Lone Star Valentine. Cathy Gillen Thacker

inclined his head to one side. “Thanks for doing your best to keep my mother out of trouble today.”

      Still feeling frazzled and on edge, Lily admitted, “It was some morning.”

      He nodded in mute agreement, his own eyes somber.

      Lily gave him his choice of turkey and provolone or ham and cheese. He took the latter. Then she pulled out two bottles of sparkling water, two bags of chips and several napkins. She had zero appetite but also knew she had to eat. “So what do you think?” she asked, inclining her head at the thick file.

      “Looks like Bode’s attorneys buried you in motions when this all started.”

      Lily nodded. The fact she was a lawyer, too, had helped her understand a lot of what was going on—then and now. But she had never practiced family law or become an expert in child custody, and that hurt her ability to deal with any of this strictly on her own.

      The empathy in his expression encouraged her to go on.

      “His legal team wanted me to just go away. But with Bode assassinating my character in the press and publicly questioning my integrity, I had to do something to protect my reputation.”

      Especially since Bode and his legal team had been making veiled threats behind the scenes to not only countersue her in civil court for any and all damages done to Bode’s reputation, but to bring her up on ethics charges before the State Bar of Texas for knowingly bringing a false paternity suit.

      They couldn’t have won; they’d all known that. But they could have done untold damage to her career anyway. Luckily, Bode had come to his senses, called his attorneys off at the last minute and consented to the court-ordered paternity test he’d claimed would free him.

      Only it hadn’t. At that point, once the indisputable facts were brought to light, it had become all about damage control. And money, of course.

      Not that Lily had asked for one red cent from him...

      Gannon’s gaze roved over her features. He regarded her for a long careful moment. “And if you hadn’t had so much at stake professionally back then?”

      Lily shrugged, not bothering to hide the humiliation and pain she had suffered. “I probably still would have fought him—reluctantly. Not for child support, but for the truth, for Lucas’s sake. Better Lucas know from the get-go who his parents are.” Than always wonder and have his mother called a liar.

      “Even if one of them doesn’t seem to want him very much,” Gannon remarked, sitting back in his chair.

      Lily tore her eyes from the hard sinew of his chest beneath the starched cotton of his shirt. It had been years since the two of them had been friends, never mind meant anything at all to each other, and yet he still amped her pulse. It was so unfair. For so many reasons, he’d been off-limits then. Still was now.

      She sighed, doing her best to focus on the situation at hand instead of the ruggedly handsome man opposite her. “So you think taking me to court is a pressure tactic on their part?”

      Gannon gave her a barely perceptible nod, ripped open his chips and unwrapped his sandwich. “They want you to know they’re going to play hardball unless you immediately give them everything they want.”

      She studied the disheveled strands of Gannon’s dark brown hair. The cool appraisal in his midnight-blue eyes. “You don’t think I should,” she observed.

      “I don’t compromise in situations like this,” he told her. “I go full throttle, and I advise my clients to do the same.” He took a bite of sandwich. She forced herself to eat a little, too.

      Her glance fell to the court summons she’d faxed over earlier. “Did you have a chance to read the petition?”

      Another nod and grim narrowing of his eyes.

      Lily pushed her mostly untouched lunch to the side. Stated unhappily, “He’s alleging that I have prevented him from seeing Lucas more than once a year for the past fifty-two months.” She knotted her hands into fists and leaned toward him, her fury mounting. “It’s not true. All Bode had to do was ask and I would have allowed it.” Lily swallowed around the lump in her throat. “He didn’t ask.”

      Gannon paused to make a note.

      “The petition also alleges that I refused to let Bode take Lucas on his annual vacation two days ago. But he never asked for that, either!”

      Gannon tilted his head to one side, looking matter-of-fact enough for the both of them. “I expect his team to point out that’s only because you threw them all out before they had a chance to get down to the specifics of the request that day.”

      Lily gasped in indignation and leaped to her feet. “Bode only came here because he wanted half custody of our son to help improve his public persona!”

      Gannon grimaced. “That may be how you viewed it, Lily.” He paused to let his words sink in. When she would have moved away, he reached across the table and caught her hand in his. His warm touch engulfing her, he continued pragmatically, “Their take is that they were just trying to get you to understand how difficult the future was going to be for Lucas if you and Bode didn’t start co-parenting your son immediately. And directly counter some of the ugly public assertions that have been made that insinuate Bode does not care about Lucas. When clearly—” Gannon gave an affable shrug “—of course he does.”

      Lily wrenched her wrist from Gannon’s grip. She shoved her chair back and stalked away from the conference table. Though not one to ever condone violence, she wanted to slug him. “Whose side are you on?” she demanded emotionally.

      The uncomfortable silence between them lengthened.

      His regard softened slightly. “Yours.”

      Lily scoffed and planted her hands on her hips. She felt as if she was suffocating in her trim red suit and heels. “It doesn’t sound like it!” she said.

      He stood and walked around the table to her side. “Just giving you a taste of what the other side is likely to hurl at you.”

      Was that a hint of protectiveness she saw on his face? Her attorney radar on full alert, she drew in a quavering breath, quipped, “Making sure I’m tough enough?”

      Gannon slid his hand beneath her chin, and her heart pounded at the warm assessment in his eyes.

      “You’re the toughest woman I know,” he said gruffly.

      Their gazes locked, the moment drew out and Lily’s imagination ran wild. Her nipples tightening, she wondered. Was this what it would be like if they ever did kiss—with the air around them charged with tension and excitement?

      Was it her imagination, or was he feeling the pull of attraction, too?

      The darkening of his irises, the faint but unmistakable pause in his breath said yes. The way he abruptly dropped his hand and stepped back said no. Not yet. Not here and now, with so very much at stake.

      All business once again, Gannon slid her a steely look. Warned softly, “It’s going to be a bumpy ride unless you can get your emotions under control.”

      His seemed locked up tighter than a drum.

      Lily worked to slow her racing pulse. Her knees suddenly felt a little wobbly, so she leaned against the wall and folded her arms in front of her.

      This wasn’t like her.

      It had to be the threatening crisis that had her wanting him—and the stark masculine protection he offered—so badly.

      “Meaning I can’t spout off like that in court.”

      He followed her to the windows that overlooked Main Street. “Or any time you’re dealing with your ex, or anyone associated with Bode, for that matter.”

      Another tense silence fell.

      Gannon studied her for another long beat, then gave