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The US was a little close to where Sam had previously worked If she moved there and then he returned for work that would defeat the entire purpose of the exercise

‘London,’ she said on a decisive note She’d never been to London It was cold, yes, but there was the West End, Covent Garden, double-decker buses and, best of all, no distracting boss

‘Okay’ Allison stood up ‘I’ll oes to the head of the queue I owe you a favour’

Ruby knew Allison was referring to the previous year when she’d helped her nephew out of a spot of shoplifting trouble ‘You don’t owe me at all,’ she said with a mock frown ‘But I appreciate the sentiment’

‘No worries Oh, hi, Sam’ Allison stepped to the side to allow theinto her office ‘Hope you had a nice time interstate yesterday’

‘Very productive, Allison, thank you’

Of course he already knew Allison’s nale And none of your business, Ruby told herself

‘Great, well, I hope you both enjoy the long weekend’ She waved at Ruby as she left, fanning herself as she passed Sarin on her face

Ignoring the butterfliesherself alone with hiave Sam a level look

‘What can I do for you?’ she asked, hoping her tone hit somewhere between professional and unaffected

Saot problems with HR?’

‘No’ As Managing Partner, he probably had a right to know her long-ter them at this point Not when she wasn’t completely certain of theh

‘Good’ Hethe door behind him ‘I received your update thathave fifteen of the original nineteen plaintiffs back on board, as well as five woreat news’

‘It is’ Ruby had been ecstatic when the boys had responded so favourably to Sa their female counterparts to coain Thank you If you hadn’t insisted onwith them we’d have had more of an uphill battle ahead of us’

‘Don’t thank me We still have an uphill battle ahead of us, but we’re a tea I’d like to think that you’ll call on et it’

Ruby nodded, sing the weird lump that had formed in her throat She wondered what it would feel like if they really were a team, with none of this aard tension between theood Next e’ll file proceedings, and then there will be a mountain of documents to review before—’ she stopped as she realised she was raal procedure’

‘I do,’ he agreed wryly ‘And the Star Burger case isn’t the only reason I’m here’

‘Sorry’ Feeling as gauche as a first-day trial lawyer, Ruby tried for a smile ‘Why else did you stop by?’

‘Lawson Publishing House have their national conference on this weekend and Drew is supposed to attend the keynote address tonight as a thank-you for the work the fir too well right now, he asked me to fill in’ He rubbed the faint stubble on his jaw and Ruby noted the tired lines on the outer edges of his eyes Maybe he wasn’t sleeping any better than she was ‘Since the chairman and I haven’t met and you’ve worked closely with hiood idea for you to attend withshouldn’t last for more than an hour Two at the most’

In the past Ruby would have had no proble the firm at such an event She’d done so on ht, with Saaze, her es of hied low in her pelvis, sparking little tremors of need inside her