Beyond Temptation

by Brenda Jackson

  The startled look on her face let him know that she hadn’t thought about that part of the arrangement. He decided to press on. “Just so you’ll know, I’m thinking about going with that last home you showed me because it will be perfect for our family—which includes your mother. It will give her the privacy she needs while at the same time assuring her that she is wanted. It’s important to me that she feels that she is a part of our lives and not an outsider.”

  Lena sighed. Morgan was hitting her at all angles and using every single argument she would come up with to his advantage. He was right. Financial security was something she craved, and more than anything she did want a child of her own. And her mother being part of her marriage rather than an outcast was more important than anything. But still…

  “What if things don’t work out?” she asked softly.

  Morgan smiled. Now was not the time to tell her that things would work out. Once he got her in his bed, made love to her the way he’d dreamt of doing for over a year and lavished her with all the attention and respect she deserved, then she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

  Instead he said, “We can draw up an agreement that we will stay together and make things work for at least twelve months. After that time if you or I feel that marrying was a mistake, we will end the marriage with joint custody of our child.”

  He watched as Lena inhaled deeply before she said, “I need to think about this.”

  “Of course. Do you think you can have an answer by the time I return on Sunday? That’s five days away.”

  Lena’s chest tightened. She had a lot of thinking to do, and five days wasn’t a lot of time. But still, she would have an answer for him. “Yes, I should have a decision for you by then.”

  “Good.” He stood. “I’m on my way to grab something to eat at the Racetrack Café. Would you care to join me?”

  Lena shook her head. The last thing she needed was something to eat. What she needed was time alone to think. “No, but thanks for asking.”

  “You’re welcome.” He crossed the room to get his jacket, and she came from around her desk. She decided to ask him the question she’d been pondering since he had arrived. “How did you get in here?”

  “Your secretary,” he said, slipping into his jacket. “I was walking in when she was leaving.”

  “Oh.”

  He smiled. “Was she supposed to hang around and announce me or something?”

  “No, I was just surprised when you arrived,” she said, walking him to her office door.

  He raised a dark brow quizzically. “Had you forgotten about our appointment?”

  Hardly. “No, I hadn’t forgotten.”

  Now she stood in front of him at the door, and as usual he appeared overwhelming and his eyes were on her, as if he was studying her for some reason. The intensity of his gaze made her flush. “You’re going to St. Louis, right?” she nervously asked.

  He nodded. “Yes. You still have that business card I gave you with my cell phone number and e-mail address in case something comes up or if you need to ask me anything about my proposal?”

  “Yes, and you still have mine, right?”

  “Yes, I still have it.”

  “Well, don’t hesitate to contact me if you want to withdraw your offer of the marriage thing.”

  He chuckled. “I won’t be withdrawing it.”

  Lena toyed with the button on her jacket thinking he sounded pretty sure of that. “I hope you have a safe flight, Morgan.”

  “Thanks, and I promise to have an answer for you regarding the sale of my house when I return.”

  “Okay. Although I’ve been showing the Edwardses other places, I think they like your house the best.”

  The smile that tilted his lips widened. “That’s good to know. I’ll keep that in mind when I make my decision, and I hope you keep it in mind when you make yours.”

  Lena sighed, trying to ignore the intense stare in Morgan’s eyes. She held out her hand. “Goodbye, Morgan. I’ll see you in a few days.”

  He didn’t take her outstretched hand. Instead he continued to stare at her, hold her gaze, rattling her already shaken composure. “I want to do things different this time, Lena,” he said, his voice low, seductive.

  Mesmerized, she dropped her hand to her side. Her palm suddenly felt warm and sweaty. And when he took a step closer to her, an aching need, that throbbing desire that had awakened her last night, was there, clawing at her, and she took a step forward as well.

  “I think we can do better than that,” he said in a warm, husky tone, which was barely above a whisper, pulling her total concentration back in.

  Before she could release her next breath, he lowered his mouth to hers with a quick, clean sweep of his tongue across her lips. He captivated her then and there, snapping her composure and destroying the last hold she had on her control.

  She placed her hand on his chest when his mouth closed hungrily, greedily over hers, almost eating her alive and unleashing a degree of passion she didn’t know she had. Her naughty twin had passion, yes, but her, no. But this was not her twin who felt the smoldering eruption deep inside her as Morgan’s tongue sent her senses reeling from the mastery of his lips.

  Nor was it her twin whose moans escaped her lips beneath Morgan’s demanding mouth while he grasped her around the waist in a tight hold of possession, bringing her closer to him and making her aware of how masculine and strong his body was.

  A part of her was totally stunned at the depth of her need, her passion, her desire, but then another part wasn’t. The recesses of her mind taunted that this was Morgan, the man who had invaded her dreams for the past year. Morgan, who practically made her catch her breath every time she saw him. Morgan, the man who wanted to give her the baby she’d always wanted; and Morgan, the man her body was instinctively, unashamedly arching against.

