The Mistletoe Affair

avoid the brown eyes that turned and cut his way. That's how it always starts. A certain look, an exchange of information leading to a date, progressing all the way to bed. He tore the piece of paper to shreds and laid it on the table. “Yes.'

“Prettier than my mom?'

He thought about Katherine and the pure pleasure of holding her and kissing her lightly on the cheek. The heat he had felt when he drew her into his arms and pressed her sweet body against his. Her forehead had rested on his shoulder, but he'd never forget the desire reflected in those jade eyes.

“No, your mom's far more beautiful.'

Matt grinned from ear-to-ear. “I think so, too. She'll get lots of dates and marry one of the dates. My friend Jimmy said that's how it works. His mom dated five men, and she's married again. And she isn't half as pretty as my mom.'

Smiling a little too warmly at Jared, the waitress returned, and took their orders. Within fifteen minutes, she had delivered their meal.

The lobster Jared swallowed threatened to swim upstream. He didn't like the idea of Katherine dating another man, let alone five. His hand fisted on his lap. But that's what he wanted, wasn't it? For Katherine to date, get married and for Matt to have a new dad.

After feeding Matt half his lobster and cleaning up spaghetti sauce everywhere a five-year-old could possibly get it, they headed off to buy Matt's dad a present. Jared grimaced. What do you get a two-timing, low-life like Paul Cahill? “You have any ideas about what you want to get your dad?'

“No, sir.'

“Well,” Jared said looking over Matt's head at the colorful men's shop behind him. “You'll know it when you see it.'

“I don't think so.'

The mumble brought his gaze back down. He peered carefully at Matt's bent head. “You don't, huh?'

“No. I don't know Dad too well.” He paused. “Anymore.'

“Ahhhh.” Jared exhaled, disguising his scowl by dragging his hand over his face. Damn Paul!

One half hour and four stores later, Matt suddenly cried out: “That's it!” He pointed to a mannequin wearing a gaudy shirt and tie. Jared tried not to laugh. If Matt picked it out for him, he'd be proud to wear it. But no way would a man like Paul be found dead in a paisley shirt and white tie.

Jared beamed. “Perfect.'

Matt scrambled around the shelves looking for his last gift. He located the shirt. Jared helped with the correct size, and unable to locate any similar ties among the racks, took the tie off the mannequin.

Halfway up an aisle loaded with toys, a talking book caught and held Matt's attention. He knelt down and pulled it off the shelves. Staring out the store window, Jared had a clear view of the hotel lobby next door. An entirely different scene caught and held his attention.

Damn him to hell and back.

Paul Cahill stepped out of the posh hotel elevator. A blonde bimbo was glued to his side. He reached the exit and the woman locked lips with him, grinding her hips against his. Paul pulled her arms from his neck and palmed her rear-end before turning and leaving the hotel.

You lying piece of shit.

Jared held Matt's attention by way of a series of ridiculous knock-knock jokes until his Dad moved completely out of sight. Adding Matt's book to Paul's gifts, they headed to the cash register.

They talked about storing Katherine's gifts at Jared's house until they were wrapped and ready for the tree. Disguising them would take a bit of work. Matt didn't want her guessing what he had bought for her.

The whole time, Jared's head was spinning in a strange way. Should he tell Katherine? Walking with Matt back to the Lexus, he couldn't shake the image of Paul and the clinging-blonde. He weighed his options as they drove home.

If he did tell her, would she believe him? Why should she?

On the other hand, Katherine had the right to know her ex-husband was a two-timing liar.

But did Jared have the right to tell her? It might hurt her less if the information came from Paul. Still, Jared mused as he angled the car through dense, erratic traffic, would a man like Paul actually tell Katherine?

Not without motivation.

Jared smiled grimly as he rushed the car through a yellow-turning-red light. He might be able to dish out some motivation, in the form of a threat.

Jared glanced down. The boy's eyes closed and within ten minutes he heard him snoring away. He turned the heat up, making the inside of the car nice and toasty during the ride home.

He'd never treat Katherine and Matt the shoddy way that Paul did. Did he really want to try and convince her of how he would or could treat her? He'd have to think on this.

* * * *

Unable to sleep that night, Jared turned on the bedside lamp and lay back against the pillow. He still couldn't shake the image of Paul palming that bimbo's behind. It reminded him of how rotten the slime-ball had treated Katherine.

My Katherine.

The thought jackknifed him into a sitting position. My Katherine. She didn't belong to him, or anyone. Well, there's my answer, he thrust his hands through his hair. No way would he see that bastard deceive Katherine and remarry her.

He picked up the phone from the nightstand and punched in a long distance number. It rang an ungodly number of times.

“Who the hell is this?” the voice on the other end demanded, yawning full-force into the mouthpiece.

“That you, Carl?” Jared asked, holding the phone a short distance from his ear until the wind blowing stopped.

“Jared? Is that you?'

“Yeah, it's me,” he answered to his old friend.

“You know what time it is?'

Jared peeked at the clock on the armoire. “Two here in Houston. Must be three your time.'

“Who is it, Carl? Is anything wrong?” a feminine voice asked in the background.

“Go back to sleep, sweetheart. There's nothing to worry about.” Carl Moore yawned again. “Some of us aren't party animals. We actually sleep at night.” He chuckled.

“Sorry to wake you and Susan, but I need your help.'

“You working on another big case and need some detective work done?'

“No. This is personal.'

“Personal?” Carl paused. “A woman involved again?'

“Yes.'

“Serious?'

“It is.” Jared filled Carl in on everything he knew about Paul Cahill, Katherine and Matt. He went into details about the rendezvous he saw Paul have with the clinging blonde vine. “You can understand why I don't want Katherine or Matt hurt again by this loser.'

“I'll fly to Houston today and see what I can sniff out.'

“I want pictures. I might need to convince this bastard to tell Katherine the truth. I don't want him hiding under another pile of lies.'

Carl chuckled. “You want five-by-sevens or eight-by-ten glossies?'

“You decide. But there's a bonus if you find out everything you can, including if Paul is allergic to dogs.'

“Boy, that's a new twist. But there's nothing I can't find out about someone.'

“I'm counting on it.'

Jared suffered through Carl's ear splitting belly laughs. His old buddy couldn't seem to stop laughing. “What's so funny?'