The Texas Christmas Gift. Cathy Thacker Gillen

he was talking about any of this. He certainly didn’t need to tell Eve about his broken marriage in order for her to find him a suitable home. And yet there was something about the way she looked at him, as if she wanted to understand—not just the situation, but get to know him in a way few did—that had started him talking, and kept him talking when he should have stopped.

      “This is the point where you tell me I should have made the most of my ex’s foibles and fought for full custody of my kid,” he said cavalierly, wanting to see her gut reaction to his situation. To find out if she was as skeptical and disapproving as his family and friends had been. Emotional affairs, many had pointed out to him, were a lot more destructive than sex with someone outside the marriage. For that alone he was owed full custody.

      Eve looked puzzled. “How would that have benefited Tiffany? She needs a mommy and a daddy, doesn’t she?”

      Glad to see she wasn’t the vengeful type, Derek nodded gratefully.

      “And you work full-time. And probably still travel,” Eve continued.

      “Although less than I did before,” he said.

      She compressed her lips, then took her last bite of crème brûlée and set the dish aside. “Having parents who rue each other’s very existence is no help to anyone, believe me.”

      As interested in Eve as she apparently was in him, Derek sat back in his chair and sipped his coffee. “And you know that because...?”

      She got up and poured herself a cup of coffee, too. “My father wanted nothing to do with me, not when I was a kid or after I grew up.”

      Derek winced. “Wow. That’s harsh.”

      Eve added cream, then sprinkled in a packet of sugar. She stirred the coffee, tasted it, then went back and sat down at the other end of the couch. “You get used to it. For a lot of years, I wished my mother and my biological father had gotten along. Then I began to accept that if they had no use for each other, it was really better that we never saw him. You, on the other hand, have managed to stay friends with your ex and her new husband. The fact you do get along can only benefit all seven of the kids involved.”

      Her ready understanding boosted Derek’s morale. “So you don’t think I was a fool?”

      Eve shook her head. “I think you were noble.” She flashed him an encouraging smile and continued to hold his gaze as she sipped her coffee. “No, I think you were realistic, that you did the right thing for everyone.”

      Not sure when he had enjoyed a woman’s company this much, he smiled back at her. “Thanks.”

      “So.” Her expression determined, Eve rose gracefully and headed to the desk where she’d set up her laptop computer. “Back to the house-hunting.”

      When Derek joined her, she glanced up at him from the computer. “I don’t want to waste your time, but I really want you to look at more than one home.” Before he could object, she continued firmly, “There are three immediately available properties in your stated price range in Highland Park, within a two-mile radius of Tiffany’s other home. I’ve emailed you the specs on all three, to peruse at your leisure. Two are having unadvertised open houses tomorrow afternoon, for qualified buyers only. The other is available only by appointment. Would you like to hit all three at once tomorrow?”

      Derek did—for reasons that didn’t have as much to do with house-hunting as they should. “We’ll have to take Tiffany with us,” he warned.

      Eve’s expression softened in a way that let him know what a good mother she would be one day. “Shouldn’t be a problem,” she assured him confidently.

      Derek watched her put her laptop back in the case. “Can we do it after her afternoon nap, say, at two-thirty?”

      “Absolutely.” Eve gathered up her belongings and headed for the door.

      Derek walked with her. She hesitated in the entry, and for a brief moment he was tempted to kiss her. As if sensing it, Eve drew away. “I’ll see you then,” she said briskly, before moving off down the hall.

      * * *

      “YOU’RE LOOKING A lot better,” Eve told her mother happily the next morning after arriving at the hospital to visit her.

      Marjorie accepted with a smile the stack of magazines Eve had brought her. “How are things going with Derek McCabe?”

      A little too well on the personal side, Eve thought uncomfortably. She moved a chair closer to the bed and sank into it. “We’re looking at three properties this afternoon.” Marjorie, who had every luxury listing in the area memorized, considered the plan thoughtfully as her daughter specified which ones they were seeing. “Is he going to be easy or difficult to please?”

      In what way? Eve pushed the unexpectedly amorous thought aside. “It’s too soon to tell.” All she knew for certain was that Derek had an enormous capacity for giving—to the point he probably had Christmas in his heart all year long. And Eve envied him that. She had trouble getting into the holiday spirit at all.

      Marjorie paused. “I know I’ve said this before, but...be careful. I don’t want to see you hurt.”

      Eve clasped her mom’s hand, happy that she didn’t seem as weak and fragile as she had the day before. “Believe me, I don’t want to be hurt, either.” One devastating love affair had been enough to last her a lifetime.

      “You don’t need a man in your life to be happy,” her mother continued.

      Oh, how well Eve knew that. She squeezed her mother’s fingers. “You don’t have to worry about it, Mom. Derek is just a client. I’m his real estate agent.” She paused to let her words sink in. “And nothing more.”

      It didn’t matter how physically and emotionally attracted she was to him, she thought. At the end of the transaction, she and Derek would go their separate ways. And that would be that.

      Chapter Three

      “Not exactly what you had in mind, hmm?” Eve asked Derek as they left house number two and headed down the long curving stone walk to his car. It was a beautiful December day with clear blue skies, and warm enough that only light jackets were required.

      Derek turned to her. He had showered and shaved before meeting her, and he smelled of sandalwood and pine. “I’ve been in nice homes before, lots of them.”

      “But no open houses where free Botox injections were offered?”

      He mimed a shudder and moved closer, the sunlight picking up the mahogany in his short dark hair. “I know plastic surgery and other enhancements are popular in Dallas,” he said in a low voice. “But to do it as part of an open house...”

      “A bit tacky?” she asked wryly.

      “You got that right.” He shifted Tiffany to his other arm while he fished for his keys.

      Seeing he needed assistance, Eve held out her arms. She expected the tyke to slide into them as easily as she had the day before. Instead, Tiffany turned away and buried her face in her daddy’s shoulder.

      “Sorry,” Derek murmured.

      “No problem,” Eve returned easily. She was about to offer to help him reach his keys, but slipping her fingers into the jeans pocket adjacent to his fly did not seem like the best idea. She turned away to survey the beautifully landscaped lawn.

      With Tiffany cuddled on his shoulder, Derek fished some more. He finally got what he needed and unlocked the doors. While he put Tiffany in her car seat, Eve slid into the passenger side of the Jaguar.

      Yet another anomaly in this situation.

      Normally, she drove clients around.

      But since Tiffany’s car seat was already in his SUV, and they were apparently a hassle to put in correctly, Derek preferred to do the driving.

      He