Beyond Temptation

by Brenda Jackson

  Morgan? she typed. You’re still there?

  Barely. But instead of typing that single response, he stroked the keys to ask And then what you would do?

  Whatever you want. I would become your every woman.

  His every woman…Just the thought sent more heat escalating through him. He leaned forward, feeling a heated rush. He tried to remain calm, keep his composure, but it was hard, just like the rest of him.

  Before he could type in a response she sent him a question. And what’s your fantasy, Morgan Steele?

  He smiled, not the least ashamed to admit what that was. He typed in his response. Making love to you all day long and feel you climax beneath me several times. More times than either of us can count. Then he smiled with a predatory satisfaction when she didn’t respond for a while.

  You sure about that? was the response she finally sent.

  Positive. Now what’s your fantasy?

  To have you on top of me, making love to you, and I’d be grateful for a half day and at least one climax.

  That powerful chemistry that she had failed to acknowledge the first night they’d met was back with a vengeance, stirring every volatile emotion within him. This was the Lena he wanted in his bed, and once he got her there he was going to prove they were one and the same. There weren’t two sides of Lena Spears, and he planned to make sure she realized that.

  Don’t settle for one climax. Get ready for several, he typed and then added Your wish will be my every command, Lena Spears. Whatever you want done, I will do…with pleasure.

  There was a pause and then she responded. I think it’s time we ended this conversation before the screens burn out.

  If we must.

  We must, and remember, Morgan, tonight you chatted with the twin.

  He lifted a challenging brow. The sexual excitement she had aroused in him had gotten to an intense level, had become a momentous force. There was no way he would let her cunningly fall back to being her old self. Even over cyberspace he sensed her emotional withdrawal.

  Good night, Morgan.

  Good night, Lena.

  He waited for her to log off before he did likewise. Then he sagged back against the chair thinking he couldn’t return to Charlotte quick enough to suit him.

  Chapter 10

  The following day Morgan discovered that he had a hard time focusing his attention on anything, even this meeting with Cameron and Ben. By the end of the day business negotiations were behind them, everything had been finalized and it was agreed that they would enter into a partnership for the development of urban real estate, with the objective of fostering economic opportunities in the underserved urban areas around the country.

  Ben had caught a flight back to Los Angeles as soon as the meeting was over, and if it hadn’t been for the promise Morgan had made to Cameron a few days ago to stick around and play a few rounds of golf, he would have been on the next plane bound for Charlotte. Now with the golfing behind them they both had plans to fly home on Thursday instead of Friday.

  After enjoying a scrumptious meal at a very popular soul food restaurant in St. Louis, they decided to have a couple of beers while a jazz band performed.

  “So how’s Vanessa?”

  Morgan lifted his gaze from studying the contents of his glass of beer and glanced across the table at Cameron. He smiled over at his friend. “She’s no different than she was the last time you asked me about her. What can I say? Vanessa is Vanessa.”

  Cameron took a sip of his own beer, straight from the bottle. “Maybe it’s time for me to pay you a visit in Charlotte.”

  Morgan chuckled. “Yeah, maybe it is. That should really shake things up a bit.”

  Cameron grinned. “I imagine it would. So how is the sale of your house coming?”

  Cameron’s questions made Morgan think of Lena, not that he hadn’t been thinking about her anyway. “Lena has found several interested buyers, and I actually like the new place she found for me.”

  Cameron lifted a brow. “But I thought you hiring her as a real estate agent was a cunning ploy to spend time with her.”

  Morgan smiled. “It started out that way, but this might be one of those situations where I got caught in my own trap.”

  Cameron chuckled. “That doesn’t bother you?”

  “No, whatever works I’m for it.” Moments later Morgan asked, “Why are we drawn to difficult women?”

  Cameron shrugged massive shoulders as he glanced at his watch. “Because we’re strong men. Any weaker man would have given up by now. Rejection is something a lot of men don’t take very well. But you know that saying about only the strong surviving. I think it has become our slogan. Besides,” he said, after another sip of his beer, “it’s more than our nature, Morgan. It’s our destiny.”

