The Barrister's Gavel

Self-proclaimed lifelong bachelor Daxton Longhorn isn't afraid of breaking the rules. He's the most beloved and well-known dance instructor in all of Essex County, New Jersey. So what if he sleeps with the occasional married woman? It doesn't affect his dancing. It doesn't even affect his life in the long run-until he meets married Gillian Kovack, and he just has to have her.

After Gillian's husband catches them in bed together, Dax finds himself in court, accused of assault. Although his punishment won't be severe, this indiscretion has opened the floodgates of accusation, and Dax can't stop the rush of allegations from ruining his life. In order to stay out of prison, he must inspect the circumstances of a mystery involving a Rembrandt painting stolen from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts over forty years ago.

What on earth does Rembrandt have to do with Dax? In order to make sense of his situation, he'll have to take a closer look at his own estranged family and his father's legal career. Could the problems in Dax's present have anything to do with mistakes in his father's past? And is Gillian a lot more than just a pretty face? Dax has to figure it all out before he's locked behind bars ... for good.