but he suddenly had a yen to see her in action for himself. “Would you mind if I came with you?”

      “Where?” And then she realized what he was saying. Her eyes widened in surprise and unease. “You mean into court?”

      He laughed at her expression. “I don’t think the bailiff will let me listen against the door.” And then he saw a look that was akin to horror cross her face. “Unless having me there will throw you a curve,” he qualified. “I wouldn’t want you jeopardizing the case just because I’ve decided to go touring—”

      Damn it, get a hold of yourself before he thinks you’re some weak-kneed loon.

      Never mind that she was.

      There was absolutely no reason for her heart to suddenly start pounding like this, not unless she was having a genuine heart attack. C’mon, c’mon, you’re made of sterner stuff than this.

      A few weeks ago, she’d argued in front of a judge who routinely spit nails and chewed up lawyers for a snack. And she’d won. If she could do that, certainly she could survive having the most gorgeous man in God’s creation sitting in her courtroom, watching her plead a case, she reasoned.

      If she kept Miguel’s face uppermost in her mind, she’d be all right, she told herself. And, after all, this was about what amounted to the rest of a man’s life. If she lost, the quality of that life promised to be unbearably low. It was up to her to raise it, to show Miguel Ortiz that not everyone was going to ignore him and the plight he found himself in.

      Taking a breath, she found her voice. “No, having you there won’t jeopardize the case.” She jumped on the first excuse that came to her. “I just thought that you might be bored.”

      Eric looked at her, that same sensual smile she knew she was never going to become immune to spreading over his generous lips.

      “I have a feeling that boredom isn’t going to enter into the picture.”

      Taking her elbow, he escorted her from the now crowded coffee shop and out onto the curb. Jenny felt as if she was floating and wondered if her feet actually touched the pavement.

      They headed back to Logan Corporation’s building and its underground parking where his Ferrari was patiently waiting. He aimed his key ring at it and disarmed the alarm. “How strong is your case?”

      “Very strong.”

      She didn’t add that it was because of her endless digging that the case had shaped up the way it had. Every single spare moment after hours that wasn’t earmarked for Cole had been spent interviewing people, gathering information and compiling a case against both the surgeon, Dr. Wilson Turner, and the hospital that had neglected to police the derelict physician.

      Because of her tireless efforts, she’d discovered that many in the tight Portland medical community thought Turner was a disaster waiting to happen.

      And he had happened to Miguel Ortiz.

      “Then this should be interesting,” Eric told her as he held the passenger side door open for her.

      What would be interesting, she thought as she got into the vehicle, was whether or not she still remembered how to speak once they finally arrived at the courthouse.

      Exposure to the virus, she thought, slanting a glance toward Eric as he started up the car, did not breed immunity.

      It only intensified the fever.