Bachelor Untamed - Brenda Jackson [17]
She opened another drawer and pulled out a stack of papers that were rubber-banded together. She lifted a curious brow when the first sheet said, in a bold font, Make me Yours, by Flame Elbam.
Flame.
Ellie quickly recalled where she’d seen the name “Flame” before and glanced across the room at the risqué painting on the wall. Raising her brow, she settled back in the chair, flipped through the pages and swiftly came to the conclusion that these pages were part of a manuscript. Who did it belong to?
She stopped flipping the pages when a word—one that denoted a male body part—jumped out at her, quickly grabbing her attention. She blinked a few times and then, for clarity’s sake, decided she needed to read the entire sentence, but she ended up reading the complete paragraph. Afterward, she swallowed deeply, felt the heat that infused her body and wondered where the heck an ice-cold glass of water was when you needed it. Whew! What on earth was her aunt doing with something like this?
Although that one raw word still stuck out in her mind, Ellie decided she needed to start reading at the beginning and not jump to any conclusions. After all, just because this was found in Aunt Mable’s desk really didn’t mean anything. Her aunt was a retired English professor, so she was probably editing the book for a former student as a favor.
Ellie figured that had to be it, and she was certain her aunt hadn’t started reading the manuscript yet—and could imagine her aunt’s gray hair turning a quick shade of white if she had read that passage she’d just read.
Taking the banded papers in her hand, Ellie went to sit at her favorite chair by the window. After she’d settled in comfortably, she began reading.
Uriel reached over to pick up his cell phone. “Yes.”
“How are things going, son?”
Uriel smiled, glad to hear his father’s voice. “Things are going great, Dad. I’ve been getting some reading done about that publishing company Donovan and I recently acquired. What about you? How are you doing?” Although his father had returned to work, Uriel was still somewhat concerned about him overdoing things. Long workdays were becoming a norm for Anthony Lassiter.
“I’m doing fine. In fact, I just wanted you to know that I’ll be flying out later today for Rome. I have a meeting with one of our distributors there and plan to stay for a few days.”
Uriel raised a brow. “Anything serious?”
“No. In fact, it’s something one of the managers can handle, but I decided to go myself. Besides, it will give me a chance to see Zion. It’s been awhile since I’ve spent some time with godson number five.”
All that was well and good, but unfortunately, Uriel was reading between the lines. His father’s eagerness to leave town could only mean one thing. His parents had been invited to the same social function, and instead of making an appearance while his ex-wife paraded her boy-toy around, he had opted to be somewhere else instead—somewhere like another country.
Uriel pulled in a deep breath. “I understand, Dad,” he said, and in all honesty he really did. “Have a safe trip.”
“I will. And by the way, I ran into Chester Weston the other day, right before he and Nancy left for a vacation in the islands. He mentioned that Ellie would be packing up Mable’s belongings at the lake house. Have you seen her yet?”
His father’s question triggered memories of Ellie standing at the window last night. “Yes, I’ve seen her,” he said, deciding not to mention to what degree he’d seen her.
And because he didn’t want his dad to ask any more questions, he said, “Okay, Dad, I better get back to reading those documents. But if you need me to return to Charlotte to handle things while you’re away, then—”
“No, no. The company will be in capable hands while I’m gone. I just wanted to let you know. Take care, Uri.”
“You do the same, Dad.”
When Uriel hung up the phone a part of him