Here to Stay by Debra Webb

to his Armani suit
and handmade Italian shoes. “You’re making a mistake, you
know.”
    “You really think Calvin will run?” she
asked, wondering how he could be so sure of himself about her
client. Especially since Paige knew her client personally.
    “Yes, I do.”
    She nodded and suppressed the smile that
yearned to make its presence known. “I’ll guess we’ll just have to
wait and see, won’t we, counselor?”
    “We will indeed, Miss Weston.” Myers gave her
a curt nod and started to walk away.
    “I plan to push for change to youthful
offender status,” Paige called after him. She’d get one last jab
before he got away.
    Myers turned back to her and raised one
aristocratic eyebrow. “Don’t waste your time, Paige. I won’t go for
it.” With that said, he strode away.
    Paige sighed and shook her head. She wanted
to shake him and tell him that Calvin Jefferson was a good kid. His
grandmother had served as both mother and father while holding down
a full time job. For as far back as Paige could remember, Mrs.
Jefferson had worked as the cook and head housekeeper in the Weston
home. Though she’d never met Calvin until his unfortunate run-in
with the law, Paige knew he was innocent. His grandmother’s word
and Paige’s own instincts couldn’t be that far off the mark. Calvin
deserved a break. Somehow she had to make Myers see that.
    Paige started toward the exit. The silent
presence on the last bench, near the courtroom door brought her up
short. She blinked twice to make sure she hadn’t imagined Nathan
Blackrope. He stood and walked in her direction. Nope . No
figment of her imagination could move like that.
    “What are you doing here?” she asked,
surprised as much as annoyed. The image of black pearls ricocheted
through her mind.
    “I’ve never seen you in the courtroom, I was
curious.” He rotated his black hat in his hands. “Pretty
impressive.”
    Paige acknowledged the compliment with a slip
dip of her head. “Windborne?”
    “She’s terrific and so’s her little filly.”
He smiled, which melted some of the ice between them.
    Paige breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll call
Robert.”
    “I already did,” he said. Nathan’s gaze
settled heavily on hers. “Look, I thought we could have lunch.
Maybe try and actually act civilized around each other.”
    “Civilized?” Paige bristled. “The only person
acting uncivilized is you,” she told him tersely. “First you break
into Robert’s house in the middle of the night and—”
    “I did not break in. I had a key,” he
reminded calmly.
    Paige shook her head. “Whatever. You say all
kinds of hurtful things to me and then you flaunt your girlfriend
in my face.” Good gravy! She hadn’t actually meant to say
that last part, but anger had overruled her better judgment.
    Nathan shrugged. “Trinity’s a small place.
There aren’t that many places to go out. Can I help it that I took
my date to the same place you took yours?”
    “Silas Dutton is a friend, not a date.” She
clamped her mouth shut. Paige would not say another word on the
subject. She didn’t care if Nathan Blackrope had ten thousand
dates! And she wasn’t about to give him the impression that she
did.
    “I had no idea you were so concerned about my
social life.” He grinned.
    Too late, the impression had been made. “I
couldn’t care less what you do, Nathan Blackrope.”
    “Is that a fact? Then what’s all the fuss
about?”
    Paige willed herself to stay calm. “I hope
you enjoyed the show, but I have places to go and people to
see.”
    “I guess that means you don’t want to have
lunch with me?” Disappointment shadowed his handsome face.
    “It was nice of you to come, Nathan, but I
really have to run now. I have another appointment and then I have
all those chores back at the ranch.”
    “You don’t have to worry about the chores, I
sent over a couple of my hands to do them.”
    “I told you I didn’t need your help with the
chores.” When