Sherman Archer was feeling good about his trip to DC. A vacant seat had opened up as a sitting judge, and he’d been recommended for the job. He wasn’t sure that he wanted it, but he was looking forward to seeing what they had to offer.

FBI Agent Marcia Hammond was in charge of the nine candidates for the four vacant positions for sitting judges. She made a point to meet each candidate personally before the testing began. Sherman was the last man to arrive, and his familiarity with the President and Vice President didn’t sit well with her. He was infuriatingly handsome and—nice. In her line of business, men weren’t nice unless they had an agenda.

Sherman just couldn’t figure Marcia out, but he was enjoying pissing her off more than he should….

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Merce was a go-getter. She ran a contracting company with her father, and when she saw something that needed to be done, she did it. Archer’s company had a new product that needed to be produced, and Merce knew her company was in a perfect position to fulfill that order. She just didn’t understand why they weren’t on the list for consideration. She’d see about that.
Del was exhausted. The banging on his front door in the middle of the night was beyond infuriating. He didn’t bother getting dressed to answer it. If whoever was at the door didn’t like it, then so be it. That’s what they get for being so rude. In all his naked glory, Del threw open the front door. Merce didn’t skip a beat in getting right to the point of her visit. The sparks fly as two stubborn souls clash for the first time….

When Heather Grey received the phone call from Merce Archer that her brother was dead, she wasn’t surprised, but when her sister-in-law, Judy Grey, claimed to be pregnant with her brother’s child, Heather knew better than that. There was no way in hell that child was his. Heather decided right then and there that she’d go to the small town and set things straight.

Peter Archer was acting as the Archer family’s attorney. He was looking into the possibility that an employee of theirs, Judy Grey, had embezzled money from one of the business owner’s personal accounts.

When Heather stormed into their lives, bringing her mentally challenged aunt with her, demanding Judy be investigated for her brother’s death, Peter was captivated with her. And when Heather said they came as a package deal, Peter didn’t hesitate because, from the moment he kissed her, his life had changed forever.

Elizabeth Monroe moved from Chicago to a small town in Ohio to live with her grandda, Bingo. He owned the construction company updating Peter’s house. Elizabeth was helping out until she could take her medical boards to transfer her license to Ohio.

Nothing was going right for Tally. Her brother was threatening to sell his kid off again if she didn’t pay up. She was afraid he’d do it this time, too, if she didn’t come up with the money. Now, the neighbors were fighting again. When the gun next door went off, Tally took a bullet. William Archer was already in a bad mood. The woman had taken a bullet for him, then slammed the door in his face. He would help her, and that would be the end of it.

The entire family had been trying to marry him off, and the last thing he wanted was a wife. He made no bones about it, either. Tally didn’t like him much, either. And when he implied that the situation with her brother and her nephew was her fault and she should have done more, she knocked him on his butt. Realizing too late that he might have been a little harsh, William scrambled to rectify the situation, but Tally wasn’t having any of it

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Happy Reading,

Sherman was feeling good about this trip he was taking to Washington, DC. Whatever was going to happen, he thought that he was about as prepared as one could be ingoing to see an FBI agent about whatever she wanted. Because he knew full well that he
could and would say no to something that was offered to him, and he didn’t want to do it.

That was honestly the only reason that he was here today. Sherman felt empowered by that ability. The only thing that bothered him was the fact that he really didn’t have any idea what was going to happen once he was there. Yes, he knew he was going to be asked to be a sitting judge. That much had been made clear to him when Agent Marcia Hammond had called him to tell him of the passing of a sitting judge. The death of The Honorable Attorney General Brant Kent,
who had passed away about a week ago, now had put his name in for his replacement.