  She uttered a low moan of protest when he finally raised his head, and when he pressed her face against his chest she realized the impact the kiss had had on him as well. She heard his heart racing, felt the irregular beats beneath her head and heard the sound of his ragged breathing being forced from his throat. She buried her face deeper into his chest, feeling warm and contented. Moments later she sighed when she felt him rest his chin on the crown on her head.

  They stood that way for a while, neither ready to separate, too mesmerized and filled with raw emotions to say anything. Then he reached down and lifted her chin with the tip of his finger, meeting her gaze, and then lowered his mouth to hers again. This kiss was gentler but was filled with a high degree of passion nonetheless.

  When he finally released her mouth again, he let out a shaky breath and murmured softly, “I’d better go and please think about my proposal.”

  Placing one quick kiss to her lips, he turned and then he was gone.

  Chapter 8

  “Morgan asked you what!” Kylie asked, staring at Lena disbelievingly.

  Lena waited until the waitress had placed her order of French fries on the table and walked away before directing her attention back to Kylie. “I know it sounds crazy but he asked me to marry him and have his baby.”

  Kylie continued to stare at her, saying nothing, and then she shook her head, smiling as she plucked a fry off Lena’s plate. “So you’re it.”

  Lena lifted a confused brow. “I’m what?”

  “Morgan’s perfect woman.”

  Lena frowned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Kylie scooted in her chair closer to the table so her voice wouldn’t carry. At least she scooted as close as her huge stomach would allow. “Everyone in the Steele family knows about Morgan’s obsession with finding the perfect woman. Evidently, you’ve made quite an impression on him.”

  “Or he’s realized there’s no such thing as a perfect woman, like there’s no perfect man. But that doesn’t explain why he wants that person to be me.”

  Kylie rolled her eyes. “Aw, come on, Lena. Morgan has shown interest in you s
ince that night the two of you met at that charity ball. He asked you out several times but you turned him down.”

  Lena munched on her fry thinking that yes, he had asked her out, but she really hadn’t taken him seriously at first. But when he’d asked a few more times she thought it would be a smart move to break things down to him as to why she wouldn’t go out with him. Now he was asking her not only to marry him but also to have his baby.

  “So, are you going to do it?”

  Kylie’s question interrupted her thoughts. She knew of all people, she had to be totally honest with her best friend. “Would I sound like an awful person if I said I was really thinking about the idea? Gosh, Kylie, he’s the first man to take Mom into consideration. He actually said he would be proud to have her for his child’s grandmother.”

  “Wow, that’s deep, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, for me it is.” Another thing that was deep was the kiss they’d shared. Even now if she were to touch her lips with her fingertips, she was convinced she would still be able to feel the warmth of Morgan’s lips there. “But there are other things to consider,” she finally said, sighing.

  “Like what?”

  “Although our union will be a marriage of purpose, as he put it, he still wants us to project a semblance of realness. In other words, he has no qualms about us sharing a bed.”

  “But you do?”

  “Yes. No. Hell, I don’t know.” The last couple of guys she’d dated—way back when—took that time to cross her mind. They hadn’t done anything to light a fire within her, at least not to the degree Morgan had with just a mere kiss. “Trust me, it wouldn’t bother me one bit to sleep with Morgan,” she finally said. “But what if we start something that neither of us can finish?”

  “Meaning?”

  “What if things don’t work out and he decides I’m not the woman he wants to live with or the right woman for the mother of his child?”

  Kylie shrugged. “Knowing Morgan I’m sure he’s thought this thing through before approaching you with it. If I were you, the only thing I’d worry about is what decision I’ll be giving him in five days.”

  She hadn’t dreamed today, Lena thought, slipping beneath the covers later that night. She lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling as memories flooded her. It was hard to believe Morgan had actually asked her to marry him and have his baby.

  After Morgan had left her office she had hung back, unable to leave as she’d planned to do. Instead she had sat at her desk trying to rationalize what had happened moments earlier, replaying in her mind his every word, every stroke of his tongue in her mouth.

  In the end when she’d realized she hadn’t been hallucinating, she had called Kylie and asked to meet her at the nearest Burger King after she closed her florist shop that day.

  After their talk she had left to pick up her mother from day care, barely remembering what their conversation had been about on the ride home. The only thing she remembered was the one single question that was still floating around in her head.

  Why, of all the women he knew, he wanted to marry her?

  From the day she had agreed to sell his house and help him locate another one, things had been strictly business between them. Even when he’d had dinner with her and her mother on Sunday he hadn’t shown any obvious signs that he was attracted to her.

  Or had he?

  She had noted the intense looks in his gazes, but he’d always looked at her that way. In the past she had chalked things up as a one-sided attraction that she could never act on…but today, following his lead, she had.

  She doubted that she would ever be able to look him in the face and not be reminded of their kiss. Today she had been introduced to another facet of Morgan’s unique personality. His passionate side. It would be a side she would be constantly exposed to if they were to marry. Sheesh! For over a year he had been her nightly dream and she wasn’t sure she was ready for him to make the jump from being her Mr. Fantasy to taking on the role of her Mr. Reality.

