Dare to Desire (20 page)

The morning marched on with more of the same, and Madison was beyond embarrassed that Alex had to hear her sordid youth, which she never discussed and preferred not to remember.

“Your Honor!” Jonathan rose again, his voice filled with frustration. “Is there a point to this? It’s up to Mr. Grayson to prove his claims that Ms. Evans used undue influence to gain access to her foster mother’s power of attorney. So far I’ve heard nothing of the sort.”

“Good point, Mr. Ridgeway.” His Honor, Judge Collins, a kindly looking, balding older man, turned to Eric’s attorney. “Mr. Newcomb?”

“Just laying the foundation, Your Honor,” he repeated in a sickeningly placating tone. “But we’re happy to move on. We’d like to call Madison Evans to the stand.”

Her stomach cramped, but she’d been prepped for this moment, something Jonathan leaned close and reminded her. Alex placed a soothing hand on her shoulder, but she couldn’t focus on him now. She couldn’t even look at him.

Rising, she walked to the small witness box and took her seat.

Alex took in the stiff set of Madison’s shoulders and the way she wouldn’t glance his way or meet his gaze so he could offer reassurance. He leaned forward in his seat, every muscle in his body tense and prepared to strike. Not that he could do a damned thing but sit and watch. There was nothing he hated more than feeling utterly useless when she needed him.

More than once this morning, he regretted not putting his personal feelings aside and staying with her last night. Once more in his life, he’d let ego get in the way of common, rational sense.

After some preliminary easy questions, her step-brother’s lawyer went for stabbingly painful questions. “How many foster homes were you in, Ms. Evans?”

“Five or six.”

“Actually, it was seven.”

“It’s not something I like to remember.”

“No, I suppose not, given that nobody wanted to keep you.”

“Your Honor,” Jonathan said, rising.

They’d been advised that since this was a hearing and not a trial, formal objections wouldn’t apply.

“Move it along, Mr. Newcomb. All this has already been established and is in the records.”

The other lawyer nodded. “Then you ended up with the Graysons, and things changed for you.”

Since it wasn’t a question, Madison didn’t answer. Good girl, Alex thought.

“Were you told why the Graysons, who were an unusual type of foster family in that they didn’t need the money provided by the state for your care, wanted to take you in?”

Madison nodded. “Franny couldn’t have kids after Eric, and she’d always wanted a daughter.”

“And they had money,” the bastard lawyer said.

Again, no question, and Madison merely stared at him.

“Were you and Mrs. Grayson close?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“She took you shopping, bought you clothes?”

“Yes.”

He rested an elbow on the witness stand. “And you had your own room, unlike your last six … no, make that seven foster homes, correct?”

“Yes.”

Alex saw the tension, the toll this was taking on her. His hands were fists at his sides.

“Had you brought any clothes with you from the home before?” the man asked.

“A few.”

“Personal things?” he clipped out.

“I didn’t have any,” she said softly, her jaw trembling along with her voice.

Alex gripped the stainless bar that separated him from Jonathan, leaned forward, and whispered, “Do something or I will.”

“Shh. I can’t and you know it. This has to play out.”

Alex bit the inside of his cheek, his jaw aching from the effort of clenching his teeth to keep quiet.

“Is there a problem, Mr. Ridgeway?” the judge asked.

Jonathan partially rose. “No, Your Honor.” He lowered himself back into his seat.

“So after your mother took off and your father abandoned you in a shopping mall,” the other attorney asked as he paced in front of Madison, “after seven unsuccessful foster placements, you landed with the Graysons. In a big house in a wealthy neighborhood, in the best school district for miles. You were bought new clothes, given your own room… Be honest, Ms. Evans. You saw the gold pot at the end of the rainbow, didn’t you? An easy target in an older woman who couldn’t have more children, who wanted a daughter … You knew it would be better to suck up to her than to cause trouble like you had in your other homes, isn’t that right?”

Madison’s jaw worked back and forth before answering. “No. I loved Franny.”

She folded her arms across her chest, a protective gesture Alex knew well. He also knew how hard it was for her to admit to those feelings, and it took all his willpower not to launch across the room and drag her into his arms and out of there.

But the lawyer wasn’t finished demolishing her pride. “Mr. Grayson testified you were always spending time with his mother when you weren’t in school. Sucking up to her, putting thoughts in her head as you got older about how much better you’d treat her than her own son when she got sick. From there, it wasn’t difficult to assume Daniel Grayson would include you in his will. And ultimately, you gained Franny’s power of attorney, where you could put her in a home, sell her house from beneath her, and put the proceeds toward a rec center.”

“That Franny wanted! She wasn’t interested in destroying the land with overdevelopment. Eric, you know this. You know your mother better than that.”

“You lying bitch!”

Alex rose to his feet, but the judge banged the gavel hard. “Silence.”

“Your Honor, there are no questions being asked here!” Jonathan said loudly.

Eric’s lawyer looked at the judge, acting contrite and sorry. “I apologize. I was just trying to establish undue influence, Your Honor.”

The judge rapped his gavel. “You’ve more than made your point.”

Hopefully the judge felt sorry for Madison and understood the true dynamic of her relationship with Franny Grayson, Alex thought. It was obvious how much she’d needed a mother, even if she hadn’t said as much.

But as the next group of witnesses testified, things didn’t get any better. Parents of Eric’s friends backed up the amount of time Franny spent with Madison, who they all agreed hadn’t gone out of her way to make friends in her new school. They all said they admired Franny for taking in a difficult child but wondered why she chose her over her own son, the implication of undue influence on Madison’s part clear. Said it wasn’t like the other woman, who valued her blood relatives dearly.

