Willful Violation (Lawyers Behaving Badly Book 3) by Cleo Peitsche Page B

Maisie was pacing outside the conference room. She could hear muffled voices, but she’d managed to stop short of bursting through the door.
    So far.
    Jayne turned the corner and quickly walked toward her. Her eyes were shining. “Ready?”
    As Jayne turned the handle, Maisie steeled herself for the performance of her life.
    “The second concern…” Trent’s voice trailed off.
    Everyone in the room was staring at Maisie and Jayne.
    “Hello,” Maisie said. She’d had a whole thing rehearsed, about how she wanted to make sure that everything was going smoothly, but the look on Ethan’s face froze the words in her throat.
    She could sense Jayne getting uncomfortable as well.
    “Please take a seat,” Raphael said. His tone was polite, but there was a threatening darkness in his eyes.
    Maisie and Jayne quickly followed his suggestion. So far, Maisie hadn’t looked at Heather or the two men, though she’d seen them in her peripheral vision. She finally looked over and saw that absolutely no one was paying attention to her.
    They were all staring at Jayne.
    Well, not everyone was, but Ethan, Trent, and Raphael had seen Gorgeous Jayne every day for years. They were probably immune to her beauty.
    “The second concern,” Trent said, “is a potential conflict of interest. We represented Triple Why until four months ago. I’m not at liberty to discuss details, and their current status here at the firm is uncertain, but they are one of your competitors and would present a conflict for us.”
    One of the Bobs nodded. “We anticipated that,” he said, “but this is a lot of business we’d be bringing. Far more than Triple Why, I’m sure.”
    “We’re merely alerting you to the potential obstacles,” Trent said, but he was looking at Maisie again.
    There was nothing in his expression to suggest that he’d somehow guessed her reason for showing up. Well, if they did ask her, she planned to deny, deny, deny.
    And then, deny some more.
    She rested her hands on the tabletop and clasped them together.
    “I’m more concerned about finding someone we can work closely with,” Heather said. She was smiling at Trent.
    Who was looking at Maisie.
    It would have been a nice feeling under different circumstances.
    “That won’t be an issue, Heather,” the other Bob said. He was distinguished and rather attractive. Maisie wondered if he was sleeping with Heather.
    “It shouldn’t be,” Raphael said. “But if you can’t trust your potential new law firm, who can you trust?”
    “Any more questions?” Ethan asked.
    Now Heather was staring at him, and Maisie wanted to punch her. Not because of jealousy, but because Heather’s behavior was so goddamn rude. Maybe she wasn’t gawking at his scar, but it sure looked like it.
    Maisie had never hated Heather as much as she did in that moment.
    The two strangers started to stand, and then everyone was getting to their feet. Maisie expected Heather to come over, maybe say something snarky, but instead she pushed her way to where Ethan was standing.
    “I wanted to take a moment to say hello,” she said. “The benefit last night was nice, wasn’t it?”
    Ethan nodded once. Maisie knew him well enough to see that he was irritated… and she also knew the reason for that irritation.
    She was the reason. By showing up at the office when she’d been ordered to stay away.
    “Did you enjoy Penn?” Heather asked in a simpering voice.
    “I confess I barely remember it,” Ethan said. “Excuse me.”
    He turned and headed right for Maisie. “A word, please. You, too, Jayne.”

12
    J ayne shot Maisie a questioning look as they followed Ethan down the hall.
    Maisie shrugged one shoulder, feigning confusion.
    This was going to be bad. Ethan being pissed at her was one thing, but if he yelled at her in front of Jayne, Maisie was going to die.
    And if he yelled at Jayne, if he somehow ended up blaming her, or firing her…
    Maisie couldn’t think about that.
    “Get the door,”