  But then, all she had to do was close her eyes to remember the exact moment he’d made his outlandish proposal. “I want you to marry me and have my baby.” The moment he had said the words, although she hadn’t been sure she’d heard him correctly, he had looked at her with that deep, dark gaze of his as a spark of desire had flooded her insides, overheating her senses. And the seductive scent of the cologne he’d been wearing hadn’t helped matters.

  And later, right before he had left, he had taken the initiative to step closer to her, and she had boldly walked into his arms. And the exact moment their tongues had mingled, zapping her willpower with tenderness, she had known she was a goner. She knew even now that she would probably be whispering his name in her sleep. But that was okay. She didn’t know of any other man whose name she’d rather whisper.

  And as she closed her eyes to peaceful slumber, it was Morgan’s face that occupied her dreams.

  Morgan inhaled a steadying breath as he pushed himself out of bed and sat on the edge of it. The kiss he had shared earlier that day with Lena was still heavily on his mind, in his thoughts, embedded so deep in his memory that he couldn’t sleep and was so elemental it made his entire body ache.

  The kiss had been everything he had known it would be and more, and she had felt just like he’d figured she would in his arms. Now his senses were incapable of any other thoughts but those of her. At this point if she were to turn down his proposal to marry him and have his baby he didn’t know what he would do.

  He stood, deciding there wasn’t much hope of getting a lot of sleep tonight. His only hope was to try and get some shut-eye on the plane, which he would be catching in a few hours. Throwing on his robe, he made his way down the stairs to get a cup of coffee before going over some paperwork for his meeting with Cameron and Ben Malloy.

  Malloy was an entrepreneur with multifaceted interests. A year ago Morgan had approached him and Cameron in regards to what he saw not only as a sound business opportunity but also as a way to give back to his hometown’s dying community. His latest venture was to open several shopping malls within urban areas of several handpicked communities around the country.

  In recent years there had been an explosion of growth within the suburban areas of various cities, but there seemed to be a constant neglect within the downtown areas—where a number of African Americans lived. Most business owners—although they considered themselves rather astute—failed to recognize or acknowledge the potential growth in urban areas, and as a result, their narrow-mindedness had left the residents, those people living in the neglected areas, with limited access to shopping, adequate housing and entertainment.

  Magic Johnson had brought attention to this issue when he opened several theaters within the urban communities across the country. And what Morgan, Cameron and Ben were posed to do was something similar with the development of a mall in St. Louis. Ben had asked their support and their aid in pouring a substantial amount of money into the project, and after doing a considerable amount of research they had determined it not only would be a worthwhile financial investment, but it would also be a way to help place development in those overlooked areas.

  Morgan glanced at the clock when he entered his kitchen. It was three in the morning and he had a flight out at eight. After he’d left Lena he had come home to pack, prepare a quick dinner and savor the memories of his first kiss with the woman of his dreams.

  Moments later as he sat at his desk, he absently stirred his coffee while trying to read the report Cameron’s secretary had faxed earlier. Instead of concentrating, his mind was stuck on other things, namely Lena. Would she agree to his offer of marriage? He smiled thinking once he had her in his bed there were no limitations to just what he could do and would do.

  The die was cast and an indescribable warmth spread through him in knowing that if Lena agreed to become his wife and the mother of his child, he would have her right where he wanted her.

  Chapter 9

  “How’s t
hat Steele boy?”

  Lena smiled as she shoved in her briefcase the documents she needed to go over with a potential buyer. Funny, although she knew her mother’s usage of the word boy was just a term, Lena couldn’t visualize Morgan as a boy. She saw the person who had kissed her almost senseless yesterday as being a man in every full sense of the word.

  “If you’re asking about Morgan, I guess he’s fine,” she said, trying to keep her voice light, neutral and nonchalant.

  “So when will he be coming back?”

  Lena lifted her head and met her mother’s gaze with an arched brow. “How did you know he was going somewhere?”

  “He told me when he called a few days ago,” Odessa said, as she sat at the kitchen table and took a sip of her coffee.

  Lena, with an incredulous look on her face, shut her briefcase with a click. “Morgan called you?”

  “Yes.”

  “When?”

  “I told you it was a few days ago. Monday, I believe.”

  Lena sighed. “And when did he call on Monday?”

  “In the afternoon. Before you got home.”

  Lena leaned against the kitchen counter. “He called to tell you he was leaving town?”

  “No. Actually he called to thank me for dinner on Sunday, and then he mentioned he was leaving town.” Her mother took another sip of her coffee, then asked, “Why all the questions?”

  Lena rolled her eyes heavenward wondering if her mother had forgotten that she was the one who’d brought up Morgan in the first place. She decided to jog her memory. “Mom, you’re the one who asked about Morgan. If you had spoken to him this week, then why did you even ask me how he was doing?”

  “Because I thought that perhaps you had talked to him since then.”

  “Yes, I saw him yesterday at my office. You know I’m selling his home and helping him find another.” Until she decided how she would handle his proposal she didn’t want her mother to get any ideas, so she added, “Our relationship is strictly professional.”