Claimed by a Steele
Автор
Brenda Jackson
Прочтений
18,0K
Глав
15
Prologue
“You may kiss your bride.”
Gannon Steele held back a laugh as he watched his brother Mercury pull the woman he loved into his arms and give her a whopper of a kiss. It was hard to believe that his I-will-never-fall-in-love-again brother had done just that. Fallen in love again. Gannon knew no one was happier about it than his mother, Eden Tyson Steele, who adored Mercury’s new wife and who’d been ready to see another son married off.
He glanced around at his family. They were probably thinking the same things about Mercury that he was. Sloan Donahue had changed Mercury’s mind-set about love and Mercury had changed hers about being fiercely independent. Like everyone else, Gannon was convinced Mercury and Sloan were meant for each other.
“Should we think that maybe you’re next?”
Gannon glanced over at his oldest brother, Galen. Their parents, Drew and Eden Steele, had given birth to six sons. For years, all six had been known around Phoenix as the Bad News Steeles. Mainly because of their die-hard bachelor ways. Now all those previous die-hard bachelors were married—all except for Gannon.
Unlike his five brothers, Gannon had never wanted to stay single forever. He viewed marriage as a part of his future. However, he was in no hurry to claim a wife, and now that Mercury was married off, that meant more women for Gannon to enjoy. He couldn’t wait.
“You all should know that I’m next, Galen, since I’m the last of the Phoenix Steeles. But I intend to have the time of my life before that happens, which I don’t foresee happening for another ten years or more.”
“Ten years?” Galen asked, raising a doubtful eyebrow.
“You heard me. Ten years at least. Now that I am the last single Steele left standing, I plan to enjoy being the number one player.”
“Be careful, baby bro. You’ll be singing a different tune if the right woman appears in your life, trust me.”
Gannon chuckled, definitely not taking anything his brother said seriously. He was the master of his own mind and his own fate. There was no woman alive who could change him. “Who would have thought?”
Galen gave him a quizzical look. “Thought what?”
“That you would be sounding like Mom in your old age.”
Galen frowned. “Be amused all you want, Gannon. Just don’t say that I didn’t warn you. Do I need to remind you about what happened to me when Brittany appeared in my life? I was the last person anyone expected to fall in love.”
Gannon knew that to be true, but then, all one had to do was look at Brittany or any of the women his brothers had married to understand why his brothers had gotten love-whipped. Not only were the women beautiful, but they were also intelligent. However, with his current mind-set, Gannon figured that even if a beautiful, intelligent woman walked into his life right now, he wouldn’t bite. Although he had discriminating taste, he still preferred changing bed partners. Now with his brothers out of the way, there would be even more women out there for him. He couldn’t see settling down to just one woman anytime soon. He would stick to his ten-year plan.
Deciding to change the subject, he said, “So Zion is having a baby, huh?”
Galen laughed. “No, Celine is pregnant. Zion is strutting around like a damn peacock, like he’s the only one who can make a baby. For him to have been the Bachelor in Demand to hold out the longest to get hitched, it’s totally hilarious that he’s now all in.”
Gannon laughed, as well, watching the group of men and their wives standing together. For years those men had been pegged as the Bachelors in Demand. Now they were all married and seemed pretty damn happy about it. And none of them had wasted time getting their wives pregnant.
Gannon wasn’t ready for all that.
A short while later, while at the wedding reception, Gannon’s cell vibrated. He checked and saw the caller was Delphine Ryland. He frowned. How did he know that name? Why was she listed in his phone contacts? Was she a past bed partner? Although he tried remembering names, he couldn’t always do so. Unlike his brothers in their man-whoring days, Gannon didn’t have a special phone just for women. If he preferred not talking to one, he just didn’t answer.
“When is your interview with Simply Irresistible, Gannon?”
He glanced over at his sister-in-law Nikki, who was married to his brother Jonas. The two had announced last week they were expecting a baby. Gannon’s brother Tyson and his wife, Hunter, had announced the same thing a few weeks ago. Gannon figured those announcements were another reason his mother was beaming with pride. She’d seen five out of six of her sons married, and by this time next year she would have more grandkids to spoil. Hopefully she would give Mercury and Sloan time to settle into their marriage before waving baby booties in front of them.
