Courting Trouble Read Free Page B

represent Bobby Hopkins, a deadbeat dad who hadn’t been a part of her niece’s life? Her eyes fluttered down the page to the signature line.
    Her heart quickened in her chest and blood thundered through her head. What the hell? Tulsa peered more closely at that giant C and M that ate up the line dedicated to opposing counsel’s signature. A clamminess chased by a tingle spread from her fingertips to her palms.
    “Cade Montgomery.” Her mind spun and her chest tightened with his name on her lips. How could Cade represent Bobby Hopkins? He was married and he lived and practiced in New York.
    “You know him?” Sylvia asked.
    “I thought I did,” Tulsa whispered. The Cade Montgomery that Tulsa knew wouldn’t subject her or her family to any more pain—especially pain doled out by his family. A tangled knot of emotions pulled tighter in Tulsa’s chest. “We went to school together.”
    Describing her relationship with Cade Montgomery by saying “We went to school together” was akin to saying Romeo and Juliet were childhood friends. She ran her tongue over her lips and breathed—she willed her heart rate to a more normal speed, willed the pounding in her head to cease.
    Tulsa’s teeth bit into her bottom lip. She didn’t want to be opposing counsel in a case where Cade Montgomery represented Bobby Hopkins. She didn’t want to be in the same town as Cade Montgomery. Hell, she didn’t want to be in the same state.
    “You better go,” Sylvia said. “You’ve got twenty minutes to get to LAX.”
    Sylvia’s words yanked Tulsa back to the present. She grabbed her bag and shifted the laptop case higher on her shoulder. Her eyes drifted around her office, across the faces of Jo and Emma and Sylvia. The faces of her colleagues and three best friends. There was compassion on their faces and also steely resolve. Tulsa’s heart pitched forward. This was her support network—this was the family she’d built for herself in Los Angeles—and now she would be so very far from all of them.
    Emma rose from the couch. “We’re here when you need us.” She encapsulated Tulsa in a hug. Jo nodded her head—her hard-faced demeanor looked as if it might crumble.
    “Morning meeting, Skype?” Tulsa steadied her voice in an attempt to quash the unchecked emotions bouncing around the room.
    “Every day,” Sylvia said.
    Tulsa turned and walked out her office door, toward the front of McGrath, Phillips, & Lopez. At this moment what Tulsa really wanted was to prepare for a settlement conference, a deposition, even a motions hearing, anything that she might do on a normal day. She wanted to pretend that Ash’s custody case wasn’t real. Pretend that Bobby wasn’t trying to take Ash. Pretend that Savannah hadn’t gotten arrested for firing a shotgun. Even pretend that Cade Montgomery, the only man she’d loved and the son of a man who’d shattered her life, wasn’t attempting to destroy her sister and niece.
    But today wasn’t normal. There would be no depositions, no client meetings, no denial. Not today. Because, today—whether Tulsa wanted to or not—today, Tulsa McGrath would return to her hometown of Powder Springs, Colorado.

Chapter Three
     
    After a full day’s work, a one-hour trip to the DMV, and a full hour at the Yampa Valley impound lot, Cade—with his new Colorado license in hand—was finally settled into his truck. He rolled down the window and listened to the melodic sound of rubber slapping pavement. Cool air blew into the cab and River of Love drifted in and out over the radio.
    Cade breathed deep and mountain air filled his lungs. He tilted his head to the right and breathed into the iron-fisted knot deep in his neck. He rolled his shoulder up and back. The grip of stress relaxed and finally surrendered.
    Once George Strait finished crooning, fuzz took over his radio and Cade pushed the buttons, looking for a signal. He’d entered a dead zone high above any kind of tower. He rounded the curve on