Flame Lust

**This story immediately follows "Brothers in Arms"**

"Three things cannot be long hidden:

the sun, the moon, and the truth."

- Buddha

CHAPTER 1

"Hi Maisie, what's going on?" Chris answered her cell phone as she rode up in the elevator to her job in the penthouse offices of Houston Investigations. She was a few weeks away from her marriage to Murray Chase, CEO of Houston Industries. The last few months had flown by for the happy couple.

"Chris, I don't know how to say this - the wedding chapel burnt down last night." Maisie Phillips was not just a wedding planner; she was also Chris's friend.

"Oh that's really funny, girl. You almost had me there." The secretary laughed as she stepped out of the elevator and walked over to her desk, putting her purse in the bottom right drawer. She could smell coffee, so it would seem that either Matt or Roy had already made it in to the office.

"I'm not joking, haven't you seen the news this morning?"

"Look, it was a nice try but I'm not falling for it." She turned on the computer monitor and the printer.

"Chris! Listen to me – I AM NOT JOKING!" Maisie had been afraid that Chris would freak out when she told her – she hadn't figured it would take an act of Congress to convince her that it had really happened.

The elevator doors opened again and Murray Chase stepped out. "Hey sweetie, Maisie's trying to yank my chain by telling me that the wedding chapel burnt down last night." She burst into laughter which stopped when she looked at Murray's face: he looked like he was ready to go into a full-fledged panic attack. "Honey, are you okay?"

"Chris, pumpkin – she's not kidding. I saw it on the news…" Murray was holding onto his fiancée's hand. She screamed.

Matt, who had been sleeping on the couch in the office after spending most of the previous night in search of a missing school teacher, was awakened and came flying up and over the back of the couch, running to the outer office where his secretary's desk was located. He skidded to a stop when he saw her standing there with Murray.

"Chris, what in the hell are you…Chris?" Matt saw her bat her eyes and then they rolled back in her head. He and Murray caught her as she fainted and carried her into the office and placed her on the couch. "Murray, what did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything! She just found out that the wedding chapel burnt to the ground." Murray was fanning his girlfriend in an attempt to revive her.

"Burnt to the ground? What happened? Somebody forget to blow out the candles?" After he said it, he realized how it sounded. Murray turned on him and for a fleeting moment, Matt thought the man was going to hit him. "I didn't mean that like it sounded, Murray. I'm sorry." He went behind the bar and got a glass of water and a damp towel. He began to dab at his secretary's face and she started coming to. "Hi there. How you feelin'?"

"Oh Houston, I had the worst dream ever – I thought that…" She realized she was on the couch and looked over to see Murray standing with a concerned look on his face. "Oh …my…God!" She sat bolt upright. "It wasn't a dream, was it?! What am I going to do?!"

"Well, the first thing you're gonna do is calm down." Matt patted her hand then handed her the glass of water. After she took a sip and seemed a little steadier, he moved out of the way and motioned to Murray. "I think you two need to talk." He walked over to the bar and poured two cups of coffee, putting cream and sugar into the cup for Chris. When the private investigator got back over to the couch Murray was sitting on the edge holding his fiancée's hand.

"It'll be fine, pumpkin; we'll find someplace else for the wedding." He smiled over at her.

"Murray, you don't understand. You don't just pop up a few weeks before a wedding and change the venue. Do you have any idea how hard it was to get the chapel?" She put her head in her hands.

Everyone heard the elevator chime and Matt got up to see who was there and was greatly relieved to see his wife stepping off of the elevator with their six week old daughter. It was her first day back at work after the birth of Catey Rose. He made a beeline for her. "CJ, I'm glad you're here. We've got a …well, not actually us, more like Murray and Chris have a problem."

"I know, I saw the news. How is she taking it?" CJ handed the baby carrier to Matt who started into the office.

"Well after she passed out and came to…" He was interrupted by the sound of their secretary bawling. "Well, like that I guess." Matt pointed at the distraught secretary. He followed CJ over to the couch.

