HOW TO TEMPT A CROOK

Chapter 3

"It's good to see you," Angelina said. "Why don't you come into my office so we can talk about your pay and the rest of that good stuff?"

"Actually, you can't do that right now," Marie cut in. "Lawrence has called a GM for nine-thirty. It's nine-twenty-five."

"Ugh!" Angelina groaned. "Lawrence and his impromptu GMs. Is it too much to ask that these things be scheduled in advance?"

"Don't ask me. I'm just the messenger," Marie trilled before skipping out of the office.

Moments later, Kelly found herself in an elevator with the rest of her workmates, sans Spencer, on the way to the firm's general meeting. She'd quit as soon as they came back up, she promised herself.

As it turned out, Spencer was already in the conference room. Her stomach muscles knotted the moment she saw him. He glanced her way when she walked into the room and their eyes met, held. Kelly's lungs immediately seized, her stomach muscles tightened and her top lip lifted in an automatic sneer. Spencer quickly averted his eyes. For the rest of the meeting he ignored her, and she ignored him right back.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

As is with most firms, only the senior and managing partners got to sit at the conference table. Kelly and the other junior staff were relegated to standing at the edges of the room. The meeting began with introductions.

"As some of you already know," Lawrence said, "we have some new blood in our ranks."

Spencer's introduction had by far the most fanfare. Lawrence waxed on and on about Spencer's virtues and qualifications. His over-excitement at Spencer's arrival in the firm was enough to give Kelly pause, until Casper whispered to her that Lawrence was Spencer's godfather. Apparently, the older man had raised Spencer after his parents (who were Lawrence's partners) died.

Thankfully, Kelly's introduction, along with that of the other new junior associates, was shorter. Lawrence didn't even mention her stint in jail, but of course a few people immediately recognized her. Admittedly, the hushed whispers and shocked gazes that kept glancing her way during the meeting were uncomfortable, but she was used to it. This was her new reality – being the circus freak that everyone wanted to see.

The meeting lasted for just under an hour. When it ended everyone headed to the elevators to get to their respective floors. As it turned out, Kelly ended up in the same elevator as Spencer. All she could see was the back of his head, but even that was enough to annoy her. A red hot lump of anger built up in her throat and her muscles kept stiffening. How in the world was she supposed to work with this guy when just the back of his head was enough to give her heart palpitations? No, she needed to resign.

When they got to their floor, Spencer strode to his office on the other end of the hallway. Kelly headed straight to her desk, turned on her computer and started to type her resignation letter.

Dear Mr. Spencer Chambers,

Please accept this letter as formal notification that I am leaving my position with Chambers & Quinn by the end of today. Why? You already know why. Explain it to HR.

Sincerely,

Kelly Garner.

After printing out the letter, she strode down the hallway to Spencer's office.

You can do this, Kelly. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and knocked on his door.

* * * * *

BOXES UPON BOXES OF BOOKS sat piled up high at the corner of Spencer's office. Though he'd had a lot of help while moving into his new office, there was no way he was letting anyone else touch his books.