But was this a permanent position? Or was he only going to be doing it until they found someone more qualified for the job? Either way, he didn’t care. It would be a good gig, as his grandda said, for as long as it lasted. Not that, at this point, did he know if he was going to take it or not. He was asked to wait in front of one of his favorite places to get something to eat for someone to come and pick him up. His car was in long-term parking, so he wouldn’t have to worry about it being towed for just staying in one spot. While standing in line to get him a snack to hold him over, he was tapped on the shoulder. Turning around slowly, not sure who would know him other than the agent, he laughed when it was his good family friend, Gilbert. The hug settled his nerves almost as well as his mom would have.

“You couldn’t have been but a few minutes ahead of me when I left the house. How did you get here so quickly?” He told him. “Yes, well, I guess having flown herein the jet would have saved me time, too, but William and Tally have it today. They’re on their honeymoon, as you know.”“Nice couple. I like that little one, Clay, too. Do you suppose they’ll be coming back with their own announcement in a few days?” Someone cleared their throat, and Gilbert turned.

“Darn it, young man, I nearly forgot why I was here. Sherman, I’d like
to introduce you to Agent Marcia Hammond. Marcia, this is the young man I was telling you about.”“Whatever he said, it’s more than likely not true.” He put out his hand and she stared at it rather than take it. Sherman wasn’t even offended. More amused than anything.
“You don’t want to start off being rude, do you, Agent?

Since I’ve come all this way at your request, the least you can do is take my hand.”“I would like to get this over with. And the sooner we get to the office, the sooner it can be done.” She finally took his hand when he didn’t move his extended hand back to his side. “Mr. Archer, Vice President, a car is waiting for us.” She turned on her heel so
quickly that he wondered why she didn’t fall. Sherman looked at Gilbert.

“Nice lady. Does she bite or just snarl all the time? Or is this one of her better days?” Gilbert laughed. “She’s the one that set this up. I could have just stayed home if she didn’t want me to be here.”
“You could have, but then we’d not get to have some fun, you and I. AgentHammond is a little put out because I know you better than she’s been able to dig up on you. Which was nothing at all, so you know.” Sherman did know that, but it was nice to have it confirmed. The two of them started walking toward the front of the airport as Gilbert continued talking. “There are nine other applicants that she will be testing today. I believe you to be the best person for the job, but I have no say in this. Had it been up to me, I would have asked you to do it, and that would have been the end. But she is a stickler for rules. Pretty little thing but stubborn as a mule when she is assigned a job.”

“That must make her a good agent, I would think.” Gilbert nodded. “And so you know, Gilbert, calling her pretty is an understatement. She’s absolutely gorgeous. Uptight but a stunning woman. I wonder if, at any time in her adult life, anyone has heard her laugh? Or, for that matter, gotten a date with her more than once?” “I don’t know, but I don’t know that I’d mess with her. To be honest, she frightens me a bit.” Then he laughed. “I think you’re right. That all would work in one’s
favor if she were assigned to watch over someone. Yes, I think you’re right about that.”

When they reached the car, Marcia was standing next to it with her arms crossed over her breasts and tapping her foot. He might have laughed at her if she hadn’t been armed. He wasn’t stupid. If nothing else, his sisters-in-law taught him not to mess with a pissed-off woman. They fought dirty and for blood. But he simply slid into the awaiting limo and didn’t say a word after she got in ahead of Gilbert.
“We’ll drop you off then, sir?” Gilbert asked Marcia if she minded if he came along to meet the others. “No, sir. I do work for you, sir. I’ll do whatever you wish of me.”

“I’d like to ride along then. I’ve not seen this young man in some time. And I’d like to catch up with him.” They talked for most of the journey, but Sherman kept his eyes on the young woman. She was indeed extremely beautiful and even dressed as she
was, black suit, tie, and white blouse with a gun at her hip. She was very sexy as well. Sherman had a feeling that she wanted to say more when she told Gilbert that he could do as he wished, but she bit her lower lip. He didn’t know why, but he had a feeling that he was going to enjoy being around the woman. If for no other reason than
to see if he could tip her over the edge of her apparent tightly held anger. Because there was little doubt that she was about as angry with him and the VP as he’d seen a young woman.

