Behind the Shadows by Patricia; Potter

attorney would have dimples when he smiled? Or appear delighted with spaghetti and Chianti?
    A warm glow started to puddle deep inside her, and the heat was spreading through her limbs. To her horror, she liked him. That was truly a god-awful thing. She had hoped to dislike him. She’d hoped he was supercilious and arrogant, or were the two the same? Her mind was getting fuzzy. Probably because she hadn’t eaten much, and the wine was going to her head with the speed of a runaway train.
    She would swear that the electricity she felt was being experienced by him as well. His green eyes deepened. He leaned forward and the dimples were more evident.
    Behave yourself! Remember what happens tomorrow . He might well be going after her with a sledgehammer.
    Or he might be an ally.
    She longed to tell him about her interest in Leigh Howard. He would probably find out tomorrow and believe her a liar and a fraud.
    She’d been both these past few days.
    So she took another sip of wine and nibbled on the toasted garlic bread the waitress brought. Time to concentrate on food rather than wine. Then she made the mistake of looking back up at her companion.
    He was watching with an enigmatic smile and guarded eyes. She wondered if they were always guarded. She wanted to know more about him. Too much more.
    â€œHow did you happen to go with Westerfield Industries?” she asked.
    â€œI worked for them when I was in school,” he replied lightly. “I guess it became a habit.”
    Before she could ask anything else, the food came. She was a good enough journalist, though, to realize she’d heard only a crumb of the story. What was his relationship with Leigh? With the family? What had it been with Ed Westerfield? And who and what among them would he protect? Where did his interest really lie?
    She started to eat, but her appetite was gone. Deep inside, she felt the two of them were on a collision course.
    She looked up at him. He was watching her, and the amusement was gone. Their gazes caught, held. She felt as if he were looking straight into her soul. Worse, she suspected he was very good at looking into souls.
    She quickly looked down again. She was withholding something from him that could hurt someone he was sworn to protect. Someone who, if Leigh Howard decided not to help her, could be on the other side of a courtroom from her.
    Be careful, she warned herself.
    She broke away from his gaze and stirred her spaghetti. Comfort food indeed. Now she felt she was staring at a dish full of snakes. She hated deceit and now she was drowning in it.
    â€œKira?” His deep voice seemed to caress her name. Her name had never quite sounded like that before. “Where did the name come from?”
    â€œMom said it’s Latin for light,” she said. “She found it in a baby book.”
    â€œI like it.”
    â€œI’ve gone through several stages with it,” she said. “When I was young, I wanted to be a Susan or Mary. I always had to explain Kira.”
    â€œAnd now?”
    â€œI like it, too.” And she did. Even if it no longer belonged to her. The mental reminder brought her back to the moment. To the desperate need that she had forgotten for a few seconds.
    She looked up at him and saw bemusement in his face. “I keep thinking I’m missing something,” he said, his eyes questioning her. “You wander away from me.”
    â€œI’m just worried about Mom,” she said.
    â€œWhat do the doctors say?”
    â€œThey’ve moved her up on the list,” she said, “but the chances aren’t good.”
    â€œThere’s no one in the family who can donate?”
    She felt herself stiffening. Did he know? How could he?
    She shook her head. “I was tested. My kidney’s not compatible.”
    â€œNo other children?”
    She didn’t know how to answer it. She didn’t want to lie.
    â€œI don’t have any brothers or