"Where"s Kylie?" she asked him accusingly.
He lifted a brow. The way the woman had asked implied she thought he had done away with his sister-in-law. "She had to step out," he decided to answer to a.s.sure her misplaced fears. "May I help you?"
She frowned at him. "And who are you?"
The woman sure asked a lot of questions. He wondered how long it would take for her to place an order and leave. She was presently standing in the way of him and Soledad. "I"m her brother-in-law," he said, hoping that would allay whatever problems she had with him.
He watched, surprised, as a slow smile replaced her frown. "Oh, you"re one of those Steele boys."
He chuckled. He hadn"t heard him and his brothers described just that way in a long time. Of the four of them, most people knew Bas mainly because while growing up he"d had a reputation around town for getting in all kinds of trouble. "Yes, ma"am, I"m one of those Steele boys."
"And which one are you?"
"The youngest."
She nodded. "Oh, you"re the one who likes the girls."
That was him, all right. He lifted a brow, wondering just who this woman was. One thing was for certain; she had just made a pivotal point about him and he had no problem admitting it. "Yes, ma"am, I"m the one who likes the girls."
"Just like Drew did in his day."
Donovan couldn"t help but laugh. Drew Steele was one of his father"s cousins, and from what Donovan had heard, thirty years ago Drew had had to leave Charlotte when a bunch of women threatened to do him bodily harm because of his notorious reputation. Drew escaped to Phoenix, eventually married and had a slew of kids.
"Yes, just like Drew," he said, not the least bit ashamed to claim such a thing. What he didn"t say was that, unlike Drew, Donovan felt he had his game together and didn"t intend to get run out of town by a bunch of women. Times had changed. Most men weren"t seeking a woman"s undying love and affection-just a chance to share her bed. He made a point to make sure the women he messed around with knew the difference.
"I take it you knew Drew," he said, indicating the obvious.
The frown returned to the elderly woman"s face. "Oh, yes, I knew Drew. He would have messed up my daughter"s life if we hadn"t sent her off to school in Florida with my sister. She was so convinced she was in love with him and that he loved her. Everyone in town knew he didn"t love anyone but himself. That was over thirty years ago. She eventually married and got on with her life."
Donovan nodded, happy for her daughter. There was no need to tell her that although Drew had pretty much settled down some of his sons were following in their father"s footsteps. "Did you want to place an order?" he decided to ask her.
She slowly began moving toward the counter. "Yes, I got a sick church member, and I want to send her a bunch of those flowers over there," she said, pointing to the refrigerated gla.s.s case containing an a.s.sortment of flowers prearranged in a ceramic vase. "Any ones will do in the twenty-dollar price range."
"All right. Do you want to take them with you?" he asked, writing out the order form.
"No, I want Kylie to have them delivered for me," she said and then handed him a slip of paper.
He glanced down at it. "Earline Darwin?" he asked. Of course he recognized the name.
"Yes, you know her?" the elderly woman asked.
"Yes, I know her." But I want to get to know her niece even more But I want to get to know her niece even more.
"Did you get a lot of orders while I was gone?"
Donovan glanced up when his sister-in-law walked through the door. "Around three phone orders and only one walk-in. A Ms. Hayes stopped by to send a bunch of flowers to Earline Darwin."
"Like I said yesterday, Ms. Darwin is a popular lady. I"ll make sure she gets them tomorrow," Kylie said, moving to the register to close it out for the day.
"No need. I"ll drop them off on my way home." Donovan figured Natalie would be there taking care of her aunt since she couldn"t get around much.
Kylie tilted her head to look up at him with a bemused look on her face. "Why? Did Ms. Hayes say she wanted them delivered today?"
"No, but I thought I could do that and also check on Ms. Darwin."
Kylie crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay, what"s going on here, Donovan? You"re a nice guy and all but what"s the real reason you"re dropping by Ms. Darwin"s home? And I recognize the address. It"s not on your way home, nor is it close to the Racetrack Cafe. So just what are you up to, Donovan Ridge Steele?"
Donovan tried hiding his smile by looking down at his feet. He"d gotten caught so he might as well come clean. Besides, this was Kylie. Since marrying Chance, she"d had two teenagers in the household to deal with-teens that Donovan had discovered could be as conniving as they came.
He lifted his head to meet Kylie"s questioning gaze. "I told you that Ms. Darwin is my housekeeper."
She nodded. "Yes, you did mention that."
"Well, what I probably didn"t mention is that her niece is filling in for her for the next six weeks."
