Justice

by Karen Robards

Book 2 in the Jessica Ford series, published 2011

Publisher: Gallery Books

Feisty criminal attorney Jessica Ford has done her best to comply with the orders of the Secret Service’s unofficial witness protection program ever since she became the lone witness to the First Lady’s murder. Unfortunately, winning her first high-profile case for a prestigious Washington, D.C., law firm, subsequently landing her face all over the news, is not exactly “keeping a low profile.” Or so says hunky Secret Service agent Mark Ryan, whose newest assignment is keeping her safe at all costs. It just so happens he’s also her ex-boyfriend.

The trial earns Jess a permanent spot on the firm’s legal defense team, replacing an associate who eloped and never came back. But Jess’s mind has raced from the moment the prosecution’s star witness shocked the courtroom with a revelation involving the handsome son of a powerful U.S. senator. Was the pretty young mother intimidated into changing her story on the stand? Why won’t she return Jess’s calls? Did Jess’s predecessor really just abandon her successful career? Or did both women mysteriously disappear?

After Mark rescues Jess from an attack outside her apartment, she begins to consider the possibility that she is a target. Maybe it’s not so bad to have her irresistibly charming and hard-bodied former lover around for protection. The question is, which of the many inadvertent enemies Jess has made recently is he protecting her from? The investigation leads her to some startling coincidences—and to a teenage runaway who may just hold the missing link…if Jess can find her.