“Why don’t you tell me what I’m here for, Marcia. That might take the edge off your being so pissed off.” She glared at him, and Sherman couldn’t help it. He laughed.“I have five brothers, four sisters-in-law, and a mother that glare much better than you do, Marcia. How about you try and take it down a couple of notches, and we talk.”
“It’s Agent Hammond.” He nodded but knew he was going to call her anything but Agent the entire time he was here. Her tight control was amusing to him. And he only then realized that she was a challenge he wanted to conquer. “We’re testing attorneys to see if we can find a few to run the seats that have been opened of late. The testing will take most of the rest of the day since we’re running behind now and into
tomorrow. After that, we’ll weed out the ones that didn’t do well enough and go on to the second step. That would be an interview with the President and Vice-President that will take a bit of time, too, with each person that makes it that far will need to be interviewed separately. Which I’m assuming, if you make it that far, won’t need to
happen for you since you seem to be on good working terms with them now.”

“I’m not. On good working terms. They’re friends of the family going back as far as my mom and Gilbert here going to school together. And as such, my family avoids politics when we’re all together. As in, we never talk about it unless it’s just between the family. Outsiders, such as Gilbert, would be at our home would be…how shall I say
this? Extremely discouraged. Yes, that’s it. Extremely discouraged from bringing up or talking about anything and everything political. Which isn’t all that often now that they’re both in office.” He watched her face. “You’re confused.”“I was told that you were a working attorney.” He said that he could be when he was pressed. “All of your brothers are, but two of you are working attorneys. Correct?”
We are qualified attorneys. Yes, at least four of us are. However, we’ve since decided that it’s not a job that we enjoy any longer. Especially since my brother Peter was shot one day in the courtroom while defending someone. It still gives us all nightmares since not only was he hurt, but a lot of other people were hurt, too.

Including the judge. You remember Judge Antonia Hathaway, Tori to her friends, don’t you?” She said that she had seen the reports on that shooting. It should never have happened. “No, it shouldn’t have, but it did. And I’m sure that it will happen again. I just hope that we’re just as lucky again when it does.”“You don’t trust the system.” He told her that she was making assumptions and that wasn’t a good thing to do with him. “Do you? Trust that the system will improve rather than let something like that happen again?”“No. I don’t trust people who think that something like that won’t happen when there is always someone out there that is going to try and make it happen simply because someone said it wouldn’t.” She was still confused. “Let’s agree to disagree, Marcia, and move on. What sort of tests will I be taking with the others you’ve brought in?”

As she explained to him what the tests were about, he listened with half an ear. Some of the tests she was talking about seemed a little over the head of most attorneys she knew. But then, he’d never been asked to take over the judgeship before, so this could be something that was standard across the board. The interview process, he supposed, he could see that needed to be done. But as far as the kind of tests, hyped-upstate board testing that he and all other attorneys had to take when becoming an attorney seemed just a little over the top. But then, he wasn’t in charge.“After this first day is finished up, there will be a meet and greet at the WhiteHouse tonight. There will be trays of food as well as an open bar. That way, you get to meet the rest of the people that will be testing with you. It’s formal.

I do hope that you brought more than just jeans and a tie?” He told her he had a suit that had been dropped off at the hotel where he was staying along with his other things. “Good. I should have mentioned that sooner, but I have a great deal on my plate at the moment.
Me being in charge of this testing was last minute.” When she glanced at Gilbert, he did as well.“There are going to be some changes soon that will affect a great many people. Good changes, we believe. Nothing you have to worry about right now, my boy. However, if you’d not mind, after this little party is over with, I’d like to have a word or two with you. Nothing bad, I promise, but some questions that I have on that man, Washer. There are a few things that I think I can help you with to keep him out of your hair.