He watched as understanding shone on Kylie"s face. "She"s pretty, I imagine."
"Very."
Kylie frowned. "And knowing you like I do, I guess that means you want to add her to your "get-her-in-my-bed" list."
He wondered what Kylie would think if she knew Natalie had already been in his bed; however, he hadn"t been in it with her. "Aw, come on, Kylie. You make me sound like the rake of the year. I"m very up-front with any woman I become involved with. I tell her what to expect and what not to expect."
"But that"s no guarantee that they won"t fall in love with you anyway. I don"t want to remind you about Alyson Greer."
Donovan rolled his eyes. "Please don"t bring her up. And I did explain to Alyson how things would be, but she refused to take me at my word because she had her own agenda. What you don"t want to accept, Kylie, is that there are women just like me out there who don"t want a lasting relations.h.i.+p any more than I do. Those are the women I deal with. Plain and simple."
From her expression, he could tell his words hadn"t been too convincing so he said. "Trust me, Kylie. It"s not that serious."
She lifted a brow. "I don"t know about that, Donovan. I"m the mother of a daughter whom I want to be aware of men like you."
His grin didn"t waver since he didn"t take her words as an insult. "And your daughter has an uncle who would defend her honor to the hilt if he had to. But, again, the women I deal with know the score. If they choose not to believe what I tell them, or if for some reason they get it into their heads that I"m a man who can be caught and tamed, it"s their fault and not mine."
He and his sisters-in-law had had this conversation several times before, and his stomach knotted at the awful memories. One night they had cornered him and all but made him promise to be considerate of women"s feelings. It had taken him a full hour or so to convince them that he was.
He watched as Kylie sighed in frustration before walking over to open the gla.s.s case. "I hope you know what you"re doing, Donovan. I have a feeling that one day will be payback for you, and some woman is going to break your heart."
He chuckled. "Trust me, sweetheart, it"s not going to happen."
"Aren"t those flowers just lovely, Nat?"
Natalie smiled as she placed a bowl of soup in front of her aunt while glancing at the flowers that had been delivered earlier that day from Donovan Steele. "Yes, they are pretty, Aunt Earline. But then all your flowers are simply beautiful."
And she had received quite a few from various church members, neighbors and friends. Natalie had a feeling why her aunt thought the ones from Donovan were so special. Because she hadn"t expected them. There certainly hadn"t been any flower deliveries from Kelly and Simpkins.
"I need to send him a thank-you card."
Natalie knew it would be a lost cause to tell her aunt there was no hurry in doing that, so she didn"t.
"You got two calls today from potential clients. I got their addresses to mail them out a brochure," she said sitting down across from her aunt at the table.
"Thanks."
"And the Baxters called to cancel their service on Thursday. They"re going out of town."
For the next hour Natalie brought her aunt up to speed on everything that had happened that day with the business including the bad news that they"d received a resignation from one of their employees whom they considered dependable.
"I hate that Lola will be leaving us in the fall, but I"m glad she"s decided to return to school. She only has a few credits left before she gets her college degree. And at least she gave us a lot of notice for us to find a replacement."
And then it was time for her aunt"s afternoon nap. After making sure she had taken her medicine and was comfortably settled in bed, Natalie was just leaving her aunt"s bedroom and closing the door behind her when the doorbell sounded. Not wanting the sound to disturb her aunt, she quickly headed toward the front of the house, wondering if one of her aunt"s church members had come calling.
She glanced out the peephole in the door, and her chest immediately tightened. Donovan Steele was standing on the porch. What on earth could the man want? Glancing down at her skirt and blouse, and deciding she looked decent enough, she quickly ran her fingers through her hair and then she inhaled deeply before slowly opening the door.
Before she could ask why he was there, he handed her a vase of flowers and said, "I thought I"d help out my sister-in-law by delivering these."
It took all of Donovan"s self-control not to pull Natalie into his arms for the kiss he"d been aching for since meeting her yesterday. It was insane. Yet, for one tantalizing minute he wanted more than anything to pull her into his arms to find out if her lips were actually as soft and delicious as they looked.
It would be a provocative move. Bold. Totally out of line. Considering such a thing should give him pause. Unfortunately, what it was giving him was an ache right behind his zipper, which he was trying like h.e.l.l to fight back.
He was fully aware of her, although he was trying so hard not to be. She looked cute in her skirt and blouse. In truth there was nothing unusual about them. Still, they stirred raw desire within him. But when you had legs that looked like hers and a body that could make a man drool, it was hard not to be fully aware of anything she wore. Even a potato sack if she chose to don it.
