Beyond Temptation - Brenda Jackson [45]
She had planned to go by his house that day to clean up any more chocolate handprints left by that little boy, but hadn’t had the desire to do so. The last place she needed to go today was the place where Morgan slept, ate, bathed, dressed…
She tossed a file on her desk wondering at what point she would stop fantasizing about the man. Hadn’t doing so got her in enough trouble already?
She almost jumped when her intercom sounded. Leaning forward she pushed the button. “Yes, Wendy?”
“Cassandra Tisdale is here to see you.”
Lena lifted a brow. Cassandra Tisdale? What would the woman want with her? There was only one way to find out. “Send her in, Wendy.”
Lena stood just moments before her office door opened and Cassandra breezed in, bringing all her air of phoniness with her. She decided not to waste any time in asking, “Cassandra, what can I do for you?”
Cassandra smiled brightly. “I think I owe you an apology.”
Lena crossed her arms over her chest and eyed the woman skeptically. “Do you?”
“Yes, silly me. When I saw you and Morgan together a couple of weeks ago I jumped to the wrong conclusions when I should have known better. I just heard at lunch that you’re selling his home for him. I should have known it was something to do with business and not anything personal.”
Lena silently heard what Cassandra was not saying. “And why should you have known that?”
Cassandra smiled affectionately. Lena surmised that it was the same way she would have smiled at a puppy before kicking it. “Because you aren’t Morgan’s type. In fact I know the perfect woman for him.”
Lena leaned her hips against her desk. “Do you?”
“Yes, my cousin Jamie. You probably remember her from the ball that night.”
Now it was Lena who smiled. “Oh yes. Isn’t that the same cousin you tried pushing off on Chance?”
Cassandra frowned. “Chance disappointed me. I always thought he appreciated the finer things in life.”
“He does. That’s why he married Kylie. In fact I think he’s a man who recognizes top quality when he sees it.”
Cassandra’s frown deepened. “Well, I wish them the best. But getting back to Morgan.”
“And your cousin?”
“Yes. Did you know she was his date at the governor’s inaugural ball last year?”
Lena smiled. She had heard it a different way from Kylie. It seemed the young woman was in attendance and had asked Morgan to take her home when she began not feeling well. “And?”
“And I thought he was rather taken with her.”
“Really?”
Cassandra smiled. “Yes. Money marries money. What can I say?”
Nothing, Lena thought. The woman had basically said it all. Now it was her time to speak, and what she had to say would definitely burst the woman’s bubble. Maybe it was the fact that she was sick and tired of the Cassandras and Jamies of the world who thought good things should happen only to them because they were born with silver spoons in their mouths, or perhaps it was because Cassandra, as usual, had rubbed her the wrong way.
Whatever the reason, Lena had had enough. “I hate to disappoint you and your cousin, but when Morgan returns to town we’ll be announcing our engagement.”
Cassandra blinked and then burst out laughing. “If you think Morgan is going to marry you, then you are a fool. Everyone knows he wants the perfect woman, and trust me you’re far from perfect. Your lack of pedigree, your appearance, your profession. You are definitely not what Morgan Steele needs in a wife, so if he asked you to marry him it had to be during a weak moment when he wasn’t thinking rationally. Men marry women they will be proud to be seen with. Although I really don’t care for Kylie or that woman Bas married, I have to admit they look decent enough. I can’t say the same for you.”
Anger tore through Lena and she came close to slapping that smile off Cassandra Tisdale’s face, but she wouldn