“I believe it’s this coming week,” he said. In all honesty, with the excitement of the wedding, and all his family and friends arriving in town, he’d completely forgotten about the interview.
Simply Irresistible, a Denver-based magazine, was owned by Chloe Westmoreland, a woman they considered a cousin-in-law. Gannon had felt honored when Chloe contacted him to say the magazine would be doing a series of feature stories on CEOs making a difference within their companies. They wanted him to be one of those they highlighted. In fact, they intended for him to be on the cover.
Over the last forty years, Gannon’s father had taken his small trucking company and turned it into a million-dollar business, with routes all over the United States. When Drew retired a few years ago, Gannon had taken over the company as CEO, and he still enjoyed getting behind the steering wheel of a rig himself to make cross-country deliveries and pickups.
He had no problem doing the interview and hoped the feature would help to give more respect to the profession of truckers on the road and their importance to a thriving economy. He figured most people didn’t think about how much businesses depended on the trucking industry to deliver their products to consumers.
“When I talked to Chloe last month, she mentioned that Delphine Ryland would be doing the interview with you,” Nikki said, breaking into his thoughts.
Delphine Ryland.
At some point Chloe had given him the woman’s name and number, and he’d put the contact into his phone list. “Do you know her?”
“Delphine? Yes, I know her.”
Gannon shouldn’t have been surprised since he knew of Nikki and Chloe’s past working relationship and current friendship. Before Nikki’s marriage to Jonas, she had freelanced as a photographer for Simply Irresistible on occasion. It stood to reason that she would also know some of the people who worked for the magazine.
“I just missed a call from Ms. Ryland.”
Nikki nodded. “She was probably calling to remind you about the interview. Making sure you didn’t forget since she was to arrive in town this weekend.”
“No problem. I’ll return her call tomorrow.”
“Delphine’s a nice person and a great journalist. You’re going to like her, Gannon.”
He decided not to say anything to that because he was a man who liked all women, and he figured his feelings for Delphine Ryland would be no different.
Glancing at her cell phone, Delphine released a huge sigh. She had placed two calls to Gannon Steele over the weekend and he had yet to get back in touch with her. It was important that she do a good job on this project and Gannon Steele was the last CEO to interview.
So far, she’d done interviews with Ron Paulus, the pizza CEO who often dropped into his stores to make deliveries, Jack Zelle, the owner of a huge manufacturing company who had no problem rolling up his sleeves to help get orders out of his warehouse, and Nathan Beam, who owned a slew of restaurants and often worked as a waiter. All those CEOs had something in common. They believed connecting with their employees was empowering and that the best leadership style was to not ask their employees to do anything that they themselves wouldn’t do.
From her research, she knew Gannon Steele was no different. Since taking over at Steele Trucking Company when his father retired close to five years ago, the thirty-three-year-old CEO had transformed the company. Steele Trucking Company was already a multimillion-dollar enterprise, and he’d not only grown the wealth tenfold, but had also made it into a family-oriented business.
Gannon had listened to his employees, and he himself had traveled the routes they’d driven when he’d occasionally left the office to get behind the steering wheel of a rig. Doing so had given him firsthand knowledge of truckers’ challenges.
As a result, he had implemented a number of changes that made life better for the truckers and their families whenever the drivers were away. He had opened several schools for the children of his employees and made sure a support system was in place to assist the families when the long-distance truckers were on the road. He’d even offered a tuition-paid program, where his truckers could go back to school to get their GED, professional certifications or even bachelor’s degrees. The tuition program extended to the truckers’ families, as well, eliminating a big source of stress. Then, on top of everything else, he’d raised the salary for his workers, making them the highest paid in the industry and making Steele Trucking Company one of the most sought-after employers in the state of Arizona. Already Gannon had graced the covers of a number of professional magazines as the boy wonder of the trucking industry.
