Party Girl (West Coast Girlz: Book Three) (3 page)

Rosanna raised her eyebrows and glared at Chase. “I thought it was an appropriate response to you blowing her off.”

There it was again, that term,
blowing her off
. “Why do you keep saying that? How exactly did I
blow her off
?”

“Well let’s see...you asked her to meet you for a late lunch at Mario’s, then you didn’t show up. And, to make matters worse, you decided to stop in for drinks in the bar at Mario’s. When she confronted you, you acted like you didn’t even know who she was.” Rosanna sucked in a deep breath and steadied her hands on her hips. “She’s in your courtroom several times a month, for God’s sake.”

Rosanna had said a lot, but everything after ‘
you asked her to meet you for a late lunch’
had a hard time registering with Chase. He hadn’t asked her to meet him for lunch or anything else for that matter. Not that he wouldn’t like to, but he’d only ever seen Casey Roberts in a professional capacity—outside that one time—and he couldn’t very well ask her out after he’d made his ruling. “She said that I called her up and specially asked her to meet me for lunch?”

Rosanna shook her head. “You sent her an email.”

“I have never asked her to meet me. Not in person. Not on the phone. And certainly not otherwise.” The thought to send her a written invitation hadn’t occurred to him. Now he wished he’d thought of it.

But somebody had, and on his behalf. Too bad they forgot to mention it to him.

“In that case...it can mean only one thing.” Rosanna sipped her cocktail, and after a brief interlude her expression tightened. “You pissed anybody off lately?”

Chase snorted. “Daily.” But that didn’t explain why Casey Roberts—a person he’d had zero contact with outside the courtroom—had been involved. Was she simply in the wrong place at the right time? Chase moved his gaze to meet Rosanna’s. “I should apologize. Care to share her number?”

“Apologize?” Rosanna studied Chase’s face. Shaking her head, she said, “Why don’t you just leave her alone. She’s already embarrassed enough.”

“I’d like to explain...”

“Explain what? That you didn’t stand her up or blow her off, much less ask her out in the first place?”

“Well I wouldn’t exactly put it like that,” Chase said.

“No matter how you put it, that’s the way she’s going to take it.”

“I’d like to explain that it wasn’t me.” He cleared his throat. “If I’d had the courage to ask her out, and then been fortunate enough for her to say yes...I would’ve never stood her up, much less
blown her off
.”

Rosanna giggled. “Like she’s going to believe that.” She turned and began strolling away.

Chase followed her. “But surely with your endorsement...”

“My
endorsement
?” She balked and kept walking. “Why on Earth would I champion your cause? What proof do you have that you didn’t do this?”

“You know me better than that.”

Rosanna stopped. “Yeah, but she doesn’t. You’re going to have to find out who did this before you try to make amends with Casey.”

CHAPTER 4

CASEY TRIED TO IGNORE
the ringing phone on her bedside table by pulling the covers over her head. The barrier had little effect over the droning noise.

Sticking out one arm, Casey groaned and fumbled for the phone. She pulled the receiver under the covers. “What?”

“You awake?” Rosanna’s voice was way too chirpy to suit Casey.

“I am now,” she said with a little less enthusiasm than she felt like mustering.

“Good,” Rosanna said, as if she hadn’t caught Casey’s sarcasm. “We need to talk.”

“So long as it isn’t about last night or your cousin.” Casey laid out her stipulations, although she doubted it’d do much good.

“He wants your number.”

Casey was right. “Why? Nothing good can come from it.”

“He wants to apologize.”

“Apologize…for what?” Casey’s voice trembled. “You told him it was me?”

“Calm down.” Rosanna’s light laughter reached through the phone and snatched what little dignity Casey had left. “I gave him a good raking over the coals for what he did.”

Now it was Casey’s turn for the sarcastic laughter. “Well, gee, that makes me feel better.”

“He didn’t do it.” A measure of silence lingered between them, just long enough for Casey to feel unimportant. “He’s not the one who arranged to meet you at the restaurant that day.”

Casey’s insignificant feeling was swallowed up by annoyance. “Right. There’s another Chase Hamilton in L.A., who’s also a judge.”

“No. Just the one.” Rosanna paused. “He did not send you the email.”

“Yeah, right.” Casey threw the bedcovers down around her waist. “Why would someone else want to do that?”

“Practical joke maybe? Oh, who knows? The point is he didn’t stand you up or blow you off as you’d originally thought.”

“It doesn’t really matter, does it?” Casey’s voice hardened. “Either way, I turn out the same…looking like an idiot.”

“So…you won’t let him apologize?”

“I don’t see any future in it. The only thing I’m really interested in is…if he didn’t send me the email, who did? And why?”

* * *

Just after she disconnected the call from Casey, Rosanna’s
Bowling For Soup
ringtone started singing about
1985
, announcing a call. She looked at the display on her cell phone. Veronica.

“Hey...what’s up?” Rosanna said into her phone.

“I’m curious. What’s the deal with Casey and your cousin?”

After Rosanna delivered the particulars about the so-called
date
between Casey and Chase, she stopped to catch her breath and wait to see what Veronica thought.

“That’s very odd,” was all Veronica said.

“Tell me about it. And the bad part is that Chase is truly interested in Casey, but you know she’s got a head as hard as a brick wall...and a barrier to match.”

