Beyond Temptation (Forged of Steele #3)
“Hello.”
The greeting was whispered huskily and sent sensuous chills through her body. “Morgan, this is Lena.”
“I know.”
She raised a brow. “You do? How?”
“Caller ID.”
“Oh.” She rolled her eyes, calling herself a ninny for not figuring that out.
“How are you doing, Lena?”
She cleared her throat. “I’m fine. What about you?”
“I’m doing okay. How’s your mom?”
“She’s doing fine. Thanks for asking.” Then without missing a beat she said, “Morgan, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Yes?”
“About your proposal?”
“What about it?”
“Something happened today that I think you should know about.”
“All right, what happened?”
Lena decided to lie back on the bed. “Cassandra Tisdale dropped by my office today and…”
“And what?”
Lena sighed. “She said some things that really rubbed me the wrong way, and before I could catch myself I told her that you and I would be announcing our engagement when you returned to town.”
She heard Morgan’s chuckle. “I’m sure that shut her up.”
Lena shook her head. “Not quite.” But Lena had no intention of telling him what else Cassandra had said, especially the part about her cousin Jamie. Instead she added, “I have a feeling it did just the opposite. I bet she’s spreading it all around town now and I thought you should know.”
“Okay, thanks for telling me.”
“You don’t sound bothered by it.”
“By what?”
Lena stared up at the ceiling. “By what I told her.”
“I’m not. I asked you to marry me. You just hadn’t given me your answer. Does this mean you’ll be accepting the terms of my proposal, Lena?”
She ran a hand over her face. “What do you want, Morgan?”
“You know what I want. I want you. I want you to have my baby. I want us to get married and be best friends. I want your mother to be an integrated part of our lives. I guess you can say I want it all.”
Everything but love, she thought, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. In all their conversations he never had mentioned love. She forced that thought from her mind. There were times in life when you couldn’t get everything you wanted.
“Well, I’ll let you go now. I just wanted you to know,” she said softly.
“Okay, we’ll talk more about it when I return to Charlotte.”
“All right. Good night, Morgan.”
“Good night, Lena.”
Morgan didn’t release the phone until he heard the click of Lena’s disconnecting the line. Although he was overjoyed that she had decided to accept his proposal, he was curious as to what had driven her to make that decision. He couldn’t help wondering exactly what Cassandra had said to her.
Morgan was astute enough to know that there was more to the story than Lena had told him. He knew of only two people who could possibly know. Kylie was one, but when it came to Lena she had a tendency to be tight-lipped. The other person was Donovan. Donovan usually hung around in the right circles, and if there was something amiss he would be the one to know it.
He quickly keyed in Donovan’s number, and his brother picked up on the first ring. “Yes?”
“Okay, Donovan, what’s going on?”
He heard his brother’s chuckle before he said, “You tell me. Rumor has it that you’re about to become an engaged man.”
Morgan smiled. So word was out already. “Yes, that’s right.”
“Congratulations. It seemed you got the woman you wanted. I’m not going to ask how you managed and maybe it’s best if I don’t know. But I better tell you the masses are taking bets.”
Morgan frowned. “Bets?”
Donovan chuckled again. “Yes. It seems a certain part of Charlotte’s elite society group can’t imagine you and Lena as a couple. In fact they’re taking bets that before it’s over you’ll come to your senses and marry a woman they feel is more suitable to your breeding.”
Morgan’s frown deepened. “And who’s that supposed to be?”
“Jamie Hollis. It’s my understanding Cassandra is certain her cousin can replace Lena. I understand she’s even bold enough to tell Lena that.”
“Oh, I see.” Now he really did. So that’s what had pushed Lena into action. He shook his head. He would take Lena over Jamie any day. And he intended to do that very thing.
“It appears that all those times you’ve stated you were looking for the perfect woman, everyone was forming their own opinions as to what you wanted.”