Simply Irresistible was a magazine that catered to today’s up-and-coming woman. The magazine’s most popular edition still remained the annual Irresistible Man issue. The feature included a cover shoot and an in-depth story about a man who the magazine felt deserved special recognition because he was simply irresistible in both looks and how he’d made a positive impact on society.
In the past, many notables had graced the cover, including sports figure LeBron James, wealthy rancher Ramsey Westmoreland, professional motorcycle racer Thorn Westmoreland and former movie star turned rancher Walker Rafferty. A few months ago, the board chose Gannon Steele for this year, not only because of his accomplishments, but also because of his sexiness. The staff at Simply Irresistible knew the man featured on the cover needed to be thought of by their readers as a fantasy lover.
From the research Delphine had done and all the photographs she’d collected of Gannon Steele, he could definitely be a woman’s fantasy lover. He certainly got her vote. The man’s green eyes would make any woman drool. So here she was in Phoenix, ready to do the interview, and yet she couldn’t get in touch with the guy.
Her boss, Lucia Westmoreland, who knew Gannon personally because of family connections, had given Delphine his cell-phone number and told her that Chloe Westmoreland, the CEO of Simply Irresistible, had already given Gannon Delphine’s. That made her wonder why he wasn’t accepting her calls. Had he changed his mind about doing the interview?
That thought sent nervous chills down her body. The last thing she wanted was to let down Chloe or Lucia when they’d been so good to her. They’d given her a chance because they’d seen the same ambition in her that they’d seen in each other at the start of the magazine. Chloe had launched it right out of college, and when she expanded the business to Colorado, she’d called on her best friend from college, Lucia, to manage the Denver office. Chloe hadn’t intended to remain in Denver, but she and Lucia ended up marrying two brothers, and now Lucia mostly ran the business full-time, while Chloe worked from home while raising her family and assisting her husband in his sheep-ranching business. Like Lucia, Chloe also knew Gannon personally because of family connections.
Delphine would always be indebted to both Chloe and Lucia for giving her a job as a journalist. After her breakup with Liddell Bartley, it had been her plan never to return to Denver. She’d been heartbroken when the man she loved—the man she thought loved her in return—had sent her a Dear Jane letter a month before the wedding, letting her know he’d fallen in love with someone else.
But her mother’s health made it necessary for Delphine to move back to Denver. She hadn’t known just how ill her mother had been until Lucia had written to tell her. Lucia’s mother and Delphine’s own had been best friends while growing up in Denver. Although Delphine’s mother hadn’t wanted her daughter to find out just how bad her condition was and had sworn Lucia’s mother to secrecy, Lucia hadn’t felt that secrecy extended to her. She’d been compelled to let Delphine know the true nature of her mother’s health.
No longer caring that returning to Colorado would place her in an awkward position when it came to Liddell, Delphine had quit her job in New York to return to Denver to become her mother’s sole caretaker. Knowing the time and attention Delphine would need to give her mother, Chloe and Lucia had offered her a job as a freelance journalist so she could work from home while contributing to the magazine. That was what she’d done for three years.
After her mother passed away last year, Delphine took a full-time position at Simply Irresistible. She enjoyed her work and the assignments she’d been given. The thing she liked the most was that her assignments, more often than not, took her away from Denver for weeks at a time. That helped with the grieving process.
The two of them had been close ever since her father had left her mother for another woman and hadn’t once looked back. Delphine had been six years old at the time. She honestly didn’t know now if he was alive or dead, and frankly, she didn’t care. That seemed to be the story of the Ryland women’s lives.
The men they loved left them for other women.
The unexpected ringing of her cell phone made Delphine jump. The caller ID indicated it was Gannon Steele, returning her call. “Yes?”
“Ms. Ryland, this is Gannon Steele. I apologize for not returning your calls earlier, but we had a wedding in my family this weekend and I’ve been quite busy.”
She suddenly recalled that Lucia had mentioned there would be a Steele wedding, but Delphine hadn’t known it would be happening this particular weekend. “No need to apologize, Mr. Steele. I understand.” She inhaled deeply to get past the sound of his voice, a deep, rich baritone that reminded her of Barry White. Unexpected tremors flowed through her.
