Her Diamond in the Rough Read online

  Chapter 1

  A blast of motorcycle pipes outside split the tension thickening in the courtroom. Prosecuting attorney Katherine Donovan nearly jumped out of her skin at the trumpet of sound, like a dark herald announcing the devil had come to claim his due.

  A sexy devil standing six-foot-two, black hair and eyes, who smelled like summer and tasted like sin. Her lover instantly came to mind. So did sweat-slicked skin, steam-filled nights, tangled limbs and morning sex. So did the word forbidden .

  Kate dug her nails into the table to maintain her appearance of professionalism in the courtroom. Despite the bead of sweat trickling down her back.

  The source of her anxiety, part of it, sat a few rows behind her. Awaiting the guilty verdict she desperately wanted to achieve. The smell of leather reached her nose, the quintessential scent of the man who’d become her lover. The hottest man she’d ever met. All sex and leather and dominance in the bedroom. She hadn’t been able to deny their chemistry, their connection. The man who’d shown her how sensual a woman’s sexual submission could be between consenting lovers, who trusted each other implicitly.

  The same gorgeous man she’d ignored for the past three weeks to concentrate on her career and attaining the “guilty” verdict. For him, for his sister. For all the female victims in this case.

  Anxiety coiled tightly through her body, as she brought her awareness back to her job, the courtroom, the trial from hell. Her mind veered sharply away from the man she couldn’t have, should never have had…and still wanted more than her next breath.

  “Counselor Donovan?” The judge’s insistent tone rang in her ears.

  She snapped to attention. “Your Honor.”

  He cleared his throat meaningfully. “Have you anything else to add?”

  Forcing calm she didn’t feel, she tented her fingertips on the tabletop and stood stiffly. “The state has no further evidence to present in the case against Walter Vervin.”

  Sick monster . It ’d been a gruesome case. Images of the women he’d tortured—ex-girlfriends whose only crime against the twisted psycho was breaking up with him and then getting engaged to another man—haunted her. The marks on their lifeless bodies… God, it was hard to believe all that damage had been done using the diamond rings from their own fingers.

  The Diamond Murders, the media had dubbed the slayings.

  Her heart squeezed for the victims—and their families. One man, pain shimmering in his dark eyes, filled her thoughts. Knowing he sat a few rows behind her fueled her angst. Followed by memories of the passion they’d unexpectedly found in each other’s arms. Kate blinked hard.

  The judge angled toward the defendant. The menace’s slick lawyer rose and smoothed his tie. “The defense rests, Your Honor.”

  Judge Winston lifted his gavel. “If there’s nothing further, we’ll take an hour recess and reconvene to hear closing arguments.”

  Wham. The gavel came down.

  Kate’s stomach hollowed out.

  This was the most important case she’d ever taken on as a new prosecuting attorney in downtown—the most disgusting killer she’d ever prosecuted.

  More frightening, Kate worried how the trial would wrap up. Her closing argument had to be her most profound, to sway the jury indisputably. Yet she hadn’t been able to formulate the final argument she hoped for. Her words seemed inadequate to encapsulate the heinousness of it all, even after she’d crumpled thirty drafts and tossed and turned all night. Her usual wit, acuity and verbal ingenuity had deserted her.

  For the first time in her life, Kate was truly scared. What if she failed? What if the man responsible for the Diamond Murders went free?

  Or worse, what if she let down the man whose sister was at the center of the trial? Her last known whereabouts and Jack’s testimony offering the best evidence to take this serial killer to court. It was the best she had. She refused to let it crumble because of her own insecurity.

  She glanced over her shoulder, past the journalists in the first row, ignoring the cameras at the back of the courtroom. Her focus narrowed on Jack.

  Shoulder-length dark hair tucked behind his ears, he rigidly, leaning forward, expecting her to nail the bastard who’d taken his sister before her time. His glistening dark eyes didn’t hint at doubt, but caught and held hers. She sucked in a breath.

