Balancing Act. Laura Browning

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      “What?” he barked. She’d already begun to realize some of his tone was sheer reaction to having his concentration broken.

      Tessa kept tight control over her nervousness. She had yet to ask him for anything.

      “I need to leave at lunchtime today.”

      Seth regarded her out of hooded eyes. “You’re free to do as you please with your lunch hour.”

      Tessa shifted. “I’m sorry. I expressed myself badly. I mean I will need to leave for the day.”

      “You know I’ve got that one o’clock that I canceled last week, and I need you to take notes. It will have to wait.” A note of impatience threaded through his voice.

      Tessa felt like a child being raked over the coals, but outside she was as cool and composed as ever.

      “It’s a personal matter, sir. It came up without much warning. I have to go to court. It’s a custody hearing for my little brother.”

      Seth leaned back in his chair and crossed one long, elegant leg over the other as he regarded her. “You currently have custody?”

      “Yes.”

      “Who wants him?”

      Tessa raised one eyebrow at him, but somehow she knew she shouldn’t be surprised he asked such a personal question. If he wanted information, he wouldn’t let the fact he might be prying get in the way.

      “Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin,” she said. “Kathleen is my mother’s older sister.”

      “What happened to your parents?”

      Tessa avoided his gaze and looked out the window. “They were killed in a car accident a little over a year ago. I have custody, but no access until I’m twenty-five to the trust fund my stepfather left for Zach. You see, they didn’t expect it to be a problem.”

      “But it is one.” His voice lost its inquisitorial tone and revealed only concern. The sudden change took her off-guard.

      She nodded.

      “Sit down, Tessa.”

      She sat. Seth being nice threatened to dissolve her composure with far greater ease than his usual taciturn manner ever could have.

      “Is it money?” he asked “Do you not have enough?”

      Tessa shook her head. “I make more than enough to support Zach and me. I even make enough now I can send Zach to a school where he can get help with his learning disability.”

      “Then what’s the issue?”

      Tessa hesitated. She was still reluctant to air the family laundry. She started to tell him it was none of his business, but Seth being understanding was a lot harder to withstand. In fact, he was impossible to withstand.

      “It’s Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin. They don’t want Zach. They want access to his trust fund, which they would have if they had custody right now. I can only access it when I reach the age of twenty-five–or by getting married. Since my getting married isn’t a factor, they’ve been working to prove I can’t take care of Zach, trying to split us up before I come of age.”

      Her voice broke at the end of the last sentence, the stress getting the best of her. She bit her bottom lip to stop it from trembling. As Seth continued to regard her, Tessa curled her fingers into fists.

      “May I go?”

      “To the hearing or away from me?” His voice was gravelly.

      Tessa darted a glance at him, catching a soft expression on his face that was unexpected. Her nervousness left as fast as it had come. She smiled. “Both.”

      Seth studied her. “Reschedule the supplier again. I’ll go with you.”

      “There’s no need,” she began, but he ignored her.

      “What time do we leave?”

      Tessa sighed in resignation. “Noon.”

      When Seth emerged from his office with his suit jacket on right before noon, Tessa was waiting on him. She followed him without thinking right to the elevator. As the doors opened and he entered, she darted a glance at the stairwell door.

      “Well?” he prompted. “Let’s go.”

      Tessa stepped in and over to the far side, away from Seth’s looming form. As the doors slid shut, her breathing tightened. This was a mistake. All she could do was stare at the doors as they hissed together. Although she knew it wasn’t logical, her heart beat faster in fear the doors wouldn’t open again. The elevator lurched into its descent, and Tessa fought back the roaring in her ears.

      “Tessa? Are you all right?”

      She clutched the polished wooden wall rail and nodded without looking at him. No way was she going to admit to this man she was petrified of any tight spaces. Mercifully the elevator was an express that went straight from Seth’s floor to the lobby below.

      Seth took her elbow without a word and led her out to his black SUV. He helped her into the passenger seat before going around to the driver’s side. Tessa’s breathing eased and her heart quit racing.

      * * * *

      “Why did you get on the damn elevator if you’re claustrophobic?” Seth snapped as he keyed the ignition. Did he really intimidate everyone to the point they would fail to mention a fear on the level of a phobia? “All you had to do was say something. We could have taken the stairs.”

      “I’m sorry,” Tessa said. “I didn’t think. It won’t happen again, Mr. Barrett.”

      Seth raked one hand through his hair and pressed his lips together, biting back the need to tell her to stop being so damn polite. He’d seen her eyes flash a couple of times when he’d baited her, so he knew there was a temper tamped down in there somewhere beneath her ice queen exterior. He scowled at her. “Where are we going?”

      “Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in Alexandria.”

      “I know it. What about your brother? Do we need to pick him up from somewhere?”

      “My attorney’s bringing him,” she replied, already distracted, it would seem, by what lay ahead.

      When they arrived at the courthouse, Seth steered Tessa away from the elevators and up the stairs. She had looked ready to pass out, and she didn’t need to go through that again right before going into court. He glanced at her as she climbed the steps. His office was on the ninth floor of a ten-story building. Did she tackle nine flights every day? It would account for her shapely legs and derriere, some of the first things he’d noticed about her aside from that hair. It burned with highlights so fiery he wondered sometimes if he would singe his fingers if he touched a lock.

      When they reached the top of the stairs, a slender redheaded boy stared in their direction. Seth would have known the little boy was Tessa’s brother even if he hadn’t come sprinting down the hall toward her.

      “Tessa!”

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