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Jerome studied James for a long moment. “Like, off the books?”

“Off the books, on the books. Any way at all.”

“You’re cool.” Jerome gave a nod. “I’ll tell the boss.”

chapter

fifteen

On Friday morning, Gabriella arrived at Quincy Havelock, QC’s chambers a good ten minutes early.

She went up to Ben’s office, which she’d been to before, and knocked softly.

“Gabs.” Ben smiled as he opened the door, but didn’t give his usual hug, which she guessed was a nod to professionalism. “You’re a bit early.”

“Didn’t want to be late,” she told him.

He offered her a seat, and she took it, setting her bag in her lap and holding it on both sides like it was a lifeline.

“You’re nervous,” he said, as if just realizing it.

Before she could respond to that, someone opened the door.

“Ben—oh.”

She turned, and saw a long, lanky man with slightly disheveled dark hair, a thin, intelligent face, and piercing blue eyes.

He gave her a thorough study.

“Mr. Havelock, this is Gabriella Farnsworth.” Ben got to his feet, and Gabriella did the same.

“Good, good. You’re early. I like that. Might as well start,” he said, and strode off.

Ben shrugged, and led the way down the long corridor and into a room that looked like a mini library. Beautiful walnut shelves lined all four walls between the doors and windows. They were full of leather bound books with gold-tooled titles on the spine. There was a table and comfortable chair to one side, and an armchair beside a fireplace.

Ben stood beside a doorway to the left, and indicated that she precede him.

She stepped through and found herself in Havelock’s office.

Quincy Havelock was seated behind his desk, and Ben offered a velvet-covered visitor’s chair to Gabriella, and he took a seat on the chair beside it.

“You look like your father,” Havelock said. “I don’t think I expected that, but it does make for good visual impact. Very satisfactory.”

“You’ve met with my father?” Gabriella hadn’t realized that, she thought it was just letters that had been exchanged.

“I went to school with him,” Havelock said.

She shot a quick look at Ben, but from the look of surprise on his face, it seemed he hadn’t known that, either.

Ben had already told her he was worried Havelock had taken her case pro bono because he harbored more than a little animus toward the nobility.

The word was, Havelock was the illegitimate son of a marquess, and while he’d been sent to all the right schools, and given all the right things, he’d never been allowed a place on the inside because of the circumstances of his birth.

To put one over someone like her father was irresistible to him.

Gabriella had weighed it up, and decided that Havelock’s motivations were an acceptable risk, but she hadn’t known that he actually knew her father personally when she’d made the decision.

Too late now.