"My parents are dead."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I know how it feels to lose a parent. My dad died a couple of years ago." She acknowledged that with a nod of her head. "How soon after that first meeting did you start dating Shelby?"
"We've never had an actual date." The statement drew a frown of disbelief from Lucky. "It's true. His attorney advised us against being seen together socially. It wouldn't be appropriate for a man on trial to be seen doing the town."
"So the courtship took place under the lawyer's watchful eye? Bet he got a kick out of that," Lucky commented scornfully.
"He isn't a voyeur. After the first couple of meetings he realized he could trust me, that I wasn't there to exploit his client, so he left us alone."
"How convenient."
"Actually it was," she snapped. "We had time to get to know each other."
"I'll bet."
"I realized just how falsely Greg had been accused. He knew that someone in his firm had leaked valuable information to certain clients. Whoever it was had been very clever. He left a trail of evidence pointing directly at Greg. Greg's defense was based solely on his lack of material gain. If he'd committed the crime for profit, where was the profit?"
"Hey," Lucky said, "I'm not the jury. They've already reached a verdict. I'm more interested in you … and Greg, of course."
"As time went on, Greg and I became more emotionally involved."
"Hmm."
"It was difficult to maintain an objective viewpoint."
"No doubt."
"I wanted to defend him myself, so I had to give up writing the articles. They created a conflict of interest that no credible journalist can afford. Greg was upset by that. He hadn't wanted our romance to interfere with my career."
"The free publicity couldn't have been all that bad either."
That comment struck a sore spot. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, nothing," Lucky said tiredly, as though it didn't matter. "So when Shelby popped the question, you said yes?"
"That's right. He asked me to marry him as soon as the trial was over. But I wanted to get married right then."
"Why?"
Yes, why? What had she been out to prove? That she was smarter than his accusers, that she was right in her estimation of him when everyone else was wrong? Or had it gone back to her mother's death a few years earlier? Her mother's earnest claims of being ill still echoed inside her head. Had they overlapped with Greg's avowals of innocence?
"I'm in pain, Devon. Truly. I can't stand it. Please help me."
"I'm innocent, Devon. I swear it. You've got to help me."
She couldn't turn a deaf ear to a desperate person seeking help. Because of what had happened with her mother, her heart was compelled to believe Greg, even when the facts didn't bear out his claims of innocence.
Only later had she realized she'd been duped. She had bought his entire act, swallowed the bait whole, played right into his hands. It was almost as though Greg had crawled inside her head and heard her mother's feeble voice saying the words that haunted Devon. He had known exactly how to manipulate her to pity.
To admit that to Lucky Tyler was unthinkable, however. She continued to defend Greg adamantly, because there was no graceful way out. Besides, he was, legally, her husband. Marriage carried with it responsibilities one didn't just turn one's back on.
In answer to Lucky's question, she perpetuated the myth she had created, even though she knew it to be a justification for her gullibility. "I married him to demonstrate my confidence in his innocence. We were married in a civil ceremony in his lawyer's office."
"So how long between the nuptials and his conviction?"
"Two days. Greg was the only witness his defense attorney called to the stand," she explained. "He was eloquent and sincere. I couldn't believe my ears when the jury returned a guilty verdict."
She closed her eyes. "I can still see the bailiffs moving toward him to take him into custody. Greg looked stricken."