  Even from several yard away, his presence overwhelmed her, like an unforgettable embrace. Something they’d shared too many times over the past two months. More than she dared to admit, and could lose her license over.

  Crazy, but that hadn’t detered her from indulging in the sexual ecstasy Jack gave to her.

  Pressure building behind her temples, she pulled her emotions back and shifted her focus to the defendant. As she met Vervin’s eyes, she found his reviling gaze was trained on her. Kate’s hands shook, as did her confidence. Vervin’s upper lip curled with a menacing smirk. He expected her to falter, to fail miserably. If she did, he’d get off free and clear. She believed he’d kill again if released. Serial killers like Vervin always did.

  She didn’t dare contemplate that outcome. “All rise,” a deputy directed. The judge left the room.

  Court was adjourned. One hour—cant time to prepare the most impressive speech of her life.

  Swallowing, Kate moved without seeing toward the rear doors. She followed the courtroom crowd into the hallway. She needed air, water, anything to soothe her queasy stomach.

  What she got was an eyeful of hot, sexy male.

  Jack stood like a pillar of strength in the middle of the marble hallway. His leather jacket showed off his broad shoulders. His strong jaw tilted down at sharp angles, lips set in a stern line. Lips that had delivered untold ecstasy to every part of her body.

  Heat prickled over Kate’s skin. Her abdomen tightened with sudden need, and she throbbed with yearning.

  He shoved a hand through his black hair, a wave springing back over his temples to frame his eyes. They snapped with fire. Anger? Arms crossed, he stood in front of her like he owned the building, stared at Kate like he owned her .

  Although it was late September, four months after she’d first thoroughly interviewed him on the case, he smelled like warm wind, like freedom from the stress that hounded her daily. His scent carried the essence of sensuality, warm summer nights they’d made love outside under the stars. Rendezvous of forbidden lust that made him all the more tempting.

  Kate licked her lips. “Jack…”

  Truth was, she hadn’t returned his calls in the past three weeks because she hadn’t trusted herself to stay focused with him in close seduction range. This was her first make-or-break case at her new job as a prosecuting attorney.

  Unable to face Jack right now, or her own weaknesses, she turned and fled down the hall in the opposite direction. No one could see them together. They’d already violated enough protocols to compromise this case. She should’ve kept her distance from the start. She knew better, then and now.

  Yet, somehow, that hadn’t stopped her from letting him haul her close the night they’d worked together late on his testimony two months ago. Hadn’t stopped her from letting him throw her against his wall, wrap her legs around his waist, and indulge in the best sex she’d ever had.

  The law insisted they have nothing to do with each other. Anymore. Ever.

  This in mind, she slid to a stop in front of the brass elevator and jammed her finger against the button. Twice. A third time. The damn thing seemed stuck on the seventh floor. She wanted to close herself in her office and pretend Jack didn’t exist.

  Suddenly, Kate felt a powerful presence behind her, Heat and possessiveness grazed her back. She stood unsteadily in her black heels.

  As the elevator t
ook its time getting down to their floor, he moved closer, his chest pressing against her back. With her blonde hair swept up in a tight twist, her neck was exposed to the caress of his warm breath. Chills swept down her spine. A sigh caught in her throat.

  “Going down?” His lips brushed the curve of her ear, his masculine voice resonating through her.

  “Jack!” she whispered fiercely. She jabbed his ribs, her elbow connecting with the bands of muscle underneath his blue t-shirt.

  “You remember my name. Thanks. Too bad you’ve misplaced my number.”

  Without turning to look at him, she muttered, “I told you I couldn’t see you anymore.”

  “There’s our problem, Kate. I don’t like being told what I can or can’t do.”

  “You don’t have to like it. You just have to deal with it.” Like I do, every time I roll over in bed and reach for your hard body. Except the sheets are cold and empty, and I ache for you.

  Turning her to face him, he slid one finger along the seam where her pale pink button-down shirt tucked into her gray skirt. “I’d like to deal with you,” he replied. “Face to face. Naked, preferably.”

