Attorney Charles Barnett thought it was all over for him and his heart. In the three years since his partner died, he hasn't felt so much as a spark of attraction to another man. That suddenly changes when Charles is assigned a new case and meets his new client.<br><br>Recent widower Philip d'Autremont has been traveling in all the same circles as Charles, but somehow they've never managed to meet. Now that they have, both men find themselves falling hard and fast.<br><br>But there's more than one hurdle to Charles and Philip beginning a love affair, much less maintaining it: Philip is on trial for murder, a politically ambitious and homophobic district attorney is determined to convict him, and Charles is responsible for Philip's defense.

Trial

BY THE SECOND week of December, Charles and I began to feel the need for distraction and/or diversion, both of us being painfully aware that the trial was only a little more than two weeks away. He arrived home from work a little earlier than usual one afternoon while I was still at my desk. He came into the study and wrapped his arms around me from behind.


“Be careful you don’t step on his highness’ tail,” I said. “Every time I roll this chair from one side to the other, I fear the worst, but so far we’ve managed to avoid disaster.”


“Got it covered. Dogs want nothing more than to be as close to their humans as they can possibly get, and he seems to regard you as just as much his human as I am.”


“We have bonded, haven’t we, boy?” I said to Lance.


Lance looked up at us from his spot under my chair—he knew he was being talked about.


Chapter 80