'Man or woman?'
'Woman.'
'That's a plus, anyhoo.' When Carter glared at her, she said, 'Do you want to cozy up to the lady?'
'No.'
'Then don't.'
'I don't intend to.'
'Good. We got that settled,' Maybelle said, looking satisfied.
'We haven't got anything settled,' Carter felt himself go red in the face. 'The point is that the man as much as asked me to make love to the opposition. It's unethical. Unprofessional.'
'Unlikely,' Maybelle said.
'Very.'
''Count of you're hooked on this other girl.'
'No, because it's unprofessional and unethical.'
Maybelle snorted.
Carter folded his arms across his chest. 'Sounds to me like you're more interested in her than you are in me.'
'Which her?'
'The woman I… have some feelings for-to call it 'hooked' is going too far. I think you're looking for an easy answer to my problem.'
She folded her arms across her chest to match his pose. 'Mebbe that's because yore problem has an easy answer. Jes' open yore eyes, and mouth, while you're at it. Y'all go home and think about that for a while.'
In short, from Carter's point of view, it was not a satisfactory session. Maybe it
Wednesday evening he stood in Phoebe's conference room reading the note Mallory had left him. 'I'm going to find a suitcase. I'll be back at the hotel a little after eight.'
He could not, absolutely could not believe Mallory could make love with him with such apparent pleasure and be seeing someone else. But he was holding evidence to the contrary right there in his hand. For the second time this week, she'd gone somewhere without him. He would have been happy to help her pick out a suitcase, but she hadn't invited him.
He was grinding his teeth, chewing his lower lip and fiddling with his pen all at the same time when a slight noise alerted him to the fact that he wasn't the only person in the office suite. He spun to see who'd stepped into the conference room and saw Phoebe behind him.
She'd taken off her jacket and was wearing a T-shirt that didn't have quite enough room in it for her breasts and didn't quite make it to the waistband of her very short skirt. Plus, she was sending him a provocative smile and gazing at him with sultry eyes.
'Hi, Phoebe.' He used his hearty tone, the one he used with women when he was trying to tell them he wasn't interested. 'I'm just about outta here. See you in the-'
She was blocking his way. 'Don't leave.' Her voice was so soft it was hard to believe it belonged to Phoebe the lawyer. 'Ihave a bottle of simply wonderful wine in my office. Come in and have a taste.'
It occurred to Carter that he would have to confront the problem at one time or another, and it might as well be now, when he was a little bit mad at Mallory. 'Okay, I will,' he said. 'Thanks.'
The twenty-fourth floor was still brightly lighted, awaiting the services of the cleaning crew, except for Phoebe's office, where he observed at once that she'd dimmed the lights.
He tried a little commentary on the weather.
'Mmm,' she said.
He made mention of the political situation in the Middle East. 'Mmm,' she said.
'How about that California state budget shortfall!' he tried next.
She didn't even bother with the 'Mmm.' She poured the wine, brought him a glass and sat on the arm of his chair, draping her arm around the back.
He got up. She followed, cornering him at the windows. He was thinking,
Nonetheless, he opened the curtains, getting ready, just in case. The office looked out on a slice of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, a Norway spruce well over one hundred feet tall and sparkling with maybe thirty thousand lights. It gave him an idea that was better than jumping. 'It's almost Christmas,' he said, and turned to face her. 'What do you want for Christmas, Phoebe?'
She gazed at him with longing. 'You,' she said on a soft breath.
'What's your second choice?' He spoke as gently as he could.
She stared at him, and he was horrified to see that her eyes were brimming. 'You mean, what do I really want out of life?' Her voice quavered.
He nodded dumbly, scared to death she was about to tell him.
'What I want is for my father, just once, to tell me I handled a case right,' she stammered out. 'All this-' she waved a hand at the wine, her tight T-shirt'-was his idea. I didn't want to do it this way. It's not the right way and, besides, anybody with two eyes can see you're in love with Mallory.'
Carter handed her his clean breast-pocket handkerchief and one of Maybelle's cards, then stood there awhile, just patting her shoulder and asking himself if she was right. Was he in love with Mallory?
Each morning Mallory asked herself how life could be more perfect. At dawn on Thursday of their third week in New York, with Carter sleeping beside her, she knew how. He was still sneaking away a couple of times a week on this pretense or that. He didn't stay out late, he didn't come home mussed or go directly to the shower, he just- went out. Of course,
Late yesterday afternoon she'd sneaked out of Phoebe's office while Carter was gathering some things together, leaving him a note saying she was going to buy a new suitcase and would see him at home. She'd picked out a suitcase in ten minutes and then taxied up to a boutique on the Upper East side where she and Maybelle had talked and selected two dinner dresses and two more jackets for Mallory.
'Variety is the spice of life,' Maybelle had said.
'So I've heard.' Mallory spoke through clenched teeth, predicting correctly that she was in for another of the bankruptcy nightmares that had been plaguing her.
'Not variety in everything,' Maybelle had added, sounding unusually absentminded, 'jes' in clothes.'
So while she'd been as thoughtful of Carter as she could possibly be, on Tuesday night he'd said, 'I have an errand to do. See you at eight.'
He'd said it as if he didn't owe her an explanation, and, of course, he didn't. It was his reputation as a ladies' man that worried her. For all she knew, he saw her as just another of his string of women, while she…
His face was toward her and she gazed at it, at the dark lashes that lay against his skin, the crispness of his tousled hair, and admitted to herself that if she hadn't already given him part of her heart, she wouldn't have been so determined to have sex with him. Had her feelings for him been locked up inside her, simmering, for all these years and she'd just now felt confident enough to let them out?
But Carter had never said he loved her or indicated in any way that he felt committed to their relationship. She had to face the possibility that he never would.
Except for that, she thought sadly, everything was perfect.
'Hi,' he said in the husky voice of a man just waking up. His smile was slow, warm and altogether irresistible.
She settled her head down into her pillow. 'Hi,' she said as she felt his fingers trail lightly across her bare skin.