Hidden Pleasures - Brenda Jackson [4]
Galen couldn’t help but smile. “She was more than good-looking. The woman was absolutely stunning.”
“Damn, man. And you let her get away?” Gannon looked clearly disappointed.
“It was either that or get my behind kicked by Donovan if I was late for his wedding.”
“Okay, everyone, let’s go back inside the church for pictures,” the wedding director said, interrupting their conversation. “Then we’ll return to the Ritz-Carlton for the reception.”
Galen’s thoughts shifted back to the woman. The one who got away. Like he’d told Gannon, she was more than good-looking and for some reason he could not get her out of his mind.
And at that moment he thought he’d give just about anything to see her again.
Brittany Thrasher tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear after bringing her car to a stop in front of her house. It was nice to be back home after attending that seminar in New York.
A few minutes later she was walking through her front door wheeling her luggage behind her. The first thing she planned to do was strip off her clothes in deference to the Tampa heat that flirted with the hundred-degree mark.
She looked at the stack of envelopes on the table and couldn’t help but appreciate her neighbor and friend Jennifer Barren for coming over every day to get her mail and water her plants. This was Brittany’s busiest travel time of the year. As CEO of her own business, Etiquette Matters, she and her ten employees traveled all over the country teaching the basics of proper etiquette to businesses, schools and interested groups. Last week her students consisted of a group of NFL players who’d been invited to the White House for dinner.
Kicking off her shoes, she went to her bedroom and her mind went to the man in New York, the one who’d had the audacity to take her cab from right under her nose. And with his pants unzipped. He hadn’t seemed the least bit embarrassed when she’d brought it to his attention. The jerk.
She shook her head. Another thing she remembered about him other than the open zipper was his eyes. He had Smokey Robinson eyes, a mossy shade of green that would have taken her breath away had she not been so angry. The man had no manners, which was a real turnoff. She would love to have him as a student for just one day in Etiquette Matters. She would all but shove good manners down his throat. In a gracious and congenial way, of course.
She flipped through the stack of envelopes, sorting out the junk mail that needed to be trashed. One envelope in particular caught her attention. The handwriting on it was so elegant, she’d give just about anything to have that kind of penmanship.
The envelope had no return address, but the postal stamp indicated it had been sent from Phoenix. She didn’t know a soul in Phoenix and it was one of the few places she’d never visited. Using her mail opener, she opened the letter and her eyes connected to words that had her gaping in shock.
Ms. Thrasher,
I have reason to believe you are the daughter I gave up for adoption twenty-eight years ago.
Chapter 2
Six months later
“Will any of my sons ever marry?”
Galen refused to look up from reading the documents that were spread out on his desk. He didn’t have to glance at Eden Tyson Steele to know she was on a roll. Ever since Donovan’s wedding, his mother had been swept away by wishful thinking. She had witnessed the ceremony, heard the wedding music and seen how happy the bride and groom were. Since then she’d felt something was missing in her life, especially because Galen’s kinfolk in Charlotte could now claim that all the North Carolina Steeles, both male and female, had gotten hitched.
He’d gotten a call earlier from Mercury warning him that their mother was making house calls to each of her sons. Her message was consistent and pretty damn clear. She wanted daughters-in-law. She wasn’t pushing for grandbabies yet, but the brothers figured that craving wouldn’t be long. First she had to work on getting them married. “Galen?”
He breathed out a deep sigh. There was no way he could ignore her question