  Morgan’s mouth formed into a determined smile. Cameron had spoken of strength, but Morgan hadn’t felt strong after talking with Lena last night. In fact for a long while after their conversation he had sat in the chair behind the desk, too weak in the knees to even move. Never had he gotten so turned on from exchanging words with a woman through cyberspace. And every time he moved around in his hotel room and glanced over at his desk, he could picture a naked Lena spread on it.

  He glanced over at Cameron. “So can I expect a visit from you sometime later this month?”

  Cameron smiled. “Yes, that’s something you can pretty much bank on.”

  Lena found that her emotional side was the pits. She had asked herself a million times upon wakening that morning, how had she done what she did last night? Sheesh! She could blame it on her fictional twin all she wanted, but it was her fingers that had typed in those outlandish words.

  What did Morgan think of her? From his typed responses it didn’t appear that he’d been put off by her behavior. In fact he seemed to have enjoyed chatting with her naughty twin. She sighed thinking that he was due back in town on Sunday and she was supposed to give him an answer to his proposal. She was no closer to making a decision than she had been the day he’d made it.

  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 alway
s 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’t let the woman know how much her words bothered her. Instead she said, “Thanks for dropping by, Cassandra, and unless you have a house you want me to sell or you’re looking to buy one, I really have work to do, so please leave.”

  “Less than a month.”

  Lena raised a brow. “Excuse me?”

  Cassandra tilted her head back and gave Lena a haughty look. “Jamie has moved here, and like I said, she and Morgan have dated before and if I recall they got rather cozy. I bet that, engaged or not, in less than a month she’ll have Morgan and you won’t.”

  And then she turned and breezed out of the office with the same air of phoniness that she’d breezed in with.

  “What a witch,” Jocelyn Steele said, putting down her cup of tea. “I can’t believe Bas could have been engaged to marry such a creature.”

  Jocelyn had joined Kylie and Lena for lunch and Lena told them about Cassandra Tisdale’s visit.

  “Honestly,” Kylie said, sipping her tea. “I think the brothers knew Bas would come to his senses before the wedding. Chance even told me such. And he was right. When we got back from our honeymoon we found out that Bas had broken the engagement.”

  “Well, I’m glad I’m the woman he chose,” Jocelyn said, smiling. She then turned her attention to Lena and smiled. “So, are you and Morgan really getting married?”

  Lena wanted to hold her head down in frustration. She hadn’t told Morgan of her decision, but she hadn’t wasted any time throwing it in Cassandra’s face in anger. “I never gave Morgan an answer. I’m supposed to tell him what I’ve decided when he returns.”

  “Well, you might as well have told the entire town,” Kylie said, grinning. “I bet it will be spread all over Charlotte by morning. And I hope you don’t believe that garbage Cassandra said about her cousin being able to turn Morgan’s head in less than a month.”

  Lena sighed. She had seen Cassandra’s cousin and had to admit the woman was a beauty. How would Morgan react if the woman did turn her attention his way?

  “Don’t think it, Lena.”

  Lena lifted her head and met Kylie’s gaze. “Don’t think what?”

  “That anything Cassandra said is true. Morgan is not the type of man who would be interested in a woman like Jamie Hollis. I told you what really happened that night at the governor’s ball. She claimed a headache and asked Morgan to take her home.”

  “They’ve dated before,” Jocelyn said.

  “But still,” Lena said softly, “Jamie Hollis is pretty, she’s a socialite, her father is a senator, she comes from money…”

  “Evidently none of those things matter to Morgan, Lena. He’s made his choice,” Kylie interjected. “And as far as I’m concerned you’ll be bringing far more to the table, something that Morgan admires. Genuineness. You’re not superficial. What people see is what they get. I personally think that’s the best quality of all.”

  Later that night before getting into bed Lena decided she needed to call Morgan. She preferred that he hear about her conversation with Cassandra from her than from someone else. She braced herself when she began dialing his cell phone.

  “Hello.”

  The greeting was whispered huskily and sent sensuous chills through her body. “Morgan, this is Lena.”

