Description: Spellbinder One AS HE SET HIS THIRD Corona down after taking a long swallow, Evan Lachlan felt Elias Bradshaw looking at him across the table. When he glanced over, there was a quizzical smile on the judge''s face. Lachlan arched a brow in query. "You really don''t know, do you?" Bradshaw asked. "Know what?" He returned his gaze to the fascinating sight of Holly McClure dancing with Susannah Wingfield--yeah, two women, like this was a dyke bar or something. A Bonnie Raitt CD was thundering from the sound system while the band took a break at what Holly swore was the only halfway decent blues bar in New York. And whoever would''ve thought they''d run into Bradshaw and Wingfield at a place like this? An upscale restaurant or exclusive club was more their style--or so Lachlan would have said before getting a good look at Susannah. The prim attorney was surely a sight to behold, a Friday night fantasy (the last thing he''d ever admit to Holly) in black miniskirt, black stiletto heels, and crimson silk shirt with three--count ''em, three --buttons undone. As for the black leather biker-chick jacket that draped the back of her chair ... incredible. He''d seen her legs before, of course, but never this much of them, or in black silk hosiery. And they were well worth looking at. Susannah Wingfield, off-duty. Lachlan shook his head in amazement. He would''ve bet good money that this blonde carbon copy of Audrey Hepburn could never laugh and toss her long hair and sing and shake it like--well, better not go there. He had to work with the lady, after all. Besides, he preferred watching his own lady. Holly was dancing with as much abandon as Susannah, but her moves were sinuous as a cat''s. Above boots with three-inch heels and tight faded Levi''s she wore the blue-and-white baseball jersey that had been Evan''s congratulatory gift on publication of her VillageVoice article, "Property of U.S. Marshals Service." Three inches taller than Susannah''s five-seven, and outweighing her by at least twenty-five pounds, Holly looked chunky by comparison. Then again, anybody but Gwyneth Paltrow would look chunky next to Susannah--who was, to Evan''s discerning eye, too skinny. He liked a woman he wasn''t likely to pulverize in bed if he shifted wrong in his sleep. On the Evan Liam Lachlan Scale, Holly McClure rated an eight in most departments. Plus a ten for the eyes. "You have no idea who she is," Bradshaw''s voice said. "Why, who is she?" Evan asked. Besides the slinkiest thing in this bar. "I''m surprised the subject never came up. I thoughtyou''d been seeing her for several weeks." Bradshaw drank Scotch and leaned back, watching Susannah. "So?" Lachlan prompted. "What? Oh. We had quite a chat about it when she came to the office regarding her research." The judge was enjoying this. The marshal was not. But Lachlan''s voice was silken smooth as he said, "Holly went to that ritzy college with Susannah. You saying that puts her out of my league, Your Honor?" "Not at all," Bradshaw assured him, taking another swallow of Scotch. He looked amused. Lachlan hated that expression on anybody, but especially on Elias Bradshaw. This was not the couple he would have chosen to double-date with. As a U.S. Marshal assigned to judicial protection, Bradshaw was Lachlan''s duty--and sometimes his cross to bear--three days a week. It was Lachlan''s Irish luck that the judge''s clerk was a woman well worth looking at who, moreover, had interesting friends. The weird part was that from a couple of hints Holly had dropped, Susannah and Elias had become an item about the same time he and Holly had. Lachlan knew how the women had met: Susannah the pre-law and Holly the history major were sopranos who had stood right next to each other in the Women''s Chorale. "Susannah can sing?" "Like an angel with a solid gold halo,"Holly affirmed digging her hands into the pockets of her coat. Cold wind off the Hudson ruffled her hair and burned bright color into her skin, emphasizing the freckles across nose and cheekbones. He shook his head in disbelief, then eyed her. "What about you?" "Me? A halo?" She grinned. "God forbid! C''mon. Prove you can sing." "Right here in the middle of Central Park?" He stood back from her, arms folded. "I dare ya." "That, my dear Marshal, was a mistake." And right there in the middle of a frosty Sunday afternoon stroll she ran through the scale up to a note that hit the bare treetops--and then soared on into the sky. Lachlan, aware that people were looking curiously at them, made a grab for her. "Exhibitionist," he growled, and she broke off to laugh as he whirled her around, catching her back against his chest. She leaned her head onto his shoulder, chortling. Wrapping