Five Exotic Fantasies: Love in Reverse, Book 3 Page 7

  Peter looked pointedly at Coco, who lowered her gaze and adjusted Felix’s briefcase on the table so it sat squarely.

  Hmm. Felix pulled out a chair opposite Peter. “I asked Miss Stark if she would attend to take minutes. I presume that’s not a problem?” He didn’t elaborate, knowing the other man would be furiously trying to assess the real reason he’d asked her to be there.

  Peter met his gaze for a moment. His eyes were the colour of a sky on an icy winter’s day—strikingly blue but cold, and they sliced through Felix, heavy with disapproval and resentment. A lawyer’s stare, meant to intimidate, with the weight of forty years of practice and seniority behind it. Don’t mess with me, boy. Felix could almost hear the unspoken words.

  He lowered his eyes, not wanting to antagonise the other man yet. Careful, he cautioned himself. He wasn’t dealing with a witness here who, unused to the dramas of the courtroom, could be manipulated and handled like soft clay. Peter would know all the tricks of the trade, and in this sense Felix was acting naked, with nowhere to hide any aces.

  Thinking of being naked made him think of Coco again, and he felt her presence at his side, calm and efficient, reassuring him. Was she intimidated by being with all these men? Did it bother her at all, working in the Wellington branch? He’d like to talk to her about it, get her point of view. If only he could convince her to go for a drink later. He’d like to get to know her better.

  Concentrate, he told himself wryly. He glanced across at Christopher, who, like Peter, seemed confident and relaxed. Were they both expecting him to roll over and play along? Again he remembered Christopher’s description of the hearing as a trivial matter. They’d thought this was a formality, just a show for the other employees to prove the firm Took These Matters Seriously.

  That puzzled him. He’d thought his boss would have realised he wasn’t the type of man to carry out such a matter as a formality—that he would want to do it properly and find the truth. And he was surprised that Christopher himself would want it otherwise. But then the two men had established the firm together, he reminded himself. They were old friends, and this whole matter was more than a fleeting annoyance. The pride of the law firm was at stake, and even though he might not agree with his old friend’s actions, Christopher wouldn’t want to see the firm brought into disrepute over it.

  For the first time, he realised what he was getting himself into and felt the first twinges of worry. Since Christopher asked him to chair the hearing, he’d hardly had time to go over the details, too busy with ensuring his current cases were up to date before flying to Wellington. He wished he’d given it more thought, maybe even passed it onto someone else. He loved working for McAllister Dell, and the last thing he wanted to do was put his job in jeopardy.

  But then Peter smiled. “Of course Miss Stark is welcome. I have nothing to hide.” He gestured for her to sit.

  The atmosphere warmed a little, and Felix forced himself to release the breath he’d been holding and relax. Maybe he’d imagined that cold, intimidating look? Yes, he should trust his instincts, but it was important to keep an open mind too.

  They all took a seat, Rob, Coco and Felix on one side of the long table, Christopher, Hugh, Jack and Peter on the other.

  Felix pulled his iPad toward him, clicked it on with the stylus and unlocked it. He’d typed up a couple of sheets of notes on Pages using bullet points after reading through the files, and he glanced over them briefly, although he already knew what he was going to say.

  Too late now, he thought, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the polished oak table. Time to find the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

  Chapter Eleven

  Coco risked another glance at Felix. It had been interesting watching his first meeting with Peter. She’d known Peter wouldn’t want her—of all people—to be at the hearing, and had been prepared for him to complain. And she’d seen him stare down the new young lawyer, using that glare that had turned more men to stone than Medusa. She’d watched him use it on many occasions to intimidate other lawyers as well as clients and witnesses, to get them to bend to his will.

  She wasn’t surprised that Felix had flinched first. He appeared relaxed and in control, but sitting there facing the other older partners, he suddenly seemed very young. He must be nervous, she thought. Had he realised how much was at stake here?

