Dawn Stewardson Read Online Free

cat’s been giving you problems?” she guessed. At the moment, the little guy was sitting on the corner of Rosalie’s desk, contentedly chewing on the fronds of her spider plant.
    “Well, that depends on what you consider problems,” Rosalie muttered. “He’s ripped my panty hose, scratched the hell out of the carpet, tried to climb the coat tree about a hundred times, and now he’s having my plant for an afternoon snack.”
    “Ahh,” Lauren murmured, making a mental note to stop on her way to the office in the morning and pick up panty hose and a new plant. “Maybe I’d better leave early and get him out of your hair.”
    When Rosalie said that sounded like a fine idea to her, Lauren started back toward her office to get her things. Before she reached it, though, the hallway door opened again and Elliot walked in.
    “Well, if it isn’t my brother the lawyer,” she said, reversing course and giving him a hug. “What are you doing here?”
    “Oh, I just wanted to talk to you about something. But the better question is what’s that doing here?” Elliot pointed to the cat.
    “It’s a long story. Come into my office, though, before he starts your allergies acting up.” Glancing at Rosalie, she added, “Just a few more minutes?”
    “Sure. But if he starts trying to climb the walls, I’ll be knocking on your door.”
    Smiling, Lauren ushered Elliot into her office and sat down beside him. “So, what’s up?”
    He shrugged. “There’s a little problem I want to let you know about. Roughly seven years ago, I defended a really nasty client named Ken Higgins. He ended up getting a ten-year sentence.”
    “Not one of your more successful defenses, then.”
    “I didn’t have a prayer. In fact, the guy was lucky he didn’t get twenty years instead of ten. Unfortunately, though, he didn’t see it that way. He figured I should have pulled a rabbit out of a hat so the judge would let him walk. And when that didn’t happen, he said he’d get me once he was out.”
    A chill settled in Lauren’s chest. She adored her big brother, and the fact he was telling her this meant he was awfully worried about it. “Is that common? For lawyers to get those kinds of threats?”
    Elliot nodded. “Common enough that, normally, I wouldn’t give it much thought. But as I said, this guy’s really nasty. And he’s written me a few times, telling me how much he’s looking forward to seeing me again—letters worded innocently enough that they got past the prison check, but with a clear message to me.”
    “And he gets out…?”
    “He got out today. Nobody ever serves their full time these days.”
    “So what are you doing?” She was trying to stay calm, but she could feel the chill spreading through her entire body.
    “I’m being careful, and I’ve hired people to guard the house so that Ursula and the boys will be safe.”
    “The boys,” Lauren murmured, almost to herself. Her nephews were three and five, and the thought of anything happening to them or Ursula…
    “But the reason I’m telling you this,” Elliot went on, “is because the guy threatened to get me…or someone I love. So, just in case, I want you to be really careful for the next little while.”
    “Oh, Elliot,” she whispered. “What about Mom and Dad? And Marisa?” she added, thinking that the man her sister lived with was away at the moment. And that Marisa didn’t like being alone in her apartment.
    “I’ve already talked to them,” Elliot said.
    “How did they take it?”
    “Well, Mom’s pretty upset about it, but she’s got nothing on Ursula.”
    When Elliot anxiously clasped his hands together, Lauren rested her hand on top of his. “You must be worried sick.”
    “I’m trying not to be. The odds on the guy actually doing anything are low. It’s rare for that sort of threat to really lead anywhere.”
    “How rare?”
    “Rare enough that I considered not even telling the rest of the family about it, so you wouldn’t