Hidden Pleasures - Brenda Jackson [57]
“So, Galen, where’s your houseguest?”
Galen stared across the table at Jonas. This brother had asked the very question the other four were wondering but hadn’t the nerve to inquire about. Galen was no fool. He’d known the moment he had opened the door to them that they had visited for a reason. He couldn’t recall the last time they’d dropped by bringing him breakfast.
“Brittany’s upstairs,” he said as he continued eating.
“Nice name,” Gannon interjected.
Galen nodded. “She’s a nice girl.”
“Classify nice.”
That had come from Tyson. Eli, he noticed, wasn’t saying anything. He was just looking, listening and eating. “She’s not anyone I’d typically mess around with.”
“Then why are you?” Mercury asked.
Galen smiled. “Because I like her.” He thought about what he’d just said and decided these five men deserved his honesty, even though what he was about to say would stun them. “In fact, I’m in love with her.”
Their reaction was comical at best. Only Eli had managed to keep a straight face—one of those “I told you so” expressions. The others looked shocked.
“What do you mean you love her? The way Drew loves Eden or the way Colfax loves Velvet?” Mercury asked.
Everyone was familiar with Mercury’s friend Jaye Colfax. He claimed he was in love with Velvet Spencer; however, he wasn’t in love with the woman, just the sex because it was off the chain.
“It’s like Drew and Eden.”
That confession was like a missile going off in his kitchen, and with it came a blast. Colorful expletives were discharged in different languages because he and all of his brothers spoke several foreign languages. In fact, maybe that was a good thing considering Brittany was upstairs. He hadn’t heard her moving around, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t awakened. The last thing she needed to hear was the Steele brothers discussing her.
“Let’s speak German,” Galen suggested.
English or German, what his brothers were saying was scorching his ears. He was being called everything but a child of God. Now he knew how Donovan felt, because Galen had been one of the first to read his cousin the riot act, as if falling in love was something he could have avoided.
When he felt they’d pretty much gotten everything off their chests, and probably every filthy word they could think of out of their mouths, he stood and said in German, “Okay, you’ve all had your say, now get over it.”
It wasn’t just what he said, but the tone he used that made his kitchen suddenly get quiet. Five pairs of green eyes stared at him. And then he said, “What happens to me has no bearing on the five of you.”
He knew it was a lie even as he said it. Eden Tyson Steele wouldn’t see it that way. She would think one down and five more to go.
“And you truly love her? This woman you met…less than a week ago?” Jonas asked, looking at him like he ought to have his head examined.
“We didn’t just meet. I met her in New York six months ago.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Gannon said, as if something had just clicked inside his head. “Is she the one who got away?”
Galen couldn’t help but smile. Gannon had a tendency to remember everything. “Yes, she’s the one, which is why I don’t plan on letting her get away again.”
“So when is the wedding?” Jonas asked. “If I’m going to be in a wedding, I need to know when. My schedule is pretty crazy for the next few months.”
Galen shrugged. “Don’t know because she hasn’t a clue how I feel. And chances are she might not return the feelings.”
His brothers looked aghast at such a possibility. After all, Galen was a Steele and all women loved the Steeles. “So you’re going to have to work on her? Convince her you’re worthy of her affections?” Tyson asked, as if the thought of Galen doing such a thing was downright shameful.
“Yes, and I intend to win her over.”
“And if you don’t?”
An assured and confident smile touched his lips. “I will.”
Brittany was halfway down the stairs when she heard the sound of male voices…and they were speaking in a different language. German, she believed, but wasn