  He was leaning forward now, and he smiled, as if to reassure Peter they were all on the same side. “I’d like to officially start this hearing,” he began. “I believe you were given notice of this disciplinary meeting, Mr. Dell, which stated that Mr. McAllister has asked me, as someone unfamiliar with the Wellington branch as well as with yourself, to carry out an investigation regarding the accusation made against you of sexual misconduct by Miss Sasha De Langen, a secretary at this branch.”

  Peter’s gaze slid once more to Christopher’s, but the other partner’s eyes were fixed on the table in front of him, so Peter looked back at Felix. He nodded slowly. Coco wondered whether he’d expected a much more informal meeting, a “this is all a big mistake, isn’t it?” on Felix’s part with it ending in a handshake and them all laughing over the stupid young secretary as they talked about the latest rugby results.

  It appeared that, if that was the case, he’d been sorely mistaken. Felix was the height of professionalism, and she could imagine him in court, crisp and smart in his expensive suit, charming the jury and making them feel as if his way was the only possible way the case could be presented.

  “The purpose of this preliminary hearing,” Felix continued, “is to establish the facts and for you to explain your side of things. If I believe after listening to what you have to say that there has been a misunderstanding, I’ll bring this hearing to a close and there will be no further action. If, however, I’m not satisfied with your version of events, I am under obligation to carry out further investigation, and to speak directly to Miss De Langen and to other employees to try to establish things in more detail. Do you understand?”

  Coco finished recording his words in shorthand and glanced up. Peter’s lips were twisted as if amused and maybe annoyed at being treated like a common witness, but he just nodded again and leaned back in his chair, one arm hooked over the back, the height of relaxation.

  Felix ran his stylus down the screen of his iPad. “Miss De Langen has stated in her written complaint that on the night of Monday, the fifth of December, she was working late to finish typing up a document relating to a family law case that had to be completed for the next day. Do you remember this case?”

  Peter nodded. “It was a custody battle over two small children. I was going to court the next morning, and we didn’t receive the diary of phone call logs that were essential for the case until late, and they needed to be typed up and included in the documentation.”

  “Did you ask Miss De Langen to stay behind and type them, or did Miss De Langen volunteer?”

  Peter met Felix’s gaze, cool as a cucumber that had been placed in the fridge for several hours. “I asked the room if there were any secretaries willing to stay late and work, and she was the only one who volunteered.”

  That was interesting, and was a mark in his favour. “What time was this?” Felix asked.

  “She was just about to leave—it would have been around five thirty.”

  Felix scrolled down his pad. “How long did it take her to type the call logs?”

  “About half an hour—there were a lot of them, and they needed to be in the format requested by the court.”

  “So she’d finished by six o’clock?”

  Peter shifted in his chair. “It was probably a bit later than that. She brought the pages to me to check, which took about ten minutes, and I found some errors and asked her to correct them.”

  “So about six fifteen then?”

  “About that, yes.”

  Felix looked back at his iPad. Coco noticed that he didn’t nod—in fact he gave no sign of his feelings toward what Peter
was saying, and made no attempt to put him at his ease.

  “I’ll read you Miss De Langen’s statement, if that’s okay,” Felix said. He opened his briefcase and withdrew a manila file, opened it and took out the top sheet of paper. He did all this quite calmly and methodically.

  Peter watched, also with no emotion on his face. He had sat up, though, she realised. He no longer looked quite as relaxed as he had when Felix started.

  Felix cleared his throat. “‘I made the corrections to the file, reprinted them and took them back in to Mr. Dell. He read them through and told me there was still something that needed to be changed. I asked which bit and he suggested I come and stand beside him so he could point it out clearly. I walked around the desk and stood next to his chair, on the left-hand side. His left arm was hooked over the back of the chair, and as I leaned forward to look at the paper on his desk, he dropped his arm to rest on the arm of the chair, and I felt his hand brush the back of my skirt, near my left hip.’”

