Beyond Temptation (Forged of Steele #3)

Kylie laughed. “Now you know what I was going through after meeting Chance.”

Yes, Lena thought. She knew. But she also knew that she and Kylie were different people. Kylie had started out being defiant and determined, but in the end she had given in to Chance’s charm. Lena didn’t intend to give in to any man’s charm again. What Derek and others before him had done had more than pricked her pride. It had made her see things quite clear. And the more she kept her dealings with Morgan on a business level, the better things would be.

Chapter 5

Lena tried to recall her immunity to any man’s charm as she gazed at the two beautiful bouquets of fresh flowers Morgan had just handed her. One for her and the other for her mother.

Finding herself unnerved, she glanced up at him. “Thanks for the flowers, Morgan. Please come in.”

She moved aside when he stepped inside. While she closed the door she noticed him glancing around, and when their gazes connected again he said, “You have a nice place.”

“Thanks. Please let me take your jacket.” The weather had changed and there was a brisk coolness in the air. The warm weather from earlier in the week was gone. In fact the forecasters had predicted the possibility of snow sometime next week.

“Mom’s in the kitchen,” she said, placing his leather jacket on the rack. “I told her you had arrived, so she should be coming out in a little bit. Can I get you something to drink?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Because his brother was married to her best friend, she and Morgan were invited to some of the same functions on occasion, so she had seen him in casual wear before. But there was something about seeing him now, standing tall and handsome in her living room wearing a pair of jeans, a blue pullover sweater and a pair of comfortable-looking sneakers that made her wonder, and not for the first time, why he didn’t have a steady girlfriend.

He was definitely one fine specimen of a man, a healthy-looking one at that, which meant he probably had a normal sex drive like most men. And not that she thought he went for the celibacy thing, but since being officially introduced to him at that charity ball over a year ago, she couldn’t recall his name linked to any female. Now, with his brother Donovan it was a different story. The fun-loving Donovan Steele had a reputation around town as being a ladies’ man.

“If you will excuse me I’m going to find a couple of vases for the flowers. Please make yourself at home.”

“All right.”

Although she was conscious of the tingly sensations that lit every cell in her body, Lena tried to ignore them as she quickly left the room. When she stepped into the kitchen she saw her mother, bending over the oven with an apron on. Lena had awakened that morning to the smell of fresh peaches cooking and had lain in bed for a while to make sure she was at the right house. Her mother hadn’t set foot in the kitchen since they moved in almost five years ago, other than to eat. But her invitation to Morgan had nearly done the impossible.

“Did you get Morgan settled comfortably, dear?” her mother asked as if she had a pair of eyes in the back of her head.

“Yes, and he brought these for us.”

Odessa straightened and turned around. Upon seeing the flowers she smiled. “Now, wasn’t that real sweet of him?”

Lena shrugged, knowing that it was but not wanting to give her mother any ideas where Morgan was concerned. “All the Steeles are nice, Mom.”

“Yes, and Kylie’s blessed to have met Chance. And just to think that Tiffany and Chance’s son Marcus got them together.”

Lena couldn’t help but smile at how the two teenagers had successfully played matchmakers. She glanced over at the stove. “It seems you’re serving more than just chicken and dumplings and peach cobbler,” she said upon seeing all the pots.

“I decided since that young man hasn’t had a good home-cooked meal in a while I would throw in a few more items. I really like him.”

To Lena that fact was obvious and she couldn’t help wondering why. Her mother had met Derek, Jon and Paul. They’d held conversations with her when they came to pick Lena up for dates, but neither of the three had won her mother over like Morgan to the point to bring her back into the kitchen.

“I’ll be back in a second.”

Lena watched as her mother left the kitchen to go to the living room and speak to Morgan. A few moments later she could actually hear Morgan’s deep voice and her mother laughing about something. She wondered what that was all about, knowing before she left the sanctuary of the kitchen to find out she needed to pull herself together. It seemed Morgan Steele had a way with women, both young and old.