  He lowered his head and pressed his lips to the side of her neck, a hot brand that pulled her into memories of torrid lovemaking. The way his body moved with hers…fast and furious when she walked in the door after a long day in court…or easy and measured during a weekend all-nighter…or slow and passionate when he kissed her awake in the middle of the night and slid inside her.

  For her sanity, her self-preservation, for all the reasons she’d convinced herself they couldn’t be together, she stepped away from Jack and his roving lips. “This can’t happen.” The elevator chimed and the doors opened. She walked in and turned to face front. She stared at his left shoulder as she told him, “I’m sorry, Jack. I can’t be with you.” Her gaze dropped. “Please, let it go.”

  The doors started to close, until Jack shoved them apart and lunged inside. His body collided with hers. She stumbled back. The only things saving her from banging her head on the wall and bruising her spine were his hands cradling her skull, his forearm clamping her waist, cushioning the impact.

  Their bodies melted together in a seamless embrace. As always. A truth she didn’t dare admit. The brass doors clanked shut behind them, sealing them alone inside.

  Shocked, she flicked her gaze to his. “What are you doing?”

  “Reminding you why we started seeing each other in the first place.” His mouth claimed hers.

  The kiss was silk and heat and heaven. He conquered her with his lips. He fed her his taste. He sucked her tongue into his mouth and lured her back under the fiery haze of passion that consumed logic, burning away her reserve, turning her best intentions to ashes.

  He was desire, danger, passion. He was her every fantasy come to life.

  Liquid longing surged in her veins. Her defenses weakened with every sweep of his tongue inside her mouth.

  His fingertips feathered along her throat as his other hand swept down her spine. Cupping her ass, he pulled her tight against him. His erection burned through his zipper, hard, insistent. Her panties grew damp in response.

  The shadow of beard darkening his jaw chafed her chin. The sexy contrast of soft lips and course bristle reminded her of his mouth sliding against her throat after a long day at the office. His lips closing around her nipple, squeezing, tugging. Traveling down her cleavage, her stomach. Rasping along her inner thighs, and finally swirling against her clit. She could almost feel his slick tongue tracing her—

  She tore her lips from his. “Stop!” She panted, catching her breath. “Damn it, there are cameras in the elevator.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “You once told me you had exhibitionist tendencies.” He freed the first button of her shirt. “I’m happy to explore that fantasy with you.”

  She shoved his hand away from between her breasts. “Not here. Not now. And not with you.”

  Hurt and betrayal flashed in his eyes, before they hardened to obsidian slits. “We’re amazing together. You know that. Then after two months, you suddenly fall off the face of the earth for three weeks?” He shook his head ominously. “I want answers, Kate. Not the bullshit lines you fed me over the phone.”

  Her lungs pulled in air rapidly. She needed room to breathe, space between their bodies, so she could string together a coherent sentence that didn’t include the words “take me now.”

  Concerned about getting caught on camera, she couldn’t let him turn around or give herself a full-frontal, or the cameras would catch their image—with disastrous consequences to this case, her reputation…her career. She needed to keep him between her and the camera, without giving in to the sex on his mind.

  With a fingertip she traced an aimless pattern on the t-shirt stretched across his broad pecs. “Yes, it was amazing. You’re the best lover I’ve ever had.”

  “But…” he prompted, his black eyes searching her for explanations.

  Pride and defensiveness collected in her gut. She dropped her hand. “But I’ve worked my butt off to get where I am. I won’t throw it all away for mind-blowing sex.”

  “We’ve been discreet.”

  “Don’t you see? It doesn’t matter. I know it’s wrong. I won’t compromise my ethics for a great lay.”

  Instantly, the sensual warmth retreated from him. She felt the absence like ice-water thrown in her face. A chilling barrier fell between them. “That’s all it’s been. A good fuck,” he said tonelessly. “A distraction.”

