"You can't do this to me!" Kimberly Bennett's fingers curled around the smooth oak arms of her chair. She stared, dumbfounded, at her attorney.

"And here I thought you'd be the first to offer congratulations!" Diane Welby, petite and blond, leaned her chin on her clasped hands. Her elbows were planted firmly on the top of her wide desk, and her eyes fairly sparkled. "I'm getting married, for God's sake!"

"I know, I know, but why now?" Kimberly asked, seeing all her plans go down the proverbial drain.

"Because Scott asked me." Diane had been widowed for seven years.

Kimberly's brows drew together in vexation. "Fine. Congratulations. I'm glad you're getting married, Diane, really, but do you have to move out of the state?"

"Scott's job is in L.A."

"But your practice is here and I need you!"

Diane sighed. "You don't need me — you need a good lawyer."

"You are a good lawyer. The best," Kimberly said, a slow panic spreading through her when she thought of her ex-husband and his most recent demands. She shivered. There was a side to Robert she hated to think about — a deadly side. "Robert's not kidding. He's threatened to take Lindsay away."

Diane grew sober. She tapped her pen on her desk. "Look, Kim, he doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. The court already decided to grant you custody."

"But that was before he cared," Kimberly pointed out, feeling her hands begin to sweat. As soon as the divorce had become final, Robert had married his mistress, a gorgeous woman who was blind to Robert's flaws — just as Kimberly had been, years before.

"And now he cares?" Obviously Diane didn't believe it.

"Apparently!"

"Why?"

Kimberly's throat felt tight. "I guess Stella can't give him a son, either."

"And now he'll settle for a daughter?" Diane asked dryly.

Hot injustice swept through Kimberly's veins. "So it seems."

Diane's mouth clamped together thoughtfully. "You know, I wouldn't just abandon you. I know Robert and how ... determined he can be. The man who bought my practice is a lawyer — the best — and he's agreed to either take my pending cases or refer them to someone else."

"I don't want some man I've never met." Kimberly insisted, trying to hang on to her rapidly escaping calm. "I want you." Unnerved, she stood, folded her arms across her chest and walked past Diane's desk to the window. She watched a few dying maple leaves fall to the wet asphalt of the parking lot. In the past few years Robert had changed, and his reputation had become black as ink. No court would give him custody — or would it? She couldn't trust fate. "Maybe it's crazy, but I'd rather have a woman represent me."

"Why?"

Kimberly shrugged.

"Let me guess. You think a woman can better understand your maternal feelings?"

"Yeah." She glanced over the shoulder of her black suit. "A man might sympathize with Robert."

Diane scowled. "I doubt it. And as for Jake —"

"Who?"

"Jake McGowan, the lawyer who bought me out."

"Oh."

"He can help you. And he'll do a damn good job." Diane's voice was filled with admiration.

"He works on custody cases?" Kimberly asked without much interest.

"He used to."

"Used to?" Kimberly whirled, her blue-green gaze pinned on Diane's face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Diane lifted a shoulder and slid her gaze away from Kimberly's. "He concentrates on corporate law now. You know — taxes, mergers, that sort of thing."

"Yeah, I know," Kimberly said, thinking of the bevy of lawyers who were retained by the bank for which she worked. And then there were the attorneys who had worked for Robert. It seemed as if half the lawyers in Portland had been on her ex-husband's payroll at one time or another. She worried her lip. The name McGowan was familiar — but not as one of Robert's gophers. No ... but there was something ...

"At one time Jake McGowan was the best domestic relations attorney in Portland."

"'Was' seems to be the operative word," Kimberly challenged.

Diane twisted in her chair so that she could stare up at Kimberly and hold her with her frank blue gaze. Her forehead creased thoughtfully. "I wouldn't refer you to him unless I had absolute faith. He's the best. The man you need. There was a time when he hadn't lost a case."

"And what happened?"

Diane hesitated. "He had a few personal problems."

"Oh great."

"But they're in the past. Listen, Kim, would I refer you to him if he weren't the best? He'll go up against anyone Robert hires and come out on top."

"You're sure"

"As sure as I am about anything."

Kimberly felt Diane was holding something back — something important. "What is it you're not telling me?"

"Nothing. As I said, at one time he was the best in the business. He still could be."

"If ..." Kimberly prodded.

Diane's mouth tightened. "If he were properly motivated."

"'If he were motivated.'" Kimberly repeated with more than a trace of cynicism. "This isn't some case in one of your textbooks, you know. This is my life, and Lindsay's."

"That's why you need Jake."

Kimberly wasn't convinced but forced a thin smile and raked her fingers through her long hair. A headache was building behind her eyes. "You know, I think it's wonderful that you're getting married again. Really."

"You have a funny way of showing it."

"Maybe I'm just envious."

"You? The woman who's sworn off men for life?"

Kimberly managed a thin smile. "Yeah, but Scott's a great guy, and I'm sure you'll be happy breathing all that smog in L.A. —"

Diane laughed.

"I'm just disappointed, that's all. I was counting on you."

"So, count on McGowan. Believe me, he can help you. Better than I can. I'll leave a note with Sarah — she's staying on — and she'll set up an appointment for you in the next couple of weeks." Diane touched Kimberly on the shoulder, "Trust me."

"I guess I have to," she said, feeling as if she had no other choice.

"You'll like him, I guarantee it."

"And if I don't?"

"You'll be the first woman who didn't."

"Oh great. A lady-killer." Kimberly wasn't impressed. Robert had cured her of that.

Diane shook her head. "It's not intentional," she said.

"Good. Not that it matters. He wouldn't get to me."

"Oh?"

Kimberly skewered the lawyer with a suspicious look. "I'm not in the market for a man — any man. If Robert taught me one thing, it's that I can only depend on myself." She offered Diane a small smile. "I'm just interested in McGowan if he can help me keep my daughter."

"He can." Diane was firm.

Kimberly's answer was a skeptical smile. She glanced out the window, noticing that the ominous sky had opened up and rain was pounding the horizon in furious, windblown waves. Raindrops drizzled in jagged rivulets across the windows. The gutters of the old cottage-turned-office gurgled. Ever-widening puddles appeared on the uneven asphalt of the parking lot. Kimberly's thoughts were as dark as the slate colored sky. Could anyone really help her if Robert decided to follow through on his demands? Or worse yet, would Robert ignore the law, as she suspected he had in the past, and just steal Lindsay away? Kimberly's fist clenched. Over my dead body.

If it was the last thing she ever did, she'd keep Lindsay safe with...