“So when can we get together?” he asked her.
She knew his question wasn’t personal. They had both agreed to meet for the interview. But at that moment the sound of his voice had her imagining other possible scenarios, too. She shook her head, knowing none were realistic. During her research she’d discovered more about Gannon Steele than just his business accomplishments. She also knew he was the last of what the women in Phoenix referred to as the Bad News Steeles. With another brother married off, he was the only single one left. His and his brothers’ reputations with women were legendary. Now she wondered if Gannon Steele intended to carry the banner proudly as the last remaining one of the sexy Steeles.
“I’m available whenever you are.” Too late, she wondered if her response had come off as unprofessional. Before he could answer, she added, “I’m available to meet with you to discuss the magazine’s interview whenever you are, Mr. Steele.”
“Okay, what about tonight over dinner.”
Dinner? He wanted to meet over dinner? She swallowed deeply, reminding herself that the offer was only business. There was no need to freak out. Too bad he was the first man who’d gotten her attention since her breakup with Liddell five years ago. And he had grabbed her attention just from the photographs she’d seen and the research she’d done. A lot of women considered him a charmer.
“Ms. Ryland?”
Hearing him say her name made her realize she hadn’t agreed to meet him for dinner. “Yes, Mr. Steele, just tell me where to meet you and—”
“Sorry, but thanks to my mother, I’m old-fashioned. Business or otherwise, if I invite a woman out, then I’m responsible for making sure she gets there and back. Just tell me the name of your hotel and I’ll meet you in the lobby at seven, if that time is acceptable to you.”
She also knew all about his mother, the beautiful and vivacious Eden Tyson Steele, a former international model whose face had graced the covers of such magazines as Vogue, Cosmo and Elle. She could see the woman teaching her six sons about the value of respecting women, even if their philandering behavior would tempt them to do otherwise.
“I’m staying at the St. Laurent.”
“I know exactly where that is. I will see you at seven, Ms. Ryland.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Delphine hung up the phone and wondered what it would be like to sit across from Gannon Steele and talk business. Of course, she would thank him for agreeing to do the interview. She’d heard it was often hard to get their subjects to agree to be on the cover of their Irresistible Man issue. It seemed Gannon Steele hadn’t balked at the idea. Instead, according to Lucia, he had even been flattered that she’d asked. That would certainly make Delphine’s job of interviewing him easier.
A lot of women considered truckers hot, and Delphine was curious about them, as well. Was it true that a trucker had a girl waiting for him at every truck stop? And that the truck was often used for more than just hauling merchandise? Of course, she wouldn’t ask Mr. Steele those specific questions, but she couldn’t help wondering.
Glancing at her watch, she saw that she had five hours to kill before he arrived, and she intended to put them to good use. This would be the first time in nearly five years that she’d gone out with a man. Even if the evening was nothing more than a business dinner, she intended to look her best.
Gannon parked his car, quickly got out and headed for the entrance of the hotel. A traffic jam on the interstate had made getting here on time a challenge, but he’d arrived with ten minutes to spare. When he entered the lobby, he recalled that he’d been here a number of times before, with several women. All of whom had known the score and been well aware that he was not looking for a lasting relationship. He was a between-the-sheets sort of guy and the women he slept with knew it. Most weren’t looking for anything more serious than he was.
Of course, there were always women with love and marriage on their minds. Those were usually the ones who were one-and-done. Rarely did he repeat an evening with them. Only three that he recalled could make that claim. Gannon knew that when he got married it would be because he was ready to settle down. Like he’d told his brother Galen yesterday, he didn’t see that happening anytime soon. He was sticking to his ten-year plan.
According to his watch, he still had five minutes, so he let his mind wander to his upcoming plans. He was looking forward to getting on the road and out of the office for a couple of weeks. He knew his right-hand man, Ozzie Hazouri, would handle things in his absence. Gannon would be heading south to Florida. Once he parked his rig, he would get a rental car and drive to Miami to his beach house. A week there would definitely revitalize him. With this being the end of April, he was two months from the halfway mark of the year. There were still goals he wanted to achieve in his thriving business. He intended to...
