Page 37 of A Christmas Negotiation

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Are you that upset about the case?”

She sank against his chest, unable to speak. As much as Eden’s had weighed on her as recently as a few minutes ago, that was definitely not what was on her mind.

Mindy appeared in the reception area. “Is everything okay?” She stepped closer, but kept her distance. “Sorry. I’d hug you, but I’m still getting over this cold.”

“Is Summers going to go after the store?” Sam asked.

“I still haven’t talked to Sophie, but it has to be her,” Mindy said. “I don’t completely remember our conversation over the weekend, but I’m pretty sure I told her about the letters. Leave it to her to go to our grandmother’s apartment, find them and leak them to the press.”

Mindy’s explanation was of little consolation. Isabel still felt as though she had let down her new friends. She’d let down their entire family. She’d let down Sam’s wife-to-be. She’d failed in every way imaginable, at least when it came to her legal responsibilities. “I’m so sorry. I really wish I had better news. Summers is just out for revenge. I’m not sure we ever had a chance.”

Sam placed his hands on Isabel’s shoulders. “I know you did your best. Some of this has to be his lawyer. I didn’t like Sharp from the very first meeting. He seems like a real weasel.”

Isabel froze, looking up into her brother’s eyes. Sam’s opinion mattered. It mattered a lot. And she couldn’t allow him to think of Jeremy that way. She also couldn’t keep him in the dark any longer about the full scope of her relationship with him, especially now that it had become infinitely more complicated. “Jeremy’s a good man. He’s caught in an impossible situation. Summers is unreasonable.”

“You have Stockholm syndrome. You were stuck negotiating with that guy. You’ve convinced yourself he’s not that bad.”

“I don’t know about that,” Mindy said.

Sam turned to her. “Don’t you agree?” he asked.

“For Isabel’s sake, I can’t. If she says he’s a good guy, I believe her.”

“Why? This guy is about to destroy your entire family.”

“He’s not going to destroy our family. He might end up being part and parcel of ending our business, but it’s not the same.”

“Wait a minute. Why do I have the feeling you two have talked about him before?” Sam asked. “Am I missing something?”

“We did talk about him. The day we rummaged around in Gram’s apartment.”

Isabel had fond memories of that day, despite the things they’d discovered. She felt closer to Mindy afterward. She felt as though she was becoming part of the Eden family. “We talked about a lot that day.” Isabel loved her brother deeply, and it was time to tell him and Mindy everything. “I need to tell you both something. There’s more going on than just the negotiations breaking down. Jeremy and I are involved,” Isabel whispered.

It wasn’t easy to take Sam by surprise, but he noticeably reared back his head. “Are you serious? Why would you do that? That’s so unprofessional.”

Mindy grabbed both of their arms. “You two. In my office. We can’t have this conversation out here.”

As soon as they were behind a closed door, Isabel confronted Sam. “You’re going to lecture me about professionalism? Seriously? I didn’t even want this job to begin with.”

“Wait. You didn’t?” Mindy asked, incredulous. “I thought you did. Sam, you told me she wanted to help us.”

“She took the job. That was all you needed to know.”

Mindy let out a frustrated grumble. “You can’t keep things like this from me. Isabel is going to be my sister-in-law. We’ve been getting along great and now I find out that the foundation of that is all a lie.”

Isabel reached for Mindy’s arm. “It’s not a lie. As soon as we spent that afternoon together, I knew I was doing the right thing. I wanted to help you and your sisters. I wanted us to be close. That’s why I told you about my thing with Jer...” Isabel stopped herself, but it was too late.

“Whoa. Hold on a minute. You were involved with Jeremy before? I’m so confused. And Min, you knew about this?”

Isabel couldn’t allow Mindy to take heat for this, so she explained that she and Jeremy had a one-night stand before they were involved in the case. Then she told him about the broken condom.

Sam shook his head, holding up both hands. “Enough. I don’t need to hear about that.” He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “So when we met him in his office that day, you guys had already slept together? And you didn’t say a thing to any of us.”

“What was I supposed to do? He had his client and I had mine and none of that was going to change the fact that there was this case standing between us.”

“And now what? Where do you two stand?” Sam asked.

Isabel knew she had to come clean. About everything. “I got pregnant that first night. With Jeremy’s baby. I found out this morning.”