Opposites Do Most Certainly Attract!

A force to be reckoned with...

Scarlett balled her hands into fists at the statement, how dared he? Something her grandma was afraid of!? Maybe losing her home? She thought with anger. And to think she'd contacted this man like the grown up she was to talk. He wanted to fight it seemed.

"No, Mr. Valenti, my grandmother isn't afraid of anything. She simply needs to be sure nobody's taking her home away from her. That's all." she said with a forced calm voice yet it was far from what she was feeling. She was seething. Yes, it didn't take much to tick her off and for her twenty seven years, she'd never found a way to curb the reaction.

"She just got her formidable granddaughter lawyer on the case? I find that hard to believe. And, she has enough reason to worry, that house belongs to me." the deep and sexy Italian voice went on, "But, I'm prepared to 'talk' in a way, find a way to help her let go of it without much consequence." he finished arrogantly, obviously oblivious of how much Scarlett wanted to strangle him. How arrogant! How pompous!

Scarlett seethed, " As it hasn't yet been proven, Mr. Valenti, the house isn't yours. And, please refrain from speaking about my grandmother like you know her." she had to get that out. " How would you like to 'talk'?" she asked in light of his earlier statement.

There was a momentary pause on the other side of the line, had he disconnected? She was just about to say 'hello' when, " I think this is something that should be done in person, after all, it's quite delicate. When can you be available?" the Italian asked and Scarlett fought for the hundredth time not to feel like he was asking her out. Damn it. He was so annoying.

"I had booked a flight to Italy as soon as possible, I could meet your lawyer or team or whoever tomorrow? Say at 10am?" she said checking her watch to see what the time was.

"That won't be necessary, Ms. Kane because my lawyer isn't available at the moment. " Valenti said, sounding so rich and pompous and annoying.

"So who am I supposed to meet with?" she asked with an even calmer voice, wow, she was getting good at this, Scarlett thought seethingly.

"Myself, of course. I think I'd represent my needs best - what do you think?" his husky accented voice asked and Scarlett wasn't sure if he was still talking about the house. That was impossible though, she'd never seen him and he'd never seen her, he couldn't possibly be flirting with her.

"By all means, Mr. Valenti. " she said with her very professional voice, "It'd be great to get this misunderstanding out of the way."

"Oh, it's not a misunderstanding, Ms. Kane, it's an injustice. One that has gone on for too long. I intend for that to change of course."

Scarlett Kane was a successful lawyer for numerous reasons. The biggest of these reasons being, she was never intimidated, ever. And if Valenti thought a few statements will have her running and crying to her grandma to tell her the house wasn't theirs, then he was in for a really long wait. In short, it was never going to happen.

"Of course, Mr. Valenti. See you when you get here!" she said with a deceivingly cheerful voice and hung up. Gahh! The gall of the man! And he was so sure and confident the house belonged to him. Talking to her like he was speaking to some lowly servant! She was going to teach him a lesson he'd never forget when he got to Manhattan because she wasn't called 'formidable' for nothing. Lawyers trembled when they learnt they were up against her and she enjoyed every minute of it because she was that good! Valenti should pray it didn't get to that because he'd lose. Badly.
But wait, when had he said he was coming? Had he said when he would be coming? Damn it.
She hadn't been listening.

Knock knock!

"Come in, Jenny." she said without even looking up, she was sure it was her two year personal assistant and somewhat friend.
The twenty four year old smiled, "You're never going to believe who's here!" she gushed in excitement. In a purple high waist knee-length skirt, peach long sleeved blouse, hair held back in a ponytail and sky high heels, Jenny embodied exactly what Scarlett wanted her female employees to look like. Professional like hell.

Scarlett took off her reading glasses and waited, she would speak eventually. She could never help it.
"Daniel Hemsworth!" she squealed like a teenager and opened her eyes wide, probably waiting for Scarlett to scream as well. It didn't happen. She had no idea who Daniel Hemsworth was, and she didn't scream. Ever.

