Beyond Temptation (Forged of Steele #3)

Chapter 9

“How’s that Steele boy?”

Lena smiled as she shoved in her briefcase the documents she needed to go over with a potential buyer. Funny, although she knew her mother’s usage of the word boy was just a term, Lena couldn’t visualize Morgan as a boy. She saw the person who had kissed her almost senseless yesterday as being a man in every full sense of the word.

“If you’re asking about Morgan, I guess he’s fine,” she said, trying to keep her voice light, neutral and nonchalant.

“So when will he be coming back?”

Lena lifted her head and met her mother’s gaze with an arched brow. “How did you know he was going somewhere?”

“He told me when he called a few days ago,” Odessa said, as she sat at the kitchen table and took a sip of her coffee.

Lena, with an incredulous look on her face, shut her briefcase with a click. “Morgan called you?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“I told you it was a few days ago. Monday, I believe.”

Lena sighed. “And when did he call on Monday?”

“In the afternoon. Before you got home.”

Lena leaned against the kitchen counter. “He called to tell you he was leaving town?”

“No. Actually he called to thank me for dinner on Sunday, and then he mentioned he was leaving town.” Her mother took another sip of her coffee, then asked, “Why all the questions?”

Lena rolled her eyes heavenward wondering if her mother had forgotten that she was the one who’d brought up Morgan in the first place. She decided to jog her memory. “Mom, you’re the one who asked about Morgan. If you had spoken to him this week, then why did you even ask me how he was doing?”

“Because I thought that perhaps you had talked to him since then.”

“Yes, I saw him yesterday at my office. You know I’m selling his home and helping him find another.” Until she decided how she would handle his proposal she didn’t want her mother to get any ideas, so she added, “Our relationship is strictly professional.”

“If that’s true, then why did he come to dinner?”

Lena sighed. “Because you asked him, and like he told you, he hadn’t eaten a home-cooked meal in a long time. No man would have turned that down.”

“Maybe, but I think he came for another reason altogether,” Odessa said, matter-of-factly.

“And what reason is that?”

Her mother’s lips parted into the barest of smiles. “You. That Steele boy likes you. Any fool can see that.”

Later that day Lena’s mind was filled with Morgan’s proposition. He would see their marriage as a business venture. Could she do the same? What if she began developing feelings for him and he walked in one day and declared that he wanted out of the marriage? What would she do then?

She was jolted from her thoughts with the ringing of her telephone. She picked it up. “Yes, Wendy?”

“Vanessa Steele is on the line for you.”

Lena raised a brow. She and Vanessa had worked together on several community projects around town. Like her own father, Vanessa’s father had been the victim of cancer, so it wasn’t unusual for them to participate in fund-raising activities to benefit the American Cancer Society. The same thing applied to Chance, whose first wife had died from cancer.

Lena liked Vanessa. She thought she was a person who wasn’t just beautiful on the outside but on the inside as well. And unlike some people whose family had a lot of money—namely someone like Cassandra Tisdale—Vanessa Steele didn’t have a “better than thou” bone in her body.

“Thanks, Wendy, please put her through.”

Lena only had to wait a few moments before the sound of Vanessa’s exuberant voice came on the line. “Lena, how are you?”

“I’m fine, Vanessa, and how are you?”

“I’m doing great. I just got a call from the principal at the high school I graduated from requesting that I spearhead this project, and after hearing it, I immediately thought of soliciting your, Jocelyn’s and Sienna’s help.” She chuckled, then added, “Kylie’s pregnancy saved her from me pulling her in as well, and we don’t have a lot of time to pull this thing together.”

Lena’s interest was piqued after hearing the excitement in Vanessa’s voice. “What sort of project is it?”

“A mini career fair. Only thing is that the head of the school’s business department wants it held in a few weeks. If we wait until next month we’ll be competing against prom time. Sorry for the late notice but it was something she thought of doing just last night, but I think it’s a wonderful idea to showcase local employment opportunities for those who might not be considering college as an option right now.”