“Mr. Steele?”
He blinked, going temporarily speechless when a woman stepped in front of him. Granted, he’d never met Delphine Ryland and hadn’t really thought about what to expect, but he definitely hadn’t expected the woman standing in front of him. Damn, she looked absolutely, positively beautiful. So beautiful that all he could do was stand there and stare. Or was he gawking?
She had large, expressive eyes that were chestnut brown, shoulder-length curly brown hair with streaks of golden blond, styled to complement her oval face, and strikingly high cheekbones. But what really had him spellbound were lips that looked so indisputably enticing that he was tempted to lean in and give them one hell of a kiss. He was what his brothers often called a “lips” man.
Her lips were perfectly shaped, appealing to everything male within him. Just looking at her mouth made it impossible for him to think straight. Hell, he honestly couldn’t think at all.
“Mr. Steele?”
Her repeating his name made him quickly grab control of his senses. No woman had ever captured his attention like this before. “Yes, I’m Gannon Steele. Sorry for staring, but you remind me of someone,” he lied, hoping that excuse would cover his initial reaction to seeing her.
“I do?”
At that moment, he appreciated his ability to think on his feet. “Yes, and the resemblance is uncanny.”
He was satisfied with his response. If she ever caught him staring at her again, she would assume he was thinking of her look-alike, who didn’t really exist, instead of being fascinated with her. And he would admit to being fascinated by her, but then, he was a man and, quite frankly, any man would be taken with her.
Even if her looks hadn’t captivated him, the outfit she was wearing would have certainly done so. On any other woman the dress would probably have looked okay, but with her small waist, curvy hips and shapely legs, “just okay” wasn’t even close. “A vision of mouthwatering lusciousness” would be more appropriate.
He extended his hand to her. “And you’re Delphine Ryland, right?”
She smiled, and when she did, it seemed the lights in the hotel’s lobby shone brighter. “Yes, I’m Delphine Ryland. I knew who you were the moment I saw your green eyes.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Thanks to my mom, my brothers and I are easily recognized.”
Gannon released her hand even as he thought it felt too good encased in his. “Ready?” he asked her.
“Yes.”
“I hope you’re hungry. The restaurant I selected serves the best steaks in town.”
She chuckled and the sound was warm and inviting. “Yes, I’m hungry. I skipped lunch.”
“Well, I didn’t skip lunch but I’m still hungry,” he said, walking beside her out of the hotel and toward his parked car. “I have quite a hearty appetite. According to my mother, it’s because I’m still growing.”
Delphine wasn’t sure if Gannon Steele was still growing or not, but what she saw now was pretty dang impressive.
She couldn’t help giving him a discreet glance as they walked toward the shiny black Tesla. She had to admit, he looked pretty darn good in a pair of black slacks and a white shirt. Almost too good. She had seen photos of him before in different kinds of attire—business suits, jeans, sweats, jogging shorts. She’d even seen him in a pair of swimming trunks when he’d been in one of those male calendars as part of a charity fund-raiser. He’d been Mr. September. She remembered that quite well, since her birthday was in September, and she’d enjoyed seeing him pinned to the wall in her office. However, she was certain that seeing him in the flesh was altogether different. She preferred the real thing.
“Here we are.”
She paused as he opened the car door for her and then she slid onto the smooth leather seat. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, Ms. Ryland.”
He closed the car door and she watched him walk around the front of the vehicle to get into the driver’s side. She noticed he had a manly stroll unlike any she’d seen before. It was a purposeful stride, filled with confidence, but not arrogance. After he backed out of the parking lot, he glanced over at her.
“When did you arrive in Phoenix?” he asked her.
“Friday evening. And again, I want to apologize for disturbing you at your brother’s wedding. Lucia had mentioned a wedding in your family, but I thought it was last weekend.”
