Under the Italian's Command Read Online Free PDF Page A

with one firm thumb pad. He was still pondering Carly’s inexplicable lapse of memory. Tonight was the Grand Court, a legal ceremonial notorious as the killing ground of pupils. He would have thought she’d be prepared for it. The Grand Court was geared to weed out the weaker members of the bar before they had chance to gain a foothold in the profession. It went without saying that any pupil of his would succeed and pass the test with flying colours —and without any prompting from the sidelines. But on this occasion he wondered if there might be too large a gulf between his expectation and Carly’s performance. He refused to believe she could simply forget, just as he refused to give her an unfair advantage over the other pupils. He felt a little reassured when her determined face flashed into his mind. Of course she had everything in hand. If she hadn’t she’d be squashed like a bug.
     
     
     
    Back in her cubby-hole Carly sat with her head in her hands. There wasn’t a chance she could organise the type of party Lorenzo was expecting on the measly budget he had allowed. Hard work wasn’t enough in this instance. She needed a miracle.
     
    Her head bounced as her eyes fired with inspiration. Of course! Why hadn’t she thought of it sooner? She didn’t have to compete with some glitz and glamour event. All she had to do was land on something bold and different, something novel and unexpected—
     
    And hope she didn’t fall flat on her face.
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
    SLURPING COFFEE without tasting it, Carly continued scribbling notes. The ideas were coming thick and fast now, and driving her hard towards party nirvana was the knowledge that she had less than a week to put everything in place…food, drink, music, decorations, dress—
     
    Dress!
     
    Pushing back from the desk, she yelped in alarm. How could she have forgotten tonight? How could she have forgotten a night as crucial to her career as the Grand Court?
     
    Lorenzo. She blamed him entirely.
     
    He had shot everything from her brain in less time than it took to…
     
    Clear your mind, Carly .
     
    Pressing her fingertips against her temples, she battled hard to erase images of her stern pupil master performing all sorts of pre-sentence examinations on her all too eager and totally irresponsible body.
     
    And failed.
     
    She was doing quite a lot of that recently.
     
    But the Lorenzo effect was a concern for another day. The Grand Court was so important to her future she couldn’t believe it had slipped her mind. Nothing slipped her mind ever.
     
    Before Lorenzo.
     
    The Grand Court was a rite of passage for every pupil barrister, and as such should have taken precedence over everything. And she didn’t have a thing to wear. If there’d been room in her cramped cubby-hole she would have paced up and down. It was too dreadful to contemplate. All the senior lawyers, including Lorenzo, would be attending; there was no getting out of it. And she hadn’t given it a thought.
     
    He’d known that and let her stew?
     
    His sardonic face flashed into her mind. Of course he had.
     
    So she would fight fire with fire. The Christmas party would just have to take a back seat until tomorrow. If she failed the Grand Court she wouldn’t make the Christmas party anyway, Carly thought, grimacing. Plus the golf and bridge clubs would be forced to fly their flags at half-mast, which was out of the question.
     
    Settling back down, she tried to remain calm. The Grand Court was no picnic—unless you took into account the bread rolls flying your way if you messed up. The ceremony was held annually in the vaulted dining hall of one of the ancient Inns of Court. If you failed the test you were a laughing stock, and if you succeeded you could expect no praise. Following centuries of tradition the senior lawyers were expected to heckle the pupils as they stood to make their formal application to join the circuit. There were no rules, no quarter given, and