"You work with your sister-in-law part-time?"
Her question brought his attention back in focus and away from her legs. "Not really," he said, deciding to lean against the porch column for support. "She had something to do today, so I did her a favor by watching the store for an hour or so. One of your aunt"s church members dropped by and ordered these flowers. I couldn"t resist delivering them in person."
Her eyes shone bright in the fading sunlight. "And why couldn"t you resist delivering them?" she asked.
He could feel her nervous tension and watched as she licked her top lip with her tongue and felt his gut tighten even more. Her luscious scent surrounded him, made him appreciate being a man who was intent on having her. "Because I figured you would be here, and it gave me a chance to see you again," he finally said, watching her reaction to his words with a steady gaze.
She opened her mouth as if not believing what he"d boldly stated. Then she closed it, paused momentarily and said, "Mr. Steele, I think-"
"Donovan. That"s what I want you to call me. What will it take for you to do so, Natalie?"
He observed the narrowing of her eyes, the tightening of her lips. She wasn"t too happy with him now. Just as well since if the truth be told, he wasn"t too happy with her, either. She was being difficult, playing hard to get. Normally he liked the challenge, but in this case, although he"d only met her yesterday, she had made an impact, and his patience was wearing thin.
He decided to press on while he had her at a loss for words. "Are you going to invite me in?"
Her eyebrow arched. "For what reason?"
"So I can say h.e.l.lo to your aunt."
"Sorry, she"s asleep and I don"t want to wake her up."
He managed to smile. Boy, she was stubborn. "And I wouldn"t want you to. Considering everything, I"m sure she needs her rest." Just like considering everything, I think you"re trying to hide the desire that"s so blatant in your eyes, in the hard tips of your nipples that are pressing against your blouse. Why are you fighting me? Just like considering everything, I think you"re trying to hide the desire that"s so blatant in your eyes, in the hard tips of your nipples that are pressing against your blouse. Why are you fighting me?
"Thanks for delivering the flowers."
Natalie"s voice intruded into his thoughts, and acting on pure impulse, he moved a step closer to her. The only thing separating their bodies was the vase of flowers she held in her hand. He wanted to get a clear view of the look in her eyes, to see what she wasn"t yet experienced enough to hide. An image came back into his mind, the one of finding her asleep in his bed. But in this one, she wasn"t fully clothed. Instead she was stark naked.
He released a sharp intake of breath, and at that moment he was more determined than ever to have her, to do all those things to her he had dreamed about last night and envisioned most of the day.
"Goodbye, Mr. Steele."
As incredible as it was at that point in time, a slow smile formed on his lips. For now he would let her a.s.sume she was calling the shots. His smile widened even more as he took in her obvious apprehension. No doubt she was concerned just what his sudden good mood was about. Especially when the air surrounding them was shrouded with so much sensuality. It was so thick he could probably wallow in it. He felt it and knew she could feel it too.
"Please let your aunt know that I dropped by," he said in a husky yet hushed tone before taking a step back.
Without giving her time to say anything-and doubting seriously that she would have done so anyway-he turned and walked away.
Chapter 5.
"What do you know about Donovan Steele, Farrah?" Natalie asked her friend as she watched her check her side mirrors before changing lanes. They were on their way to the Racetrack Cafe for an evening of fun.
At the first opportunity she could grab, Farrah glanced over at her. "Donovan Steele?" she asked with surprise in her voice. "Why on earth would you ask about him?"
Because maybe talking about him will stop my b.r.e.a.s.t.s from aching whenever I think about him. She had literally been in one h.e.l.l of a fix since seeing him yesterday. She hadn"t expected him to drop by, nor had she expected her body"s reaction to seeing him. "I"m just curious."
She figured that response would not be good enough for Farrah and wasn"t surprised to find herself under Farrah"s intense stare when they came to a flas.h.i.+ng light at the train tracks.
"No, girlfriend, you"re not just curious," Farrah said. "You just got back in town last week, so why would you be asking about Donovan Steele?"
Natalie squirmed under Farrah"s intense scrutiny and knew she would have to tell her the whole story since Farrah wouldn"t let up until she did. "He"s one of Aunt Earline"s clients, and I was cleaning his home on Monday when he came home unexpectedly."
"Um, so you got to see the handsome hunk?" Farrah asked smiling as she waited for a train to pa.s.s.
"Unfortunately, I did. But that"s not all I did,"
Farrah lifted her brow. "What else did you do?"
"I was cleaning his room, saw his bed, saw how comfortable it looked and wanted to try it out."