his arms around her, lips buried in russet hair, he hefted her a few inches off the ground. "McClure, behave yourself!" "Oh, do I have to?" He smiled to himself as he drank beer and watched the two women. They shared the same taste in music--and maybe in men, too. Though Lachlan couldn''t see it himself, women did appreciate Bradshaw: the frank appraisal he gave them, the honest enjoyment he took in watching them, the intent way he listened to them. Susannah had certainly fallen for it. She was directing a genuinely fiendish shimmy at her boss right now, laughing. "Okay," Lachlan said, dragging his attention away from the women. "Who is Holly, anyway? Homicidal wacko? Notorious embezzler? Convicted felon?" He spoke with no little amount of sarcasm, knowing none of these was true. Bradshaw''s amused little smirk was really beginning to annoy him. "No, as you''re doubtless aware. I mean you don''t know what her work is, do you?" "She writes." He paused for a swig of beer. "Articles for magazines." Like the ones she''d been doing when she walked into the federal courthouse and his life. Susannah had brought her into chambers about a month ago and introduced her around. The implication was that every cooperation should be given her college friend, who was researching two articles--one on the U.S. Marshals Service ( How original, he''d thought--until he read it in the Village Voice ) and one on Irish Gaelic (linguistic holdovers from the Old Country, slang and the like). Lachlan had taken Susannah''s hint, and was even willing to be nice about it--Holly McClure was a good-looking woman, after all. But he''d been last on her list. The day Susannah brought her in happened to be Lachlan''s birthday--there were cards and gag gifts all over his desk--and he''d thought this would earn him first interview. But Ms. McClure went to lunch with Sophia Osbourne, Bradshaw''s secretary. On Tuesday she lunched with Bradshaw''s other marshal, Pete Wasserman (who preened like a peacock when he left the office and grinned like an idiot when he got back, flatly refusing to reveal what--or whom--they had discussed). Susannah and Judge Bradshaw had also been interviewed, presumably over lengthy meals at pricey restaurants. Lachlan''s venue had been a hot dog stand at about four on a snowy afternoon. Somehow they got to talking about a thousand other topics besides being Irish and being a cop, and moved on to a little cafe for dinner. And then to his apartment. Not that he got anywhere. At 10:30 she fell asleep on his couch while he wasin the kitchen brewing up a pot of coffee. He spent a couple of minutes deciding whether or not to be insulted, then shrugged, covered her with Granna Maureen''s afghan, and went to bed alone. The next morning she was gone before his alarm went off. As he showered and shaved, he wondered if he''d have to chalk her up as One That Got Away. Then his doorbell rang. Not Holly: a delivery boy from the bakery down the street. Bemused, Lachlan accepted a bag of cinnamon-raisin bagels, a gigantic coffee, and a note: Sorry I faded out, but it was a long day and you must be the only person in New York with a comfortable couch! Will you, meet me for dinner tonight so we can finish our interview? You pick the restaurant--my expense account is buying. Tired though she''d been that night, she''d been paying attention to what he said; he''d read the manuscript of the Irish article, and a lot of it had come from him (or, more accurately, Granna Maureen, born in County Meath). By the time Holly showed him the article, they''d been seeing each other for two weeks and sleeping together for one. Not that this had been easy to accomplish. He''d canceled his Friday night date that week even though it was a sure thing, finding himself more interested in a redheaded writer than a blonde graphics designer (even though their last session had been pretty damned graphic). He had every faith he could charm Holly McClure into a sure thing anyway. But when they parted outside O''Kelley''s at one in the morning, he didn''t even rate a good-night kiss. This irked the hell out of him. On Sunday he used the cell-phone number Holly had given him and asked her out dancing for the next evening. First kiss--but nothing else. Not even a second kiss. He signaled his displeasure by not calling her on Tuesday. Wednesday she showed up at Judge Bradshaw''s chambers around quitting time and took him to dinner and a jazz club--a night that ended outside the club at 1:30 a.m. with two discoveries. First, she had a fantastic mouth and incredible hands and knew how to use them. Second, he''d been right--she didn''t wear a bra a

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