  “I know.”

  She raised a brow. “You do? How?”

  “Caller ID.”

  “Oh.” She rolled her eyes, calling herself a ninny for not figuring that out.

  “How are you doing, Lena?”

  She cleared her throat. “I’m fine. What about you?”

  “I’m doing okay. How’s your mom?”

  “She’s doing fine. Thanks for asking.” Then without missing a beat she said, “Morgan, there’s something I need to tell you.”

  “Yes?”

  “About your proposal?”

  “What about it?”

  “Something happened today that I think you should know about.”

  “All right, what happened?”

  Lena decided to lie back on the bed. “Cassandra Tisdale dropped by my office today and…”

  “And what?”

  Lena sighed. “She said some things that really rubbed me the wrong way, and before I could catch myself I told her that you and I would be announcing our engagement when you returned to town.”

  She heard Morgan’s chuckle. “I’m sure that shut her up.”

  Lena shook her head. “Not quite.” But Lena had no intention of telling him what else Cassandra had said, especially the part about her cousin Jamie. Instead she added, “I have a feeling it did just the opposite. I bet she’s spreading it all around town now and I thought you should know.”

  “Okay, thanks for telling me.”

  “You don’t sound bothered by it.”

  “By what?”

  Lena stared up at the ceiling. “By what I told her.”

  “I’m not. I asked you to marry me. You just hadn’t given me your answer. Does this mean you’ll be accepting the terms of my proposal, Lena?”

  She ran a hand over her face. “What do you want, Morgan?”

  “You know what I want. I want you. I want you to have my baby. I want us to get married and be best friends. I want your mother to be an integrated part of our lives. I guess you can say I want it all.”

  Everything but love, she thought, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. In all their conversations he never had mentioned love. She forced that thought from her mind. There were times in life when you couldn’t get everything you wanted.

  “Well, I’ll let you go now. I just wanted you to know,” she said softly.

  “Okay, we’ll talk more about it when I return to Charlotte.”

  “All right. Good night, Morgan.”

  “Good night, Lena.”

  Morgan didn’t release the phone until he heard the click of Lena’s disconnecting the line. Although he was overjoyed that she had decided to accept his proposal, he was curious as to what had driven her to make that decision. He coul
dn’t help wondering exactly what Cassandra had said to her.

  Morgan was astute enough to know that there was more to the story than Lena had told him. He knew of only two people who could possibly know. Kylie was one, but when it came to Lena she had a tendency to be tight-lipped. The other person was Donovan. Donovan usually hung around in the right circles, and if there was something amiss he would be the one to know it.

  He quickly keyed in Donovan’s number, and his brother picked up on the first ring. “Yes?”

  “Okay, Donovan, what’s going on?”

  He heard his brother’s chuckle before he said, “You tell me. Rumor has it that you’re about to become an engaged man.”

  Morgan smiled. So word was out already. “Yes, that’s right.”

  “Congratulations. It seemed you got the woman you wanted. I’m not going to ask how you managed and maybe it’s best if I don’t know. But I better tell you the masses are taking bets.”

  Morgan frowned. “Bets?”

  Donovan chuckled again. “Yes. It seems a certain part of Charlotte’s elite society group can’t imagine you and Lena as a couple. In fact they’re taking bets that before it’s over you’ll come to your senses and marry a woman they feel is more suitable to your breeding.”

  Morgan’s frown deepened. “And who’s that supposed to be?”

  “Jamie Hollis. It’s my understanding Cassandra is certain her cousin can replace Lena. I understand she’s even bold enough to tell Lena that.”

  “Oh, I see.” Now he really did. So that’s what had pushed Lena into action. He shook his head. He would take Lena over Jamie any day. And he intended to do that very thing.

  “It appears that all those times you’ve stated you were looking for the perfect woman, everyone was forming their own opinions as to what you wanted.”

  Morgan sighed. “Evidently. Seems like I have a lot to straighten out when I return to Charlotte tomorrow.”

  “I would have to agree. You know Cassandra and her better-than-thou group.”