Although the hearing was supposed to last just one day, Eric’s lawyer had drawn things out, and by the end of the day, everyone was exhausted, and it was too late for Jonathan to present Madison’s witnesses to Franny’s intent and state of mind. Or Jonathan’s terrorizing his own mother at the nursing home.

The hearing would continue tomorrow. When, according to the message Alex played during a recess, he was scheduled to fly to New York.

*     *     *

By the time the long day ended, Madison’s entire body trembled from exhaustion. Outside the courtroom, they parted ways with Jonathan, who promised to meet her at nine a.m. tomorrow.

Alex was quiet on the way back to her apartment, and Madison didn’t have anything to say either. He stopped for food, and they ate it in silence. He allowed her the space she needed to decompress. Once again, she was amazed at how well he knew what she needed. Even last night’s argument took a back seat to today’s drama, and she was too wiped out to even think. He parked in a guest spot at her building, and they walked inside and up to her place.

She sat down on her bed and pulled off her heels, groaning as she stretched her feet. Alex walked past her into the bathroom, and she heard the sound of running water.

“What are you doing?” she asked as he walked out.

“Running you a hot shower so you can relax.” He shot her a smile and headed for her dresser, pulling out her favorite lounging pants and camisole.

“Alex?”

“I’m serious. You need a breather. I want you to take one.”

Her heart melted at his thoughtfulness. “Under one condition.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“You take one with me.” She didn’t care what had kept them apart last night; she needed him now, and clearly he was here.

“I’m glad you asked.”

They undressed in silence. Nothing erotic or sexy about her exhausted movements, she thought. And as she stepped into the shower naked along with him, the hot water streaming over them, she didn’t think anything had ever felt better.

She let out a long sigh of appreciation as she tilted her face up and let the spray wash away the stress of the day. She refused to let her mind replay the embarrassment, mortification, or painful memories, concentrating instead on letting each tight muscle relax.

When his warm body wrapped around her from behind, his chest against her bare back, his thick erection between her cheeks, his arms around her waist, head on her shoulder, she melted back into him.

His hands settled on her belly, palms splayed, fingers dipping downward. “How much do you need to relax, Angel?”

His fingers trailed a path down to her thatch of hair and slid over her outer lips. “Alex,” she moaned, her hips thrusting of their own accord, her clit seeking pressure he wasn’t yet willing to give.

One finger on either side of her sex, he played with her, teasing, arousing her until she couldn’t stand another second. “Alex, please.”

“Please what?”

“Touch my clit. Make me come.” She heard the plea in her voice, the whine through the thick haze of arousal.

His harsh laugh vibrated through her body, his cock hot and hard against her. “All you had to do was ask.”

He shifted his wrist and captured her clit between his fingers, starting slowly, gliding his fingertip up one side and down the other. She rolled her hips in time to his movements, whimpering at the onslaught of desire peaking inside her.

“Is this what you need?” he asked, sliding a finger deep inside and curling forward, hitting her in exactly the right spot.

“Yes,” she groaned, her body so very close.

In and out he pumped the long digit until the ultimate wave crashed over her. At exactly the same moment, he tweaked her clit with his free hand, and she shattered in his arms. He kept up the pressure and pumping of his hand until she rode out her orgasm and fell against him, limp and sated.

He waited until she could stand and shut off the water.

She turned and looked into his dark eyes. “That was amazing,” she said in a husky voice. “Your turn.” She grasped for his erection, but he stepped out of reach.

“I told you, you needed to unwind and relax. You did. Now, let’s get you dry and into bed.”

She was amazed at how sleepy she actually was and let him run a towel over her hair and helped dry herself off before dressing in the clothes he’d picked out. “We usually sleep naked,” she said drowsily.

“And we usually have sex. If I have to lie next to your naked body, you won’t get any sleep, and that’s exactly what you need.”

“Yeah,” she said gratefully and over a yawn as she climbed beneath the blanket and cuddled into her pillow. “You’re staying, right?” A part of her recognized that, had her defenses not been down, she wouldn’t have asked. She couldn’t bring herself to think, much less care.

“Damn right,” he muttered. “I’m going to get dressed and join you.” He brushed a kiss over her lips. “We’ll talk in the morning,” she thought she heard him say before darkness overtook her completely.

ELEVEN

M
adison awoke with a jolt, looked at the clock, and realized they’d both overslept. She remembered falling asleep first, and after Alex had taken care of her, he had obviously forgotten to set the alarm.

She shook him awake. “You have to hurry or we’re going to be late.”

“Shit,” he muttered, sitting up. The sheet draped around his waist, and his gorgeous chest greeted her, making her wish they had more time.

“Quit ogling and go shower,” he said in a gruff voice.

She grinned and jumped out of bed, glad she’d woken up feeling better, with yesterday’s nightmare behind her. One more day to get through.

They raced through their morning routine. She grabbed a quick shower and blow-dried her hair. When she was finished, she cracked open the bathroom door to get some cooler air while she put on a little bit of makeup.

Alex’s voice sounded from the other room. “I understand it’s an inconvenience, but I can’t help it. Something important came up, and I need to be in town today. Remind them they called me about it at the last second yesterday, so me canceling today can’t come as too much of a surprise.”

She walked out of the bathroom as he ended the call. “What was that all about?” she asked, dressing for court as they talked.

He met her gaze, but his expression showed he was clearly uncomfortable. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after the hearing yesterday. You were so tired and—”

“Just tell me,” she pressed him.

“I got a message during a break in the hearing yesterday. My agent said the people in New York set up a flight and meetings for today and a test with Allison for tomorrow. I agreed because I thought the hearing would be finished, but things changed. So I postponed traveling.”