“He’ll have to get crafty if he expects to actually date her now.”

“Yeah, his best bet is to go in through the back door.”

“He should find out who set them up.”

“I told him that,” Rosanna said. “I don’t know how well that’ll go though. Who knows even where to start looking?”

“I know where to start looking.” Veronica’s tone was one of certainty.

“Since when?”

“Since I got divorced.”

“You think Ray would do something like that?”

“Damn straight, he would.” Veronica’s edgy laughter confirmed her position. “That’s exactly the kind of thing Ray would do.”

“But why?” said the sane voice of Rosanna’s reason.

“Because Ray’s nuts. He probably thinks they’re indirectly responsible for me cleaning out the community property since Casey represented me and Chase handed down the divorce decree.”

Rosanna’s thoughts hadn’t really gone there, but she had to agree that Ray was quite capable of setting up Chase and Casey if he thought he’d been wronged. Nothing too overtly criminal, just a little something to make them both appear foolish, yet wouldn’t get him in too much trouble.

And Ray definitely believed he’d been wronged. The way he probably saw it, Casey and Chase had helped.

CHAPTER 5

CASEY GLANCED AT HER WATCH
. 1:30. Rosanna should be here any minute. They’d both been busy since the masquerade party and now, two weeks later, Casey was looking forward to their lunch date.

She glanced at the entrance. Oh, Jesus. Chase Hamilton in the flesh. Casey dipped her head away from him and fished her cell phone out of her purse, using it as a pretense for preoccupation.

Sensing someone’s stare, she reluctantly lifted her gaze from her phone. Chase was standing over her, his briefcase in hand.

Oh, God
. She tried to give him her blankest stare possible. One that said,
who are you and what do you want?
She wasn’t sure if it worked.

“Counselor Roberts.” He looked at the empty seat across from her. “May I?”

Okay, so it hadn’t worked. “Well, I am waiting for someone...” she said, trying to give him the brush-off before he got the chance to zing her twice.

“Yeah, I heard something about that.” Chase slid into the booth opposite Casey and laid his briefcase on the table.

“Excuse me...!” She shot him a glare. “You can’t sit there.”

“Why not?” He opened his briefcase, blocking her view.

“Because I have a lunch date.”

“With who?” He peeked over the top of his briefcase and gave her a wink.

“Not you.” Casey fought hard to contain the irritation bubbling up inside her. “So if you’d just leave. Please.”

“Sorry. No can do.” He pulled out a file and placed it on the table.

Glancing at the folder and then back to Chase, Casey saw her scarf peeking out from the top edge of the briefcase. “Is that
my
scarf?”

“Might I remind you that possession is nine-tenths of the law. This is no longer your scarf.” He closed the briefcase and set it at his side on the seat, then slid the manila folder directly in front of him and laced his fingers together over it. Looking up at her, he gave her a smug grin.

Casey sucked in a deep breath, unsure if she should tamp down her mounting aggravation or just let it rip. She glanced at her watch again. Rosanna wasn’t exactly late. She’d be here soon enough, and Casey would let
her
take care of her cousin. “Suit yourself.” She reached for her iced tea and sipped it.

Chase nudged the file across the table toward her. Casey avoided it like it had been illegally obtained.

“Go ahead,” he said, gesturing toward it. “I think you’ll be interested in the contents.”

Casey’s curiosity was baiting her, but she resisted, glancing toward the door. Rosanna was nowhere in sight.

“Okay...” Chase let out a little chuckle. “Rosanna’s not coming. She set the date up for me.”

“Why would she do that?” Casey shook her head. Rosanna knew full well how she felt about talking to Chase about the date that never was.

“I asked her to.” He gave a one-sided shrug. “Course, she wouldn’t agree to it until I’d solved the mystery.”

“Mystery?” Casey said, but not nearly as confidently as Chase had done.

“Who set us up.”

What?
“You know who set us up?”

Chase nodded and pointed toward the folder once more. “See for yourself.”

Casey opened the file, but mostly all she saw was a big fat paper trail with so much electronic jargon that she had no idea where it led. She glanced up at Chase, shaking her head. “What does all this mean?”

“What it means is...” Chase fingered through the papers, directing her attention to the name on one particular page. “Someone you and I both are familiar with sent you the email.” Chase leaned back against the seat and, by the looks of the smile on his face, he was rather pleased with himself.

Ray Hudson. Seriously?
Veronica had said she wouldn’t put it past Ray, but Casey wanted to believe he was more
grown up
than that. Apparently, he wasn’t. “Are you sure?” she asked Chase.

“Positive.” He looked at the folder again. “I have the smartest techie around, telling me it’s him.”

Great. That meant she’d dumped the peanuts into his beer for nothing. Chase was innocent. That also meant she was looking like a bigger fool than ever.

Casey felt her dignity sinking toward the floor, and groaned. “I think I owe you a great big apology.” She looked away, feeling the humiliation burning her cheeks.

“Well...it’s not entirely your fault,” he said with a hint of amusement.

“
Entirely?
” she questioned him.

“Not entirely. No.” He winked at her.

Okay, so it was good to know that Ray was the culprit. That meant it was a relatively harmless prank, and not much more than her dignity had been harmed. But now it was time to go. Free herself from this humiliating situation.