Jenny blinked at Scarlett in disbelief, "You don't know who he is? Oh my God. That's not even legal. Everybody knows who Daniel -"

"Jenny, please just tell me why he's here, OK?" Scarlett said boredly, quickly wanting to prepare whatever she needed to put Valenti in his place and for that, she needed time.

"Well," here Jenny drew out the 'well' while Scarlett waited, yes, she was suddenly very patient, could be that talk she had with her mom a while back about her temper. "Daniel being the playboy he is unfortunately hooked up with the wrong model this time! She's demanding he pay for services rendered with his family house in Cheshire county! She insists they agreed, he says he didn't know he was hooking up with someone he had to pay to sleep with him. Plus, he may have been intoxicated the last night he was with her because he signed over the deed of the house to her over a game of polka."

Scarlett heard only one word, 'Cheshire'. What was it with houses over there and people wanting to steal them?! " Damn it. Let him in." she said, because somehow, she felt how he felt about his house being under threat from an outsider. And, what was with playboys and models?!
Jenny squealed again as she went to fetch Daniel Hemsworth leaving Scarlett sighing - this was going to be a very long day.
When was she going to get time to do as much research as she could on the Valentis? Damn it.

"Ms. Kane." a deep voice said from the doorway startling Scarlett into looking up. Woh! OK, Jenny had been a hundred percent right to squeal. This was Daniel Hemsworth?! No wonder he was a much sought after... Wait, what was he again?

"Mr. Hemsworth. Please come in." she said in her most professional voice because seriously, Daniel Hemsworth was hot! No wonder it wasn't legal not to know him.
She stood up and moved away from her desk to shake his hand forgetting that when she sat, her mid thigh length skirt rode up - the direction of Daniel's gaze reminded her. She wasn't going to pull it down - too embarrassing.
Daniel took her hand and held it for a while, looking deep into her eyes with a slow smile, " Your beauty and prowess as a lawyer are legendary, Ms. Kane, or can I call you, Scarlett?"

Pause. Big pause.

This guy was here because his family home was under threat, because he'd slept with the wrong model, and possibly because he'd gambled it away at a casino somewhere. In short, because he could not not hit on anything with legs. Was he seriously hitting on her as well?! Really?! He hadn't learned?!

She took back her hand and walked to her desk, sitting down she said, "Ms. Kane will do just fine. Please have a seat." and that was the end of what she thought she'd felt when he'd just walked in. Not a new occurrence of course. She was used to it by now, no man could do. Even when she'd tried really hard not to be prejudiced, she'd failed. She just found fault with every single guy she met. Plus maybe the minor fact that her dad had been a playboy as well and had left her mom the moment she'd told him she was pregnant, and married a Russian socialite who had way more money than her mom's English family. Interesting how lasting some of these scars could be - her mom after all those years had just found someone else when Scarlett was 20. And Scarlett had been left with a lasting lesson -never trust  a man. Even when they scream out their love for you on top of a mountain and ask you to marry them - Thanks, Scott. She grimaced as she remembered her treacherous ex-fiancé who'd almost cost her her career.
Lesson learned, Scarlett, lesson learned.

Looking at Daniel Hemsworth, she smiled and asked, "How can I help you today?" praying she didn't lecture him first on how to not be such a he - goat. He had got himself into this mess after all!
Daniel wasn't even listening, his gaze was fast burning a hole into her lips. Scarlett sighed, it was time she shocked him into reality and maybe some morals, "Mr. Hemsworth! I'm going to be straight with you. You're in trouble. Big big trouble. And if that model doesn't take that house, she's going to have you pay a very very big price for it. Now, normally, I don't take on such cases but, I'll make an exception for you, for reasons best known to myself. Before we start though, I'll need all your attention," she paused for effect while meeting his gaze head-on, "so don't even think about getting anywhere with me, are we clear?"

Daniel was shocked to say the least if his startled blue eyes said anything. Good. Now he was listening. He even sat up straight and cleared his throat. She continued, "Now, I need to know everything there is about this model because we're taking her down."
He started talking.

The picture is of Scarlett's office.