Anything You Can Do(70)

Austin belted down half his beer in a sudden burst of anger, though he wasn't sure if the anger was directed at Bailey, Gordon, or himself. "After I left Stafford, I came right out and asked her about it, and all she did was order me out of her office. Slammed the door behind me. You don't consider that confirmation?"

Gordon laughed. "Bailey slammed a door? No, I don't consider that confirmation. I consider that anger and pride—qualities both of you seem to have an excess of. See that pay phone over there? Go call her and give her a chance to tell her side of the story. Isn't that what the law's all about? Innocent until proven guilty?"

Austin flinched at the way Gordon contrived to use his own ethics against him, and for a moment he considered taking his friend's advice. Gordon seemed so positive, and Austin wanted to believe him, wanted to believe in Bailey's innocence.

"She'd only hang up on me," he concluded. "She's already done that once, not to mention ordering me to leave her office and slamming the door behind me. I'll be damned if I'll give her the chance to do any of it again."

"Good boy," Gordon drawled. "Win at all costs."





CHAPTER 13



"Bailey, old buddy! Hey, save that scowl for the clients. I'm on your side."

At Gordon's teasing words, Bailey made a conscious effort to rearrange her expression into something pleasant, something that didn't accord with the storm crashing around inside her head.

"You're certainly looking rested and complacent," she observed. "No more burning the eight o'clock oil? Are we back to our former decadent lifestyle?"

Gordon slouched into one of her chairs. "We should all do what we do best. Anyway, Paula likes me as a semi-lawyer."

Bailey leaned back in her chair and smiled. "Are we working up to a confession here?"

"Maybe. Have you got something of equal value to trade?"

"Hunh?"

"My confession for yours."

Sitting upright in her chair, Bailey folded her hands. "I guess we'll have to talk about the weather. My life is too dull to afford me any confessions."

Gordon laughed, unaffected by her aloof tone. Bailey clenched her hands tighter. Sometimes, she thought, there could be such a thing as too much intimacy.

"Not even if we were to talk about a certain deceitful client and a certain pushy attorney from an opposing firm?" Gordon asked.

I'm not mad at Gordon, Bailey had to remind herself as her knuckles turned white. This is my friend, and he means well.

"Not even," she grated through clenched teeth and was pleased as well as dismayed to see Gordon flinch slightly. While she hadn't meant to be rude to him, at least he realized she was serious. Surely he'd drop the subject now.

With a sigh he stood, closed the door, then returned to his seat. "I don't know what's going on, but I do know that my two best buddies are unhappy. To put it in language you can understand, don't you think it's time to schedule a conference and work out a settlement agreement?'"

"If you weren't my friend, I'd tell you to mind your own business. Since you are my friend, I'll just say there are times when friends respect each other's privacy. "

Gordon rose from the chair. "You got it," he said, and started for the door.

"Wait a minute," Bailey called. "We've dispensed with my confession, but what about yours? You were going to tell me about Paula."

He paused with one hand on the door. "I could tell you friends respect each other's privacy."

Bailey slumped backward in her chair. "Oh, Gordon, I'm sorry. Please come back and sit down. I didn't mean to take out my anger on you."

"Are we going to talk about Austin now?" Gordon asked as he resumed his seat.

Bailey ignored his question. She didn't want to talk about or even think about Austin, though she wasn't having much success at the latter. "Did you know Paula isn't coming to the year-end party?" she asked.

Gordon crossed his hands over his chest and looked smug. "Yes, she is."

"No, she's not. Secretaries aren't allowed. And Paula's a secretary, making her, it appears, something less than a person according to the existing code."

"Not to worry. She's coming as my date, my fiancee."

Bailey's jaw dropped, came back up to form a smile, then a frown. "When did this happen? Paula hasn't mentioned it. As of last night, she wasn't coming, and she certainly didn't say anything about marriage."