“Hello.”
“Clayton?”
“Lorren? Is anything wrong?”
“No. I’m glad I was able to reach you before you left the hotel for the airport. Will your flight make a layover in New York?”
“Yes, why?”
“I need to ask a favor of you.”
Clayton Madaris smiled. “Sure. What is it?”
“Will you check on Syneda when you get to New York?”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“I talked to her a few minutes ago, and she’s down in the dumps. She lost an important case.”
Clayton frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that. No attorney likes to lose.”
“It wasn’t about just winning the case, Clayton. This case was very important to Syneda.”
He glanced at his watch. “All right, Lorren. I’ll check on her when I get to New York.”
“Thanks, Clayton. You’re the greatest. Next to Justin, of course.”
Clayton laughed. “Of course.”
“By the way, how was the convention?”
“Not bad. I had a nice time.”
Lorren laughed. “Knowing you, I’m sure you did.”
Clayton chuckled. “I’ll call you after I’ve seen Syneda.”
“Thanks.”
“Hold your horses, I’m coming!”
Syneda’s nylon-clad toes luxuriated in the deep smoke-gray carpeting as she made her way to the door. A smile touched her lips when she glanced through the peephole. She quickly opened the door.
“Clayton! What on earth are you doing here?”
Clayton stepped into the room and turned to face the attractive light-brown-skinned woman standing before him. Thick, golden-bronze hair fell to the shoulders of her tall and slender figure. She looked cute in a short-sleeved blue blouse and a flowing flowered skirt. Her full lips formed a wide smile that shone in her sea-green eyes.
He returned her smile. “I’m here at the request of Lorren. You know what a worrywart she is.”
Syneda laughed as she took Clayton’s hand and led him over to the sofa. She always enjoyed seeing him. He was Lorren’s brother-in-law, and since their first meeting a couple of years ago, they had become good friends. The two of them were attorneys and somehow could never agree on various issues, legal or otherwise. They were both extremely opinionated and at times their different viewpoints led to numerous debates and sparring matches at the Madaris family celebrations and holiday gatherings. She had gone head-to-head with him on just about every topic imaginable, from the government’s policy on illegal immigrants to whether or not there were actual UFOs.
“Can I get you something to drink, Clayton?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Syneda sat across from him in a chair, tucking her legs beneath her. “Lorren was always the mothering type. Now you would think the kids would be enough. Don’t tell me she sent you all the way from Houston to check on me?”
Clayton’s attention had been drawn to three framed photographs that sat on a nearby table. One was of Justin and Lorren, their son, Vincent, and daughter, Justina. Another photo showed Dex and Caitlin, with their daughter, Jordan. The last photo was of her foster mother, Mama Nora. He smiled at the photographs before turning his attention back to Syneda to answer her question.
“No, I’ve been in D.C. for the past three days attending the National Bar Association convention. She knew my flight had a layover here and suggested I look you up.”
“How was the convention?”
“Pretty good. I’m sorry you missed it. Senator Lansing was the keynote speaker, and as usual he kept the audience spellbound.”
Syneda nodded. She knew the one thing she and Clayton did agree on was Senator Nedwyn Lansing of Texas. He was admired by both of them and had a reputation for taking a stand on more unpopular issues than anyone in Congress. “What was this year’s convention theme?”
“Law and order.”
“Not very original was it?”
Clayton laughed. “No, not very.”
Syneda smiled. “I know Justin, Lorren and the kids are all doing fine. How’s the rest of the Madaris clan?”
Clayton smiled. “My parents are doing great. They’re off again. This time the ever-traveling retirees are headed for the mountains in Tennessee.”
He leaned forward in his seat. “Since Christy’s home from college for the summer, she went with them,” he said of his youngest sister. “Traci and Kattie and their families are doing all right. With me being their only single brother, they’ve been playing the roles of ardent matchmakers lately.”
Syneda grinned. “How’re Dex and Caitlin?”
“They’re fine. The baby isn’t due for another six months but Dex is coming unglued already. Since he and Caitlin weren’t together when she was pregnant with Jordan, he’s really into this pregnancy big-time.” Clayton laughed. “Sometimes I wonder who’s really having this baby, him or Caitlin. He swears he’s been having morning sickness.” Clayton shook his head. “By the way, you missed Jordan’s birthday party.”
“Yeah, and I hated that. Unfortunately I was deeply involved in a case and couldn’t get away.” A cloud covered Syneda’s features. “We went to court on Monday and lost.”
Clayton noticed the shadow of disappointment in her eyes. “Do you want to talk about it?”
She nodded. She did want to discuss it. Maybe doing so would unleash all the frustration, anger and resentment that had plagued her since the judge’s decision. Although she and Clayton usually took opposing sides on most issues, she knew that like her, he was a dedicated attorney, and hopefully on this one he would understand how she felt, even if he didn’t agree with the position she had taken.
Syneda took a deep breath. “It was a custody fight. The natural mother gave the child up at birth six years ago. She fought the adoptive parents for custody…and won. That has happened a lot lately, and I don’t like the message being sent to adoptive parents. They don’t have any protection against this sort of thing under our present legal system.”
Clayton frowned. “In the last two cases that received national attention, I thought the only reason the child was returned to its natural parents was because the natural fathers had not given their consent.”
“True, but in our case the consent was given. However, the biological mother claims that at the age of fifteen, she’d been too young to know her own mind and had been coerced by her parents to give up her child. She contends the contract was between her parents and the Jamisons, and that she wasn’t a part of it. How’s that for a new angle?”
Clayton shuddered at the thought of a fifteen-year-old giving birth. “You’re right. That is a new angle.”
