Carly’s mind and she folded. ‘Okay…’
‘And while you’re writing your list I’d like you to start thinking about guidelines for some of the younger members of chambers. There will be a number of senior judges attending this year, some of whom wear ermine and sit in the House of Lords. I don’t expect anyone here to let the side down.’
He watched her face carefully. Sometimes he surprised himself with the ingenuity of his tests. This one was particularly harsh, because it put her in the firing line in front of her colleagues. Could she rise above that and act professionally? Could she swallow her misgivings? Or was this the moment when she told him to go to hell and walked out? He decided to find out.
‘You will need two lists,’ he told her as if she were in infant class. ‘One will have the heading “Christmas Party”, and the second will have the heading “Christmas Party Guidelines for Junior Members of Chambers”.’
That should win her a few friends! Was there a way out? If there was she couldn’t think of one. For now she would have to be satisfied with some fiendish revenge sequences reeling through her mind involving Lorenzo naked and a pair of stiletto heels. But later, when she got back to her cubby-hole, she would have to work something out that didn’t risk the scholarship, or her easy working relationship with her younger colleagues…
‘What?’ Lorenzo said, glancing up.
Had he felt the sparks flying his way? Carly wondered, composing her face into its customary bland mask. Composing a cautionary note for her fellow pupils as Lorenzo had instructed was nothing short of an insult to them, and to her…
‘What is it, Ms Tate?’
‘Nothing,’ she said innocently, but an idea was forming; an idea that involved two lists for Lorenzo as he had requested, and a third, somewhat less reverential, list for her friends.
‘Well, if that’s all?’ Lorenzo said, turning back to his notes. ‘Get on with it.’
He was right. There was no point in prolonging this. She was a realist, if nothing else, and as Lorenzo was all male, while she was undeniably female, there was no common ground.
‘Write,’ he insisted, staring hard at her sheet of paper.
She tried. She sucked the tip of her pen and tried really hard. She had the ideas—too many of them! The problem was assembling them in front of him. Lorenzo made it so hard to concentrate. She was drowning in waves of testosterone, and then there was his distinctive scent, warm, clean, male and spicy. She could close her eyes and inhale that all day quite happily…Except at the same time she would have to wriggle now and then to give the type of sensations he provoked chance to express themselves. Come to think of it, she hadn’t been so obsessed by sex for years—not since she had lost her virginity to a spotty youth on the back seat of his car; a skirmish that had hardly prepared her for encountering Lorenzo. She’d had no idea she had been so repressed—
‘Okay, leave now and take your work with you,’ he snapped impatiently. ‘I can see you’re not concentrating, and you’re distracting me.’
He watched her leap away as if she were attached to a spring. Was he such an ogre? Or had that wriggle signalled more than a desire to get away? ‘Before you go…’
‘Yes?’
Her face had reddened guiltily. What had she been dreaming about—his demise, perhaps?
Okay, so maybe he was being hard on her, but he expected the best of his students, and Carly was the best of the best. Organising the Christmas party was a thankless task; the list of guidelines he had proposed she draw up a mockery. He could imagine the reaction of her colleagues to any suggestions she might make! But lawyers had to keep a cool head under fire. Would she? He decided to push a little harder and find out. ‘I’m meeting a friend tonight.’
A muscle jumped in her jaw though her
‘And while you’re writing your list I’d like you to start thinking about guidelines for some of the younger members of chambers. There will be a number of senior judges attending this year, some of whom wear ermine and sit in the House of Lords. I don’t expect anyone here to let the side down.’
He watched her face carefully. Sometimes he surprised himself with the ingenuity of his tests. This one was particularly harsh, because it put her in the firing line in front of her colleagues. Could she rise above that and act professionally? Could she swallow her misgivings? Or was this the moment when she told him to go to hell and walked out? He decided to find out.
‘You will need two lists,’ he told her as if she were in infant class. ‘One will have the heading “Christmas Party”, and the second will have the heading “Christmas Party Guidelines for Junior Members of Chambers”.’
That should win her a few friends! Was there a way out? If there was she couldn’t think of one. For now she would have to be satisfied with some fiendish revenge sequences reeling through her mind involving Lorenzo naked and a pair of stiletto heels. But later, when she got back to her cubby-hole, she would have to work something out that didn’t risk the scholarship, or her easy working relationship with her younger colleagues…
‘What?’ Lorenzo said, glancing up.
Had he felt the sparks flying his way? Carly wondered, composing her face into its customary bland mask. Composing a cautionary note for her fellow pupils as Lorenzo had instructed was nothing short of an insult to them, and to her…
‘What is it, Ms Tate?’
‘Nothing,’ she said innocently, but an idea was forming; an idea that involved two lists for Lorenzo as he had requested, and a third, somewhat less reverential, list for her friends.
‘Well, if that’s all?’ Lorenzo said, turning back to his notes. ‘Get on with it.’
He was right. There was no point in prolonging this. She was a realist, if nothing else, and as Lorenzo was all male, while she was undeniably female, there was no common ground.
‘Write,’ he insisted, staring hard at her sheet of paper.
She tried. She sucked the tip of her pen and tried really hard. She had the ideas—too many of them! The problem was assembling them in front of him. Lorenzo made it so hard to concentrate. She was drowning in waves of testosterone, and then there was his distinctive scent, warm, clean, male and spicy. She could close her eyes and inhale that all day quite happily…Except at the same time she would have to wriggle now and then to give the type of sensations he provoked chance to express themselves. Come to think of it, she hadn’t been so obsessed by sex for years—not since she had lost her virginity to a spotty youth on the back seat of his car; a skirmish that had hardly prepared her for encountering Lorenzo. She’d had no idea she had been so repressed—
‘Okay, leave now and take your work with you,’ he snapped impatiently. ‘I can see you’re not concentrating, and you’re distracting me.’
He watched her leap away as if she were attached to a spring. Was he such an ogre? Or had that wriggle signalled more than a desire to get away? ‘Before you go…’
‘Yes?’
Her face had reddened guiltily. What had she been dreaming about—his demise, perhaps?
Okay, so maybe he was being hard on her, but he expected the best of his students, and Carly was the best of the best. Organising the Christmas party was a thankless task; the list of guidelines he had proposed she draw up a mockery. He could imagine the reaction of her colleagues to any suggestions she might make! But lawyers had to keep a cool head under fire. Would she? He decided to push a little harder and find out. ‘I’m meeting a friend tonight.’
A muscle jumped in her jaw though her
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