  Felix paused and glanced up at Peter, and Coco did the same. He remained motionless, and merely raised an eyebrow. Next to him, Jack Lawson had a hint of a smile on his lips. Hugh White was frowning. Rob was sitting back in his chair, hands in his lap, watching Peter, his face carefully blank. Christopher’s eyes met hers, then moved back to Felix.

  Felix dropped his gaze and continued. “‘I assumed the touch was an accident, a consequence of him dropping his arm to the chair. But as I continued to read, I felt his hand brush down my skirt and then his hand rested on the inside of my right knee. I froze, the thought going through my head that maybe it was another mistake—maybe he was reaching for the drawer or something, but then I felt his hand slide up the inside of my thigh, and I realised it wasn’t an accident. I said something, I can’t remember what, something like “Get off” or “Stop it” and moved away.’”

  Felix stopped to pour himself a glass of water from the jug on the table. He took a sip, his eyes on the paper. Coco hesitated in her shorthand, wondering whether he was truly thirsty, or whether it was a technique to make Peter wait. Peter shifted in his seat, but made no other sign that he was bothered by the delay.

  Felix put down his glass and continued. “‘Mr. Dell stood up and faced me. He made no attempt to apologise. I asked him what he thought he was doing, and he said I’d been “asking for it” because I always wore short skirts and low-cut tops, and I’d been sending him the signs. I replied that I had no idea what he was talking about, and I was going to tell someone about what he’d done. He said that if I did that, he’d get me fired and I’d never work in a law firm again in Wellington. I told him I didn’t care. He then said that if I kept quiet, he’d speak to Miss Stark and get me a promotion. I said I didn’t want that if it meant that he got off the hook, and I walked out. The next day I filed my complaint.’”

  Felix put the paper on the table and leaned back in his chair, resting his elbows on the arms of the chair and linking his fingers in his lap. “That’s Miss De Langen’s statement. Maybe now you’d like to tell your side of the story?”

  Peter and Jack Lawson exchanged a glance, and Jack leaned across the table to murmur something in Peter’s ear. Peter’s lips curved and he nodded and murmured something back before meeting Felix’s gaze again.

  Peter smiled. “I’d like to start by asking a question, if that’s okay, Felix?”

  Coco felt Felix stiffen at the lawyer’s use of his first name when he’d been so careful to keep things on a formal basis, but he just nodded and said, “Okay.”

  “Do you think women find you attractive?”

  Felix stared at him. “I beg your pardon?”

  “As a man? Do you think women find you attractive?”

  Felix picked up his stylus and played with it for a moment. Coco could imagine him pondering on where this was going, and wondered if he disliked the way Peter had turned the focus of the conversation onto him. “I have no idea.”

  Peter grinned. “Now you’re being modest. Of course women find you attractive. You’re young, smart, handsome, quite obviously rich.” He gestured at Felix’s watch. “All the things we’re told in the Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus type books that women like.”

  Felix said nothing, continuing to hold the stylus at the tip, slide his fingers down until they met the table, and then flip the stylus over to start the process again, all the while watching the other man.

  Peter continued. “Cosmopolitan did a survey once of the occupations which women find most sexy. Of course police officer and firefighter were in the top three, but do you know what was number five? Lawyer.” He grinned. “We can’t fight it, gentleman. Women are climbing over each other to get to us.”

  Jack guffawed. Hugh laughed. Christopher’s lips curved, but he still didn’t look up.

  Rob ran a hand through his hair and glanced at Felix. Felix’s face didn’t change—in fact, she was sure his eyes grew a little harder.

  Peter’s smile turned wry at the lack of reaction from the man sitting opposite him, and he cleared his throat. “Anyway. It would surprise me if there’s a single male lawyer in this firm who hasn’t received unwelcome attention at some point in their career. Maybe not you two—” he gestured at Felix and Rob, “—as you’re still young, and you’re unattached, so if a woman did come on to you, it’s unlikely you’d say no. But for those of us who’ve worked here a long time, deflecting unwanted advances is part of the job.”

