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Chapter One

"To what do I owe this displeasure?" Jason Denning leaned against the doorja back at him

This close to Halloween, he wished his visitor was some kid he could hand a piece of candy then send away Unfortunately, this wasn’t someone in a costume

"Is that any way to talk to your ainst his chest and shoved him out of the way to enter his condo uninvited The tap-tap-tap of her ever-present stilettoes clattered against the hand-scraped hardwood floors and echoed off the high ceilings, resounding through his don Dallas loft

As he followed her across the foyer and into the great rooah The TV mounted on the exposed brick ent dark--sort of like histhat or anything" He crossed his arms over his chest

"I haven’t seen you in three years, and you’d rather gawk at grownfor your mother?"

Samantha had barely allowed him to touch her, even when he’d been a little boy Now, she only ever wanted soone to hell and she wanted help fixing it "You mean like we’re a warether But oh, you didn’t show up last year, like we’d planned Thanks for not calling to letI had a fabulous holiday alone, thanks for asking"

Sahed "You have your father’s sarcastic streak I could live without it"

"Too bad I can’t Is there a reason you couldn’t return ed my number for the last few years, so I know you didn’t fail to call because you had trouble finding me I assumed you were too busy with husband number three for your only son"

"I didn’t couilt" She waved his words away, and he noticed that her ring finger was currently bare "Lloyd is long gone The poor bastard went bankrupt I couldn’t possibly stay"

Jason supposed that whole "for richer or for poorer" thing didn’t mean much to Mommy Dearest "So you dumped him?"

"As it happened, I met another man about the same time Robert swept me off my feet"

Translation: He had a lot of money and spent a nice chunk on her "So you left Lloyd for Robert Beautiful"

"It was," she defended "We had a fabulous wedding in Fiji You would have loved it"

Doubtful, but since he hadn’t been invited and it sounded like the union was over, his opinion was moot "Is the divorce final yet?"

"No He just filed last week" She pursed her artificially plu a bit like a three-year-old in the body of a wo a s"

"Aaround in a bikini and spreading her legs on the hoods of cars for the camera She convinced hie Now they’re engaged" She gave him a dainty huff "I kept up my end of our prenuptial, as I have with every husband I reracious hostess for all his boring business parties I even gave him the requisite blow job once a week"

Jason winced "TMI, Mother…"

So Robert had left her--a first for Sa at her feet and offering her the world She was usually the trophy Maybe those days were over

Jason couldn’t tell much difference in his o She stayed in impeccable shape with a personal trainer A stylist dressed her She religiously saw an esthetician and had a plastic surgeon on speed dial Most people wouldn’t think her more than a day or two above forty

She fluffed her artificial blonde hair and shot hi to say?"

Not really Though he sensed the incident had broken her egoto honor the ter out over the Dallas skyline all lit up in its evening glory yet not really seeing

"But?" he proet off her chest, the sooner she would leave

"He’s thirty-five years older than her It’s ridiculous!"

Jason refrained fro had been thirty-two years Samantha’s senior when she’d ap ridiculous then Since his iven birth to hied vows, Jason didn’t think his mother had wooed his father away fro conversational skills Pointing that out noould only lass of wine?" A few of those usually solved her problems

She shook her head and unwound her cashmere wrap, then tossed it at him "It doesn’t mix ithfor another er than me I’ll show Robert"

His mother sounded bitter He wasn’t surprised She’d always acted as if the world owed her so

Jason paced to the fridge and grabbed a beer, then tossed hi at the cityscape He should probably keep his mouth shut After all, he knew damn well that she hadn’t come to him for advice, probably money and sympathy--in that order But she was all the family he had left Even if she hadn’t been much of a mother, she was his

"Maybe you should take some tie before you dive into nus never work out, Mom"

"That’s not fair," she shot back "Your father died on me when you were barely thirteen I was ot stingy" She sighed "Lloyd and I had a good five years, then…like I said, he went broke"

"And Robert couldn’t keep it in his pants Got it I’ wouldn’t be all bad before you get involved again," Jason suggested

She cut hiray suede chair and crossed her ankles "What would you know? You’ve never been married"