Campaigning for Love Read Online Free Page A

only there for a short time. We didn’t get a chance to know each other. We moved in different circles.”
    “Anything you want to add to Miss Harper’s version, Mr. Delaney?”
    “We barely knew each other.” He kept his eyes diverted.
    “And yet here both of you are, attorneys in the same court of law. Am I the only one who finds this an odd twist of fate?”
    “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean,” Nick said.
    “Only an observation, young man.” The judge leaned forward, bouncing his gaze between them. “The two of you seem to need a place to discuss things aside from my courtroom and out of the presence of a child. Why don’t I make a suggestion? How about lunch?”
    “Judge Pierce, please. I have a backlog of cases to review. I don’t have the time...” Out of the corner of her eye, she took in the firm set of Nick’s jaw. “Or the inclination to speak with Mr. Delaney outside the courtroom.”
    Nick turned to face her, his eyes darker than indigo. “It is clear Kat—I mean, Katherine—can only tolerate speaking with me in court, Your Honor. So I’ll apologize for trying to compel her into doing otherwise and limit my interactions with her to court business.”
    “All right, children, I’ve had enough.”
    Both their gazes flew to him.
    “The two of you leave me no choice. You think this is a game. That you can push and get your way while shooting daggers at each other with your eyes during session in my courtroom. I will not allow it. Especially in front of an innocent child. This ends today. Mr. Delaney, do you cook?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Do you cook? It’s a simple enough question.”
    “I can boil water.”
    “Well then, the food will fall to Miss Harper, and you will assist.”
    The judge’s words left her wide-eyed and stunned.
    “Your Honor, sir...please don’t.” A sickening dread crept up from her stomach to clog her throat. She’d beg if she had to. Anything but what she was afraid he was going to make her do.
    He gave her a hard look. “This Friday is a holiday. We have a long weekend ahead of us. You and Mr. Delaney will spend the long weekend with me. Melvia is out of town visiting the grandchildren, and I’ll be home alone. The three of us will spend quality time together getting to know each other.” He leaned back, folded his arms over his chest, and smiled with smug satisfaction.
    She stared at him, her mouth wide open and her jaw slack. When she risked a glance at Nick, his head was swiveling between her and the judge. She would not feel guilty about their predicament. This was his fault. Not hers.
    The judge continued to smile. The clock ticked away the seconds for an endless minute before she recovered enough to speak. “Judge Pierce, Uncle Charles...”
    * * *
    Her familial reference propelled Nick out of his chair. He paced the room. Torn between demanding an explanation about her relationship with the judge and using this weekend to make her face him and explain. Her denial clashed with his dread of being the subject of judicial displeasure, again. And all because of a harmless conversation that wouldn’t have mattered in the grand scheme of things, if he’d timed it better. He’d wanted to know what had happened to her after she transferred.
    This was unbelievable, laughable even. Oh, he wanted to say something. To yell and scream about the downward spiral his family court experience was having on his ready-to-launch political career. But when his eyes met hers, he ground his teeth and turned to look out the window. Fragile, vulnerable, beaten. They were the only words to describe the weighted hunch of her shoulders and the stricken look on her face.
    Just like that day in the library thirteen years ago. Her emotions were on display, like a marquee on Broadway for anyone to read. The mask she wore in the courtroom ripped away.
    “Uncle Charles, you know I have responsibilities this weekend. Stevie Mills is one of them. I can’t abandon him. How