Mistletoe Over Manhattan

No, he couldn't have run out, not as aroused as he was. He still had some left, just not enough to leak. If he was no longer a sex god-not the way he thought about himself, but the way many a woman had described him-and he wasn't smart enough to impress Mallory with his brains, then what the hell was he?

Of course, there was still, as Mallory had said, Phoebe Angell. She did seem to be under the spell of his charms.

The very thought made for a sadly sleepless night.

Mallory couldn't sleep. At last she got up, put on her packable, practical travel robe, which she suddenly hated, and tiptoed out into the sitting room. There was hot chocolate mix in the little kitchen. She'd make a cup, see if it put her to sleep.

From where she stood, she could see through the arch with the mistletoe over it, down the little jog straight to Carter's door. She couldn't resist. Her feet went toward that door. Carefully she placed her ear against it. From inside came the soft, rumbling snore she'd imagined in her fantasy of him, the snore that would vibrate her naked skin, puff against her ear, soft and comforting. A snore to sleep to.

The ache between her thighs grew almost unbearable. Now she was letting the door hold her up as she sank against it, wanting him with an intensity she didn't think she was capable of. The door opened and, with a shriek, she fell into his room.

The light went on. He sat up in bed, blinking sleepily. 'Mallory?' he said, squinting at her.

'Uh, yes,' Mallory quavered, scrambling up off the floor. 'Gosh, I'm so sorry. I couldn't sleep, so I got up to make myself some cocoa, and I-'

He'snaked under that sheet.

And his room's a mess.

'And I tripped over the footstool, you know, the little one that sits in front of that beige velvet chair,' she babbled on, making up the lie as she went along. 'I was afraid it might have awakened you, so I listened at the door to make sure you were still asleep.'

He was waking up now. She could tell. He was staring at her with the strangest look on his face even as he pulled the sheet a little farther up his chest.

It was probably her robe. He hated it even more than she did. And it didn't make her feel the least bit sexy.

'Then the door opened all by itself and I fell in and I'm so, so sorry, so go right back to sleep because it won't happen again.'

There. She'd gotten out alive. Having humiliated herself again, she darted into her room, closed the door and just stood there a minute, shaking. One minute more and she'd have climbed into bed with him. Or cleaned up his room.

No, she would definitely have climbed into bed with him.

In fact, if she wanted to get anywhere with him, that that was what she would have to do. She'd discuss it with Maybelle tomorrow night.

That had been a near miss. Carter was still thinking about it as he stood in the shower the next morning trying to cool down. She'd been right there within reach-well, she'd been within reach plenty of times before, but this time he'd really had to fight to keep from dragging her into his bed. He'd been ready for her, hot and drowsy and drugged with desire that had been building so fast inside him he could hardly keep himself under control.

But she wouldn't have respected him for taking advantage of her, would she? She'd have been sorry she'd awakened him. After all, the whole episode had been due to happenstance. It's not like she'd wanted to fall into his room.

He growled, got out of the shower and toweled himself off. One more happenstance was going to break him. On top of that, today he would have to depose a woman whose baby girl had been sleeping peacefully in some kind of baby chair that was safely-safely, mind you-resting on the bathroom counter while she refreshed- refreshed, the brief said-her natural hair color. When she looked up into the mirror and saw her hair turning green she'd flung out her hands, and by the time she'd calmed down, her baby had green spots on her chest. A precious little baby girl, could have been a baby model, but couldn't because she had green spots on her chest.

Not anymore, of course. But back in April it had been a tragedy she didn't think the family would ever get over.

Bull.

There was so much he had to do at once. He had to settle this case, impress Mallory, make her want to make love with a man as smart and successful as he was.

What he had to do was make her think he was smart and successful, whether he settled the case or won it or neither. He dressed quickly before he chewed his lower lip off completely and went out into the sitting room.

As always, Mallory was already there, looking more rattled than she had yesterday morning when she couldn't find her credit card. She was wearing her black suit. He took another look. It wasn't her black suit, it was another, completely different black suit. It was possible she wasn't even wearing one of those tops she called shells, just the tight-fitting suit jacket and those skinny pants.

She was irresistible.

But he had to resist. He needed to distract himself. His eyes darted around the room. 'Lose something else?' he said.

'No, no, well, I was looking for the card someone gave me, a hairdresser she knows here, because I'm going to need a cut if we're here much longer or I'll look like a throwback to the seventies, and I just wanted to be prepared, you know, make an appointment and then cancel if we go home before-'

She was tossing business cards like a madwoman.

Suddenly she scooped them all up again in her hand and said, 'The truth is, I'm just so embarrassed about last night. I feel really stupid.'

Carter had a brainstorm. For once in his life, he would behave like a true gentleman. 'What happened last night?' he said, hoping the expression on his face was a puzzled one.

'You don't remember?' She stopped shuffling cards.

'Last night. Sure I remember last night. I came in, you were online doing a Google on porcelain caps, we got a tree and you kissed me under the mistletoe.'

She blushed. 'I was overcome with Christmas spirit. But after that, you don't remember anything after that?'

'Yeah, I remember after that.'

She got even redder. 'What do you remember?'

'Seven o'clock this morning.'

She stared at him. 'But you spoke to me.'

'I always speak to you. What are you talking about?'

'Nothing,' she said, and her smile was faint but very pretty. 'I guess we're ready to go down to breakfast.'

While her eyelashes didn't look quite as long this morning, they were still a lot longer than they'd been yesterday and he didn't want to start obsessing on them or thinking about his near miss last night, so he got behind her and started herding her toward the door, not letting himself stare at her butt this time.

They were nearly out the door when he had another brainstorm. It would be a small thing, but it might ring one of her bells. After all, she'd brought home mistletoe to remind them of the season. 'Uh-oh, forgot something,' he said. 'You go ahead. Get a table. I'll be on the next elevator,' and he shoved her out the door and closed it.

It took him three minutes to find what he was looking for beneath the mound composed of every garment he'd put on and taken off since they arrived, and the only reason it was one mound was that the housekeeper had tried to restore some order to the room as well as cleaning it. But five minutes later the Christmas tree bore a single ornament, the one he'd bought at Bloomingdale's as his contribution to the grab bag at the office Christmas party. It was a huge hand-blown glass ball with gold and silver swirled around it. It dwarfed the tiny tree, but he thought it looked pretty nice. He hoped Mallory would notice it.

On the way to the elevator he saw a card lying on the floor of the hallway. Instinctively, he bent down to pick it up. And because he had to wait a couple of minutes for the elevator, he read it.

'M. Ewing. ImageMakers. A new you in-'