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“Of course.” River pressed his fingertips together thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t want to cause a scandal for the Steele family. Again.”
“River...” she warned.
“Like I said before, I want this project to be a success. We have some important work ahead of us. So you’re right, we can’t let our past interfere. Truce?” He arched his brow at her in a challenge. He knew he could behave, but silencing her sharp tongue might prove more difficult.
Morgan breathed a sigh of relief and her practiced smile returned to her face. She seemed confident in her abilities. He almost missed her anger once it was tamped down. At least that was a real emotion.
“Truce,” she said and offered her hand across her desk.
Tentatively, River reached out and took it. Instantly a sizzle traveled up his arm and down his spine, exploding in his groin like a shockwave of arousal. He pulled away as quickly as he could and buried his hand beneath the desk to rub the sensation off his palm and onto his pant leg. It had been like that the night of the party, too, making him both eager and cautious about touching her again.
They might be calling a truce on their fight, but the connection between him and Morgan was far from over.
Three
Three days later, her meeting with River still preyed on Morgan’s mind. They’d finally started discussing business and made headway on their project together, but it had been hard to get through it. At least for her. She couldn’t tell what River was thinking with that smug grin on his face all the time.
Even as he’d smiled, Morgan had felt herself being twisted in knots. He brought out so many different emotions in her, she hardly knew how to feel. The hardest to overcome, however, was the attraction. She was not supposed to be attracted to River anymore. Not after what had happened. Not after what he’d done. And yet, her body and her mind disagreed on that point. She still wanted him. If she closed her eyes, she could feel his hands on her body again. The way she responded to him. The press of his lips against hers.
And it pissed her off.
She hated feeling off balance in her life and lately that’s all she was. At the moment, she was sitting in the gardens at her parents’ estate, sipping a glass of wine. She should feel at ease. But she was anything but. She was expecting another stressful visitor. This time, it was the woman who had lived her life for thirty years.
The back door of the house opened up and their housekeeper, Lena, stepped out and gestured the petite blonde in Morgan’s direction. She made her way down the cobblestone path to the table beneath the vine-covered pergola that offered necessary shade in the oppressive summer heat Charleston was known for.
“Please, have a seat,” Morgan said as she approached. “Would you care for some chardonnay? I pulled a bottle from the family wine cellar.”
Jade settled into the chair, but she seemed stiff and nervous. “Perhaps that would help,” she said. “I’m more anxious about all this than I expected to be.”
Morgan smiled and poured her a drink. “It will help. That’s why I’m already a glass into this bottle. I’ll ask Lena to bring another and in no time, we’ll be completely at ease with this crazy situation we’re in.”
“Oh, don’t go to any trouble.”
“It’s no trouble. She’ll be out with some nibbles in a minute.”
Jade frowned and looked over her shoulder. She was uncomfortable with having staff wait on her, Morgan could tell. “Don’t think of them as servants. They’re household employees, that’s all. They’re really a necessity to keep the house running smoothly. My mother certainly doesn’t have the hours in the day to keep this massive house clean and everyone fed. She’s as busy as my father some days and he runs a company. They’re a godsend, Lena especially, and I assure you that my father pays them handsomely for what they do for us.”
“Really?” Jade asked with wary eyes.
“Oh, yeah. Lena has worked with us since before I was born. She’s like family, but I don’t think she stays out of loyalty. We make it worth her efforts. And besides that, if any of us kids ever treated her or anyone else around the house like they were lesser than us, we’d get our ears boxed.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Oh, believe it. My brothers have gotten it more than once for sassing the staff. It’s a delicate balance being from a family like this. You have every advantage, everything you might ever want, but you’re not allowed to act like it. Especially living such public lives as the faces of the company. But my parents won’t tolerate that kind of behavior even behind closed doors. We’re the same as anyone else.”
Unless, of course, that someone else was a poor boy who wanted to love their daughter in a legally binding sense. It was one thing to treat others well. Another to treat them too well.
Lena approached the table a moment later with a silver platter in her hands. On it was a plate of tea sandwiches, some cookies and another bottle of wine. It was already opened and ready to drink.
“Oh, Lena! You read my mind,” Morgan said with delight. “I was going to ask you for more wine.”
Lena chuckled and placed the platter on the table. “I’ve known you your whole life, Miss Morgan. There’s never just one bottle of wine. You all enjoy. Let me know if you need me to bring anything else.” She turned and disappeared as quickly as she’d arrived.
“That would be hard to get used to,” Jade said as she watched Lena walk away.
Morgan picked up her wine and took a sip. “You’d be surprised.” Even as she said the words, she heard River’s voice echo in her mind and frowned.
Daddy’s money was too important to risk on a future with some poor boy with a little promise but no education. If he’d cut you off...you would’ve had to really work for a living and make do without servants like the rest of us poor schmucks.
