Bachelor Untamed - Brenda Jackson [5]
The thought of that made her stomach stir, generated a tingling sensation even lower, and it made the nipples of her breasts that were pressing against her blouse feel achy. She quickly moved away from the window, crossed the room and sat down at the table.
Uriel Lassiter had returned to the lake house, and the one thing she knew for certain was that he hadn’t made sure she wasn’t there.
Uriel threw his head back and laughed. He was still in shock. One of his closest friends from college, who was also one of his investment partners, had called to let him know he was getting married. He just couldn’t believe it. Who in their right mind would have thought that there was a woman somewhere capable of winning the heart of Donovan Steele. The Donovan Steele. The man who always claimed he wanted to be buried wearing a condom, because even then he knew he would be hard.
Uriel had the pleasure of meeting Donovan’s woman a few weeks ago. With a PhD and a professorship at Princeton, Natalie Ford had just as much brains as she had beauty. And she was a beauty. That was one of the first things Uriel had noticed that night when she had come storming into the Racetrack Café, ready to give Donovan hell about something. Evidently, their disagreement had gotten resolved, since Donovan was now talking about a wedding.
“Hey, Don, we’re going to have to get together when I return to Charlotte,” he said. “And we’ll make it one hell of a celebration. Have the two of you set a date yet?”
“We’re having a June wedding,” Donovan replied easily. “After we marry, she’ll take a sabbatical to write another book and work on several projects with NASA. You can’t imagine how happy my family is.”
Uriel could just imagine. Donovan, the youngest of the Steele brothers, headed the Product Administration Division of the Steele Corporation, and Uriel was Vice President of Lassiter Industries, the telecommunications company his father, Anthony Lassiter—CEO and president—had founded over thirty-eight years ago.
Although both he and Donovan had major roles at their family-owned businesses, years ago, right out of college, they had partnered in a co-op. They had started out by flipping real estate, and later moved on to small businesses. The co-op had proven to be highly successful, and they had moved on to even larger investments, like the publishing company they had recently purchased.
Two years ago, Uriel’s father had taken a leave of absence due to stress and depression brought on when the wife he’d been happily married to for over thirty-five years asked for a divorce. That had forced Uriel to take over the day-to-day operations of Lassiter Industries.
Uriel was glad his dad had finally snapped out of his depression, decided life was too short to drown in self-pity over a woman whom you still loved but didn’t want you, and had returned to Lassiter Industries sharper than ever. Uriel had quickly turned things back over to him and decided to take some much needed R and R. The lake house was his first choice. His parents had been forced to sell it, so he decided to be the buyer.
“While you were in Princeton yesterday, I signed my part of the paperwork, so that the consulting firm could proceed with our most recent acquisition,” he said of the publishing company they’d just purchased. “Now, you need to make sure you swing by their office on Friday to put your John Hancock on the papers, so they can officially begin going through the books to see what areas we want to keep and those we want to trim.
“I know Bronson has a race next weekend in Michigan, and I promise you’ll be out of Manning’s office in no time just in case you’re planning to go,” he added, mentioning their friend, Bronson Scott, who raced for NASCAR.
“Yes, I’m going and will be taking