For the Defense Read Online Free

wasn’t self-defense.”
    Jack was stymied. He couldn’t think of anything else that made sense. “Okay, I give up. What happened?”
    “Connie Pearce saw Bruce Weaton in front of her car and she hit him.”
    Jack was more confused than ever. “If that’s what she has admitted happened, then what do you need me for?”
    Diana locked eyes with him as she leaned forward in her chair. “I need you to help me get her off.”

CHAPTER TWO
    J ACK STARED at Diana for sixty very long and silent seconds. Did she really have the audacity to ask him to help get a guilty client off?
    He understood that most defense attorneys didn’t care if their clients were guilty. All they cared about was making sure that the accused was tried according to the dictates of the law. Didn’t even matter to them if a guilty client ended up slipping through a legal loophole.
    It mattered to Jack. He was a little disappointed to learn that Diana was proving to be one of those attorneys. His father had given him the impression she had integrity. That was one of the reasons he’d wanted the case. Now he had a strong urge to get up and leave.
    Only the straight, no-holds-barred challenge on her face combined with the total absence of any apology kept him in his chair. A woman who could face him this squarely didn’t strike him as one who would sell out her conscience.
    He wasn’t going anywhere until he learned what the hell was going on.
    “All right,” he said, settling back in his chair, “tell me why you want Connie Pearce to get away with murder.”
    Something that looked suspiciously like surprise flashed across Diana’s face. So, she had expected him to leave. He found that very interesting.
    As she studied him quietly, he returned her assessment, trying to read what thoughts or emotions were going on in that lovely head of hers. But this attorney knew how tokeep both well hidden when she wanted to. Damn if she didn’t intrigue him more by the minute.
    Without warning, she got to her feet. “I’d like Connie to tell you the story in her own words.”
    “We’re going to see her now?” he asked.
    “I called early this morning to let her know I’d be stopping by.”
    Diana grabbed her briefcase and headed toward the door, slipping the long strap of her bag over her shoulder without so much as breaking stride.
    “I’ll drive you over,” he said, hurrying to keep up with her. Most men probably found themselves getting lost in this woman’s wake. He had no intention of making the mistake of most men.
    “I have my own car, thank you,” she said.
    “Riding together will give us an opportunity to discuss the case.”
    “I have to pick up my daughter from class and drop her at home before going to see Connie. You can either follow me or meet me at the jail. Up to you.”
    A daughter? Damn. His hopes for something personal developing out of this assignment took an immediate and definitive nosedive.
    Jack was very particular about the women he dated. And one of the things he was most particular about was that they not have any children.
    “I’ll follow you,” he said.
     
    S IZING UP PEOPLE quickly was an essential skill for a trial attorney, one that couldn’t be gleaned from a law book. Diana paid attention to all the signs and made her decisions accordingly.
    Jack’s good looks and background in the entertainment field had prepared her for the kind of man who presenteda convincing image, but who couldn’t handle the hard facts of life or come through when it counted.
    She had personal experience with the type. For a brief time in her younger and far-less-wise years, she’d been married to a rock musician.
    But her openly expressed and brutally honest reservations about Jack’s abilities hadn’t seemed to bother him a bit. He’d barely even flinched when she told him she wanted his help in getting her guilty client off.
    This was not going well.
    She had counted on him turning tail and running for the nearest exit. That