Mistletoe Over Manhattan

Silently Mallory weighed her choices. This woman might be crazy as a cat on uppers, but she did have all those degrees and all those diamonds, and she did have intelligent eyes. Why did she have to know that Mallory was on the opposite side of her housemate's lawsuit? Only because Mallory felt morally obligated to tell her. But why? If Maybelle herself were involved in the case, that would be different, but-

While her mind went around in circles, Maybelle rattled on. 'I don't know what you're so worried about. You're purty. You seem smart. Whatcha want to change?'

Locations? Go back to the hotel and remember this experience as nothing more than a very interesting evening? The conclusion she came to, after weighing all the evidence, was that in the course of one momentous day she'd sat on Santa's lap, she'd made herself come here, she'd faced up to a doorknocker that looked like Andre the Giant naked and she hadn't run away. She might never have this much courage again. It's now or never. 'Me,' Mallory whispered. 'I want to change me, from the inside out.'

5

'The wedding was a hoot,' Athena said. 'I had to compete with all that Eurotrash the princess runs around with and I knew there wasn't a designer on the face of this earth who would impress them, so I went down to the West Forties and bought just tons and tons of silk chiffon in a bunch of colors, and then I-'

Maybe she's had lipo and they accidentally suctioned out her brain along with the fat. Carter forced a smile toward the gorgeous creature sitting opposite him at Le Bernardin. Athena was six feet tall and even skinnier than she'd been the last time he saw her, when she'd weighed maybe ninety-six pounds. The dinner she wasn't eating would cost him $250, easy.

'-Fashion Institute, and he just swirled it all around me like a toga.' Athena paused briefly. 'Sort of like a toga, because togas are usually white, aren't they? But this wasn't-this was all those colors I picked out, so-'

Thank you for clarifying. He tried to imagine having a conversation like this with Mallory, but he couldn't. Wonder who Mallory's going out with. Somebody she's known a long time? A family friend? A relative?

It was true that he and Mallory had had a conversation about socks. What had that scene in the sock department been all about? She'd come prissing over to interfere in his sock purchase-like she knew better than he did how many socks he needed-and standing there, feeling pretty annoyed by her know-it-all attitude, he'd had the strangest urge to kiss her. The closer he'd gotten to her, the stronger the urge had become. He'd had to get a firm grip on himself to keep from giving her a sizzling one right there in the store.

Then he'd gotten all upset again when she and Santa Claus had done all that whispering to each other. What, he wanted to know, were they whispering about? Did Santa Claus ask her for a date? Carter had been slouching, but this thought bolted him upright in his chair. The way the guy had come on to her-it didn't seem ethical. Santa Claus was supposed to be faithful to Mrs. Claus. Carter drew his eyebrows together.

'When that anorexic bimbo Simonetta saw me, she screamed. Then she ran up to me and said, 'Who did that divine dress?' but she said it in Italian, and I thought she was trying to attack me for outbidding her on that apartment she wanted, so I got really mad and was about to start pulling her hair, but Fernando rushed up in the nick of time and told me what she'd said in English-'

'Dessert?' Carter said, hoping he didn't sound as desperate as he felt.

'Soon as I finish telling you,' Athena said. 'So I told her I'd found a brand-new designer and wasn't telling anybody about him until I was sure I had his absolute and total loyalty.' She pursed her glossy, puffy lips into a stern line.

'You stole her apartment,' Carter said. 'Don't you think you owe her a dress designer?' Good God, I'm getting into the conversation. Another ten minutes and I'll be asking her if she thinks I'm more a Brioni type or a-who is that other guy, the one with the sloppy double-breasted suits? Ambrose. Armand. That's it, I think, Ar-

Athena stamped her four-inch spike of a heel on the floor beneath the table. It was dramatic enough to make him jump. 'There was no designer,' she said in a newly gritty voice. 'He was just a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology. That was the whole point, that I did something really creative and knocked the lace Wolford stockings off Simonetta, and you weren't even listening.'

'I was,' he protested. 'He wrapped you up like a toga. I mean, the stuff you bought, he wrapped it around you like a toga of many colors.' He was pretty embarrassed about his manners. When you dated around, as he did, you were bound to have one of these bored-to-catatonia nights once in a while, but you learned to act decent for the duration of the catastrophe and just not call the woman again.

He must have enjoyed his last date with Athena or he wouldn't have called her again. Funny, he couldn't remember his last date with Athena.

'I was gorgeous.' Athena's voice went up another notch. 'I am gorgeous. And you aren't paying the slightest bit of attention to me.' She stood up. 'I wouldn't eat your dessert if it were the last dessert anyone ever offered me. I'm going to meet Fernando at the Fressen bar. He pays attention to me.' She cast disapproving eyes down as much of him as she could see. 'He,' she added as a final blow, 'wears Armani.'

That's the guy's name, Armani. Regretting nothing but the fact that he had been rude to Athena and had forgotten a household word like Armani, Carter summoned the waiter.

Dinner, now that he thought back on it, had mainly consisted of a lot of plates. On the way back to the St. Regis, he bought and devoured a Double Meat, Double Cheese Bigger Burger with plenty of mustard from the packets he'd stashed in his pockets.

It was significant that he couldn't remember the last date he'd had with Athena. One thing for sure, there wouldn't be another one. Brie, now Brie was a hardworking, sensible girl, a bond salesperson on Wall Street. They'd eat steak and she'd order hers rare. Tomorrow night would go better.

He wondered how Mallory's night was going. If Santa Claus had asked her out, Carter swore he'd report it to the store manager.

After her lecture from Maybelle, Mallory was still feeling stubborn about the woman's insistence that she wear Carol's red jacket tomorrow. It was too sexy for the work scene, Mallory had argued. She'd buy something a little brighter in a day or two.

However, since she'd told Carter she was going out for the evening, she'd better look as if she'd just gotten home if he came in unexpectedly. So she switched her black pants for the black skirt and the black shell for the white one and put her jacket back on. She was in the sitting room working and paying a little attention to a movie on television when she heard a keycard slice into the lock and saw the door open. Startled, she looked up. 'Carter. You're home early.' Just seeing him made her heart do a flip-flop.

'You got home first.' He glared at her. 'Was it a great date?'

'Just fabulous,' she said with a smile she hoped would mislead him. 'But I got to thinking about the case.'

'Me, too.' He sounded grumpy. 'I'm going to take my stuff into my room and work awhile.'

She jumped up. 'You can work here. I'll go to my room. I thought you'd be-'

'Well, I wasn't. I'm home, okay? But stay where you are.'

'No, no, I'll…' He was looking at her so impatiently she trailed off, deciding to drop it. His door slammed, and the suite fell into silence.

Mallory lowered the volume on the movie one more increment and went back to reading the full account of Sensuous's early attempts to settle the Green case with its green complainants. It still seemed to her that her company's offer had been extremely generous. Ms. Angell had seen her chance, though, and had convinced the clients she'd rounded up that being green could be worth millions.

As Maybelle had implied, Ms. Angell was the one who would be worth millions when the dust settled. Lawyers.

She was a lawyer, too. What was she doing, criticizing the habits of members of her own profession? But she would not personally do what Ms. Angell was doing, and she was fairly sure Carter wouldn't, either. Of course, how