  Kate nodded. Her career won, and the relationships she tried to encourage died a slow painful death. No man had come between her and her career since Todd. She’d never make that mistake again, no matter how great the sex or how much she enjoyed Jack’s dominance in the bedroom. When he dictated her every move, enhancing her sexuality by forcing her to give up control, he’d given her ecstasy beyond compare.

  “I see.” His cheeks hollowed, jaw angling severely. “So that explains why you whisper my name when you’re dreaming.” Her eyes snapped up to witness emotion darkening his features. “Why you woke me out of a sound sleep every night we spent together, begging me to take you.” Intensity sharpened his gaze. “Why you cried that time in the shower, with the water running over us, as if I wouldn’t see your tears.”

  Kate inhaled against the sword of truth stabbing through her emotional armor. Had he seen her tears? Had he known…?

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She managed to uphold her mask of indifference, even though she felt more drawn to him than ever. She had to distance herself, damn it.

  You don’t love him, she insisted to herself. It’s lust. It’s two people under duress needing the warmth of each other’s bodies for comfort, to ease the ache of loneliness, to soften the sharp edges of a shattered a life .

  “Jack, you know my position. I shouldn’t even be here, in the same space with you.”

  “But you are. You have been.” He nudged her suit jacket aside, tugged her pale pink shirt free of her black skirt. His fingertips strummed against her ribs. “I’m not ready to let that go.”

  “We have to,” she insisted half-heartedly. She wanted to feel his hand move up to cup her breast again. “I’ve got to make this closing argument work.”

  He paused. “That’s your excuse for not speaking to me for three weeks?”

  Her heart twisted with indecision, personal desires warring with her loyalty to the law. She couldn’t be involved with this man.

  Yet Jack had lost so much, his sister a victim of Vervin’s crimes. Kate’s refusal of Jack, and all they’d shared for the past two months, would only add to the pain of losing his sibling to that madman in the courtroom. Still, she had to convince twelve jurors of the Diamond Murderer’s guilt beyond a shadow of a doubt. Within the hour.

  A shuddering breath filled her lungs. “Jack, you have to understand this isn’t about you. Or me. Or us. I’ve got to do the right thing!”

  “This feels
right, doesn’t it?” His hand finally slid up to curve around her breast. Her nipple hardened, aching to be touched by his fingers, his mouth.

  Tension relaxed in her body, then quickly shot up her spine. “I need to focus on the end-game. Being together threatens this entire case!”

  He didn’t seem as concerned about as she was. Strange, he’d never given that impression before. What was his motive?

  Hadn’t it been all about fun times for them both? That’s why she’d cut things off, she’d needed to focus, and God knew he was the best distraction she’d ever had between her sheets. “Don’t you want me at my best? I have to prove myself. I have to get this conviction.”

  “Thing is, I don’t have any doubts about us, or the case. You, apparently, do.”

  “This is my chance to show all those years of English rhetoric and law school amounted to something. I have to wow the jury. Not for me,” she emphasized, “but for the seven women who suffered the fate of your sister.”

  “You’ll get the verdict.” His tone implied everything would turn out well, just because he said so.

  She wasn’t that naïve, and she took out her frustration on him. “You can’t even begin to understand what I’m going through!”

  “It’s been hell on you.” He smoothed a lock of hair back from her forehead that had fallen loose during their collision. He cupped her chin and guided her up to his lips, a feather-light brush that promised incredible sensuality.

  His compassion took hold inside her. “I need time to concentrate. I’ve been…so stressed…I feel like I’m going crazy. Like I can’t even think—”

  “I have a cure for that.” A devil’s grin curled his lips.

  “No. No more distractions. I’m serious.”

  The elevator dinged. She didn’t know what floor they were on, but when the doors opened, she looked into an empty hallway. Plastic sheets lined the walls. “Under Construction” signs littered the area, along with yellow “Caution” tape.

  They weren’t supposed to be here. The trouble she’d be in if anyone found her like this… Jack walked backward in his biker boots out of the elevator, dragging her with him.