He’s a nasty sort of man, isn’t he? I’m glad that his young son is out where he can be safe. I’m to understand that one of your brothers has adopted him.” He said he’d enjoy talking about whatever he needed from him. And then explained that his brother William and his new wife had adopted him. “Good. Good. Also, I don’t know if Marciahere has mentioned it or not, but tomorrow you’ll be fed breakfast with the president. Try to act as if you don’t know him as well as you do. Me either, for that matter. I know that you won’t, but I just need to have that put out there so that you’ll understand if we’re a little put off toward you in the morning.”“I can do that. I can see the need for it as well. But I do thank you for the heads up and reminder.” When the limo came to about one of the smoothest stops he’d ever felt, he waited for someone to move. “Are we here?”

“Yes. You and Marcia get out. I’m going to need to hang back a bit here. Don’twant to make things seem as if they’re impartial. I didn’t take a ride with the other candidates when they got here. Also, I’m to tell you that when you’re finished, the government will be picking up your bill for the hotel as well as any meals you don’t
have with the group.” When his door opened, Sherman got out. Then he put his hand out to help out Marcia.

He knew that she didn’t want to take it. Gilbert was laughing hard at something he heard, apparently. Smiling when he was able to escort the beautiful woman to the door, she stopped so suddenly that he bumped into her from behind. Perhaps he did bump a little harder than he needed to, but it was just too much fun to see her all flustered as she was.“I’m not one of your debutants you can manhandle all the time. Will you please back away from me and give me some breathing room? And behave yourself.” He told her that he’d never dated a deb before, and she was the one that had stopped.

“I want you to stop being nice to me right now.” Sherman couldn’t help it. He tossed back his head and laughed. He knew he was pissing her off, but he just couldn’t help it. “Did you just say that? For me to, I don’t know, be mean to you? My mother would have my head on a pike if I did that, and she heard about it. And trust me when I tell you, Marcia, my mother hears and knows everything. I don’t know what I’ve done or said since we have only just met an hour ago, but I’m sorry for whatever I’ve done to upset you to the point where you’re barking and being pissy all the time.” He moved some of her lovely hair from her mouth and smiled at her. “You’re very lovely.

I bet somewhere deep inside of you that is a very wonderfully nice woman just waiting to come out. Is she?”“No.” She realized when he did that she shouted. He could see the embarrassment on her face when she looked around them. When she turned back to him, Sherman knew that he’d done enough. She was more than just a little bit angry.
She was also very upset. “No, I’m not a nice person. I can’t be because of what I am. You don’t get to my position by being nice, pretty, or even smarter, even though you know you are smarter than the man standing next to you. Or letting people, men like you, walk all over them. I need to be professional. Hard and rude, or they’ll be on me
like flies on a dead body. Do you understand?”

He stared at her for several seconds before nodding at her. “I’m sorry that this world and your position make it so difficult for you to be a woman. I’m doubly sorry that you have to pretend to be such a hard ass that it makes you push away people who might well like to get to know you. You nor any other woman in any position deserves
to be treated like what my grandda calls a bimbo.” He looked around before kissing her quickly on the mouth. “However, I’m made of sterner stuff and don’t scare all that easy. I’ll tell you right now that I’d like to see you dressed up in heels and nothing else.”

He opened the door for her and waited while she stared at him. He couldn’t read her face, not yet on this, at any rate. Sherman had a feeling that she’d been hurt and hurt badly by someone, more than likely a man. It made him want to find the person and beat the shit out of them in the way of teaching them a lesson. When she didn’t move into the doorway, he still waited, asking her if he’d done something wrong. Again. She shook her head and went into the building with him right behind her. Having a feeling that doing that small act of kindness, the gentlemanly thing had both surprised and confused her. There was something about this woman that was both frustrating and fascinating at the same time. And Sherman was excited to get to know them both.
She led him to a room that had to be badged into. After opening the door, she pointed for him to go in ahead of her. Since he didn’t know what was going on norwhere they were going, he did just as she asked.