  Felix tipped his head. “Is that so?”

  “Unfortunately yes. As you know, law offices are filled with young women for whom a secretarial career is the most likely option if they’re unable to go to university.” He managed to make it sound derogatory, only a step up from being a waitress. Resentment bubbled in Coco’s stomach and she glanced up at Felix to see a frown on his forehead for the first time.

  “That’s certainly the case for the Wellington office,” Felix said.

  Peter’s gaze turned steely at the implied criticism. “Strange as it may seem to you, we do not have male secretaries hammering on our doors for a job. It’s a female-dominated profession, always has been and I suspect probably always will be. Young women—it has to be said—are often looking for little more than a rich man to marry. And lawyers—especially partners, and extra especially senior partners—are a viable target.”

  It was an incredibly sexist statement, and yet as Coco thought about Amy, she knew she couldn’t in all honesty call him a liar. She sometimes listened to the conversations of the young secretaries in the break room as she ate her lunch, and had to admit they often revolved around the men in the office.

  She glanced up at Felix, who looked at her for the first time. He held her gaze as if trying to see what she was thinking. She looked into his eyes for a moment and then, slightly ashamed that she couldn’t refute Peter’s declaration, dropped her gaze.

  Felix said nothing, but she had the strange feeling he was disappointed in her reaction. She swallowed and doodled in the margin of her pad, something she always told her secretaries not to do, and wished miserably that he hadn’t asked her to join him. She didn’t want to be part of this. Why hadn’t she just said no when he asked?

  Chapter Twelve

  Felix saw the guilt flicker in Coco’s eyes before she lowered her gaze. He wanted to hope that the young women of today thought of things other than finding themselves a rich husband, but the look on her face suggested otherwise. Was that a concern for her? If so, why had she reached the age of twenty-seven and yet was still single?

  He looked back at Peter, who was now almost openly smirking. He disliked the man more intensely with every passing minute, and he’d had enough of him taking charge of the hearing. He’d let Peter direct the conversation for a while out of interest to see what he’d say, but it was time to bring it back on track.

  “We’re not here to debate the marital aims of young women,” he said flatly. “Miss De Langen has accused you of inappropriate sexual contact, and I’d like you to expl
ain your side of things, please.”

  Peter’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t argue. “As I said,” he continued smoothly, “unwanted attention is something most of us have to deal with. It’s not the first time, and I doubt it will be the last that a young secretary has tried to initiate a sexual relationship. She’d been showing her interest for weeks.”

  “How so? By wearing short skirts?”

  Peter was too smart to go down that route. “Of course not. But the signs were there—we all know them. Leaning toward someone when you’re talking to them, making eye contact, brushing against them. It was clear that she was interested.”

  “And you weren’t?”

  “I’m a married man,” said Peter.

  The two men studied each other.

  “So you’ve never had an affair,” Felix stated.

  Peter held his gaze. “That’s not the subject of this investigation.”

  “It’s relevant background information to establish your behaviour at the office,” Felix countered. “But let me modify the question. Have you ever had an affair with anyone at the firm?”

  “I love my wife,” Peter said, a hint of anger in his voice.

  “Of course you do,” Felix replied. “And you wouldn’t want her to know about any affairs you’ve had.”

  “I haven’t had any affairs.”

  Felix nodded. “Okay.” If he hasn’t had any affairs, I’ll eat my hat. “So what happened on the night in question?” he continued.

  Peter shifted in his seat again. “It happened as she said, up until the moment she came to stand beside me at my desk. My arms were on the table, not where she said. I pointed out the mistake she hadn’t corrected. She leaned forward, and brushed her breast against my arm.”

  “And you jumped up and moved away immediately,” Felix said.