To Catch a Thief by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page A

anyway?”
    “All my clients have my cell phone number,” Emma said defensively.
    Lauren removed the offending item from Emma’s grasp. “Which is a really good reason for shutting it off and letting me hang on to it for the rest of the weekend.If you’d like, I can call this client of yours back and tell him that you’ve consulted your schedule and you are tied up in a very important negotiation and can’t see him until the middle of next week. If it’s a real emergency, he can speak to one of the other partners.”
    Emma stared at her in amazement. “You sound so convincing.”
    Gina chuckled. “She is an actress, Emma.”
    Emma shook her head. “Of course, she is. I just can’t quite think of Lauren as anything other than the girl who used to spend the night at my house talking about boys until dawn.”
    “I had to talk about them. I certainly never dated them,” Lauren said.
    “Because you scared them to death. You were the smartest person in our class,” Gina said. “That was very daunting, even to the boys with a B average.”
    “A fat lot of good that’s doing me these days,” Lauren grumbled. “Most of the people I deal with now don’t even realize I have a brain.”
    “Which must mean that they underestimate you,” Emma guessed. “Surely you can use that to your advantage.”
    “Maybe you two can trade services,” Gina suggested. “Lauren can fend off your pushy, inconsiderate clients, and Emma, you can negotiate Lauren’s deals. Nobody ever mistakes you for a pushover.”
    “Not a bad idea,” Lauren said thoughtfully. “But we still haven’t resolved this current situation. Shall I make the call?”
    Emma hesitated. “Let me think about it.”
    Gina thought of what Lauren had said earlier about Emma’s little girl. “Emma, think about Caitlyn. She’s having the time of her life with her cousins and her grandparents. Do you want to spoil that by running home early?”
    Emma blinked at the reminder, proof that she too seldom considered her daughter’s feelings when work was involved. Then she drew herself up. “You’re absolutely right. Lauren, make that call. Tell Mr. Henley that he can contact one of the senior partners if he doesn’t want to wait for me to get back.”
    Lauren beamed at her. “Punch in that number,” she said, relinquishing the cell phone temporarily to Emma.
    As soon as the call had gone through, she stepped away from Emma and Gina, speaking quietly but firmly to the offensive Mr. Henley. After she’d hung up, she came back smiling.
    “He’ll wait. By the way, what was that big emergency, or can’t you say?”
    Emma grinned. “I can’t say, but I can assure you that it wasn’t life or death. Nor were any of his millions at risk.” She reached for her cell phone, but Lauren shook her head.
    “I think I’ll hang on to this, at least for the rest of the night,” she told Emma.
    “But Caitlyn—”
    “If Caitlyn calls, I know where to find you. Otherwise, your new secretary can handle anything that comes up.”
    Gina chuckled. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you, Lauren?”
    “It’s actually rather nice to do something so ordinary. Maybe I should chuck it all and become somebody’s secretary. I have terrific organizational skills.”
    Both Emma and Gina stared at her.
    “Have you lost it?” Gina asked.
    “Okay, maybe not a secretary,” Lauren said. “Organizational skills aside, I’m a little too bossy to take orders well.”
    “An understatement if ever I heard one,” Gina said.
    Lauren sighed. “You know who I really envy? Karen. She has it all. A husband who adores her and a ranch.”
    “Where she works too hard,” Gina pointed out.
    “I guess nothing’s perfect, is it?” Lauren said. She glanced behind Gina. “For example, you have this absolutely gorgeous man staring at you as if you were more tempting than a banana split, and for reasons you refuse to explain, you’re avoiding the guy.”
    All three of them turned to