The room, a very large conference room was bright with sunlight and rich natural colors. But it was a room for business right now. The room was lined with a single table down the middle. There were three men and one woman on the left and two women and two men on the other. Sherman sat at the head of the table that was closest to him. He hadn’t been one to do what others did in school, and he wasn’t going to take sides today. Besides, he’d always found that sitting at the end or head of a table would allow him more room. He was a big man and didn’t want to feel squashed in doing whatever was going to happen now. When Maria stood at the front of the table opposite from him, she glared at him for a moment before handing out the files she had to everyone at the table.

“This is a timed test. Do not open it until I say so, please. Once you are finished with the test, you can hand it to me and then leave the room by the door that you came into here. There will be aides beyond this door that will guide you to where you might wish to go. Either to the bathroom or down to get something to eat. The cafeteria will
have a place marked off for the group of you to sit where you can talk among yourselves but not intermingle with the other staff members that are here.” He raised his hand. “Yes, Mr. Archer.”

“Will we be able to have a bottle of water while in this room? I tend to get thirsty while working.” Which wasn’t a lie. Sherman knew that he could drink a case of water in a day while going over reports for his family. She told him that there was a cooler behind him where he could get drinks from. “Thank you so much.”When he got up to get his drink, so did most of the other people. He didn’t mind taking the lead in things like this or any other thing that he was involved in. However, if
someone had more experience than he did, he would gladly relinquish the lead to them. Getting the access to water or anything else was something that he had always felt that he was born to do. Ask questions when others would not. He did wonder how long the
others might have sat there before asking for something to drink. Once they were seated, he stood again to pick up the box of pencils that were about a foot from him and took two out of the box before handing the entire box to the man next to him to be passed along.

Marcia also told them that since the test was timed that if they didn’t know the answer, to move on. That way, if time allowed it, they could go back to the question and work on it more. If Sherman didn’t know the answer to a question on a test, he would guess rather than go back. Also, he never looked over his answers or second-guessed himself. It would cause him all kinds of anxiety if he did. By the time the tests were all handed out, he had asked for and received scrap paper to make notes on, napkins for the water bottles, and the fan turned on in the room.

One other person, a woman from the left side, asked if she was able to take her jacket off and put it back on if the room became cooler. Jackets of the others came off immediately in the stuffy room.
Getting his test from Marcia, when she handed it to him face down, he didn’t touch it until she said to start. After getting the file open, Sherman never looked up again unless it was to stretch his neck or to drink some water to quench his thirst. It was time to get down to serious business, he told himself as he filled out the top portion of
the test with his personal information.

have too much fun at her expense if she would have asked him to move to the side. Marcia didn’t have a file on the people here as she normally would when working on a case. Other than their names with a recent license photo, she knew nothing about any of the candidates. She had learned very little about them, too, when she was with them, bringing each of them to this place, one at a time, so that she could
get a feel for them, with the exception of Sherman Archer.

The only one she didn’t like, and she was sure that it was all on her, she supposed, was Mr. Jack Widmer. He was too touchy-feely if she was honest. Before pulling out her gun and telling him once again to keep his hands to himself, she saw that he was like that with other men too. Mostly while shaking hands with him, he’d touch their shoulders. Put his hand on their back and sometimes lead them away. To her, it was too much. Shifting in her seat to get a more comfortable position, she winced when she hung herself again. Being shot two weeks ago had put her out of commission for a while. She still had three weeks more to go before she was able to show up at her desk. Then another month, if she was lucky before she could go out on assignments again. Being shot wasn’t anything that she was pleased with herself about, but it was part and parcel of the job that she had as an FBI agent.

