Robert didn’t seem to. “Vivian,” he said, sounding tired, “we’ve been through this before.”

“Not this we haven’t. We need to—”

“No. Now, Sam—”

“There has been a new development,” Vivian growled.

Finally, something seemed to get through to Robert. He blinked and frowned at her.

“Just a few minutes,” she added, and now everybody could hear her plea.

Something deep inside Jules twinged. How could he ignore that note of desperation? Coming from Vivian, it was practically a scream.

“Okay,” he sighed after a moment. “Let’s give it ten minutes, Sam.”

“Robert,” Sam said warningly.

He held up a hand. “Ten minutes, okay? And then we’ll move on.”

Jules was on her feet before he’d finished speaking, gathering her coat and bag with shaking hands, feeling absurdly as if she didn’t want to leave a single trace of her presence behind that might intrude on Vivian’s privacy.

An astonished-looking Preston held the door open for her. He and Sam followed her out of the room.

“What’s going on?” Sam demanded of her as soon as the door shut behind them.

“Don’t answer that,” Preston said at once.

Like Jules needed the instruction. Instead, she shook her head and plopped down into one of the shiny leather chairs beside the door. She could just barely hear the low murmur of voices speaking in normal tones but couldn’t make out any words.

“Come on, Sam,” Preston sighed. “Ten minutes. There’s coffee in my office.”

“I’d prefer Scotch,” Sam said, sounding rueful.

Preston chuckled. “Wouldn’t we all. Julia, would you like to come along?”

Jules shook her head. She didn’t trust them not to try to pry information out of her. Besides, she wasn’t sure her knees would support her right now.

Preston and Sam had barely rounded the corner when the voices inside the room rose in volume, climbing toward shouts.

Her stomach squirmed even more. Okay, she should have gone with the lawyers.

Robert seemed to be doing most of the yelling. Even through the heavy door, Jules could catch tiny snatches and phrases. The one that stuck with her the most was Robert shouting, “—did it on purpose!”

Vivian’s voice said something in reply that Jules couldn’t catch. Probably just as well.

On purpose. She could understand why he’d feel that way. Vivian Carlisle was the most calculating person she had ever met. It made her great at her job and terrible at her personal life. Robert might well believe she’d done this just to trap him in a failing marriage.

But Jules remembered the look on Vivian’s face when she’d come out of that bathroom. Robert was wrong. Maybe she was trying to use the pregnancy to save her marriage now, but there was no way she’d planned this.