A Legal Affair by Maureen Smith Page B

of the room was offset by soft, feminine touches interspersed throughout—a ceramic vase here, a cluster of decorative candles there, a multicolored wool serape that hung on a wall.
    Ignoring a mound of paperwork that awaited her attention, Daniela dropped her purse onto the desk and turned on the computer to check her e-mail messages. Although she was on assignment and technically “out of pocket,” she couldn’t stay away entirely. For the past three years she’d ate, slept and breathed Roarke Investigations, serving as secretary, bookkeeper and part-time private detective as she helped her brothers establish the business. It was as much a part of her as it was part of Kenneth and Noah Roarke.
    Noah stuck his head in the doorway just as she was responding to her last e-mail message. “What’re you doing here, anyway? Not that I mind seeing you around, kiddo, but I thought we all agreed that you should avoid this place as much as possible, in case Thorne gets suspicious at some point and starts having you followed.”
    “I know, I know,” Daniela muttered, sending off her reply. “I had a ton of e-mail messages to respond to.”
    “You can check your e-mail from home,” Noah reminded her dryly. “That’s why we set you up with remote access.”
    Grinning at her brother, Daniela leaned back in her chair, propped her long legs on the desk and crossed her feet at the ankles. “One message was from a client who wanted to thank me for proving that her husband wasn’t cheating on her. What do you have to say about that?”
    Noah chuckled, stepping into the tiny office and causing it to shrink even more by the sheer breadth of his wide shoulders. He wore a gray polo shirt that showed off his muscular physique, tucked into loose-fitting black gabardine trousers. He could have stepped from the cover of GQ, though he’d sooner wrestle tigers than suffer such a compliment.
    “What I have to say,” he grumbled good-naturedly, dropping into the chair opposite her desk, “is that you’re in the wrong line of business, El. You’re supposed to want spouses to be guilty. How else are we supposed to make any money around here?”
    Daniela made a face at him, but she knew that Noah, like her, took no pleasure in chasing down cheaters, especially when children were thrown into the equation. He loathed being the bearer of bad news almost as much as he loathed the act of infidelity itself.
    “Not that we’re hurting for business around here,” Daniela said. “The phone’s been ringing off the hook all afternoon. What gives?”
    “We took out an ad in today’s Express-News . Guess it’s already starting to pay off.”
    “Not for long though, if Carole keeps hanging up on people.”
    Noah scowled. “Tell me about it. She’s the third secretary we’ve hired in a month. After the first two disasters, we figured we couldn’t go wrong using a temp agency—especially since Carole came so highly recommended.”
    Daniela gave a mock shudder. “I’d hate to see what they consider incompetent .”
    “We have to get rid of her before she puts us out of business.”
    “Hey, don’t look at me,” Daniela said quickly. “I’m not even supposed to be here, remember? I only stopped by to see how you’re doing, and to commend you for not accompanying Kenny yesterday on his quest to pry information out of me.”
    Noah chuckled. “You know I don’t operate that way, baby girl.” He paused, searching her face. “But since you’re here, why don’t you fill me in on how things are going?”
    “Didn’t Kenny tell you?”
    “He did,” Noah said carefully, “but I guess what I’m asking is, how do you feel things are going?”
    He was asking her, without really asking her, whether she still had reservations about her role in the undercover investigation. The fact that he cared at all was what set him apart from Kenneth Roarke.
    And it was for this reason that she readily confided in him, telling him about her