The first person done with their test was one of the women. She didn’t look pleased with herself. Simply sealing the test with the acquired strip of papers, they both signed off on it as well as Marcia put the time too. There was still an hour left to go, and she wondered why she’d not worked on the test more. As it was none of her business, she put the test away and pointed to the door. After she got up, Sherman was the second to leave. Marcia happened to have her eyes on him when he simply closed up the booklet and got up. No checking his answers or any other thing that one might do when taking a fill-in letter for the answer test. It was the way that she did things too. No second guessing. If the answer that you put on there was the one you thought it was, there was no point in changing your mind now.

Three others followed Sherman out after they sealed their tests with her. She was somewhat disappointed that Sherman didn’t speak to her, but then, she had warned them all about talking while others were testing. As soon as the timer went off on her computer, she had the last three close their tests and put their pencils down. The two women and one man seemed very disappointed. In what? She had no idea.
Gathering the tests up, Marcia handed them off to the courier that was waiting on them. After signing off on the paperwork that came with sending it to the facility that would mark the tests, she made her way to the building’s basement to grab some lunch. Again, she was disappointed to not see Sherman with the others. Counting them
all, she noticed that two people were missing. Sherman and one of the women.

Before she could convince herself that he was off with another woman, not even understanding that herself when she thought of it, the woman came back alone but for her aide with her. She’d been to the bathroom, Marcia assumed. It really was beginning to bother her that she was so curious to know what Sherman was up to all the time. Giving herself a good hard mental shake, she ate her small meal by herself at one of the many open tables. At precisely one o’clock, the aides with each of the candidates gathered them up and started for the room they’d been in previously. She followed behind, and that was when she saw Sherman and his aide coming in from the outside. There were no rules that they couldn’t go outside, but she did wonder what he’d been doing out there.

Marcia, frustrated even more with herself, gave herself a good talking-to as she rode up in the elevator with half the group. Sherman made his way to the back where she was standing and touched, ever so lightly, his hand to hers. Before she could open her mouth to tell him to behave again, he nodded to the front of the elevator, and she saw Widmer talking to one of the women. Every time thewoman tried to back away from him, he would move that much, if not more, closer to
her.

Startled when Sherman sneezed, she nearly fell on her ass when he bent to the waist to sneeze, knocking the woman that was nearly back against the wall from Wilmer next to her. Sherman stood up, apologized to everyone about the sneeze, and stood between Widmer and the woman. She looked so upset that she thought that she
was going to cry. Widmer wasn’t happy with the turn of events, but she was. The man was going to learn to keep his hands to himself, or someone was going to pop him one. Not necessarily with their fist, either. A gun? A knee? Anything she thought to make him back the fuck off. The woman made her escape as soon as the doors opened. As she fled to the doors of the room they were using, Marcia moved on too. Not wanting to be near the other man for any longer than she had to. As she opened the door for those who were already by the door to the room they were using, she noticed that Sherman and Widmerhung back.

Widmer seemed upset, but Sherman was his, what she’d come to realize as his normal mood was calm and his voice low. While she didn’t know what they were talking about, she was sure that the two of them were not going to be getting along for the rest of the three days that they were going to be working and testing together. She wondered what was going on, but her attention was taken away from them to remember the things that she had to do next.“Tonight, you will all be required to be dressed in your best to have a meet and greet with the vice president. It is unknown at this time if the president will be there, but you will all be picked up in vans with the purpose of bringing you all here together.” She cleared her throat when some of the others began talking. “You will be asked to be on your best behavior tonight. There will be light food, so if you wish, you can have dinner in the restaurant in the hotel where you are staying before you’re picked up. There will also be an open bar. Any questions?”

Sherman, of course, raised his hand. “What time? For the pick-up so that I can figure out how much I need to eat to last me until I get back here. Also, if you don’t mind me asking now, what time are we going to be required to be back here in the morning?” Widmer asked Sherman if he was planning on getting lucky tonight. Sherman ignored the man awaiting for her to answer him. After doing so, he stood up
to move to the fridge to get himself another bottle of water for the next round of tests. She didn’t think that he was at all happy about something, but she supposed time would tell what he wasn’t happy about.