Page 7 of Bridles and Bribery

Chapter 2: Hasty Summons

Dave reached for Jillian’s hand as he drove his Corvette through the latticework of streets that comprised the downtown area of Heart Lake. It didn’t take long to reach the two-lane highway that circled the sparkling lake their hometown was named after.

The sun was directly overhead, sending white-gold rays into the water and making it shimmer like diamonds.

As he threaded their fingers together and rested their joined hands on his knee, he felt a nearly imperceptible tremor run through his bride. He gave her a sharp look. “What’s on your mind, babe?”

She drew a ragged breath before answering. “Heart Lake is a body of water I’ve spent my entire life driving past on my way to somewhere else. It feels, um…different to be goingtoit instead of around it.”

The angst in her voice made his heart sink. “Do you mind living on the lake?” Until now, he’d been so busy trying to impress her that it hadn’t occurred to him to ask her where she actuallywantedto live.

“I don’t mind at all.” Her fingers tightened around his. “I feel like Cinderella right now.”

“Is that a good thing?” He frowned through the windshield at the picturesque old barns and farmhouses woven around the newer townhomes and lake houses, trying to see them through her eyes. Though he’d never given it much thought, the lake community was where the social elite of Heart Lake lived. Doctors, judges, town council members, and attorneys like himself called it home.

“Yes.” She gave a faint chuckle. “As long as the beautiful adventure we’re starting together doesn’t disappear when the clock strikes midnight.”

“It won’t.” He raised her hand to brush his lips against her fingers.

“I hope you’re right.” She gave him an angst-filled glance. “Either way, you’re going to need to be patient with me, Dave.”

His eyebrows rose. “Afraid I’m not following you.”

“I don’t expect you to understand,” she said quickly. “That’s why I’m begging for your patience up front, because it might, er…take me a while to find my place in your world.”

My what?He wondered if the pregnancy hormones were causing her sudden burst of melancholy. “We grew up in the same town, babe.”

“It might as well have been two different worlds,” she insisted. “There’s no way you could’ve missed the fact that Heart Lake is made up of thehavesand thehave nots. Even though my sister and I were raised in an apartment complex downtown and attended Heart Lake High, our single-income family put us solidly in thehave notscamp. That’s why you and I never ran in the same circles.”

“Or maybe it was because you were a freshman while Iwas a senior,” he countered in a reasonable voice. “Also, your older sister wasn’t exactly a ball of sunshine back then. Still isn’t.”

“I can’t argue about either of those things.” Jillian sounded rueful. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we lived in the same town for nearly fifty years before our paths crossed.”

“Fair enough.” He lowered their hands back to his knee. “Just tell me what I can do to make your new life as Mrs. Phillips easier.” Man, but he enjoyed calling her that!

She was silent for a moment. “Please don’t assume I know anything about your friends, neighbors, or business associates. I’m going to need some introductions when the time comes.”

“Consider it done.” Since he’d purchased his lake home from Gil only a few months earlier, he hadn’t met all of their neighbors yet, either. However, he understood what she meant. He was best friends with the recently retired sheriff of Heart Lake and personally acquainted with most of the town council members. Because of his job, he was also well known around Town Hall, the local courthouse, and among the other biggest movers and shakers in town — business owners, ranchers, and the tribal leadership on the adjacent Comanche reservation.

“I might not fit in at first,” Jillian added in a shy voice, “but I’ll try my best.”

He snorted. “I think you’re forgetting that I’m the guy most folks only call when they need something. Then they complain when I send them the bill afterward. Serving as a criminal lawyer in no way makes me the town sweetheart.”

A smile tugged at the edges of her lips. “If you’re trying to make me feel better, it’s working.”

“Oh, I’m just getting started, babe.” While they werebusy getting a few tough topics out of the way, he decided it was as good of a time as any to bring up one of the toughest topics of all. “Mind if we talk about money?” Since money problems were the biggest cause of divorce in the country, he wanted to start them off on the right foot in that area.

She blinked at him. “I thought we already established the fact that I don’t have much of it.”

“Maybe you didn’t an hour ago,” he drawled as he pulled into the driveway of their townhome, “but that changed the second you married the town’s biggest criminal lawyer.” Yeah, it sounded like he was bragging, and maybe he was. He was proud to bring his bride home to one of the newest, poshest houses on the lake. It was three stories of square roof lines, perfectly symmetrical walls of glass, and L-shaped balconies. The main paint color was charcoal gray, but a few outsets were trimmed in concrete that was stained to look like light oak wood paneling.

She stiffened and withdrew her hand from his. “Dave, I didn’t marry you for your money.”

He stared at her incredulously. “I never said you did. That was far from the point I was trying to make.” Reaching up to tap a button on his sun visor, he opened one of the middle doors of the four-car garage on the lower level of their home. There was a fifth garage door around the corner for either a golf cart or a small boat, neither of which he currently owned. The other half of the lower level was a finished-off basement that he was currently using as a movie room.

“But others will be saying it.” Jillian sounded upset by the idea. “You have to know that.”

He tried to choose his next words carefully as he drove into the garage. He parked between his Jeep and her fadedblue Volvo that he had every intention of replacing soon. Turning off the motor, he swiveled her way. “I don’t normally make a habit of caring what others think, Jills. No, that doesn’t mean I purposely go out of my way to offend people. It means I avoid most of them altogether. Like I said before, folks are quick to pick up the phone and beg me to dig them out of trouble, but they never call back and invite me over for dinner afterward.” He shook his head at her. “Guess I should’ve warned you before you married me that nobody loves their attorney.”

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