“No harm done. I’m sure my brother Mercury wished it had been a week earlier.”
“He was that anxious?”
Gannon Steele laughed. “Yes, he was just that anxious to tie the knot, and I’m happy for him and Sloan. They left immediately after the wedding for a three-week honeymoon to Paris, parts of Germany and Switzerland.”
“Sounds nice.”
“For them, I’m sure it will be. Now tell me about yourself, Ms. Ryland. And please call me Gannon. If you don’t mind, may I call you Delphine?”
“No, I don’t mind, and there’s not a lot to tell. I’ve been working for Simply Irresistible for a while now.”
“Was it your first job out of college? You look rather young.”
She shook her head, grinning. “I’m not all that young. I’ll be twenty-six in September. After college I got a job with a small publishing house in New York as an editor. I worked there almost a year before my mother became ill. I left New York to move back to Denver to take care of her.”
“I hope she got better.”
She couldn’t hold back the sadness she knew shone in her eyes. “She didn’t. Mom had MS and died last May.” It was hard to believe the one-year mark was coming up next month. There was never a day that went by that she didn’t think of her. Miss her.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Delphine. That had to have been hard on you.”
She nodded. “It was. Mom and I were extremely close.”
Delphine paused and then said, “Because of the nature of Mom’s condition, she needed full-time care and I wanted to be the one to take care of her, along with the visiting nurses who came to check on her every week. Lucky for me, I was hired by Simply Irresistible as a freelancer, writing articles from home. I also became a blogger.”
He nodded. “What about your father?”
She could understand Gannon asking about him. In the world he’d grown up in, both parents had been present. “My parents divorced when I was six. I never saw him again after the day he left.” No need to tell him why her father had divorced her mom, or how both she and her mother had cried themselves to sleep for months after he’d deserted them.
“Do you still live in your mother’s house?”
“Yes. It’s been in our family for a couple of generations, since it used to be my grandparents’ home. I love living there, although I’ve decided to give it a much-needed face-lift,” she said. “While I’m gone, I’m getting my floors redone. Replacing the carpet with wood.”
“Who’s overseeing the project while you’re away?”
“My best friend from high school, Mandy. She likes doing renovation stuff. I trust her to make sure things will be done to my satisfaction and within my budget.”
Gannon nodded. “According to Chloe and Lucia, you’re a good journalist—one of the best.”
Delphine appreciated him changing the subject from her personal life to her professional one. “Oh, I don’t know about that, but I appreciate them for thinking so. Lucia’s mother and mine were best friends from their high-school days.”
She thought about how much support she’d gotten from the Conyers family over the years and added, “During Mom’s last days, I don’t know how I would have made it without the Conyerses being there for me and for Mom.”
He nodded again. “It’s always great having good people in your corner when you need them the most.”
He brought the car to a stop. “Here we are.”
She glanced out the window and saw the restaurant. The Grip. There was one in Denver, although she could never afford to eat there. “Nice restaurant.”
“One of my favorites,” he said, opening the car door.
Just lovely, she thought. She couldn’t afford to eat at The Grip and he considered it one of his favorites, which meant he probably ate here a lot. She tried not to think about the differences in their livelihoods. Instead, she watched him walk around the front of the car to open the door for her. Normally, she wouldn’t sit and wait for any man to open her door, but she knew from articles she’d read about him that Gannon had impeccable manners.
When he opened the door, she took the hand he offered and got out of the car. It had rained earlier and the scent of damp grass and wet soil permeated the air. And then there was his woodsy scent, which suited him. It definitely suited her since she liked the fragrance on him. She thought it made him even more manly.
As they were walking side by side toward the building, he suddenly took hold of her arm to skirt around a couple of puddles. Why did his touch feel so warm and comforting?
When they reached the entrance, he released her arm and stepped back to smile down at her. She was wearing high heels, yet she knew he was at least six-two or six-three. “Welcome to The Grip, Delphine. I hope you enjoy dining here as much as I do.”
She couldn’t help but return his smile. “Thanks, Gannon. I’m sure that I will.”