Syneda leaned back in her seat. “As far as I’m concerned, the real issue is not why she gave up the child. No one seems concerned with what’s best for Kasey. She’s being snatched from the only parents she’s ever known and is being given to a stranger. That’s cruel punishment for any child, especially a five-year-old.”
Clayton nodded. “Hopefully things will work out. But you can’t allow what’s happened to get you depressed.”
“I know I shouldn’t but at times I can’t help wondering if what I do really makes a difference.”
“Of course it does.”
Syneda smiled. “Do you know this is the first time we’ve been able to talk about a case and not take opposing sides?”
Clayton chuckled as he rested back comfortably in his seat. “Just because I didn’t oppose anything you said doesn’t mean I fully agree. Tonight you needed someone to just listen to your thoughts and feelings, and not force theirs on you. I gave you what I thought you needed. But what I really think you need is a vacation.”
“I took a vacation earlier this year.”
“I mean a real vacation. You usually use your vacation time to mess around here and not go anywhere. You need a real vacation to get away, relax and do nothing. I’m sure you can take time off from your job if you need it, so what’s the problem?”
Syneda shrugged. “There isn’t a problem. I just never thought about it.”
“Well, I’m giving you something to think about. What about going someplace with that guy you’re seeing?”
“Marcus and I are no longer seeing each other,” she said slowly. “We decided it was for the best.”
“Mmm. Could it be you’re also suffering from a broken heart?”
Syneda frowned. “Not hardly.”
Suddenly Clayton sat up straight. His eyes gleamed bright with an idea. Before checking out of the hotel, he had phoned his parents and asked their permission to spend a week at their time-share condo in Florida. They had given him the okay. “I have a wonderful idea,” he said.
“What?”
“My parents have a condo in Saint Augustine, Florida. It’s right on the ocean. I’m leaving next Sunday and will be there for a week. Come with me.”
Syneda’s brows arched in surprise. “Excuse me? Did I hear you correctly? You want me to go on vacation with you?”
A wide grin broke across Clayton’s face “Sure. Why not? You need a rest and I think it’s a wonderful idea.”
She shook her head. “Clayton, get real. You know I can’t go on vacation with you.”
“Why not?”
“For a number of reasons.”
“Name one.”
“My work. I’ve appealed the Jamison case.”
“So. It’ll be a while before the courts review it. If you ask me, you need a vacation to deal with what you’ll be up against when they do.”
“True, but I still can’t go anywhere with you.”
“Why?”
Syneda refused to believe the man was so overlooking the obvious. It was rumored that no woman spent too many hours alone with Clayton Madaris and managed to keep her reputation clean. She considered herself a modern woman—and in some people’s opinion she carried her fight for sexual equality too far—but she was cautious by nature in some things, although impetuous and aggressive in others. In this case, she needed to carefully weigh Clayton’s invitation.
“What will people think, Madaris? Specifically, what will your family think?”
Clayton inwardly smiled. She always resorted to calling him by his last name whenever she was getting all fired up to stand her ground against him about something.
“If I remember correctly, my family has extended itself to become your family. They won’t think anything of it. For Pete’s sake, Syneda, they know we don’t think of each other as sexual beings, and they know we aren’t romantically involved.” He chuckled. “If anything, they’ll wonder how we’ll spend a week together without doing each other in. We’re usually completely at odds over just about everything.”
Syneda laughed. “That’s an understatement.”
He grinned. “We aren’t compatible. You know that as well as I do. There’s nothing sexual between us. We’re good friends, nothing more.”
Syneda nodded in agreement. “But I wouldn’t be any fun. What if you meet someone while we’re there and want to get it on with them? I’ll just be in the way.”
“Women will be off-limits to me that week. I’ll be on vacation for rest and relaxation, nothing more.”
“Maybe you should get away by yourself.”
Last night he would have agreed with her, but now he didn’t think so. He liked Syneda. She was intelligent, witty, highly spirited and fun to be around, even when she was giving him hell about something. Besides, he could tell by the tone of her voice when she had talked about the case she’d lost that she needed a vacation as much as he did.
“The beach isn’t any fun when you’re by yourself,” he said. “I plan to unwind and relax and have a good time. I want to just chill and do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it.”
“And you think you can do that with me?”
“Yep, just as long as we agree not to talk shop. For one week I don’t want to be an attorney, a player or anyone’s lover. I don’t want any worries or problems. We both need that. I think the two of us going away together is a wonderful idea.”
Syneda still wasn’t easily convinced. She gazed at the man sitting across from her, who was impeccably dressed in an expensive printed tie, Brooks Brothers’ shirt, and a costly dark blue suit.
Like his two older brothers, Clayton Madaris was a good-looking man who possessed sharply defined features. She had noticed those things the first time they had met. She’d immediately taken in his dimpled smile and dark brown eyes. A short beard—something he’d grown since she had last seen him—covered his nut-brown complexion, and his neatly trimmed mustache enhanced his full lips. His broad shoulders and towering height—almost six feet two inches—made him totally masculine. And his charismatic nature was like a magnet that attracted women to him in droves. But what he had said earlier was true. He wasn’t her type, and neither was she his.
In Texas, Clayton had a reputation for being a ladies’ man. And according to his sisters, Traci and Kattie, he kept a huge case of condoms in his closet and used them with as much zeal and vigor as a shoemaker used leather. However, in spite of his more than active love life, she had to admit he did have a few redeeming qualities. He generously spent his free time helping others. He was an active member of Big Brothers of America, and he spent a lot of time doing such noble community services as aiding senior citizens, the homeless and underprivileged kids. He was also a wonderful and adoring uncle to his nieces and nephews.