Sitting down next to her friend and putting an arm around her, CJ tried to comfort her. "Chris, I promise it will be okay. Now let's see what we can do, alright? Here take a sip of coffee and we'll work on this together." She patted Chris on the back.

"Hey, I've got an idea…" Matt started to tell them what it was and his daughter Catey Rose picked that particular moment to grunt loudly and begin filling up her diaper. The smell wafted across the room, assaulting the senses of the four adults.

"Catey Rose… oh heavens." CJ began fanning the air.

"Hey, we could have it at the ranch in Texas." Matt picked up Catey Rose's diaper bag and began pulling out the items he needed to change the baby's diaper. As he started working on the task, with everyone watching, he explained. "There have been six other weddings in the house – everybody likes to use the stairs – you know, big entrance for the bride? It works great. Plus we've got plenty of room for the reception, too." He was already halfway through the diaper change while an astounded Murray and Chris watched him working. "So what do you think?" He had his daughter cleaned up and redressed in a jiffy.

"I'm impressed, Houston, you're really good at that!" Chris was actually smiling.

"What – solving problems?" Matt was grinning broadly.

"No, changing diapers. I bet a NASCAR pit crew could learn a thing from you. That was great!" Murray was smiling as well.

"So what do you think about the idea?" Matt handed his daughter to CJ and walked over behind the bar to wash his hands.

"It's great but are you sure it wouldn't be an imposition?" Chris knew that her boss was a generous man, but what he was offering was going to be a lot of work.

"Are you kidding? Madre Rosa lives for things like this. She'll be tickled pink." He dried his hands and walked back over to the couple, who exchanged a look.

"It's fine by me if you're okay with it, pumpkin." Murray gave his girlfriend a big smile.

"Oh, thank you, Houston! You're really a lifesaver!" She jumped up and gave her boss a big hug.

"You're welcome. Now, we need to make a phone call to Madre Rosa and make her day." He sat down on the end of the couch and dialed the number for the ranch in Texas. After explaining the problem and then the possible solution, and then hearing a whoop of exclamation by the housekeeper, Matt put the phone on speaker in an effort not to go deaf. "Alright, now you ladies have a chat and figure out the particulars. Murray, I need to talk to you for a minute."

The two men went out on the patio and could still hear the excited voices of the women coming from the office. "Is something wrong, Big Guy?"

"No, not at all. What about the honeymoon? Did you ever figure out what you were going to do?" Matt looked at the CEO. Murray had come to him for advice about where he should take Chris for their honeymoon and Matt wasn't so sure that he had actually taken care of the matter.

"Uh well…" Murray stammered. "I uh, well, not exactly." He looked at Matt. "I'm just afraid I'll pick the wrong place and I just haven't been able to decide."

"Okay, would you like a little help?" Matt put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Look Murray, you know I bought the resort in Tahiti – why don't you two go there?"

"Oh, I couldn't Houston; I mean we're already imposing…"

"It's not an imposition, bud. Trust me," he took Murray by the shoulders, "It's something that the two of you will NEVER forget." He had a huge smile on his face.

"Well, okay, but…"

"No buts. Now listen, here's a little piece of advice for you…" Matt looked around to make sure that no one was listening. "They've got these surf boards there, not that there's really any surf, actually their more like paddle boards, but listen. Get one of 'em and paddle out to this spot…" He went on to tell Murray about a particular place that he and CJ had visited on their honeymoon and also told him about the result of the visit, not in explicit detail, but enough so that Murray was amazed.

"Do you really think it will, you know…" The CEO blushed.

"Murray, I swear to you, that was the first time it ever happened to me and you know I've…well, just trust me." He gave the man a big smile. "You absolutely, positively, without a doubt will not regret it."

"Okay, that's it then. Thanks a lot, Houston. This means a lot to me."

"Trust me, if you do the paddle board thing it will mean a lot more." Matt wiggled his eyebrows at Murray and clapped him on the back, before heading into the office whistling.